2 Timothy 4

Introduction

Second Timothy 4 is the final chapter of what is widely regarded as Paul's last surviving letter. Writing from a Roman prison and anticipating his execution, Paul delivers a solemn charge to Timothy to preach the word faithfully, warns that people will increasingly reject sound teaching, and then offers one of the most moving personal passages in all his writings. The chapter pulses with urgency: Paul knows his time is short, and he needs Timothy to understand the weight of the ministry he is inheriting.

The chapter divides into five sections: a solemn charge to preach (vv. 1-5), Paul's farewell testimony (vv. 6-8), personal requests and updates about companions (vv. 9-15), Paul's account of his first defense in court and God's faithfulness (vv. 16-18), and final greetings (vv. 19-22). The shift in tone from the theological urgency of the opening charge to the deeply personal closing requests -- for his cloak, his scrolls, and the presence of friends -- makes this chapter uniquely poignant. Here we see the great apostle not as an abstract theologian but as a cold, lonely, aging man who still trusts the Lord who stood by him when everyone else left.

Preach the Word (vv. 1-5)

Notes

• Διαμαρτύρομαι ("I solemnly charge/testify") -- This is not a casual request but a solemn oath. The verb is a compound of dia- (intensifier) and martyromai ("to witness, testify"). Paul places this charge "before God and Christ Jesus" -- invoking the divine courtroom, so to speak. The gravity is heightened by the description of Christ as the one "about to judge the living and the dead," a phrase that would later be incorporated into early Christian creeds (the Apostles' Creed).

• ἐπιφάνειαν ("appearing") -- From epiphainō ("to show forth, appear"). In the Greco-Roman world, an epiphaneia was the glorious appearing of a deity or the ceremonial arrival of a king. Paul uses it here of Christ's return. The word occurs five times in the Pastoral Epistles and only once elsewhere in the New Testament (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Timothy's ministry is framed between two realities: Christ's judgment and Christ's appearing.

• κήρυξον ("proclaim/preach") -- An aorist imperative from kēryssō ("to herald"). A kēryx was a public herald who proclaimed official announcements in the town square. The aorist tense gives the command a sense of urgency: "Do it now." This is not a suggestion; it is a military-style order. I translated it as "proclaim" to capture the public, authoritative character of the herald's role.

• εὐκαίρως ἀκαίρως ("in season, out of season") -- A memorable wordplay. Both adverbs derive from καιρός ("opportune time"): eu- ("well, good") gives "at a good time," and a- (privative) gives "at a bad time." The pairing means "whether the moment seems right or not." Timothy must not wait for comfortable circumstances to proclaim the word. The rhythm of the Greek -- two contrasting adverbs side by side -- is punchy and memorable, almost a slogan.

• ἔλεγξον, ἐπιτίμησον, παρακάλεσον ("convict, rebuke, encourage") -- Three aorist imperatives in rapid succession, each describing a different aspect of pastoral ministry. Elenchō means to bring to light and expose error -- to convict someone of what is wrong. Epitimaō means to censure or reprove sharply. Parakaleō means to come alongside someone to encourage, comfort, or exhort. The ministry of the word involves all three: confrontation where necessary, but always accompanied by encouragement. And all of it is to be done ἐν πάσῃ μακροθυμίᾳ ("with all patience") -- literally "long-temperedness," the opposite of a short fuse.

• ὑγιαινούσης διδασκαλίας ("healthy teaching") -- The medical metaphor characteristic of the Pastoral Epistles (see Titus 1:9, 1 Timothy 1:10). Hygiainō means "to be healthy" and gives us the English word "hygiene." Sound doctrine is healthy doctrine -- it produces spiritual health. The false teaching Paul warns about is, by contrast, a disease.

• κνηθόμενοι τὴν ἀκοήν ("having their ears tickled") -- The verb knēthō means "to scratch, itch." The middle/passive participle here means "having itching ears" or "getting their ears scratched." The image is vivid: people who seek out teaching not because it is true but because it makes them feel good, like scratching an itch. They ἐπισωρεύσουσιν ("will pile up, heap up") teachers for themselves -- the verb suggests an indiscriminate accumulation, quantity over quality.

• νῆφε ("be sober/clear-headed") -- Literally "be sober, be free from intoxication." In Paul's usage it extends to mean mentally alert, clear-thinking, not carried away by passion or confusion. In contrast to those who are drunk on myths and desires, Timothy must be stone-sober. I translated it "clear-headed" to capture both the literal and figurative senses.

• εὐαγγελιστοῦ ("evangelist/gospel-preacher") -- From euangelion ("good news, gospel"). An euangelistēs is one who announces good news. The term appears only three times in the New Testament: here, Acts 21:8 (Philip), and Ephesians 4:11 (as one of Christ's gifts to the church). Timothy's primary work at Ephesus was pastoral, but Paul reminds him that proclaiming the gospel is central to that work, not an optional extra.

• πληροφόρησον ("fulfill/carry out fully") -- From plērophoreō ("to fill completely, to accomplish fully"). Timothy is to leave nothing of his ministry unfinished. The word carries a sense of completion and thoroughness -- not a half-hearted effort but a ministry brought to its full measure.

Paul's Farewell (vv. 6-8)

Notes

• σπένδομαι ("I am being poured out") -- The present passive tense is crucial: "I am being poured out" -- the process is already underway. A spondē (drink offering) was wine poured out on the altar alongside a sacrifice in both Jewish (Numbers 15:5-7) and Greco-Roman worship. Paul's life is the offering, and his blood is the libation being poured. He uses the same image in Philippians 2:17, but there it was hypothetical ("even if I am being poured out"); here it is a present reality. The metaphor transforms his impending execution from a tragedy into an act of worship.

• ἀναλύσεως ("departure/dissolution") -- This word appears only here in the New Testament as a noun. The verb analyō means "to loose, to break up." It was used of breaking camp (soldiers striking their tents), loosing a ship from its moorings to set sail, or solving a problem. Paul is not describing death as annihilation but as a setting out -- a departure to something better. The word quietly communicates confidence: death is not an end but a departure.

• τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα ἠγώνισμαι ("I have fought the good fight") -- Three statements in the perfect tense, each describing a completed action with lasting results. The first uses the cognate accusative construction (agōna ēgōnismai -- "I have fought the fight"), which adds rhetorical force. The ἀγών is an athletic contest or struggle -- the word gives us "agony." It is "good" (kalos) not because it was pleasant but because it was noble and worthy.

• τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα ("I have completed the course") -- Dromos is a racecourse, used metaphorically for the course of one's life and ministry. Paul used the same image in Acts 20:24, when he told the Ephesian elders, "I do not count my life of any value, if only I may finish my course." Now, writing from Rome, he can say: it is finished. The verb teleō ("to complete, finish") is related to telos ("end, goal"). Paul has reached the finish line.

• τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα ("I have kept the faith") -- Tēreō means "to guard, keep watch over, preserve." "The faith" here likely has a double sense: personal trust in Christ, and the body of apostolic teaching entrusted to Paul (the same "deposit" he urged Timothy to guard in 2 Timothy 1:14). Paul has been a faithful steward of both.

• στέφανος τῆς δικαιοσύνης ("crown of righteousness") -- The στέφανος was the wreath awarded to victors at the Greek athletic games -- woven from laurel, olive, or celery. Unlike a royal diadem (diadēma), the stephanos was earned through competition. Paul extends the athletic imagery from verse 7: having run the race, he awaits the victor's wreath. The genitive "of righteousness" may mean a crown consisting of righteousness (the crown is righteousness), a crown awarded for righteous living, or a crown awarded by the righteous God. All three senses may be in play.

• τοῖς ἠγαπηκόσι τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν αὐτοῦ ("to all who have loved His appearing") -- The perfect tense of agapaō ("to love") indicates a settled, ongoing love -- not a passing interest but a deep longing for Christ's return. The crown is not reserved for apostles or elite Christians but for all believers who live with their eyes fixed on Christ's coming. The word epiphaneia ("appearing") echoes verse 1, forming a frame around the passage: Christ's appearing is both the basis of Paul's charge and the hope of his reward.

Interpretations

• The crown of righteousness and the assurance of salvation. Paul's confident expectation of reward ("there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness") raises the question of assurance. Reformed theology emphasizes that Paul's confidence demonstrates the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints -- those whom God truly saves will be kept to the end, and Paul's completed race is evidence of genuine saving faith. Arminian theology reads the passage as showing that Paul has persevered faithfully and therefore will receive the reward, but holds that perseverance is conditional and that believers can, in principle, fall away (citing warnings like Hebrews 6:4-6). Both traditions agree that Paul's confidence is grounded in God's character ("the righteous Judge"), not merely in Paul's own performance. The extension of the promise to "all who have loved His appearing" universalizes the hope beyond Paul's unique apostolic calling.

Personal Requests and Updates (vv. 9-15)

Notes

• Σπούδασον ("make every effort") -- The aorist imperative of spoudazō ("to be eager, to make haste"). Paul repeats this verb in verse 21 with added urgency: "before winter." The repetition reveals how deeply Paul longs for Timothy's presence. This is not a bureaucratic summons but a personal plea from a man facing death.

• Δημᾶς ("Demas") -- Demas appears in two earlier letters in favorable company: he sends greetings alongside Luke in Colossians 4:14 and is called a "fellow worker" in Philemon 1:24. His desertion is therefore a genuine shock. The reason Paul gives is devastating: ἀγαπήσας τὸν νῦν αἰῶνα ("having loved this present age"). The aorist participle agapēsas suggests a decisive choice -- Demas chose the world. The contrast with verse 8 is painfully sharp: the faithful love "His appearing" (tēn epiphaneian autou), but Demas loved "this present age" (ton nyn aiōna). The same verb (agapaō), two opposite objects.

• Λουκᾶς ("Luke") -- The physician (Colossians 4:14) and author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts. Of all Paul's companions, only Luke has remained. The simple statement "Only Luke is with me" is one of the most moving sentences in Paul's letters -- a single loyal friend in a Roman prison.

• Μᾶρκον ("Mark") -- John Mark, cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), who had deserted Paul and Barnabas during the first missionary journey (Acts 13:13). The resulting dispute over Mark was so sharp that Paul and Barnabas parted company (Acts 15:37-39). Now, years later, Paul calls Mark εὔχρηστος ("useful, serviceable") -- a quiet word that signals a remarkable reconciliation. The very man Paul once considered unreliable has become indispensable. Mark would go on to write the Gospel that bears his name.

• φαιλόνην ("cloak") -- A Latin loanword (paenula), referring to a heavy, sleeveless outer garment used for travel in cold or wet weather. Paul, in a Roman dungeon facing winter (v. 21), needs warmth. This mundane detail grounds Paul's theology in physical reality: the apostle who speaks of crowns and heavenly kingdoms also needs a coat.

• βιβλία ("scrolls") and μεμβράνας ("parchments") -- Biblia (from which we get "Bible") were papyrus scrolls, the common writing material of the ancient world. Membranas is another Latin loanword, referring to parchment -- prepared animal skins, more durable and expensive than papyrus. The distinction suggests Paul wanted both: perhaps papyrus copies of Old Testament scriptures and more valuable parchment documents -- possibly legal papers, letters, or his own writings. The phrase "especially the parchments" (malista tas membranas) shows that certain documents were particularly important to him. Even facing death, Paul wanted to read and study.

• Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ χαλκεύς ("Alexander the metalworker") -- Chalkeus literally means "coppersmith" or "bronze-worker," but the term was used broadly for metalworkers. This Alexander may be the same person mentioned in 1 Timothy 1:20 whom Paul "handed over to Satan." The phrase πολλά μοι κακὰ ἐνεδείξατο ("did me great harm") is vague -- it may refer to testimony against Paul at his trial, or to opposition to Paul's preaching. Paul does not seek personal revenge but entrusts judgment to the Lord, echoing Psalm 62:12 and Proverbs 24:12: "The Lord will repay him according to his deeds."

The Lord Stood by Me (vv. 16-18)

Notes

• πρώτῃ μου ἀπολογίᾳ ("my first defense") -- An apologia was a formal legal defense in a Roman court. The adjective "first" (prōtē) implies there will be a second hearing. Roman legal procedure often involved a preliminary hearing (prima actio) followed by a later trial. Paul is likely describing the first stage of his trial before Nero's court. The word apologia gives us "apologetics" -- a reasoned defense of one's position.

• πάντες με ἐγκατέλιπον ("everyone deserted me") -- The verb enkataleipomai ("to forsake, abandon") is the same word used in the LXX quotation of Psalm 22:1: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Whether Paul intends the echo or not, the experience mirrors Christ's own abandonment. Yet Paul's response is grace: μὴ αὐτοῖς λογισθείη ("may it not be counted against them") -- an optative of wish, expressing Paul's prayer that God would not hold their cowardice against them. This echoes both Jesus' prayer on the cross (Luke 23:34) and Stephen's dying words (Acts 7:60).

• ὁ δὲ Κύριός μοι παρέστη ("But the Lord stood with me") -- The contrast is stunning. Everyone left; the Lord stayed. The verb paristēmi ("to stand beside") is the legal term for standing with someone as an advocate or supporter in court -- the very thing no human did for Paul. Christ became Paul's advocate when every human advocate failed.

• ἐνεδυνάμωσέν με ("strengthened me") -- From endynamoō ("to make strong within"). Paul uses this same verb in Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." The Lord did not merely stand by passively; He poured strength into Paul so that the gospel proclamation could go forward even in the Roman courtroom.

• ἐρρύσθην ἐκ στόματος λέοντος ("I was rescued from the lion's mouth") -- This phrase almost certainly echoes Psalm 22:21: "Save me from the mouth of the lion." The "lion" has been interpreted as: (1) Nero himself, (2) Satan (cf. 1 Peter 5:8: "your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion"), (3) death itself, or (4) a general metaphor for extreme danger. Given the courtroom context, the most likely reference is to the immediate threat of execution -- Paul was delivered from the sentence of death at this first hearing.

• ῥύσεταί με ὁ Κύριος ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔργου πονηροῦ ("The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed") -- Paul's confidence shifts from past deliverance to future rescue. But note carefully: this "rescue" is not necessarily physical survival. Paul has already said he is "being poured out" (v. 6) and expects to die. The rescue he anticipates is salvation through death into "His heavenly kingdom." The Lord will rescue Paul not from death but through death into glory. The doxology that follows -- ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων ("to whom be the glory forever and ever") -- seals Paul's confidence with worship.

Final Greetings (vv. 19-22)

Notes

• Πρίσκαν καὶ Ἀκύλαν ("Prisca and Aquila") -- This married couple appears six times in the New Testament (Acts 18:2, Acts 18:18, Acts 18:26; Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; here). Paul typically names Prisca (the formal form of Priscilla) first, which in ancient convention may suggest she was the more prominent of the two in ministry. They were tentmakers like Paul, had hosted house churches in Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome, and had "risked their necks" for Paul's life (Romans 16:4).

• τὸν Ὀνησιφόρου οἶκον ("the household of Onesiphorus") -- Paul greets Onesiphorus's household rather than Onesiphorus himself, just as he did in 2 Timothy 1:16-18. This has led some scholars to conclude that Onesiphorus had already died. In 2 Timothy 1:18, Paul prayed that the Lord would "grant him mercy on that day" -- language some take as a prayer for the dead. Protestant interpreters generally hold that Onesiphorus was simply away from home, perhaps traveling, though the phrasing remains ambiguous.

• Τρόφιμον δὲ ἀπέλιπον ἐν Μιλήτῳ ἀσθενοῦντα ("Trophimus I left in Miletus, sick") -- Trophimus was an Ephesian Christian who accompanied Paul on his journeys (Acts 20:4; Acts 21:29). The detail that Paul left him behind sick is theologically significant: even the apostle who performed miraculous healings (Acts 19:11-12) did not heal every illness. This honest aside undermines any theology that treats physical healing as guaranteed for believers.

• πρὸ χειμῶνος ("before winter") -- Cheimōn means "winter" or "storm." Sea travel in the Mediterranean ceased from roughly November to March. If Timothy did not come before winter, he could not come until spring -- and by then, Paul might be dead. The urgency is real and physical.

• Λίνος ("Linus") -- This name appears only here in the New Testament. Early church tradition (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.3, c. 180 AD) identifies this Linus as the first bishop of Rome after the apostles Peter and Paul. If this identification is correct, the future leader of the Roman church was among those sending greetings to Timothy in Paul's final letter. The other names -- Eubulus, Pudens, and Claudia -- are otherwise unknown in the New Testament, though later traditions attempted to connect Pudens and Claudia with Roman senatorial families.

• Ὁ Κύριος μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματός σου ("The Lord be with your spirit") -- The singular "your" (sou) is addressed to Timothy personally. Then Paul shifts to the plural: ἡ χάρις μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν ("Grace be with you all") -- hymōn is plural, indicating that Paul expected the letter to be read to the wider congregation. The closing mirrors the pattern of the Pastoral Epistles: a personal word to the recipient, then a blessing for the church community. These are the last recorded words of the apostle Paul.