2 Timothy 4

17 But even though Paul’s colleagues and fellow Christians had deserted him, the Lord did not. But the Lord stood by my side, Paul writes. With God’s help, Paul was enabled to proclaim the Gospel not only inside the court but outside the court as well, so that all the GENTILES might hear it (see Romans 1:5). Paul didn’t care about defending himself; he cared only about defending the Gospel. Right there in Rome, the center of all the Gentile nations and the capital of the Roman Empire, the Apostle Paul, even as a prisoner, fully proclaimed the Gospel of Christ (see Acts 28:30-31).

Paul says: I was delivered from the lion’s mouth—that is, from the death sentence. It is not certain when and how this deliverance took place. Most likely Paul is referring here to deliverance from his first imprisonment in Rome (see Acts 28:30; 1 Timothy: Introduction; 2 Timothy: Introduction).

18 Now Paul was in a Roman prison for the second and final time. He now had no hope of being delivered from prison and from death. He was prepared to die (see verse 6). But Paul had complete faith that God would rescue him from every evil attack of Satan, and in the end would bring him into His kingdom. For Paul, death was not the end, but the beginning. It was not defeat, it was victory; it was salvation (see 1 Corinthians 15:54 and comment).

19 Priscilla and Aquila are mentioned in Acts 18:2,18,26 and Romans 16:3. Onesiphorus has already been mentioned in 2 Timothy 1:16.

20 Erastus is mentioned in Acts 19:22; and Trophimus is mentioned in Acts 20:4 and 21:29.

21-22 Paul again asks Timothy to come quickly. Winter was near, and it soon would be impossible to sail across the Mediterranean Sea from Ephesus because of the winter storms (see Acts 27:9-12 and comment).

The four persons mentioned in verse 21 are mentioned nowhere else in the New Testament. In addition to these four, all the brothers also send greetings to Timothy. Nevertheless, these same brothers had refused to take Paul’s side at his trial. Perhaps they had now repented for deserting Paul at his time of need. In any event, they have not left the faith. They are now with Paul, and they send Timothy their greetings.

¹ Asia was a province of the Roman Empire, located in the western part of present-day Turkey. Its chief city was Ephesus.

² There is a second possible interpretation of this verse. To cleanse oneself from the latter can mean to cleanse oneself from purposes that are ignoble (instead of from articles that are ignoble). Then Paul’s meaning would be that we should cleanse ourselves from false teaching (instead of from false teachers). It is possible, of course, that Paul intended both of these meanings.

³ In Paul’s time, the holy Scriptures consisted of the Old Testament alone. The New Testament had not yet been written.

⁴ In addition to its usual meaning, the word faith can also mean the Gospel, or the true doctrines of the Christian religion.

⁵  Luke was Paul’s dear friend, the doctor (Colossians 4:14). He was also Paul’s colleague on some of his missionary journeys. Later he wrote the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts.

⁶  Crescens is not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament.

⁷  Titus was a close colleague of Paul’s, to whom Paul wrote the New Testament letter called “Titus” (see Titus: Introduction).

⁸  Tychicus is also mentioned in Ephesians 6:21 and Colossians 4:7.

⁹ Some Bible scholars believe that these three Alexanders are all different men.