The Second Epistle to Timothy has a melancholy interest as the last
letter which Paul ever wrote, written from his second imprisonment in
Rome, only a short time before his martyrdom. In the Introduction to
First Timothy the uniform first testimony of the early church that Paul
was released, shortly after the close of Acts, and engaged for several
years in missionary work, was stated. On this point the testimony is
clear, and goes back even to Clement of Rome, a companion of Paul named
in one of his Epistles, who states in his Epistle to the Corinthians
that Paul was enabled to carry out his purpose of preaching the gospel
in the extreme West. This verdict of antiquity is supported by
criticism, and the allusions in the three Pastoral Epistles can only be
explained by conceding that there was a release, a period of missionary
activity, and finally a second arrest, and imprisonment in Rome.
On this hypothesis Conybeare and Howson outline the interval between
the dates of the two letters of Timothy. Shortly after the first was
written Paul is supposed to have again visited Ephesus, to have gone
from thence, in company with Titus, to Crete. The latter was left in
charge of the work there when Paul left for Europe
(Titus 1:5).
Where the Epistle to Titus was written cannot be certainly known, but
it was at some point on the route from Crete to Nicopolis, a city
situated on the Grecian shore of the Adriatic Sea
(Titus 3:12).
If Paul reached there for the winter, as he proposed, it is probable
that here he was again arrested, and from thence borne to Rome to
trial. The only writing extant that came from this second period of
imprisonment is the Second Epistle to Timothy.
Timothy, his "beloved son" in the gospel,
was still laboring in distant Ephesus, but the aged apostle, about to
go to rest from his weary labors, desired to see him once more in the
flesh. Hence, he bids him come, as speedily as possible; but, lest he
might arrive too late to receive his parting words, he impresses upon
him in this letter, with the earnestness of a last charge, the various
duties of his office, and especially of opposing the dangerous heresies
which threatened to destroy the vitality of the Christian religion.
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