2 Timothy
Paul's last words, written from prison to the person he trusted most.
Who wrote it: Says it is from Paul, in a Roman prison near the end of his life. Like the other Pastorals, most scholars think it was written in his name later, though 2 Timothy has the most personal detail of the three and some who doubt the others accept it. If Paul, around 64 to 67 AD.
What it is
This reads like a last letter. Paul is in a Roman prison, in chains, cold enough to ask for his cloak, abandoned by most of his friends, and expecting to die: 'I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come.' He wants Timothy to come before winter, and to bring Mark, and the parchments. He is thinking about Timothy's grandmother and mother, and about the tears when they last parted.
The advice is different from 1 Timothy. There it was how to organize a church; here it is how to keep going when everything is against you. God did not give us a spirit of fear. Don't be ashamed of the gospel or of me in my chains. Endure hardship like a soldier. Flee youthful passions. Avoid stupid arguments. People will come who want their ears tickled; preach anyway, in season and out. Every Scripture is God-breathed and useful. Then the line he had earned the right to say: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.
What makes it distinctive is that there is no strategy left. Paul is not planning the next trip. He is handing over, and the letter's whole concern is that what he carried gets carried on by someone who might be tempted to put it down. It is the New Testament's clearest picture of an old leader trying to make a young one brave.
Verses worth keeping
- Gen Zsame meaning, your words
Because God didn't give us a spirit that's scared. He gave us a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control.
'Self-control' can also be translated 'sound mind'. The opposite of fear here is not bravado; it is clarity.
16Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, 17that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsEvery Scripture is breathed out by God and is useful for teaching, for calling things out, for putting things right, and for training in what's right, so that anyone who belongs to God is fully ready and equipped for every good thing.
'Scripture' here meant the Old Testament; the New Testament was still being written. Christians apply it to both.
- Gen Zsame meaning, your words
I've fought the good fight. I've finished the race. I've kept the faith.
Not 'I won'. Fought, finished, kept. Those are the three things he counted.
Read 2 Timothy
The full text, every chapter, from the World English Bible, a modern public-domain translation. Pick a chapter below. The highlighted verses are the place to start if you have never read it.
2 Timothy 4
1I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom: 2preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching. 3For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn away to fables. 5But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
6For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. 7I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. 8From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.
9Be diligent to come to me soon, 10for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia. 11Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. 12But I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come—and the books, especially the parchments. 14Alexander the coppersmith did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15Beware of him, for he greatly opposed our words.
16At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them. 17But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
19Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus. 20Erastus remained at Corinth, but I left Trophimus at Miletus sick. 21Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus salutes you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.
22The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.
Questions about 2 Timothy
Was Paul executed after this?
The Bible does not record it. Early tradition says he was beheaded in Rome under Nero, around 64 to 67 AD. 2 Timothy expects it, which is part of why the letter reads as it does.
Does 'all Scripture is God-breathed' prove the Bible is inerrant?
The verse says Scripture is breathed out by God and useful. It does not define how inspiration works or use the word 'inerrant', and Christians hold a range of views, from strict inerrancy to seeing the Bible as fully human writing that God speaks through. What every view shares is that this verse makes the claim that Scripture comes from God and is meant to be used, not just admired.