2Ti 4:16-17 | KingComments | STEP | . This second and also last imprisonment of Paul has been extremely harsh. During his first imprisonment he had a certain liberty to receive people and he could preach and teach unhindered ( ). Now he is alone, imprisoned in a place for which you had to make great efforts to find it ( ). There was no one with him at his first interrogation, no one who defended him and spoke in his favor. He could defend himself, but still he was in need of some support. But everyone was afraid to be identified with him. That could be damaging, for then other people will know that you are also such a Christian. Paul feels deserted by them, as he did by Demas. Still he does not blame anyone for anything. He is not filled with resentment and doesn’t ask Timothy what he had asked with regard to Alexander the coppersmith ( ). He doesn’t see them as opponents, although he cannot recognize them as supporters either. They have made his imprisonment more difficult by deserting him. Nevertheless he follows the example of the Lord Jesus, Who prayed: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” ( ). Also like Stephen who also followed the example of the Lord Jesus ( ). Here you have examples of how to respond when people do not like you anymore because you testify of the Lord Jesus. . Even if you feel left alone, just like Paul here, you are not alone, just like Paul is not alone here. The Lord wants to assist you and strengthen you. That is what Paul is experiencing. Even though everyone has deserted him, the Lord stands with him (cf. ). The personal presence of the Lord is the special experience in situations when you lose everything around you because you want to remain faithful to Him. He has “strengthened me” literally means ‘He has poured out strength in me’ or ‘He has given me a power transfusion’ ( ). You feel your power being renewed when His presence is a living reality to you, when you expect everything from Him ( ). The Lord does that to make His work to be fully achieved by His servant. As far as Paul is concerned, it refers to his testimony in the courtroom and down to the palace of Caesar. He appealed to Caesar and he was going there. That he was going to make himself to be heard in the palace, regarding his testimony of the Lord Jesus, is a symbol for a testimony toward the whole Western world of which the palace of Caesar is the center. Only when someone’s duty has come to an end the Lord will allow His servant to be killed by the enemy (cf. ; ). At Paul’s conversion the Lord announced his duty ( ). That’s why He allowed that Paul was being imprisoned. Now he will bear the Name of the Lord Jesus before Gentiles and kings. Everything that the enemy meant evil becomes a testimony, so that the rulers of the earth, they who otherwise would be unreachable, may hear the Word of truth. That’s why for that moment he “was rescued out of the lion’s mouth”. We are reminded of Daniel in the lions’ den ( ). Satan who is rampaging as a roaring lion against Paul to devour him ( ), still does not get the opportunity for that. He is still being controlled by the Lord, through which Paul has been saved from a premature death. . Paul is well aware of the tremendous threat of the lion and his anger to tear him up. But he looks beyond the lion to the Lord. He is assured that as the Lord delivered him from the mouth of the lion, He also will rescue him “from every evil work”. Satan not only appears like a roaring lion. He can also transform himself into an angel of light ( ). With ‘every evil work’ you may also think of everything that satan wants to whisper to Paul to bring him to a denial of what he has so far held so fearlessly. To achieve that satan may be giving those well intentioned advices through people who find themselves good Christians. Of course these people are sober and do not exacerbate matters like Paul does according to their ‘humble opinion’. Paul is more afraid for such whisperings than for death. He knows that he is not resistant to that in his own power, but that the Lord will deliver him from it and will preserve him. “Rescue” here means to take out of the danger zone. The Lord takes him out of an area that is full of dangers and then brings him safely to an area where he is fully safe. That area is “His heavenly kingdom”. His strong and simple faith counts on the Lord until the end. Even if he would fall asleep instead of being changed, he will always continue to look forward to the appearance of the Lord. Paul is looking forward to the heavenly kingdom of the Lord Jesus. That is not the same as what the evangelist Matthew so often calls ‘the kingdom of heaven’. The kingdom of heaven concerns the government of the Lord Jesus over heaven and earth according to heavenly measures. That kingdom consists of a heavenly part and an earthly part. The ‘heavenly kingdom’ is the heavenly part. Paul looks forward to come together with the Lord Jesus when He will appear to the world. Then he will be one of those saints in whom the Lord Jesus will be glorified and one of those believers in whom the Lord Jesus will be marveled at ( ). He will be like one of those righteous, who “will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” ( ), another name for this ‘heavenly kingdom’. To shine forth as the sun means to shine forth as the Lord Jesus, for He is the Sun ( ). It is all about Him. Remembering Him a praise arises out of a cold and stinking prison cell in Rome to the honor of Him Who is worthy of “glory forever and ever”. With a profound ‘amen’ (= that’s true) Paul confirms his trust in the Lord and his praise. . Paul wants Timothy to convey his greetings to Prisca and Aquila, his good friends whom he got acquainted with at Corinth ( ). This faithful couple is now at Ephesus. Paul mentions them with feelings of particular gratitude, not only because they are faithful in the service of the Lord ( ; ), but also because they had made great efforts for him, putting their own lives at risk ( ). Timothy must also greet the household of Onesiphorus ( ). . Then Paul mentions two names of brothers to inform Timothy about their circumstances. We may presume that Timothy was curious about them. Together with Erastus he has done a service there in Macedonia on Paul’s request ( ). In that way Timothy has got the chance to know Erastus better and a relationship may have come into existence. Erastus had a high position as steward in the city of Corinth ( ). Apparently because of the responsibilities of his work he was not allowed to spend more time with Paul. Trophimus comes from Ephesus ( ). He traveled along with Paul from Ephesus ( ) but got sick soon. Paul left him behind in Miletus because his sickness made it impossible for him to travel further. You see that Paul didn’t heal him just like that, although he was able to. He actually had the gift of healing. Paul and Trophimus accepted this sickness from the hand of God. It was not a sickness that had to be punished or something like that. There also is no mention of lack of faith at all with Trophimus to become healthy. If a believer falls sick he can see the hand of the Lord in it and not the hand of the devil. Similarly Job did not accept his disasters and sickness out of the hand of satan, but out of God’s hand ( ). It is possible that a believer falls sick, due to his own fault, incautiousness, possibly even because of a sin ( ). Then a confession has to be made, so that God can give recovery. Believers may also fall sick due to their efforts on behalf of the work of the Lord, like Epaphroditus ( ). The Lord Jesus identifies with His sick brethren, as He identifies with them when they are hungry or thirsty or in prison ( ). Here you clearly see that sickness is not supposed to be automatically associated with sin. The Lord will never identify Himself with sin. He did that once for all on the cross in the three hours of darkness. After that, He never had anything to do with sin, any more than He had anything to do with it before. Therefore don’t ever let yourself be fooled by extremely charismatic Christians that sickness has to be eliminated as a sin. . Paul would love to see Timothy once more before the Lord calls him to be with Him and his earthly service has ended. That he would like to see him before winter also has a practical reason, namely because of his cloak ( ). Then he greets Timothy on behalf of three men and a woman who had visited him and who also know Timothy. Without expressing feelings of disappointment at the attitude of the brethren in Rome, he sends greetings to Timothy from them as well.. . He closes his letter with a personal wish for Timothy and a collective wish for all believers with whom Timothy was together. It is wonderful that the letter ends like that. He wishes Timothy that the Lord will be with his spirit. I hope that also for myself and for you. It implies that you in your life and service for God will continually experience the presence of Christ, the Lord. Don’t let your spirit be occupied with the world and its thinking, not even when you see how the decay is increasing more and more in professing Christianity and you want to do something about it. When we see this then there is nothing more left than wishing one another the awareness of grace. But how great is that! Grace triumphs over each difficulty. Now read 2 Timothy 4:16-22 again. Reflection: What could you learn from the attitude of Paul?

‏ 2 Timothy 4:16-17

Assistance From the Lord and Salutations

2Tim 4:16. This second and also last imprisonment of Paul has been extremely harsh. During his first imprisonment he had a certain liberty to receive people and he could preach and teach unhindered (Acts 28:23 ; 30-31). Now he is alone, imprisoned in a place for which you had to make great efforts to find it (2Tim 1:17).

There was no one with him at his first interrogation, no one who defended him and spoke in his favor. He could defend himself, but still he was in need of some support. But everyone was afraid to be identified with him. That could be damaging, for then other people will know that you are also such a Christian. Paul feels deserted by them, as he did by Demas.

Still he does not blame anyone for anything. He is not filled with resentment and doesn’t ask Timothy what he had asked with regard to Alexander the coppersmith (2Tim 4:15). He doesn’t see them as opponents, although he cannot recognize them as supporters either. They have made his imprisonment more difficult by deserting him. Nevertheless he follows the example of the Lord Jesus, Who prayed: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34). Also like Stephen who also followed the example of the Lord Jesus (Acts 7:60). Here you have examples of how to respond when people do not like you anymore because you testify of the Lord Jesus.

2Tim 4:17. Even if you feel left alone, just like Paul here, you are not alone, just like Paul is not alone here. The Lord wants to assist you and strengthen you. That is what Paul is experiencing. Even though everyone has deserted him, the Lord stands with him (cf. Acts 18:9 ; Acts 23:11). The personal presence of the Lord is the special experience in situations when you lose everything around you because you want to remain faithful to Him. He has “strengthened me” literally means ‘He has poured out strength in me’ or ‘He has given me a power transfusion’ (Phil 4:13). You feel your power being renewed when His presence is a living reality to you, when you expect everything from Him (Isa 40:31).

The Lord does that to make His work to be fully achieved by His servant. As far as Paul is concerned, it refers to his testimony in the courtroom and down to the palace of Caesar. He appealed to Caesar and he was going there. That he was going to make himself to be heard in the palace, regarding his testimony of the Lord Jesus, is a symbol for a testimony toward the whole Western world of which the palace of Caesar is the center.

Only when someone’s duty has come to an end the Lord will allow His servant to be killed by the enemy (cf. Lk 22:53; Jn 7:30 ; Jn 8:20). At Paul’s conversion the Lord announced his duty (Acts 9:15). That’s why He allowed that Paul was being imprisoned. Now he will bear the Name of the Lord Jesus before Gentiles and kings. Everything that the enemy meant evil becomes a testimony, so that the rulers of the earth, they who otherwise would be unreachable, may hear the Word of truth.

That’s why for that moment he “was rescued out of the lion’s mouth”. We are reminded of Daniel in the lions’ den (Dan 6:23). Satan who is rampaging as a roaring lion against Paul to devour him (1Pet 5:8), still does not get the opportunity for that. He is still being controlled by the Lord, through which Paul has been saved from a premature death.

2Tim 4:18. Paul is well aware of the tremendous threat of the lion and his anger to tear him up. But he looks beyond the lion to the Lord. He is assured that as the Lord delivered him from the mouth of the lion, He also will rescue him “from every evil work”.

Satan not only appears like a roaring lion. He can also transform himself into an angel of light (2Cor 11:14). With ‘every evil work’ you may also think of everything that satan wants to whisper to Paul to bring him to a denial of what he has so far held so fearlessly. To achieve that satan may be giving those well intentioned advices through people who find themselves good Christians. Of course these people are sober and do not exacerbate matters like Paul does according to their ‘humble opinion’. Paul is more afraid for such whisperings than for death.

He knows that he is not resistant to that in his own power, but that the Lord will deliver him from it and will preserve him. “Rescue” here means to take out of the danger zone. The Lord takes him out of an area that is full of dangers and then brings him safely to an area where he is fully safe. That area is “His heavenly kingdom”.

His strong and simple faith counts on the Lord until the end. Even if he would fall asleep instead of being changed, he will always continue to look forward to the appearance of the Lord. Paul is looking forward to the heavenly kingdom of the Lord Jesus. That is not the same as what the evangelist Matthew so often calls ‘the kingdom of heaven’. The kingdom of heaven concerns the government of the Lord Jesus over heaven and earth according to heavenly measures. That kingdom consists of a heavenly part and an earthly part. The ‘heavenly kingdom’ is the heavenly part.

Paul looks forward to come together with the Lord Jesus when He will appear to the world. Then he will be one of those saints in whom the Lord Jesus will be glorified and one of those believers in whom the Lord Jesus will be marveled at (2Thes 1:10). He will be like one of those righteous, who “will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Mt 13:43), another name for this ‘heavenly kingdom’. To shine forth as the sun means to shine forth as the Lord Jesus, for He is the Sun (Mal 4:2). It is all about Him. Remembering Him a praise arises out of a cold and stinking prison cell in Rome to the honor of Him Who is worthy of “glory forever and ever”. With a profound ‘amen’ (= that’s true) Paul confirms his trust in the Lord and his praise.

2Tim 4:19. Paul wants Timothy to convey his greetings to Prisca and Aquila, his good friends whom he got acquainted with at Corinth (Acts 18:2). This faithful couple is now at Ephesus. Paul mentions them with feelings of particular gratitude, not only because they are faithful in the service of the Lord (Acts 18:26; 1Cor 16:19), but also because they had made great efforts for him, putting their own lives at risk (Rom 16:3-4). Timothy must also greet the household of Onesiphorus (2Tim 1:16).

2Tim 4:20. Then Paul mentions two names of brothers to inform Timothy about their circumstances. We may presume that Timothy was curious about them. Together with Erastus he has done a service there in Macedonia on Paul’s request (Acts 19:22). In that way Timothy has got the chance to know Erastus better and a relationship may have come into existence. Erastus had a high position as steward in the city of Corinth (Rom 16:23). Apparently because of the responsibilities of his work he was not allowed to spend more time with Paul.

Trophimus comes from Ephesus (Acts 21:29). He traveled along with Paul from Ephesus (Acts 20:4) but got sick soon. Paul left him behind in Miletus because his sickness made it impossible for him to travel further. You see that Paul didn’t heal him just like that, although he was able to. He actually had the gift of healing. Paul and Trophimus accepted this sickness from the hand of God. It was not a sickness that had to be punished or something like that. There also is no mention of lack of faith at all with Trophimus to become healthy.

If a believer falls sick he can see the hand of the Lord in it and not the hand of the devil. Similarly Job did not accept his disasters and sickness out of the hand of satan, but out of God’s hand (Job 2:10).

It is possible that a believer falls sick, due to his own fault, incautiousness, possibly even because of a sin (Jam 5:14-16). Then a confession has to be made, so that God can give recovery. Believers may also fall sick due to their efforts on behalf of the work of the Lord, like Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25-30).

The Lord Jesus identifies with His sick brethren, as He identifies with them when they are hungry or thirsty or in prison (Mt 25:35-40). Here you clearly see that sickness is not supposed to be automatically associated with sin. The Lord will never identify Himself with sin. He did that once for all on the cross in the three hours of darkness. After that, He never had anything to do with sin, any more than He had anything to do with it before. Therefore don’t ever let yourself be fooled by extremely charismatic Christians that sickness has to be eliminated as a sin.

2Tim 4:21. Paul would love to see Timothy once more before the Lord calls him to be with Him and his earthly service has ended. That he would like to see him before winter also has a practical reason, namely because of his cloak (2Tim 4:13).

Then he greets Timothy on behalf of three men and a woman who had visited him and who also know Timothy. Without expressing feelings of disappointment at the attitude of the brethren in Rome, he sends greetings to Timothy from them as well..

2Tim 4:22. He closes his letter with a personal wish for Timothy and a collective wish for all believers with whom Timothy was together. It is wonderful that the letter ends like that. He wishes Timothy that the Lord will be with his spirit. I hope that also for myself and for you.

It implies that you in your life and service for God will continually experience the presence of Christ, the Lord. Don’t let your spirit be occupied with the world and its thinking, not even when you see how the decay is increasing more and more in professing Christianity and you want to do something about it.

When we see this then there is nothing more left than wishing one another the awareness of grace. But how great is that! Grace triumphs over each difficulty.

Now read 2 Timothy 4:16-22 again.

Reflection: What could you learn from the attitude of Paul?