2 Timothy

4:16-18

3. Personal information, commission and greetings, 4:6-22

iv] Paul's continuing confidence in the Lord despite his present difficulties

Paul concludes his second letter to Timothy with a confession, some personal requests, a warning about Alexander the metalworker, a note on the events at his first court hearing and then back to his confession again.

On returning to his confession, v16-18, Paul reports that at his first court hearing he was forced to defend himself alone, v16, but the Lord was with him and enabled him to give a faithful testimony to the gospel and was delivered, at least on that occasion, v17. In the face of these difficulties Paul expresses his sure confidence in his eternal salvation, v18.

en "at" - in, on. Possibly temporal, "during".

prwth/ adj. "first" - first. Presumably referring to Paul's first appearance at court associated with his present arrest and trial, not the first time he was incarcerated in Rome as recorded in Acts, so Kelly, Fee, Dibelius/Conzelmann.

th/ .... apologia/ (a) "defense" - Probably in the sense of legal defence.

paregeneto (paraginomai) aor. "came to [my] support" - came beside, appeared [to/with/by me]. "Stand beside" as in the sense of "support". Possibly used here in a technical sense for a witness coming forward for a prisoner, so Kelly. The use of oudeiV, "no one", and panteV, "all / everyone", expresses the rather sad situation where "everyone without exception deserted" him.

alla "but" - but, and. Coordinative; "At my first appearance in court, no one supported me. Everyone deserted me", Barclay.

egkatelipon (egkataleipw) aor. "deserted" - forsook, abandoned, deserted, left behind.

mh .... logisqeih (logizomai) aor. pas. opt. "may it not be held against [them]" - may it not be calculated, counted, reckoned, placed to the account of. The optative serves to express a wish, here a negative wish. The word carries something of its technical use in commercial language for calculations, costs, debts, etc., so Cranfield, Romans.

de "but" - but, and. Here contrastive, as NIV.

oJ ... kurioV "the Lord" - Probably "the Lord Jesus", but a general "God" is possible.

paresth (paristhmi) aor. "stood at [my] side" - stood beside. "Stand by" in the sense of "come to the aid of."

moi dat. "me" - in / with / by / to me. Dative of direct object following the verb "stand beside".

enedunamwsen (endunamow) aor. "gave [me] strength" - empowered, made strong [me]. "The Lord stood by my side, endowing me with strength", Cassirer.

iJna + subj. "so that" - that. Forming a purpose clause, "in order that." The strengthening of the Lord was for the purpose of enabling Paul to compete his apostolic mission to the Gentiles.

di (dia) + gen. "through [me]" - through, by means of. Instrumental. Emphatic by position.

to khrugma (a atoV) "the message" - the proclamation. In the NT used of the preaching about Christ / the gospel message.

plhroforhqh/ (plhroforew) aor. pas. subj. "might be fully proclaimed" - might be fully set, made. Possibly "to proclaim the message clearly and fully", Phillips, or in a more theological sense of Paul having completed (fulfilled) his assigned task of proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles, see kai below.

kai "and" - and. Treated by the NIV as coordinative, but it could be epexegetic, ie. "through me the message might be fully proclaimed, that is / namely, that all the Gentiles might hear it".

akouswsin (akouw) aor. subj. "might hear it" - [and all the Gentiles] might hear. The panta, "all", is obviously a representative all, and ta eqnh, "the Gentiles / nations", probably excludes Israel. At his trial a representative group of people from the Roman administrative districts heard Paul exposition of the gospel thus fulfilling his mission to take the gospel to "the ends of the earth" = its center, Rome.

kai "and" - Adjunctive, "also"; "the Lord stood by me ..... and also delivered me from the lion's mouth."

ek + gen. "from" - out of, from.

stomatoV leontoV "the lion's mouth" - The imagery is unclear. Is Paul saying he has been literally spared from being thrown to the lions in the Colosseum? Does the image represent Satan, Rome, the Emperor? Knight suggests Paul is drawing on the imagery of Psalm 22:20-21, while Mounce points to the influence of the story of Daniel in the lion's den. It is clear that if the deliverance is of a physical kind, it is but temporary, allowing Timothy time to visit Paul in prison. If the deliverance is spiritual, then the deliverance is from the attack of powers that would tempt Paul to deny his faith - this deliverance is assured, cf. v18.

rJusetai (rJuomai) fut. "will rescue" - will deliver. The word is used of rescuing / delivering from an acute danger.

pantoV adj. "every" - all, every. Either "every", or "each" evil work without exception, cf. Kelly.

ergou ponhrou "evil attack" - evil work. Rescued from what? The NEB has "every attempt to do me harm", ie. every hostile act, but this would surely be too wide an expectation on Paul's part, an expectation unsupported by scripture, unless of course he had received a promise from the Lord to this end. The NEB margin is closer to the mark with "from all that evil can do", obviously in the spiritual sense - as in the Lord's Prayer, "deliver us from evil", ie. every evil power that acts to interfere with a person's place in eternity, so Fee. "God looks after me, keeping me safe in the kingdom of heaven", Peterson.

swsei (swzw) fut. "will bring me safely" - will save. Again the NEB draws out some of the different meanings that this word can convey. "Keep me safe until his heavenly reign begins", expresses the view that Paul is sure that he will be kept alive until the parousia, the coming of Christ and the full realization of the kingdom of God. In his early years as an apostle Paul may have believed that Christ would return during the lifetime of the apostles, but it is unlikely that he holds this view now. So again, the NEB margin is closer to the mark with "and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom", ie. preserve me unto the end - again reflecting the Lord's Prayer. Hanson thinks this verse is "a pious addition by the author ..[and].. is not really in accord with Paul's usage", but such a view is somewhat speculative. Reflecting on a truth in the Lord's Prayer is surely not an impossibility for Paul.

eiV "to" - into. Forming a pregnant construction (a phrase that carries an implied expression), swsei, "will save into" = "will save me and bring me into", Bernard. The object of the action being both inclusion in the kingdom of heaven and deliverance from the world, the flesh and the devil = eternal destruction.

thn basileian aoutou thn epouranion "his heavenly kingdom" - the kingdom of his the heavenly. This is a unique statement in the NT although it is not against NT teaching. The "kingdom" is "his", obviously "Christ's", "kingdom" being all that entails the eternal reign of God. The articular adjective "the heavenly" is obviously attributive, limiting "the kingdom", "the kingdom which is in heaven" = "heavenly kingdom." Paul is simply expressing his hope that he will be preserved "to be at home with the Lord", 2Cor.5:8.

w|/ dat. "to him" - to whom. Referring back to oJ kurioV, "the Lord" = "Christ".

hJ doxa (a) "be praise" - the glory. A statement of praise to God, praise that should extend eiV touV aiwnaV twn aiwnwn "into the ages of the ages" = "for ever". "To him may glory be ascribed for ever and ever", Cassirer.

2 Timothy Introduction

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