TO MY SON

An Expositional Study of II Timothy

by

GUY H. KING

CHRISTIAN LITERATURE CRUSADE Fort Washington, Pennsylvania

CHAPTER ONE -

THE PERSONS CONCERNED

II Timothy 1:1-2

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which

is in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and

Christ Jesus our Lord.

THE portion of Scripture upon whose study we now set forth is one of the most moving in the

whole of the Bible.

Taking its cue from the words of our verse 2, "Timothy, my dearly beloved son," there is a

paternal touch about the whole Epistle, which justifies us, I think, in entitling our study as we

have done. It is a farewell letter at that.

I need not remind you that it was written from prison. Paul had a considerable experience of such

places - at Philippi, at Caesarea, at Jerusalem, and at Rome. It was the Romans who imprisoned

him, it was the Jews who brought about his arrest; but never does he describe himself as a

prisoner of Jews or of Romans; always it is "the prisoner of Jesus Christ".

It was for his loyalty to the MASTER that he was incarcerated; and therefore there was no shame

about it - but only a glorying in it. One of the longest "stretches" that he ever did was his first

imprisonment at Rome, described for us in the two closing verses of the Book of Acts. That was

a very lenient experience, as we know.

Throughout the whole of the two years his friends were allowed to come and go as they pleased,

and he was able to exercise a very considerable ministry. Our point at the moment is that he

wrote some of his most remarkable letters in that prison - Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,

Philemon.

But all that was, perhaps, six years ago. Much has happened since. He was eventually released,

and no doubt proceeded once more on his missionary tours. We have no precise record of his

wanderings and doings at that period; but there is every likelihood of his having fulfilled the

wishes and intentions that we find scattered about his various Letters, by visiting the places

mentioned. Ephesus, Macedonia, Nicopolis, Crete, Miletus, Troas, Spain - these were probably

amongst the many places where he worked, and some would say that he came even to Britain.

That notion is not to be too lightly dismissed, for there are not a few pointers in that direction, as

Miss Strode-Jackson shows in her fascinating book, Lives and Legends of Apostles and

Evangelists.

At Ephesus, where he had previously laboured so long, he would find quite a company of

believers; and he seems now to have coordinated the work, and to have left Timothy in charge as

Pastor and (though not in our modern development of the office) as Bishop. The same sort of

thing appears to have taken place at Crete, where another of the apostle's Young Men was left in

command, in the person of Titus.

It was to give them guidance for the proper exercise of their responsible duties that Paul wrote

the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus, which, with this II Timothy, are known as

the Pastoral Epistles, or Letters to Pastors.

Then, all of a sudden, Paul was re-arrested. Things were not all that they should be in the Roman

Empire, and she had come to be nervously on edge - fearful of secret societies, and so forth.

Among these latter would be the little companies of Christians, meeting in private houses; and

we may be quite sure that the Jews did not fail to stir up bitter feeling, and to stoke up the fires of

fear, against the Christians.

So "the followers of the Nazarene" came to be disliked in many quarters, and it only wanted a

match to set everything ablaze. That "match", in an almost literal sense, came from the Emperor

Nero himself. In his madness, he set fire to his capital city of Rome, and then, in order to screen

himself, he blamed the Christians, giving it out that they were guilty of the crime.

It is not difficult to imagine the outburst of fury against these already suspected and unpopular

people. A great wave of persecution broke forth, in the midst of which that intrepid leader of the

Christians, Paul himself, was borne back to prison, to the triumphant glee of his enemies. This

time it was to be, not the lenient experience of his former Roman detention, but the far more

stringent experience of the rigour and squalor of the county jail.

This is for him the end - and he knows it; yet he is calm enough. He had wanted to "go" before,

since that would have been "to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better",

(Philippians 1:23). His only wish for life was that perhaps he was in some sense "needful" to his

brethren. If now that need has been discharged, if now he has finished his course, he is not sad,

but glad - his heart is at peace.

Yet, as he thinks things over, he quite naturally dwells upon the little Christian communities that

he will be leaving behind. How will they fare? And their leaders - how will they acquit

themselves?

Young Timothy, for instance, charged with the oversight of the believing companies of Ephesus,

with all the extra responsibilities and perplexities arising out of the new persecution, how will he

discharge his functions?

(a) He is only young - round about thirty-six, shall we say; and that is no age for such a task as

his.

(b) He is decidedly delicate - a year earlier, in his first letter (v. 23) Paul had counselled him,

"Use

a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities," Not, you will observe, for

sociability's sake, or for your thirst's sake; and, not a lot, but only a little. It reminds me more of

the medicine bottle than of the wine bottle! But how will his health stand the strain?

(c) He is rather timid - yet, like so many such, capable of utmost daring when the crisis comes.

Still, the dangers will be very great, and there is the risk of collapse.

(d) He is evidently dependent - the sort that leans very much on others. Paul is his prop, as well

as his hero. He is the type that makes a splendid follower, but is normally not likely to shine as a

leader - yet he has got to lead. He is all right so long as he can turn for advice and help to his

spiritual father; but now that Paul is imprisoned and un-get-at-able, he will be feeling very lonely

and very lost.

How well able is our GOD to overrule all these personal weaknesses, and to make Timothy, as

we believe He did, "a good soldier of JESUS CHRIST," ready to "endure hardness" in the

Great Campaign (2:3).

Well, Paul will send him a letter, to cheer and to encourage him - a letter that, so far as we know,

turns out to be the last that he ever wrote.

"Only Luke is with me," says Paul in 4:11, so presumably it was to Dr. Luke that the letter was

dictated. He would have this especial interest - acting as his Leader's amanuensis on this

occasion, that he too knew Timothy well, and, as the physician of the party when they travelled

about together, doubtless prescribed for the young man's ailments. Yes - like Paul, Luke would

have a soft spot in his heart for Timothy, and would be only too glad to "take down" and to

transcribe this great communication for him.

Just at the moment we are concerned with the opening passages which, as we have said, describe

the persons concerned.

In the course of the whole Epistle no less than twenty-nine people are mentioned by name; and

here, in these first two verses, we have the three who are the principal concern of the letter; and

first there is

THE OLD MAN WHO IS THE WRITER

"Paul the aged" is his own description of himself in Philemon 9.

That was written six years before this, when Paul was only just turned sixty; and unless, as some

think, the word should be "the ambassador", we are presented to a man old before his time. He

had always lived at a great pace, never sparing himself, always putting everything into

everything. It was with him as it was with his MASTER, of whom the Jews said (John 8:57):

"Thou art not yet fifty years old," when He was only just over thirty!

So he commences to dictate, "Paul" - for, unlike ourselves, the Eastern letter-writer always

began with his name.

(a) The use of his name serves several purposes. It reminds us, for one thing, that the letter is a

human document. When the HOLY SPIRIT, according to 2 Peter 1:21, "moved" the "holy men

of God" to write the Holy Scriptures, His method of inspiration was of such a nature that it did