2 Timothy 4:17
Ver. 17. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me,.... Either personally appearing to him, as in Ac 23:11 or by the ministry of an angel, Ac 27:23 or else by granting him his gracious presence, which was what Christ had not when he was forsaken by his disciples: the presence of God or Christ is more than all friends whatever, and is often enjoyed by the believer, when they drop him; and is a bulwark against all enemies and fears of them; if God is with him, and on his side, though friends fail, and enemies rage, he has nothing to fear:and strengthened me; inwardly with strength in his soul, with might in his inward man, unto all longsuffering with joyfulness: he was weak in himself, and could do nothing without Christ; Christ was his strength, in him it lay, and to him he looked for it; of which he often had experience, and now afresh; he strengthened him to plead his own cause, to make his defence without fear; he gave him presence of mind, boldness, courage, and intrepidity, freedom of thought and expression; and put it into his heart what he should say, and gave him a mouth and wisdom, which his adversaries could not resist. All which he takes notice of with thankfulness, admiring the divine goodness to him, and taking nothing to himself: and the end of this was,that by me the preaching might be fully known; that is, that the doctrine of the Gospel, preached by him, might be made fully known by him; as to the author and original of it, to be of God, and not of men; and as to the matter of it, to be spiritual, and not concerning the things of the world; and as to the effects and consequences of it, to have no tendency to raise sedition and disturbances in commonwealths, but, on the contrary, promote peace and love:and that all the Gentiles might hear; in Caesar's palace, or in the courts of judicature at Rome, and all over Rome, and from thence in other parts of the empire, what a Gospel it was that was preached by the apostle; and if not by his personal ministry, at least by his epistles he afterwards wrote in prison: however, the effect of his defence, the Lord being with him, and strengthening him, was his deliverance:and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion; from death he was threatened with, which, like a lion, gaped upon him to devour him; or from Satan the roaring lion, who desired to have had him, and sought to have intimidated him, and brought him to have denied his Lord, to have deserted his cause, and blasphemed his name; or else from Nero the Roman emperor, so called from his power and fierceness. So Tiberius is called by Marsyas, Agrippa's freeman, when he brought the news of his death to his master {g}; and Ahasuerus by Esther {h}; and Nero himself is called a civil beast by Apollonius Tyanaeus {i}; though some think that not Nero, but Helius, whom he had appointed governor in his room, he being at this time in Greece, is here meant, before whom Paul was tried, and out of whose hands he was delivered.{g} Joseph. Antiqu. l. 18. c. 7. sect. 10. {h} Apocryph."Give me eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion: turn his heart to hate him that fighteth against us, that there may be an end of him, and of all that are likeminded to him:'' (Esther 14:13){i} Philostrat. Vit. Apollon. l. 4. c. 12. 2 Timothy 4:18Ver. 18. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work,.... From wicked and unreasonable men, and all their attempts upon him, and from all afflictions by them; not but that he expected afflictions as long as he was in the world, but he knew that God would support him under them; and in his own time and way deliver out of them; and at last entirely by death, when he should be no more attended with them; and from all the temptations of Satan, and his evil designs upon him, and from sin and iniquity; not that he expected to live free of Satan's temptations, or without sin, but he believed that he should be kept from sinking under the former, and from being under the dominion of the latter; and should not be left to deny his Lord, desert his cause, blaspheme his name, and apostatize from him:and will preserve [me] unto his heavenly kingdom, the ultimate glory and happiness of the saints in heaven; so called, both because of its nature and place, and to distinguish it from the church, which is Christ's kingdom in this world, though it is not of it; and from his personal reign with his saints on earth, for the space of a thousand years; whereas this will be for ever: and unto this the apostle believed he should be preserved, as all the saints will be, notwithstanding the persecutions of the world, the temptations of Satan, and their own corruptions; for they are secured in an everlasting covenant, and in the hands of Christ; and have not only angels to encamp about them, and salvation, as walls and bulwarks to them, but God himself is a wall of fire around them, and they are kept by his power unto salvation: and besides, this heavenly kingdom is prepared for them, and given to them; they are chosen to be heirs and possessors of it; they are called unto it, and Christ is gone to receive it in their name, to prepare it for them, and will come again and introduce them into it:to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen: of the present deliverance, and of all others he had, or should receive, as well as of the provision of the heavenly kingdom for him, and of his preservation to it. 2 Timothy 4:19Ver. 19. Salute Prisca and Aquila,.... The same with Priscilla and Aquila: and so the Complutensian edition, and some copies, read here; who were of the same occupation with the apostle, and with whom he wrought at Corinth, and whom he left at Ephesus; and who seem by this salutation to have continued there, Ac 18:2.And the household of Onesiphorus: who also lived at Ephesus, and whose kindness to the apostle, when he was at Rome, is before mentioned, 2Ti 1:16. 2 Timothy 4:20Ver. 20. Erastus abode at Corinth,.... He was chamberlain of that city, Ro 16:23 who being sent along with Timothy into Macedonia, Ac 19:22 very probably went from thence into Achaia, to Corinth, his native place, where he stayed.But Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. Trophimus was an Asian, of the city of Ephesus, the same that is spoken of in Ac 20:4. Some say he suffered martyrdom the same day the Apostle Paul did; but others say, that after that time he was bishop of Arles in France. This man went with the apostle into Asia, and from thence to Jerusalem, and came along with him in his voyage to Rome, but falling sick by the way, was left at Miletum. Some, instead of Miletum, would read Melita, that being the island Paul, and the ship's company, escaped to, when they were shipwrecked, Ac 28:1 here it is supposed Trophimus was left sick. Others have observed, that there was a city called Miletus in the island of Crete, under which Paul sailed, Ac 27:7, see footnote {j}, and is the place intended; but there is no need to suppose either of these; no doubt Miletum, near to Ephesus, is meant; and as the apostle sailed by the coast of Asia, Ac 27:7, on which shore Miletum was, there is no difficulty in supposing him put ashore there. The Alexandrian copy reads "Melotus".{j} Plin. l. 4. c. 12. 2 Timothy 4:21Ver. 21. Do thy diligence to come before winter,.... When travelling would not be so safe and comfortable: the apostle consults Timothy's good, as well as his own advantage.Eubulus greeteth thee. Eusebius {k} makes mention of one of this name of Manganaea, who suffered martyrdom with one Adrian at Caesarea; but he cannot be thought to be the same with this, since he suffered in the times of Dioclesian.And Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia; the first of these is said to be a person of note at Rome, and of the senatorial order, and the father of two pious virgins, Praxis and Pudentiana. He is put among the seventy disciples; See Gill on "Lu 10:1". Mention is made by Pliny the younger {l}, of Servilius Pudens, a Roman; and Martial, a poet of those times, speaks {m} of the marriage of Pudens and Claudia, and of Aulus Pudens. Linus is said to be the first bishop of Rome after the martyrdom of Peter and Paul {n}. Though some will have it, that he was bishop of Rome in the time of Peter, and that he and one Cletus were co-pastors with Peter; and Platina, who wrote the "Lives of the Popes", first makes Peter to consecrate Clement his successor, and to commend the chair, and the church of God, to him, and yet afterwards places Linus, and not Clement, as his immediate successor; yea, puts Cletus also before Clement; so much are the Papists at a loss about, and so little account can they give of the boasted succession of their popes from Peter, that they are not agreed about his immediate successor. This Linus is said to be born at Volterra in Tuscany, and to be of the family of the Moors, whose father was one Herculaneus, who sent him at twenty two years of age to Rome, for the sake of his studies; at which time, as is pretended, Peter came thither, by whom he was converted, and with whom he continued as a fellow helper in the Gospel. He is moreover said to be bishop of Rome ten years, (Platina says eleven,) three months, and twelve days, and to have suffered martyrdom under Saturninus the consul, whose daughter he had delivered from a diabolical possession, and was buried in the Vatican. He is reckoned among the seventy disciples of Christ, but very wrongly;See Gill on "Lu 10:1". The name is a Latin one, and is often mentioned by Martial the poet. And Claudia is the name of a woman, very likely of considerable note. Some think she was the wife of Pudens, the same Martial speaks of, and is said to be a Briton.And all the brethren: that is, of the church of Rome, these all sent greeting to Timothy.{k} Eccl. Hist. l. 8. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 11. {l} L. 10. ep. 10. {m} Epigram. l. 4. ep. 10. 23. 1. 6. ep. 45. l. 7. ep. 10. {n} Iren. adv. Haeres. l. 3. c. 3. Euseb. Ec. Hist. l. 3. c. 2, 4. & l. 5. c. 6. 2 Timothy 4:22Ver. 22. The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit,.... To counsel and advise in every difficult matter; to comfort under every distress; to supply with all grace in every time of need; and to strengthen and fit for every part and branch of duty.Grace be with you, Amen: which is the apostle's common salutation in all epistles. The Syriac version renders it, "grace be with thee"; but the Greek copies read in the plural, "with you"; which shows that the epistle was designed for the use of the whole church, as well as of Timothy. The subscription follows, which is not in many ancient copies, and is not to be depended on.The second epistle unto Timotheus; so far is right; this is certainly the second epistle to Timothy:ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians: this is omitted in the Syriac version; nor is it likely, much less certain, that he ever was bishop of Ephesus, or ordained as a bishop of any place, but was rather an evangelist, 2Ti 4:5,was written from Rome: this is evident from his being a prisoner when he wrote it, 2Ti 1:8. And yet in the Alexandrian copy it is said to be written from Laodicea:when Paul was brought before Nero the second time; but whether he was before Nero at all is a question, or only before a Roman governor or judge.