The Need for Endurance in Times of Apostasy

INTRODUCTION:

WHO:

Written by Paul to Timothy, his “son” in the Lord. The tradition is that Timothy was killed about the end of the first century, but we can’t be sure. We do know that John became the pastor of the church in Ephesus where Timothy had ministered.
2 Timothy 4:9-12: Timothy, please come as soon as you can. Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus has gone to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.
2 Timothy 4:14: Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm, but the Lord will judge him for what he has done.
2 Timothy 4:16: The first time I was brought before the judge, no one came with me. Everyone abandoned me. May it not be counted against them.
2 Timothy 4:19-21: Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and those living in the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus stayed at Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick at Miletus. Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus sends you greetings, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers and sisters.
2 Timothy 1:15: As you know, everyone from the province of Asia has deserted me—even Phygelus and Hermogenes.
The more personal the letter of Paul, the more often he mentioned personal names. He mentioned 22 in this letter and nine in Philemon.

WHAT:

This is Paul’s last letter before his execution. In many respects, this epistle is his last will and testa-ment. The charges against Paul now, are insurrection against Rome. And as the result, all of Paul’s friends that were with him in Rome, stand also in jeopardy, if Paul is found guilty of these charges, which he was. Paul was found guilty. He was ordered executed by Nero. And he was beheaded by the edict of Nero. But, it meant that those who were with Paul, also stood in imminent danger. Being as-sociates of Paul, they could be considered by the Roman Government as conspirators with Paul, to overthrow the Roman Government. And thus, many of those who were with Paul in Rome, defected. And Paul was left to stand alone against the charges that were being made.
Paul exhorts Timothy to a life of perseverance (2:1-13). He must pass on the faith to other faithful men (2:1-2); endure hardship (2:3-7)—like a good soldier (2:3-4), like an athlete (2:5), like a farmer (2:6); and “remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David; such is my gospel” (2:8, NET).
Paul exhorts him to a life of faithfulness (2:14-26). Timothy must be faithful in his ministry (2:14-19), especially as a craftsman who properly handles “the word of truth” (2:15); and he must be faith-ful in his conduct (2:20-26).
Paul was concerned about the welfare of the churches during this time of persecution under Nero, and he admonishes Timothy to guard the gospel (1:14), to persevere in it (3:14), to keep on preaching it (4:2) and, if necessary, to suffer for it (1:8; 2:3).
All is changed from Paul’s first letter to Timothy. The church has fallen into disorder through the failure of man and heavy persecution. In view of this failure and disorder, the apostle Paul writes to Timothy to encourage, instruct and exhort him in a day of ruin and to warn him that the evil would continue and increase throughout the dispensation, manifesting itself in its worst forms in the last days.
“2 Timothy stands alone from the other six “prison epistles”, marked off as the epistle for days of departure and of individual faithfulness – in a period of apostasy to blindness to the truth of the mys-tery when church order has collapsed. The appeal throughout is to the individual.” – Charles Welch

WHEN:

During Paul’s second imprisonment. After Paul was released from the Roman imprisonment mentioned at the end of the book of Acts, he enjoyed a few more years of liberty until he was re-arrested, and imprisoned in Rome again. Since Nero committed suicide in 68 A.D., Paul would have died a short time earlier. This letter can therefore be dated around 66-67 A.D. He has already gone through a prelimi-nary trial (4:16-18), and the outcome is not promising (4:6). This letter should be dated within weeks of Paul’s actual death, for Paul’s request that Timothy try to come before winter (4:21) would hardly have been uttered in the spring, and could not have been written in the late autumn. Although the precise details are hard to pin down, the chronology goes something like this. At the end of the book of Acts, Paul is under house arrest in Rome but is able to receive guests and to preach to them. At some point he was released and resumed his itinerant ministry. Later he was arrested again, charged with a crime (perhaps treason for asserting the lordship of Christ, which could be twisted to mean an attack on the Roman emperor), and sent to Rome for trial. This time he was tried and condemned to death.

WHERE:

From Paul in prison in Rome to Timothy in Ephesus. Timothy was with Paul in Rome when Paul wrote Colossians. But now, Timothy was evidently in Ephesus when Paul wrote this second epistle to him (2 Timothy 1:16-18; 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:19).
You can go to Rome today and see the place where tradition says Paul was imprisoned. It is a cold dungeon, a cave in the ground, with bare walls and a little hole in the ceiling where food was dropped down. No windows, just a cold, little cell that would have been especially uncomfortable in winter. The Mamertine Prison consists of two gloomy underground cells where Rome’s vanquished enemies were imprisoned and usually died.

WHY:

To be sure Timothy remains faithful and follows in his footsteps with the goal of winning the crown because Paul is nearing his execution. Paul wishes to write to Timothy before he dies. He is suffer-ing in chains, in a cold dungeon (cf. 1:16; 2:9; 4:13). His purpose in writing is really twofold: (1) he is lonely and he wants Timothy to come to Rome (1:4; 4:9, 21), since only Luke is with him (4:11) and no one else could minister to his needs as well as could Timothy (2) since he is about to die, he must encourage Timothy to continue in the work of the ministry. It is now a crime to be a Christian. It is dangerous to be seen with Paul now, and he feels the desertion keenly (2Timothy 1:15ff; 4:10). Only Luke is with Paul (2 Timothy 4:11), and such faithful ones as live in Rome still in hiding (2 Timothy 4:21). The tradition is that Paul, as a Roman citizen, was beheaded on the Ostian Road just outside of Rome. Catholic tradition holds that Paul was buried on the Via Ostiensis, near the site of the modern basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura.

THEME:

Fulfill your ministry in this time of persecution and apostasy!

KEY VERSES:

2 Timothy 2:8: Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead. This is the Good News I preach.
2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
2 Timothy 4:5: But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.
2 Timothy 4:6-8: As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faith-ful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look for-ward to his appearing.

OUTLINE of 2 TIMOTHY

Salutation (1:1-2)
Call to Faithfulness (1:3-18)

Thanksgiving for Timothy (1:3-7)
Call to courage (1:8-12)
Call to guard the truth (1:13-14)
Examples of unfaithfulness and faithfulness (1:15-18)

Challenge to Endurance (2:1-13)

Enduring hardship for Christ (2:1-7)
Christ’s example of endurance (2:8-10)
A faithful saying (2:11-13)

1. Faithfulness in ministry (2:14-19)
2. A clean instrument (2:20-21)
3. Faithfulness in conduct (2:22-26)
Predictions of Faithlessness (3:1-9)
Challenge to Faithful Preaching (3:10-4:8)

Faithfulness in the face of opposition (3:10-13)
Faithfulness to God’s Word (3:14-4:5)
Faithfulness of Paul (4:6-8)

Reminder of God’s Faithfulness in Paul’s Adversity (4:9-18)

Paul’s enemies and friends (4:9-16)
Paul’s deliverance by the Lord (4:17-18)

Final Greetings (4:19-22)

⁽¹⁾ This letter is from Paul, chosen by the *will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I have been **sent out to tell others about the ***life he has promised through faith in Christ Jesus.

*will – Greek = thelema. This was God’s heart desire out of love and foreknowledge, not forced against Paul’s will. God knew Paul’s heart.

1 Timothy 1:16: But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.

At the appointed time, Jesus appeared to Paul and confronted him. Paul finally realized that he was wrong all along, and that Jesus was in fact the Christ foretold by all the prophets. Now Christ commanded him to change the whole course of his life, and commissioned him to be-come an apostle. The will of God was that he would become the most effective and prolific representative of the faith in the early church.

**sent: Apostle literally means “sent one”. The believer who wants to be accounted faithful by the Lord dare not run unsent. He has to be sure that he is in the center of God’s will for his life and purpose.

***life: 1 John 5:11-12: And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

⁽²⁾ I am writing to Timothy, my dear *son. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.

*son – Greek teknon (begotten son). Philippians 2:22: But you know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son with his father, he has served with me in preaching the Good News.

⁽³⁾ Timothy, I thank God for you — the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.

As an elderly man of God, sitting on the cold & damp floor of a Roman dungeon, waiting for his execution, Paul can testify that his conscience accuses him of nothing. So by saying this, Paul is stating that, "It's not because of some sin on my part that I'm locked up like a criminal here. No, it's because of my faithfulness to God that I'm here." He's not saying that he's perfect. He's saying that he has no doubt whatsoever that he's in the very center of God’s Will.

⁽⁴⁾ I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again.

Paul may be referring to the time he left Ephesus, where Timothy was ministering. At that time he had a last word of departure with the church elders before leaving for Jerusalem. When they all came to say goodbye on the beach near Miletus, Acts 20:36-38: "When he had finished speaking, he knelt and prayed with them. They all cried as they embraced and kissed him good-bye. They were sad most of all because he had said that they would never see him again. Then they escorted him down to the ship."

⁽⁵⁾ I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you.

In the Roman world, fathers had absolute authority over the family and the family was expected to practice the husband and father’s religion. But, his mother and grandmother either led him to Jesus or grounded him in the faith! God wants to use parents and grandparents to pass on an eternal leg-acy to their children and grandchildren!

⁽⁶⁾ This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.

Now the Greek words are used in stirring up a fire when you’ve got just the coals and the fire has sort of just dwindled down just to just coals. You stir up the coals and then you put fresh wood on it to bring it into flame again. So Timothy, the gifts that you have, you sort of let them die off into embers. Stir them up! Put fresh fuel on them! Use these gifts that God has given to you that were imparted to you by the laying on of hands.

Was Timothy getting tired of the ministry or was he just so caught up in trying to administer the churches he’d forgotten his primary purpose? Was he getting discouraged? The next verse might imply that he had become fearful and timid about preaching the Word.

⁽⁷⁾ For God has not given us a spirit of *fear and timidity, but of **power, ***love, and ****self-discipline.

*Fear and Timidity: Greek - Deilia. Means “shrinking to the point of cowardice - a shameful fear that comes from a weak and selfish character. In other words, you feel ashamed because of how it af-fects your reputation, your record, your image among your peers and family. So, wouldn’t you be fearful? Paul’s about to be executed, Crazy Nero’s on a tear, using Christians as a scapegoat for his burning down Rome so he could rebuild it the way he wanted it to be. Timothy might be next and perhaps was – no one knows for sure what happened to Timothy! What’s the worst that our enemies can do to us? They can kill us. What happens then? We go to heaven! We win either way. This is similar to Paul’s argument in Philippians 1:21-23. If we live, we live with Christ; if we die, we see Christ face to face, which is far better. So why worry about suffering or even about death itself? What’s the big deal? If we die, we die, and then we live with the Lord forever in heaven. The more recent similar situation was in Nazi Germany where so many pastors were silent, but Dietrich Boen-hoeffer was executed for opposing Hitler. If the radical muslims have their way, we’ll be facing similar persecution and execution.

**Power: Greek – dunamis, from which we get our word “dynamite”: Spiritual, effective and pro-ductive energy. Not the type of energy that tears down and destroys. This is power God supplies so you'll be effective in His service. As Christians, we have the Spirit's supernatural power in us that is infinitely greater than all the shame, humiliation and persecution Satan and this world can throw at us.

***Love: Greek - Agape. The selfless love that desires and works for the best interest of the one loved. It's not an emotional or conditional or carnal love. It's unselfish and focused on others benefit. And it's because of this supernatural love that we can endure the shame and ridicule the unbeliever hurls at us.

****Self-Discipline: Greek - Sophonismos, means a supernaturally secure and sound mind. It also carries the idea of supernatural self-control, disciplined and prioritized mind. In other words, when you're filled and controlled by the Spirit, nothing the world or Satan will throw at you will shake you. You "rise above" it all and triumph gloriously in the Lord's resurrection power.

⁽⁸⁾ So never be *ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News.

*Ashamed: in verses 8 (twice), 12 and 16; so, a key part of this chapter!

Timothy might be ashamed of being a follower of a “criminal” about to be executed, just as Jesus was also executed by the state. With his natural shy, withdrawn nature, he might avoid proclaiming Christ and might be unwilling to suffer.

Luke 9:26: If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.

⁽⁹⁾ For God saved us and called us to *live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.

We are not saved by a holy life, but called to a holy life.

After He saves us, He expects us to live right. But, note the order:

Ephesians 2:8-10: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

⁽¹⁰⁾ And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of *death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.

*Death:

Not even Nero’s threat of death deters Paul because death no longer has any power over him. He knows he has accomplished what God had chosen for him.
Of all the fears that grip the hearts of modern men and women, no fear is greater than the fear of death. If death has been destroyed, someone forgot to tell the undertakers. People still die every day. If death has been abolished, why do we still die? We die because of sin. Romans 5:12 tells us that death came to the world because of Adam’s sin. But, one day, death will die!
Here is the final proof that the power of death has been broken. When Jesus rose from the dead, he left the door to the tomb wide open. That means we won’t have to fight our way out of the grave when he calls us to wake up. He left the door open 2000 years ago. That is God’s guarantee that even though we die, we won’t stay dead forever.
John 11:26: Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
Job 14:14: Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death.
1 Corinthians 15:26: And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

⁽¹¹⁾ And God chose me to be a preacher, an *apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.

=1 Timothy 2:7: And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I’m not exaggerating—just telling the truth.

*apostle: We are here as His representative, our Lord’s representative, his ambassadors. We are His representatives to the world around us of the heavenly kingdom and of the glories of that heavenly kingdom.

⁽¹²⁾ That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to *guard what I have **entrusted to him until the ***day of his return.

*guard: What is Paul talking about? What did he "entrust to him" for God to keep a "guard" over? His very life and service. When you give your life over to God, you "entrust" it "to him". When you offer Him your time, strength, money, service and your abilities out of love and devotion for Him, He takes it very seriously. He keeps count of it. It's all recorded in His books. And He won't forget it. He misses nothing of it. It's not in vain. And you can be sure of His reward "on that day".

**entrusted: This is a word for a deposit in trust. You go down to the bank. You open up a savings account and you deposit money into that savings account, trusting that the bank will be faithful in paying you interest and when you need the money, you can go collect it. That’s the idea of the Greek word, something that has been entrusted in faith. What has Paul entrusted to the Lord? His life. I’ve committed my life to Him. I’m not ashamed of the gospel. I know in whom I have believed.

***day: What "day"? The day when we appear before His Judgment Seat. Not to account for our sins, but to account for our service since the beginning of our Christian lives.

Romans 14:10: So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

2 Timothy 4:8: And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

2 Corinthians 5:10: For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

1 Corinthians 3:13-15: But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

⁽¹³⁾ Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.

The pattern of wholesome teaching (sound words) suggests that true teaching, according to God's truth, has a certain "pattern" to it - a pattern that can be detected by the discerning heart.

⁽¹⁴⁾ Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.

⁽¹⁵⁾ As you know, everyone from the province of Asia has deserted me—even Phygelus and Hermogenes.

No one was willing to risk standing before Nero as character witnesses or to defend him. They thought it would be too dangerous! Can you blame them?

⁽¹⁶⁾ May the Lord show special kindness to *Onesiphorus and all his family because he often visited and en-couraged me. He was never ashamed of me because I was in chains.

When Paul was arrested in Asia Minor, no one came to his aid (1:15)—since they apparently were ashamed of his imprisonment. And when he got to Rome, he was locked up and kept out of circulation so that only with difficulty could he be found (1:16-17). But one man, Onesiphorus, was faithful and searched until he found Paul.

*Onesiphorus: We don't know much about Onesiphorus, other than that his home town was where Timothy was right then, because at the end of the letter, Paul asks Timothy to greet Onesiphorus' household. Onesiphorus lived up to the meaning of his name, which means "help-bringer."

⁽¹⁷⁾ When he came to Rome, he searched everywhere until he found me.

This would have been extremely risky. He not only had to ask Christians in Rome, but probably the authorities who might have decided to imprison him too.

⁽¹⁸⁾ May the Lord show him special kindness on the day of Christ’s return. And you know very well how helpful he was in Ephesus.

NOTE:

Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation.

Sources and References are on-line at: http://2timothy-study.blogspot.com/2011/03/2-timothy-references.html

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