King James Version
2 Timothy 4
22 verses with commentary
Preach the Word
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.</strong> Paul begins his final, solemn charge to Timothy. "I charge thee" (<em>diamartyromai</em>, διαμαρτύρομαι) means solemnly testify, adjure, command with utmost seriousness. "Therefore" (<em>oun</em>, οὖν) connects to chapter 3—because Scripture is Go...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
**IV.**
(1) **I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.**—The parchment, or papyrus, in the prison room of St. Paul on which, probably, Luke (2Timothy 4:11), the faithful friend, was writing to the Apostle’s dictation, was nearly filled up. What has still to be said to the chief presbyter of the Church of Ephesus must be brief. But St. Paul would have the last words introduced...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. Remember, &c.--**confuting those who represent Paul as having labored under error as to Christ's immediate coming when writing his first Epistle, and as now correcting that error.
**I told you--**more than once, literally, "I was telling," or "used to tell."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.</strong> Paul's charge crystallizes into specific commands. "Preach the word" (<em>kēryxon ton logon</em>, κήρυξον τὸν λόγον). <em>Kēryssō</em> (κηρύσσω) means herald, proclaim publicly, announce with authority. "The word" (<em>ton logon</em>, τὸν λόγον) with definite article ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Preach the word.**—The language of the original here is abrupt and emphatic, written evidently under strong emotion and with intense earnestness. St. Paul charged his friend and successor with awful solemnity, as we have seen, “preach,” or proclaim. loudly and publicly, as a herald would announce the accession of his king. The exact opposite to what St. Paul would urge on Timothy is describe...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. now ye know--**by my having told you. The power must have been one "known" to the Thessalonians.
**what withholdeth--**that which holds him back; "keeps him in check": the power that has restrained the man of sin from his full and final development, is the moral and conservative influence of political states [Olshausen]: the fabric of human polity as a coercive power; as "he who now letteth...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.</strong> Paul explains why faithful preaching is urgent. "For the time will come" (<em>estai gar kairos</em>, ἔσται γὰρ καιρός)—future tense prophesies coming apostasy. "When they will not endure sound doctrine" (<em>hote tēs hygiainousēs d...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.**—Timothy must bear in mind that things in the Church of Christ on earth will not change for the better. The great drag-net of the Church, in its wide sweep, would keep drawing into its meshes something of every kind. Errors now just apparent, he must remember, would attain more formidable dimensions. The thirst for novelties i...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. the mystery of iniquity--**the counterwork to "the mystery of godliness" (1Ti 3:16). Anti-Christianity latently working, as distinguished from its final open manifestation. "Mystery" in Scripture means, not what remains always a secret, but that which is for a while hidden, but in due time manifested (compare Ep 3:4, 5). Satan will resort to a mode of opposition more conformed to the then imm...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.</strong> Paul describes apostasy's progression. "They shall turn away their ears from the truth" (<em>kai apo men tēs alētheias tēn akoēn apostrepsousin</em>, καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν ἀκοὴν ἀποστρέψουσιν). <em>Apostrephō</em> (ἀποστρέφω) means turn away from, reject, avoid. This is active rebellion, no...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **And they shall turn away their ears from the truth.**—This was the punishment of those who would only listen to what was pleasing to them, and which flattered instead of reproved their way of life. They became involved in the many various errors in doctrine which were then taught in the schools of the heretics, and they ended by turning away from every Christian truth. On the “fables” which ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. Translate, "the lawless one"; the embodiment of all the godless "lawlessness" which has been working in "mystery" for ages (2Th 2:7): "the man of sin" (2Th 2:3).
**whom the Lord--**Some of the oldest manuscripts read, "the Lord Jesus." How awful that He whose very name means God-Saviour, should appear as the Destroyer; but the salvation of the Church requires the destruction of her foe. As th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. make: or, fulfil
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.</strong> Against the backdrop of coming apostasy, Paul commands Timothy's faithfulness. "But watch thou" (<em>sy de nēphe</em>, σὺ δὲ νῆφε)—sharp contrast, "you, however." <em>Nēphō</em> (νήφω) means be sober, alert, vigilant—opposite of intoxication or drowsy carelessness. "In ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **But watch thou in all things.**—“But do thou,” continued St. Paul, “do thou be watchful.” The Greek word translated “watch thou,” signifies literally, *be sober.* It has been well paraphrased, “Keep thy coolness and presence of mind, that thou be not entrapped into forgetfulness, but as one ever wakeful and ready, be on the watch.” The word, as it were, sums up all those last directions of S...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. whose coming--**The same Greek as was used for the Lord's coming (2Th 2:8) or personal "presence."
**is--**in its essential character.
**after--**according to the working ("energy") of Satan, as opposed to the energy or working of the Holy Spirit in the Church (see on Ep 1:19). As Christ is related to God, so is Antichrist to Satan, his visible embodiment and manifestation: Satan works th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →Paul's Final Testimony
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.</strong> Paul explains the urgency behind his charge—his life is ending. "For I am now ready to be offered" (<em>egō gar ēdē spendomai</em>, ἐγὼ γὰρ ἤδη σπένδομαι). <em>Spendō</em> (σπένδω) means pour out as drink offering—sacrificial language from Levitical worship where wine was poured out on altar (Numbers 15:1-1...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **For I am now ready to be offered.**—What, in the Philippian Epistle (Philippians 2:17), was alluded to as a contingency likely enough to happen here is spoken of as something which was then absolutely taking place. In his first imprisonment at Rome St. Paul looked on to a martyr’s death as probable. In his second captivity at Rome he writes of the martyrdom as already beginning. The more acc...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. deceivableness--**rather as Greek, "deceit of (to promote) unrighteousness" (2Th 2:12).
**in--**The oldest manuscripts and versions omit "in." Translate, "unto them that are perishing" (2Co 2:15, 16; 4:3): the victims of him whose very name describes his perishing nature, "the son of perdition"; in contrast to you whom (2Th 2:13) "God hath from the beginning chosen to salvation through san...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.</strong> Paul's famous testimony uses three metaphors summarizing his life. First, "I have fought a good fight" (<em>ton agōna ton kalon ēgōnismai</em>, τὸν ἀγῶνα τὸν καλὸν ἠγώνισμαι). <em>Agōn</em> (ἀγών) means contest, struggle, fight—from which we get "agony." <em>Agōnizomai</em> (ἀγωνίζομαι) means compete, st...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **I have fought a good fight.**—More accurately, more forcibly rendered, *the good fight.* St. Paul changes the metaphor, and adopts his old favourite one, so familiar to all Gentile readers, of the athlete contending in the games. First, he speaks generally of the combatant, the charioteer, and the runner. “I have fought the good fight,” leaving it undetermined what description of strife or c...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. for this cause--**because "they received not the love of the truth." The best safeguard against error is "the love of the truth."
**shall send--**Greek, "sends," or "is sending"; the "delusion" is already beginning. God judicially sends hardness of heart on those who have rejected the truth, and gives them up in righteous judgment to Satan's delusions (Is 6:9, 10; Ro 1:24-26, 28). They fir...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.</strong> Having declared completion, Paul anticipates reward. "Henceforth there is laid up for me" (<em>loipon apokeitai moi</em>, λοιπὸν ἀπόκειταί μοι). <em>Loipon</em> (λοιπόν) means henceforth, fr...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **A crown of righteousness.**—More accurately rendered, *the crown of righteousness.* St. Paul, after speaking calmly of death, the bitterness of which he was already tasting, looks on beyond death, and speaks of the crown which awaited him. The crown was the victory prize which the “good fight” of 2Timothy 4:7 had won. It is called “the crown of righteousness,” it being the crown to which rig...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. they all ... damned--**rather as Greek, "that all," &c. He here states the general proposition which applies specially to Antichrist's adherents. Not all in the Church of Rome, or other anti-Christian systems, shall be damned, but only "all who believed not the truth," when offered to them, "but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (Ro 1:32; 2:8). Love of unrighteousness being the great obst...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →Personal Instructions
Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me.</strong> After theological instruction, Paul makes personal request: "Do thy diligence" (<em>spoudason</em>, σπούδασον) means make every effort, be zealous, hurry. "To come shortly unto me" (<em>elthein pros me tacheōs</em>, ἐλθεῖν πρός με ταχέως). <em>Tacheōs</em> (ταχέως) means quickly, soon—Paul's time is short. This poignant request reveals Pau...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Do thy diligence to come shortly.**—Such a request as this would—had we no other arguments—tell us that no forger ever wrote this Epistle. Who would ever have dreamed of putting into the letter such a request as this, *after* those solemn expressions of the last few verses, in which the Apostle spoke of himself as even *then* tasting the bitterness of death? He had been writing as though the...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. But--**In delightful contrast to the damnation of the lost (2Th 2:12) stands the "salvation" of Paul's converts.
**are bound--**in duty (2Th 1:3).
**thanks ... to God--**not to ourselves, your ministers, nor to you, our converts.
**beloved of the Lord--**Jesus (Ro 8:37; Ga 2:20; Ep 5:2, 25). Elsewhere God the Father is said to love us (2Th 2:16; Joh 3:16; Ep 2:4; Col 3:12). Therefore J...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-12**
We should notice in others what is good, to their praise, that we may engage them to abound therein more and more. All who are savingly taught of God, are taught to love one another. The teaching of the Spirit exceeds the teachings of men; and men's teaching is vain and useless, unless God teach. Those remarkable for this or any other grace, need to increase therein, as well as...
Read full commentary →For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.</strong> Paul explains his loneliness. "Demas hath forsaken me" (<em>Dēmas gar me enkatelipen</em>, Δημᾶς γάρ με ἐγκατέλιπεν). <em>Enkatalepō</em> (ἐγκαταλείπω) means abandon, desert, leave behind—same word Christ quotes from Psalm 22:1 on the cross ("Wh...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **For Demas hath forsaken me.**—This once faithful companion of St. Paul had been with him during the first imprisonment of the Apostle at Rome (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 1:24); but now, terrified by the greater severity and the threatened fatal ending of the second imprisonment, had forsaken his old master.
**Having loved this present** **world.**—Chrysostom paraphrases as follows: “Having l...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. you--**The oldest manuscripts read, "us."
**by our gospel--**"through" the Gospel which we preach.
**to ... glory--**In 2Th 2:13 it was "salvation," that is, deliverance from all evil, of body and soul (1Th 5:9); here it is positive good, even "glory," and that "the glory of our Lord Jesus" Himself, which believers are privileged to share with Him (Joh 17:22, 24; Ro 8:17, 29; 2Ti 2:10).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-12**
We should notice in others what is good, to their praise, that we may engage them to abound therein more and more. All who are savingly taught of God, are taught to love one another. The teaching of the Spirit exceeds the teachings of men; and men's teaching is vain and useless, unless God teach. Those remarkable for this or any other grace, need to increase therein, as well as...
Read full commentary →Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.</strong> After listing those who left, Paul identifies his sole companion: "Only Luke is with me" (<em>Loukas estin monos met' emou</em>, Λουκᾶς ἐστιν μόνος μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ). Luke, the beloved physician and Gospel author (Colossians 4:14), remained faithful through Paul's final imprisonment. <e...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Only Luke is with me.**—The “writer” of the Third Gospel, the Gospel which, as has been stated above, was very possibly the work of St. Paul—“my Gospel.” Luke, “the beloved physician” of Colossians 4:14, of all St. Paul’s companions, seems to have been most closely associated with the Apostle. Most likely this close intimacy and long-continued association was owing to the Apostle’s weak and...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. Therefore--**God's sovereign choice of believers, so far from being a ground for inaction on their part, is the strongest incentive to action and perseverance in it. Compare the argument, Php 2:12, 13, "Work out your own salvation, FOR it is God which worketh in you," &c. We cannot fully explain this in theory; but to the sincere and humble, the practical acting on the principle is plain...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-12**
We should notice in others what is good, to their praise, that we may engage them to abound therein more and more. All who are savingly taught of God, are taught to love one another. The teaching of the Spirit exceeds the teachings of men; and men's teaching is vain and useless, unless God teach. Those remarkable for this or any other grace, need to increase therein, as well as...
Read full commentary →And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.</strong> Paul mentions another coworker: "Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus" (<em>Tychikon de apesteila eis Epheson</em>, Τυχικὸν δὲ ἀπέστειλα εἰς Ἔφεσον). <em>Apostellō</em> (ἀποστέλλω) means send as messenger or representative—apostolic sending. Tychicus, Paul's faithful associate (Acts 20:4, Ephesians 6:21-22, Colossians 4:7-9, Titus 3:12), apparently ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **And Tychicus** **have I sent to Ephesus.**—Instead of “and,” the Greek particle here should be rendered “but Tychicus.” “This ‘but’ appears to refer to a suppressed thought, suggested by the concluding portion of the last (11th) verse: bring Mark. I need one who is profitable (or *serviceable*) for the ministry. I had one in Tychicus, *but* he is gone” (Ellicott). Neither the period of Tych...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16-17. himself--**by His own might, as contrasted with our feebleness; ensuring the efficacy of our prayer. Here our Lord Jesus stands first; in 1Th 3:11, "God our Father."
**which ... loved us--**in the work of our redemption. Referring both to our Lord Jesus (Ro 8:37; Ga 2:20) and God our Father (Joh 3:16).
**everlasting consolation--**not transitory, as worldly consolations in trials (Ro ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 9-12**
We should notice in others what is good, to their praise, that we may engage them to abound therein more and more. All who are savingly taught of God, are taught to love one another. The teaching of the Spirit exceeds the teachings of men; and men's teaching is vain and useless, unless God teach. Those remarkable for this or any other grace, need to increase therein, as well as...
Read full commentary →The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.</strong> Paul makes practical requests revealing his humanity. "The cloke" (<em>ton phailonēn</em>, τὸν φαιλόνην) refers to a heavy outer garment for cold weather—think winter coat. He left it at Troas with Carpus (otherwise unknown believer) probably during hasty de...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **The cloke that I left** **at Troas.**—The apparently trivial nature of this request in an Epistle containing such weighty matter, and also the fact of such a wish on the part of one expecting death being made at all, is at first a little puzzling. To explain this seemingly strange request, some have wished to understand by “the cloke” some garment St. Paul was in the habit of wearing when p...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16-17. himself--**by His own might, as contrasted with our feebleness; ensuring the efficacy of our prayer. Here our Lord Jesus stands first; in 1Th 3:11, "God our Father."
**which ... loved us--**in the work of our redemption. Referring both to our Lord Jesus (Ro 8:37; Ga 2:20) and God our Father (Joh 3:16).
**everlasting consolation--**not transitory, as worldly consolations in trials (Ro ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-18**
Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an ...
Read full commentary →Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works.</strong> Paul warns about a dangerous opponent. "Alexander the coppersmith" (<em>Alexandros ho chalkeus</em>, Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ χαλκεύς)—<em>chalkeus</em> (χαλκεύς) means metalworker, possibly coppersmith, blacksmith, or bronze-worker. Paul identifies him specifically, probably same Alexander mentioned in 1 ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil.**—Most probably, the same Alexander, mentioned in the First Epistle (1Timothy 1:20) “as delivered to Satan,” and not improbably identical with the Alexander “the Jew” put forward by the Jews in the Ephesian tumult. (Acts 19:33-34).
It has been suggested that this Alexander, an influential Ephesian Jew, had done much injury to the cause of the Chri...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-18**
Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an ...
Read full commentary →Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words. our words: or, our preachings
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.</strong> Paul continues warning about Alexander. "Of whom be thou ware also" (<em>hon kai sy phylassou</em>, ὃν καὶ σὺ φυλάσσου). <em>Phylassō</em> (φυλάσσω) means guard against, be on guard, watch out for. Present imperative demands ongoing vigilance. "Also" (<em>kai</em>, καί) suggests Alexander has history of opposition...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Of whom be thou ware also.**—This Alexander was evidently then at Ephesus. That he had been at Rome, and had given evidence against St. Paul, and had argued against the defence of the Apostle, is probable. “Our words” some understand as especially referring to St. Paul’s defence before the imperial tribunal. If we identify him with the Alexander of Acts 19:33-34, then he was a Jew, one of t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 3
2Th 3:1-18. He Asks Their Prayers: His Confidence in Them: Prayer for Them: Charges against Disorderly Idle Conduct; His Own Example: Concluding Prayer and Salutation.
**1. Finally--**literally, "As to what remains."
**may have free course--**literally, "may run"; spread rapidly without a drag on the wheels of its course. That the new-creating word may "run," as "swiftly" as the cr...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-18**
Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an ...
Read full commentary →At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.</strong> Paul describes his trial. "At my first answer" (<em>en tē prōtē mou apologia</em>, ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ μου ἀπολογίᾳ) refers to preliminary hearing (<em>prima actio</em>) in Roman legal proceedings where charges were presented and defendant gave initial defense. <em>Apologia...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **At my first answer no man stood with me . . .**—And then, after the mention of what his *enemy* had done out of hatred to the cause of Christ, the old man passed on to speak of the conduct of his own *familiar friends* at that great public trial before—most probably—the city præfect: Præfectus Urbi, a nominee of the Emperor Nero. No one friend stood by him; no “advocate” pleaded his cause; ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. that we ... be delivered from unreasonable ... men--**literally, men out of place, inept, unseemly: out of the way bad: more than ordinarily bad. An undesigned coincidence with Ac 18:5-9. Paul was now at Corinth, where the Jews "opposed themselves" to his preaching: in answer to his prayers and those of his converts at Thessalonica and elsewhere, "the Lord, in vision," assured him of exemptio...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-18**
Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an ...
Read full commentary →Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.</strong> Though humans abandoned Paul, God remained faithful. "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me" (<em>ho de kyrios moi parestē</em>, ὁ δὲ κύριος μοι παρέστη). <em>Paristēmi</em> (παρίστημι) ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me.**—Though men deserted him, yet One—even his Lord (Christ), who could do more for him than any friend, or advocate, or protector of earth—stood by him, and strengthened him by giving him courage and readiness.
**That by me the preaching might be fully known.**—More accurately rendered, *might be fully performed*: “impleatur,” as th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. faithful--**alluding to "faith" (2Th 3:2): though many will not believe, the Lord (other very old manuscripts read "God") is still to be believed in as faithful to His promises (1Th 5:24; 2Ti 2:13). Faith on the part of man answers to faithfulness on the part of God.
**stablish you--**as he had prayed (2Th 2:17). Though it was on himself that wicked men were making their onset, he turns awa...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-18**
Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an ...
Read full commentary →And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.</strong> Paul concludes with confident affirmation. "The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work" (<em>rhusetai me ho kyrios apo pantos ergou ponērou</em>, ῥύσεταί με ὁ κύριος ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔργου πονηροῦ). Future tense asserts certainty. <em>Ponēros ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work . . .**—Many commentators have explained these words as the expression of St. Paul’s confidence that the Lord not only had, in the late trial, strengthened His servant, and given him courage to endure, but that He would watch over him in the future which still lay before him, and would preserve him from every danger of faint-heartedness, fr...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. we have confidence in the Lord--**as "faithful" (2Th 3:3). Have confidence in no man when left to himself [Bengel].
**that ye both do--**Some of the oldest manuscripts insert a clause, "that ye both have done" before, "and are doing, and will do." He means the majority by "ye," not all of them (compare 2Th 3:11; 2Th 1:3; 1Th 3:6).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-18**
Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an ...
Read full commentary →Final Greetings and Benediction
Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.</strong> Paul sends greetings to faithful friends. "Prisca and Aquila" (<em>Priskan kai Akylan</em>, Πρίσκαν καὶ Ἀκύλαν)—this couple appears frequently in Paul's ministry (Acts 18:2-3, 18-26; Romans 16:3-4; 1 Corinthians 16:19). Priscilla (Prisca) and Aquila were tentmakers who worked with Paul in Corinth, traveled with him, instr...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Salute Prisca and Aquila.**—These were two of St. Paul’s earliest friends after he had begun his great work for his Master. Originally of Pontus, they had taken up their abode at Rome, where Aquila exercised his trade of a tent-maker.
Driven out of Rome by the decree of Claudius, which banished the Jews from the capital, they came to Corinth, where St. Paul became acquainted with them. But ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5. If "the Lord" be here the Holy Ghost (2Co 3:17), the three Persons of the Trinity will occur in this verse.
**love of God--**love to God.
**patient waiting for Christ--**rather as Greek, "the patience (endurance) of Christ," namely, which Christ showed [Alford] (2Th 2:4; 1Th 1:3). Estius, however, supports English Version (compare Re 1:9; 3:10). At all events, this grace, "patience," or per...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.</strong> Paul updates Timothy on other coworkers. "Erastus abode at Corinth" (<em>Erastos emeinen en Korinthō</em>, Ἔραστος ἔμεινεν ἐν Κορίνθῳ). <em>Menō</em> (μένω) means remain, stay. Erastus, mentioned in Acts 19:22 and Romans 16:23 (possibly as Corinth's city treasurer), remained in Corinth, apparently on ministry ass...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Erastus abode at Corinth.**—Better rendered, *remained at Corinth.* An Erastus is mentioned in Romans 16:23, the “chamberlain” of Corinth, one of the Christian congregation of that city. This man was probably identical with him.
Another “Eastus” appears among those who ministered to St. Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:22). Him St. Paul sent on missionary work into Macedonia. There were, therefore,...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. we command you--**Hereby he puts to a particular test their obedience in general to his commands, which obedience he had recognized in 2Th 3:4.
**withdraw--**literally, "to furl the sails"; as we say, to steer clear of (compare 2Th 3:14). Some had given up labor as though the Lord's day was immediately coming. He had enjoined mild censure of such in 1Th 5:14, "Warn ... the unruly"; but now ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.</strong> Paul repeats his urgent request (v. 9) with added detail: "before winter" (<em>pro cheimōnos</em>, πρὸ χειμῶνος). <em>Cheimōn</em> (χειμών) means winter, storm season. Mediterranean navigation typically ceased during winter (roughly November through March) due t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **Do thy diligence to come before winter.** Probably this was added to hasten his coming. If he delayed, the season of the year would put off, perhaps hinder altogether, his voyage.
**Eubulus greeteth thee.**—Of this Eubulus nothing is known.
**And Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia.**—Of these, Linus was, no doubt, the first of the long line of Bishops of Rome. The date of his consecration corre...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. how ye ought to follow us--**how ye ought to live so as to "imitate (so the Greek for 'follow') us" (compare Notes, see on 1Co 11:1; 1Th 1:6).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen. The second epistle unto Timotheus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians, was written from Rome, when Paul was brought before Nero the second time.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.</strong> Paul concludes with benediction. "The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit" (<em>Ho kyrios meta tou pneumatos sou</em>, Ὁ κύριος μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματός σου). This isn't mere polite closing but theological affirmation and pastoral blessing. "With thy spirit" (<em>meta tou pneumatos sou</em>, μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματός σου) indi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. eat any man's bread--**Greek, "eat bread from any man," that is, live at anyone's expense. Contrast 2Th 3:12, "eat THEIR OWN bread."
**wrought--**(Ac 20:34). In both Epistles they state they maintained themselves by labor; but in this second Epistle they do so in order to offer themselves herein as an example to the idle; whereas, in the first, their object in doing so is to vindicate thems...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Exhortations to purity and holiness.(1-8)
To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence.(9-12)
Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming.(13-18)
**Verses 1-8**
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work o...
Read full commentary →