2-Timothy (I fought a good fight)
Date: 67 AD.
Place: Prison in Rome. Paul wrote this letter from a deep and dark dungeon of prison cell.
Timothy Learning the Scriptures
Ruins of Ephesus and Temple of Domitian
Key people: Paul, Timothy, Luke, Mark and others.
Purpose: To give direction to Timothy and urge him to visit one final time. The letter also speaks of Paul’s intentions of conveying his final exit from the world. Also to provide Timothy encouragement and fortitude in the face of difficulties and trials.
Uniqueness of the letter:
The second letter to Timothy gives a picture of Paul at the end of his ministry. The letter reveals a man setting his accounts and preparing for the inevitable. At the end of the letter Paul mentions a significant number of people, some have served him and a few others have wrong him.
With the situation going from bad to worse, Paul knew that ministry would become more difficult for young Timothy after Paul’s departure. Paul knew that keeping the church within the sound doctrines and encouraging the believers would often be a thankless job, yet he encourages Timothy to continue the things he had learned from him, drawing on the rich heritage of faith Timothy had with mother and grand mother.
The most striking phrase we find from 1 Timothy to 2 Timothy was “fight the good fight” (1 Tim.1:18) to Paul’s own confession of “I have fought the good fight, finished the race (2 Tim.4:7). It must have been a great encouragement to Timothy who has pastoring the Ephesus church that his mentor modelled his perseverance in the faith even to the point of death.
Timothy’s introduction to Paul:
Timothy and his family lived in Lystra. Paul and Barnabas visited Lystra in his first missionary journey and performed miracles, healing a crippled man. The people of the city praised them and started to offering a sacrifice of bull. But when Paul and Barnabas restrained them, the enemies turned the whole mob against them and pushed them out of city and stoned Paul. Yet God miraculously preserved Paul’s life (Acts 14).
On his second missionary journey, Paul came to Lystra and met an young man who had come to Jesus and was devoted to serving the Lord. This young man was none other than Timothy who had a believing mother but his father was a Greek (Acts 16:1).