2nd Timothy: Chapter 4

Sermon 19–2nd Timothy 4

The 4th Chapter of 2nd Timothy is, in many ways, the most interesting chapter. It definitely has all the qualities of a formal good-bye. It has a clear 5-part structure which is summarized as follows:

The 1st section gets right to the point—uppermost on Paul’s mind is the necessity of inspiring his young protege with missionary zeal. He does not promise Timothy a rose garden, rather the opposite—he warns—but even so, he charges Timothy to: 

“be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. . . . .But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”

The 2nd section begins his farewells with a self-justification. Although Paul does this quite a lot in 2nd Timothy, I don’t think it indicates anything like a petty self-centeredness: I believe that Paul takes a righteous pride in that fact that, through all his trials, he has remained true to his faith; he therefore upholds himself as a positive example for his disciples to emulate. I do the same thing when I demonstrate a violin passage—I play, then I say, “There, sound like that.” There is no ego in it, it is just a rejoicing and an eagerness to share the wondrous language of the angels. This is the same point, made by C.S. Lewis, that I have read many times: 

“The Enemy wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the, fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another.”

The next section of 2nd Timothy also hints at the imminent reward Paul expects as a proportional recompense for his sufferings:

“the time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,”

The 3rd section is pretty sad, in hindsight; it is an invitation for Timothy to come and see him in prison (it was a house arrest). He complains that all his friends have left him except Luke. It is interesting that Paul asks Timothy to bring his papers; this indicates that, if Paul was not to be immediately executed, he was intending to continue his outreach with more writing.

The 4th section is diatribe against Alexander the coppersmith. I have mentioned that Paul never sounds particularly charitable to his enemies; his remarks about Alexander show that he had a vindictive streak—he not only warns, he sort of puts a curse on Alexander:

“Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:

Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.”

That last crack about, “the Lord reward him according to his works” has no scent of cosmic justice in it, it is pure self-righteous, “Screw you Alexander!”.

The 5th section is a final good-bye with blessings and salutations to many friends; it also contains a pathetic entreaty for Timothy to come before winter.

So let us now begin our review of 2nd Timothy Chapter 4, with Verses 1-2:

“1 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;

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.”

Notice how little bits of doctrine are inserted parenthetically:

“. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who [parenthetically] shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.”

It occurs to me that many central articles of doctrine appear, in the scriptures, in the form of these short parenthetical asides; it is as if Paul expects the reader to already know the substance of the remark, which, therefore needs no further amplification. From this I am led to consider, once again, the importance of ORAL tradition in the formative years of the Christian Church. The sayings of Jesus and the Apostles must have been retained in corporate memory for a certain span of years before the stories were written down. Rather than weakening the authenticity of the scriptures, as being watered down (or distilled) by a dynasty of authors, the corporate nature of the scriptures enhances their MYTHOLOGICAL resonance. As C.S. Lewis says:

“Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God’s myth where the others are men’s myths: i.e., the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call 'real things'.”

From Wesley's Notes for 2nd Timothy 4:2, we return to a discussion of commitment:

“Be instant - Insist on, urge these things in season, out of season - That is, continually, at all times and places. It might be translated, with and without opportunity - Not only when a fair occasion is given: even when there is none, one must be made.”

The foregoing comment emphasizes the urgent need to secure the infant church’s precarious position in the world. But, physical exertions aside, Paul is ever insistent on the purity of doctrine as the key to the church’s survival, as indicated by the following comment from People's Bible Notes for 2 Timothy 4:2 which focuses on the WORD:

“Preach the word. Proclaim the Word, as a herald of Christ. This is implied in the Greek. The Word is the Gospel and its teachings. Nothing else must be preached. The excellence of the Scriptures has just been mentioned (2Ti 3:16,17). These equip the preacher for his work. Be instant in season, out of season. Preach on all occasions. Be urgent in the work.”

The next section is one of those apocalyptic warnings against false doctrine. I have been critical of Paul for always harping on the dangers of false prophets, but in the light of what I have just learned below, about Alexander the Coppersmith, the leader of an organized crew of Jews hostile to the newly born Christian Church, I must admit that false prophets would have had to be recognized as a clear and present danger—not only for doctrine’s sake, but as a defense against the violence these groups were capable of inflicting on their chosen enemies. 

The next line is fun, in a sarcastic kind of way:

“3 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;”

Note the expression, “itching ears”; this implies that the people have a hunger for materialistic things; a hunger that false doctrine never satisfies. Also note that this is not the first time we have encountered bitter sarcasm in Paul’s writing; for instance the episode just mentioned where Paul wished, of Alexander, that “the Lord reward him according to his works”. 

Paul goes on with his apocalyptic prophecy:

“4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

The idea of people turning truths into fables is of interest to me because it resonates with another of my favorite sayings of Jesus:

Luke 7:32:

“They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.”

The sense here is that: we make up pretend selves and project those pretensions onto our experience of the world, thus contaminating truth with subjective, necessarily material, concerns. Instead of facing the essential inner truth, we substitute a made-up truth, a prop concocted out of our own personal articles of vanity— and then we tell the world “here is the truth”, when it is really just a story.

The New Defender’s Study Bible Notes makes some relevant comments on the two main elements of this short sentence: the truth, and the fable:

“4:4 from the truth. This is the last of eleven occurrences of “the truth” in Paul’s two letters to Timothy. It is a very important theme running through both. He first speaks of “the knowledge of the truth” as involved in salvation, then of his own teachings as “the truth in Christ”, of the church as “the pillar and grounding of the truth”, of Christians as those who “believe and know the truth”, of covetous teachers as men who are “destitute of the truth”, of the Scriptures as “the Word of truth”, of false teachers as those “who concerning the truth have erred”, of repentance as leading “to the acknowledging of the truth”, of those who seem “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”, of the false prophets who “resist the truth”, and finally of those in the congregation who “turn away their ears from the truth”. “The truth” clearly refers to the whole body of doctrine contained in the Scriptures and centered in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 4:4

4:4 unto fables. These “fables” are nothing but the pagan myths (the Greek word is muthos, from which the English word “myth” is derived) which the ancients used to explain the meaning of the world and life. They were founded on a pantheistic cosmogony, which specifically rejected the truth of the transcendent personal God of creation and of the Bible. It is well known that these pagan nature myths are being revived in modern New Age cosmogonies, all of which are founded completely on evolutionism in one form or another. Modern atheistic evolutionists (i.e., Darwinists and other naturalists) may battle against these pantheistic evolutionists, but both unite (just as did the atheistic Epicureans and the pantheistic Stoics in Paul’s day—Acts 17:18) against those who believe in the true God of creation.”

Clearly this author has a bug up his butt about new age concepts and jargon, as in the sentence:

“It is well known that these pagan nature myths are being revived in modern New Age cosmogonies, all of which are founded completely on evolutionism in one form or another.”

This author pulls out the fundamentalist taboo word card, “evolutionism”, in an attempt to put a completely negative spin on the contemporary (new age) revival of interest in the most ancient mysteries, as revealed in texts some of which pre-date the new testament; he does this with much the same attitude as did the church fathers of the 325 Nicaean Council, who mostly chose the more nuts and bolts scriptures, over the more abstract and pantheistic scriptures, to be included in the authorized New Testament. The term “fable”, in this interpretation, is meant to refer to the mythological creationist stories, the “idle stories”, that must have permeated the collective mind of the 1st century; but the idea of “fable” as a false image is at least as important. Dwelling on the contemporary “fable”, “idle story”, component of the passage, does not clarify the significance of the term, it detracts from its more potent symbolic significance.

In Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary we read this paraphrase:

“4:1-5 People will turn away from the truth, they will grow weary of the plain gospel of Christ, they will be greedy of fables, and take pleasure in them. People do so when they will not endure that preaching which is searching, plain, and to the purpose. Those who love souls must be ever watchful, must venture and bear all the painful effects of their faithfulness, and take all opportunities of making known the pure gospel.”

Remember that by “pure gospel” Henry refers to Paul’s expression, “sound doctrine”. Remember that Paul is very strict and inflexible in his interpretation of the verbal messages he has received from on high. To him, the words he has transcribed from Heavenly utterances must remain fixed and immutable. We have criticized this limitation of Paul’s before, but we have made excuse for his rigidity in the same way we affirm the parables of Jesus as being true and not true at the same time. We have to give the man credit for knowing the kind of jargon that would keep his flock together—the clearer the rules, to a crowd of Jews brought up on the law, the easier to get them to buy into deeper issues and spiritual experiences.

In the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary we read an interesting translation of “itching ears” idea:

“4. The ear brooks not what is opposed to the man's lusts.

turned—Greek, "turned aside". It is a righteous retribution, that when men turn away from the truth, they should be turned to fables.”

Here is Matthew Poole's Commentary; at the end, he adds in an interesting touch with an old Latin proverb:

“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth; either in contempt, or scorn of it, as being delivered in too plain notions or style; or through impatience, not enduring their lusts should be touched, and the evil of their ways showed them. 

And shall be turned unto fables; delighting to hear fables, any idle stories, or impertinent discourses, provided they touch not their lusts. Missa non mordet, The mass will not bite, was an old saying of the popish faction.”

It has been said that, nowhere is there more back-stabbing and personal betrayal, than in the academic community, because the stakes are so low. It is also said that Education is the only business from which people are satisfied with LESS than what they paid for. In a way, religion is like that: people want easy answers to hard questions, and are easily satisfied by a well-turned bumper sticker; they also like being right, which makes it easy to make everybody else wrong. If the Mass does not bite, the man does not have to face himself. When the Mass bites, the false images, man has erected of himself, crumble in the searing light of Heaven.

Going on with Verses 5-8, Paul, whose time of departure is at hand, begs Timothy to take his place as leader of the church. This section contains the famous, “I have fought a good fight” speech. As with all speeches about imminent death, this passage is hopeful of the world to come, not only for Paul himself, but for all:

“5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

8 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.”

Of course there are lots of commentaries on this passage:

From 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 contest was referred to. The tense of the Greek verb--the perfect--"I have fought," is remarkable. The struggle had been bravely sustained in the past, and was now being equally bravely sustained to the end. His claim to the crown (2Timothy 4:8) was established.

I have finished my course.--Or "race," for here the image of the stadium, the Olympic race-course, was occupying the Apostle's thoughts. Again the perfect is used: "I have finished my course." How, asks, Chrysostom, "had he finished his course?" and answers rather rhetorically by replying that he had made the circuit of the world. The question is better answered in St. Paul's own words (Acts 20:24), where he explains "his course," which he would finish with joy, as the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus.

I have kept the faith.--Here, again, the metaphor is changed, and St. Paul looks back on his lived life as on one long, painful struggle to guard the treasure of the Catholic faith inviolate and untarnished. And now the struggle was over, and he handed on the sacred deposit, safe. It is well to compare this passage with the words of the same Apostle in the Epistle to the Philippians. The same metaphors were in the Apostle's mind on both occasions; but in the first instance (in the Philippian Epistle) they were used by the anxious, care worn servant of the Lord, hoping and, at the same time, fearing what the future had in store for him and his Church; in the second (in the Epistle to Timothy) they were the expression of the triumphant conviction of the dying follower of Christ, who had so followed his loved Master in life, that he now shrank not from following the same Master in death.”

From the Pulpit Commentary:

“Verse 7. - The for a, A.V.; the for my, A.V. I have fought the good fight; as 1 Timothy 6:12 (τὸν ἀγῶνα τὸν καλόν), meaning that, however honourable the contests of the games were deemed, the Christian contest was far more honourable than them all. The word "fight" does not adequately express by agora, which embraces all kinds of contests - chariot race, foot race, wrestling, etc. "I have played out the honourable game" would give the sense, though inelegantly. Perhaps the race course (τὸν δρόμον) referred to in:  

Acts 20:24:

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”

The runner in the race had a definite δρόμος, or course to run, marked out for him. St. Paul's life was that course, and he knew that he had run it out. 

I have kept the faith. St. Paul here quits metaphor and explains the foregoing figures. Through his long eventful course, in spite of all difficulties, conflicts, dangers, and temptations, he had kept the faith of Jesus Christ committed to him, inviolable, unadulterated, whole, and complete. He had not shrunk from confessing it when death stared him in the face; he had not corrupted it to meet the views of Jews or Gentiles; with courage and resolution and perseverance he had kept it to the end. Oh! let Timothy do the same.”

From the Matthew Henry Commentary:

“4:6-8 The blood of the martyrs, though not a sacrifice of atonement, yet was a sacrifice of acknowledgment to the grace of God and his truth. Death to a good man, is his release from the imprisonment of this world, and his departure to the enjoyments of another world. As a Christian, and a minister, Paul had kept the faith, kept the doctrines of the gospel. What comfort will it afford, to be able to speak in this manner toward the end of our days! The crown of believers is a crown of righteousness, purchased by the righteousness of Christ. Believers have it not at present, yet it is sure, for it is laid up for them. The believer, amidst poverty, pain, sickness, and the agonies of death, may rejoice; but if the duties of a man's place and station are neglected, his evidence of interest in Christ will be darkened, and uncertainty and distress may be expected to cloud and harass his last hours.”

Going on—this is where he laments how he has been deserted by Demas, Crescens, and Titus, with only Luke remaining. I keep thinking about what I read about how Paul was kept “under house arrest” in Rome. One suspects there were armed guards at the gates, but his life could not have been that bad, if he could work and entertain friends. I suppose he was a high prestige prisoner, since his execution reeked of symbolic political significance. In any case this letter extends to Timothy whatever hospitality Rome has to offer:

“9 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:

10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.

12 And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.

13 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.”

As we noted above, Paul is asking for the tools his trade to be delivered to him, so he must have some hope that his work will continue. Too bad.

Here is the part where Paul lashes out at Alexander the coppersmith. As I stated above, “I have mentioned that Paul never sounds particularly charitable to his enemies; his remarks about Alexander show that he had a vindictive streak—he not only warns, he sort of puts a curse on Alexander”; he says, doubtless with a great deal of sarcasm, let the “Lord reward him according to his works”, ha ha:

“14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:

15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.”

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers makes this comment:

“(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 Christians generally, and to St. Paul personally, with the imperial authorities at Rome.

The Lord reward him according to his works.—The older authorities read, “shall reward him . . .” The works referred to were the bitter injuries he had done to the cause of Christ, rather than to the Apostle himself.”

We read in the Benson Commentary:

Alexander the coppersmith — Or brasier; did me much evil — This seems to have been the person mentioned 1 Timothy 1:20 : 

“Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

probably he was one of the Judaizing teachers, who violently opposed the true doctrine of the gospel. The Lord reward him — The Alexandrian, and six other MSS., the Syriac and the Vulgate versions, and some of the Fathers, read here, αποδωσει, the Lord will reward him: and it is probable the words ought to be considered as spoken prophetically. At least, as Doddridge observes, “what we know of Paul’s character must lead us to conclude, that if he did not mean the words as a mere prediction, he did not, however, wish evil to him as evil, but only that he might be sufficiently censured as to prevent the contagion of his bad example from spreading in the church, and to bring him to repentance and reformation, that so he might be preserved from final destruction.” 

We have commented before that Paul had something of a mean streak when it came to his enemies; we have used the comment about Alexander getting what’s coming to him as an example of bitter sarcasm. The preceding sentence of Doddridge, “what we know of Paul’s character must lead us to conclude, that if he did not mean the words as a mere prediction, he did not, however, wish evil to him as evil”, is typical of the way theologians always try to whitewash the weaknesses of our religious heroes, as if the great men had no weaknesses or human frailties. I think in Paul’s heart he DID wish evil for evil, he did wish the full force of Karmic Retribution to be visited on the dangerously vicious Alexander. And why not? We have previously discussed the issue of “righteous hatred”— certainly such a one as Alexander was an object worthy of “righteous hatred”; and, if not, Paul is anyway to be forgiven for his pettiness, for he, like us, is only human. Somehow I doubt that conferring on Alexander the revenge of Karma would have been Jesus’ approach; I think He would have been able to love Alexander and give unto him as “before”; but that is why Jesus is the good guy and the rest of us are all sinners.

In the very next paragraph, after wishing divine retribution on Alexander, as if that were a good thing, Paul goes on to reverse himself:

“16 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.”

In this sentence he says, “I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.” You see the gag? On Alexander he wishes that “the Lord reward him according to his works”; but on these lesser sinners he wishes “that it may not be laid to their charge”. Why does Alexander get a curse, and the forsakers of Paul get a prayer of amnesty? It’s really not that hard to figure out: 

1. Alexander is a single man, a focus of evil, which makes him a worthy object of righteous hatred, and

2. the expression “all men” who forsook Paul represents a general, universal flaw present in the DNA of all sons of Adam, and is therefore to be more easily forgiven—in the same way it is easy to forgive FATE for its multiple assaults on our terrestrial equanimity. Also, when he says, “At my first answer”, (a reference to a past, we don’t know how far distant), there is a sense in which Paul is saying let bygones be bygones.

It’s an interesting thought to consider this: when we listen to the words of Jesus, we hear only the Divine Voice of God, unadulterated by carnal imperfection, while when we listen to the words of Paul, we get a whole lot of Paul mixed in with the Angelic recitations. This places Paul into the category of “Artist”, because his work is around 60% Divine Revelation, and 40% Subjective Revelation. Whereas Mozart sings the pure songs of Heaven, Beethoven assails us with tales of his personal pain. The same is true of Martin Luther, who, in my opinion, was a magnificent vessel for the transmission of Divine Truth to man; but Luther was also a petty nit-picker, and had an unwholesome attitude toward all the plethora of objects he considered worthy of his Righteous Hatred. 

Seen as art, Paul is able, in these few words not only to describe, but to MANIFEST, a central problem of human existence: the reconcilation of Heavenly Perfection with Human Frailty. This flip-flopping around on the subject of Karmic Retribution simply suggests that we, all of us, can be spiritual sometimes, and carnal at other times —do-be-do-be-doo—and this is ok, this is Mundane Existence, this is actually FATE.

Going on with Paul: after he makes his doctrinal asides on Karmic Retribution, he goes on to thank God for being there when nobody else was:

“17 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.”

Speaking of FATE, what could be a more dramatic example of FATE than Paul’s taking responsibility for his Divine Appointment to a significant role in history? It was a role which was specifically detailed to the unique qualities of Paul the Jew, and it was also an ACT necessary for the spiritual evolution of mankind, namely, “that by me the preaching might be fully known”. 

The bit about the mouth of the lion, makes another Karmic claim on Christianity, i.e., that if you believe on Jesus, you will be spared the lion’s jaws. Paul really wants to live in a inverse where things are fair; his mind wants everything to makes sense, while his spirit knows what it knows without making sense, in a dimension beyond sense. And are not we all in this boat? One foot in heaven, the other at the laundromat? What can we do, with this crazy old Christian, but love him for his pure desire to do GOOD. His face smiles at me through a glass darkly with the same radiance as Jesus’ face, because they are one—in the higher realms they, and we, are all one.

The final benediction of the letter is an affirmation that God will give him strength to endure the coming trials, and it is also a plea for company to come and see him through what he knows is coming. He delivers the appropriate salutations to those at the other end whom he suspects will also read the letter, wishes well on the sick, and begs Timothy to come before winter.

“18 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.

19 Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.

20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.

21 Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.

22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.”

I’m not sure what we have learned from 2nd Timothy, but some of the issues raised were certainly stimulating for me, and helped clarify some of my doctrinal articles, if not by agreeing with Paul, but by DISAGREEING with Paul. It’s funny that: in disagreeing with a rigid, law-abiding Jew, I have become something more of a law-abiding Jew. But that’s the comedy of this book isn’t it? That all through it there runs a subtext of human anxiety, kind of bubbling underneath all those doctrinal asides. The letter is the product of a harassed mind, struggling with faith while affirming the highest spiritual realities. I pray that we, in our normal day-to-day lives might step into and out of Heaven with the same agility and joy that Paul does.

Let us pray: Jesus, as always we thank you for all we see around us, not because it would not be here but for You, but because WE would not be here but for You. The WE who we are, blinking in and out of existence, sidestepping into Heaven then back to the laundromat, thank You for the Light that shows us the Truth of Heaven and Earth, and the courage to lean into the consuming Fire of Ultimate Reality, the consuming Fire of God. Amen.