2 Timothy - Introduction

Introduction

This letter was written near the end of Paul’s life (4:6-8) and represents Paul giving a final charge to Timothy, instructing him how to carry on the good work of the gospel. It is about how to be an effective workman for Christ. The letter contains the well known words on the efficacy and reliability of Scripture (3:15-17).

As always there are those who doubt the Pauline authorship of the letter, but the letter reads as one of Paul’s letters and the tone and content of the letter are consistent with Paul writing this at the end of his life. If the letter was “made up” why on earth would someone do that? So I will make the eminently sensible assumption that the letter is what it claims to be. It was probably written while he was in prison in Rome. This is thought to be a second imprisonment. That is he was released for a time from the imprisonment mentioned in Acts and allowed to continue his missionary work for a time, and was then imprisoned again for one last time. Eusebius says Paul was martyred in AD 67, so the date of the letter woube AD 66 or 67.