Sunday, May 13, 2018

Pauline Epistles Background SERIES: 2 TIMOTHY

I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience,
that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
2 Timothy 1:3

"Paul was released from his first Roman imprisonment for a short period of ministry during which he wrote 1 Timothy and Titus. Second Timothy however, finds Paul once again in a Roman prison
(1:16; 2:9), apparently rearrested as part of Nero’s persecution of Christians. Unlike Paul’s confident hope of release during his first imprisonment (Phil. 1:19, 25-26; 2:24; Philemon 22), this time he had no such hopes (4:6-8).....  his second letter to Timothy, in the fall or winter of A.D. 67.

It seems that Paul may have had reason to fear that Timothy was in danger of weakening spiritually. This would have been a grave concern for Paul, since Timothy needed to carry on Paul’s work (compare 2:2). While there are no historical indications elsewhere in the New Testament as to why Paul was so concerned, there is evidence in the epistle itself from what he wrote."
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