We have been looking at a couple of pericopes from 2 Timothy. I encourage you to listen to the pervious messages as they paint a vivid picture of the context within which we find the portion of scripture that we are going to be studying today. To recap briefly, 2 Timothy was a personal letter written by Paul to his spiritual son, Timothy. Paul was writing from terrible conditions in prison (2 Tim 1:8,12), cold (4:13), alone except for Luke (4:9-11), bound in chains (2:9) and awaiting certain death (4:6). Paul desired to see Timothy and Mark (all the others had deserted him), and requested that they visit him, and that they come quickly (4:9), and bring some of his personal effects with (4:13). At the same time as being concerned with his own needs, Paul was concerned for Timothy, especially as Timothy faced serious challenges around false teaching and the fruit thereof within the Church in Ephesus. It seems as though Paul was more concerned with Timothy, the Church in Ephesus, and the safeguarding of the gospel than himself, as Paul spends most of his letter encouraging and instructing Timothy around being faithful in his ministry and persevering in the face of difficulties. Although Paul hoped to see Timothy soon, it was written as though Paul was not going to see Timothy again before death. In this way it was his last recorded will, words and instructions for his spiritual son.
