Although it would be nice to think that everybody has integrity, that is not true. People who resist the authority of God do not want anybody ruling over them. Instead, they want to have power and authority over other people. Paul tells Timothy to watch out for these people. They may display all kinds of ungodly behaviour and they select weak targets, people who are emotionally vulnerable and morally compromised.
It seems wrong that godly people are persecuted while the ungodly seem to flourish. It is wrong, and when Jesus returns everybody will have to answer for their sin. But until then, Christians will continue to live in a world which is opposed to Jesus. So Paul was a great personal example to Timothy, and to us. Wonderfully, during his ministry, Paul was protected despite riots, beatings and imprisonments (Acts 13:13-14:20).
The prospect of persecution, and the stresses of church leadership, might have made nervous Timothy (2 Timothy 1:7) want to step back from his responsibilities as the leader of a gospel church.
The Bible is more than a book. God inspired its writers so that God’s people can know how to be right with Him and serve Him in the right way. He has not left us to work out the best way for ourselves, or abandoned us to the ideas of human philosophers. No; the Holy Spirit personally instructed the Bible’s authors so that what they wrote is certified as God’s Word. And that applies to every part of the Bible; we are not at liberty to choose some parts which we like and discard others.
These words seem very solemn; and they are. Paul knew that he would soon be killed. His ministry was almost finished, and he had no way of knowing how the Lord would fulfil His promise of building His church. However Paul had not abandoned his responsibility to keep on preaching the truth about Jesus Christ, and to urge young Timothy to do the same. Paul’s ‘charge’ affirms Timothy’s earlier commissioning (1 Timothy 4:14) as God’s call on his life.
Initially the gospel is very attractive, offering forgiveness and eternal life. But soon people understand that if they follow Jesus, they have hard choices to make as they take up their cross daily (dying to their personal desires) so that they can serve their Saviour. Paul had seen many people back-slide away from the gospel into a pattern of religion or philosophy which suited them. There was no shortage of false teachers. Those travelling philosophers made their money saying what people wanted to hear … but it was not truth from God.
Paul knew that he would soon be killed because he loved and served Jesus. However he describes his coming death as a willing sacrifice of praise, like a drink offering. In the Old Testament, with each of the animal and food sacrifices, strong wine should also be poured out as a drink offering to express joy at the goodness of God who had granted forgiveness through the sacrifices. Having spent his ministry preaching about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Paul was glad to pour out the last bit of his life in praise and thanks to God.
Paul’s life would soon be cut short by a death sentence, but there was still much to do for Jesus. He longed that Timothy would come to see him, bringing a warm cloak and the writing scrolls he had left in Troas. As this letter shows, Paul was still keen for the gospel to be proclaimed strongly and faithfully and he wanted Mark (the gospel writer) to come as well, joining Luke (another gospel writer). There was so much to say to them and be recorded so that people like us might know the truth about Jesus and the powerful way in which the Holy Spirit inspired the Early Church.
We do not know anything more about Alexander except that he was a metal worker and a spiritually dangerous man. He was not a believer; indeed, he strongly opposed the gospel. These verses imply that, in order to dissuade people from listening to Paul, he made trouble for the Apostle, probably lying about his character or integrity and stirring up people’s hatred.
There is no record of all the events of Paul’s imprisonment and trials in Rome; but this episode was clearly dramatic. The Apostle was being tried in a criminal court, and no Christian wanted to stand with him to support or testify in court. He was deserted by his friends, with the death sentence hanging over him – death by ferocious lions in an arena watched by jeering crowds who saw it as sport. But he was not alone because he knew that the Lord Jesus was standing there, holding back the lies of his accusers and preventing a guilty verdict.
