2 Timothy 4:6-8: The Time of My Departure
2022-03-19
2 Timothy 4:6
The verse begins with “for” because it refers to the previous section. The reason why Paul was giving the previous instruction is now going to be given.
Paul, either by inspiration or logical conclusion, knew of his upcoming execution. “Ready to be offered” is language indicating a drink offering or a sacrifice of blood. He restated it another way, calling it a time of his departure.
This may be an inference that Paul was passing his baton to Timothy. The work that Paul did in church planting was coming to an end. Someone had to continue watching, enduring, evangelizing, and making full proof of their ministry. This is not to suggest any apostolic succession. Paul’s tasks were becoming Timothy’s tasks, because the apostle was going to be with the Lord.
Timothy was Paul’s son in the faith. Likewise, be it our physical children or people we have mentored, we also should pass on spiritual things to those we have influence.
2 Timothy 4:7
Paul was confident that He did what the Lord wanted him to do throughout his life. “I have fought a good fight” is reminiscent of at least two other times when he used like phrases.
First, Paul said this: “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18). Timothy’s church planting effort in Ephesus was a spiritual battle. He had to continue in faith through such adversity.
Later, he said this: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12). Choose eternal life over temporal life. This world is trying to pull us away from the eternal, but we pursue Christ against that tide.
What Paul was exhorting Timothy to do, he had confidence that he had done himself. He had told the Ephesian elders shortly before his first arrest, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). He kept pressing toward Christ even with the opposition he received.
He had lived the Christian life as a runner runs a race. Consider 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Run like you are going to win. You don’t let anything distract you while train, while you run. The crown you get is not like the crown they used to give in the Olympics, like an olive wreath, which will disintegrate in a matter of years at best. The reward for this race is something that lasts forever. You stay disciplined in every affair as to be sure you have the best chance in the race.
Likewise, as we have read before, Hebrews 12:1-2 is another allusion to a race (course), putting aside the distractions. You can’t run a race with a refrigerator on your back! There is nothing wrong with many things in life, but you cannot have the world and run the race to win. The runner trains in many painful ways to build himself up. As a competitive swimmer, I used to tread water holding medicine balls over my head and swim with five-gallon buckets in tow. This wasn’t for fun; it was to prepare myself for the big race. For the race, all the training equipment and extra baggage went away. Even our heads and bodies were shaved. We do the same in the Christian life, pressing through hardships because we want to serve the Lord.
“Keeping” the faith here implies protecting or guarding it from harm, like an impregnable fortress. This is like laying aside the weight and sin in Hebrews 12:1. However, in 2 Timothy 4:7, this is the extra step of not only laying aside the inferior in favor of the superior, but also separating from those things with stone walls as barriers.
2 Timothy 4:8
Because of Paul’s perseverance, he was very confident of receiving a “crown of righteousness.” However, this is not something that belonged to him exclusively, but “unto all them also that love his appearing.” Does this mean that every saved person would get this crown? It is hard to say. Does every Christian love His appearing? Are their Christians that are hesitant about His return?
Things like this should cause for introspection. Christ is coming; we don’t know when. If it is not soon, our deaths will be here before we know it. Are we eager to see His return, or do we have too many attachments here?
The word for crown is the name Stephen. If you want to see a life worthy of a crown, look at his life (Acts 6:1-15; 7:1-60).
The Lord, “the righteous judge,” will give him the crown. If the Lord Jesus Christ is the righteous judge, then all other judges are not righteous. “...yea, let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). However, when he administers crowns of righteousness to His people, He will do so righteously, because He can only judge righteously. But we are not righteous. How can this be? This is done because anything we have done in our lives was not done by us, but by the power of Christ in us. His own righteousness can receive the crown of righteousness, and we receive it because it was appropriated by faith.
So, when is “that day”? Likely, it refers to the judgment seat of Christ. But the use of “that” causes me to think of a possible antecedent, the likely candidate being, “the time of my departure” (2 Timothy 4:6). Time will tell!