II. TIMOTHY. This Epistle was written (A.D. 66) from Home, in the interval between one trial of the apostle before the Emperor, and that at which he was condemned to death (iv. 16, 17). He viewed his case as desperate (iv. 16), and his martyrdom as imminent (iv. 6–8); and he entreats Timothy to come to him at once (iv. 9, 21), to be with him at his last trial. It has all the tone of a farewell letter to a loved friend; full of love (i. 1–5), encouragement (i. 6–ii. 15), warning (ii. 16–iii. 9), adjuration (iv. 1–5), concluding with personal matters (iv. 6–22).

The Epistle furnishes a noble view of the consolation afforded by Christianity in the midst of suffering, and face to face with death. It alludes to a few otherwise unknown incidents of the life of Paul, between his two imprisonments; also of Timothy, viz. the falling away from the former of some Asiatic converts of note (i. 15); the injury done him by Alexander, mentioned in Acts xix. 33; the lapse of Demas (iv. 10); his reconciliation with Mark (iv. 11); another visit to Corinth and Miletus (iv. 20), and probably Troas (iv. 13); and Timothy's presence with him on his first journey (iii. 11); the names of his grandmother and mother, and his consecration by Paul (i. 5, 6).