The Second Letter to Timothy

Paul in prison. Acts ends with Paul under guard in Rome, preaching openly (Acts 28:30 to 31). This letter shows something harder: he wears chains "like a criminal" (2:9), and a friend had to search hard to find him (1:17). Tradition holds that he was held twice in Rome and that this letter comes from the second imprisonment. The Catholic Encyclopedia and the Pontifical Biblical Commission's reply of 1913 follow this view.

Nero's Rome. In the year 64, after the great fire, the Emperor Nero turned on the Christians of Rome. Benedict XVI says that the sources place Paul's death between that time and the year 68. Being known as Paul's friend had become dangerous. That is why "do not be ashamed" runs through the letter (1:8, 12, 16).

Timothy, a young pastor. He is the son of Eunice and grandson of Lois (1:5), who knew the Scriptures from childhood (3:15). He seems to have been timid: Paul reminds him that God did not give "a spirit of cowardice" (1:7). The Jewish Scriptures of his mother's home are the same "sacred writings" that Paul now praises, a reminder of what Christians owe to the faith of Israel (Nostra Aetate 4).

Who is around Paul. The last chapter is a small crowd of real people. Demas has left him, "in love with this present world" (4:10). Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, and Tychicus to Ephesus (4:10, 12). Only Luke is with him (4:11). He asks for Mark, the man he once refused to take (Acts 15:37 to 39), because he is now "useful in my ministry". Alexander the coppersmith has done him harm (4:14). Onesiphorus was not ashamed of his chains (1:16). Greetings go to Prisca and Aquila (4:19) and come from Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia and others (4:21). St Irenaeus identifies this Linus with the first bishop of Rome after the Apostles (Against Heresies 3.3.3).

False teaching. Hymenaeus and Philetus were saying that the resurrection has already happened (2:17 to 18), and quarrels over words were doing harm (2:14, 23). Paul warns that the last days will be hard (3:1 to 5). He does not set a date; he simply says that the Church must expect struggle.

The Church's tradition. The Church has received this letter as Paul's and as Scripture from early times. St Irenaeus quotes it, and St John Chrysostom reads it as written close to Paul's end. In 1913 the Pontifical Biblical Commission answered in favour of Paul's authorship of all three Pastoral Letters.

A scholarly note. Traditionally by Paul; some scholars think that a later disciple wrote it to hand on his teaching. Benedict XVI reports that most exegetes today think that the Pastoral Letters come from the "Pauline school", while adding that some passages, above all in this letter, may go back to the Apostle. Its warmth and its small details are often seen as speaking for an origin close to Paul. Either way, the letter is inspired Scripture, and it itself is a chief witness to what inspiration means (3:16; Dei Verbum 11). Dei Verbum 18 to 19 speaks of the apostolic origin and faithfulness of what the Church has received.

How Paul died. The New Testament does not describe it, and this letter is the only place that hints at it (4:6). Benedict XVI gathers the evidence in his audience of 4 February 2009. St Clement of Rome, in the 90s, says that he bore witness before the rulers. Eusebius says that he was beheaded in Rome under Nero. A fifth-century legend names the place as the Tre Fontane. An early account places his tomb on the Ostian Way, where the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls stands today.

• The gift of ordination. "Rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands" (1:6). The Catechism quotes this for Holy Orders (1590). Benedict XVI, on the Pastoral Letters, sees here apostolic succession and the sacramental nature of ministry. A gift can grow cold, and it must be fanned again.
• Courage and witness. God gives a spirit of power, love and self-discipline (1:7). The Christian must not be ashamed to witness to the Lord (1:8; Catechism 2506). Those who want to live godly lives will meet persecution (3:12).
• Saved by grace, and called to good works. God saved us "not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace" (1:9 to 10; see Catechism 257). No one can merit the first grace of forgiveness and justification (Catechism 1996, 2010). Yet that grace bears fruit, and the same letter says that the one who belongs to God is "equipped for every good work" (3:17). This is the teaching of the Council of Trent (Session 6) and of the Catechism (1987 to 2029): our merits themselves are the work of grace (2011).
• Handing on the faith. Paul, Timothy, faithful people, others: four links in one sentence (2:2). The treasure is guarded "with the help of the Holy Spirit" (1:14; Catechism 84). This is what the Church means by Tradition (Dei Verbum 7 to 10).
• Scripture is God-breathed. "All scripture is inspired by God" (3:16). Paul has in mind first the Old Testament, the writings Timothy knew as a child (3:15). Dei Verbum 11 cites these words. Scripture leads us to salvation through faith in Christ, and it forms us for good works.
• Dying and living with Christ. "If we have died with him, we will also live with him" (2:11; Catechism 1010). "If we are faithless, he remains faithful" (2:13). This does not make sin harmless: the same hymn warns of denying him. It is a promise that God does not break his word, and a reason never to despair.
• The word is not chained. The preacher may be in prison, but the word of God is not (2:9). Preaching must go on "whether the time is favorable or unfavorable" (4:2).
• Gentle correction. The Lord's servant must be kind, patient and gentle with those who oppose him, since God may grant them repentance (2:24 to 25). That is a rule for all debate among Christians.
• Hope of the crown. The crown of righteousness is not for Paul alone but for "all who have longed for his appearing" (4:8). Holiness is a race and a battle (Catechism 2015).

The women of 3:6. Paul speaks of false teachers who go into households and captivate "silly women". This is a warning against those who prey on people, and it must not be read as a judgment on women. The same letter opens by honouring the faith of Lois and Eunice (1:5), and it greets Prisca first, before her husband (4:19). The Church teaches the equal dignity of man and woman (Catechism 369, 2334), and John Paul II cites Timothy's home as a sign of faith passed from mother to child (Mulieris Dignitatem 27).

• The one who abolished death. Christ Jesus "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light" (1:10).
• Risen, and of David's line. "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David" (2:8). This, Paul says, is his gospel in a few words.
• The faithful one. Even when we fail, he cannot deny himself (2:13).
• The one who stands by us. When everyone left, "the Lord stood by me" (4:16 to 17). Paul was not abandoned in his loneliness, because the Lord was with him.
• The righteous judge. Christ will judge the living and the dead (4:1), and he gives the crown on that day (4:8). This is the faith of the Creed. Paul looks forward with love and not with fear.

The Catechism uses this letter for the deposit of faith (84), Christian death (1010), Holy Orders (1590), the plan of grace (257), witness (2506) and the spiritual battle (2015).

The Fathers, in substance. St John Chrysostom, in the opening of his homilies on this letter, says that Paul wrote to comfort a grieving Timothy, who was burdened by the care of a Church, and that he seems to be writing with his end in view. On the cloak and books (4:13), he thinks that Paul wanted to live at no one's cost and to leave his writings to the faithful as a substitute for himself.

Benedict XVI speaks of Timothy in his audience of 13 December 2006, of the Pastoral Letters on 28 January 2009, and of Paul's death on 4 February 2009.

In the liturgy.

• Latin. In Year C, the Twenty-seventh to Thirtieth Sundays in Ordinary Time read 2 Tim 1:6 to 8, 13 to 14; 2:8 to 13; 3:14 to 4:2; and 4:6 to 8, 16 to 18. On weekdays the letter is read in Week 9 of Year II. On 26 January, the memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, the first reading is 2 Tim 1:1 to 8 or Titus 1:1 to 5.
• Syro-Malankara. In the lectionary we examined, 2 Tim 2:1 to 13 belongs to New Sunday, when the Lord appears to Thomas, and 2 Tim 4:6 to 10 to Saints Peter and Paul at the Holy Qurbono.
• Syro-Malabar. In the 2025 to 2026 calendar we examined, the feast of Denha has 2 Tim 1:6 to 10 at the Holy Qurbana, and the Fourth Sunday of the Great Fast has 2 Tim 2:22 to 26. Saint Mark's day has 2 Tim 4:6 to 18, and Saint Jerome's day has 2 Tim 3:12 to 17.

Read it first at one sitting, as a last letter. Imagine the chains, the cold, and the man who wrote it. Then take four days, one for each chapter:

• Day 1: chapter 1. Name the people who handed you the faith.
• Day 2: chapter 2. Learn the hymn of 2:11 to 13 by heart.
• Day 3: chapter 3. Read 3:14 to 17 with your Bible open on your knees, and thank God for it.
• Day 4: chapter 4. Read 4:6 to 8 as if at the end of your own life. Then read the names and the request for the cloak, and see how human a saint can be.