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| 2 Timothy 4:16 |
At my first answer no man stood with
me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may
not be laid to their charge.
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This last section of Chapter 4 has seven [7]
verses.
2 Timothy 4:16-22
16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all
men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid
to their charge.
17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and
strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be
fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear:
and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil
work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly
kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
19 Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of
Onesiphorus.
20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I
left at Miletum sick.
21 Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus
greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia,
and all the brethren.
22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace
be with you. Amen.
We will begin with the Barclay commentary:
LAST WORDS AND GREETINGS
2 Timothy 4:16-22
…paraphrased
At my first defense, no one was there to stand by
me, but all forsook me. May it not be reckoned
against them! But the Lord stood beside me, and he
strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation
of the gospel was fully made so that the Gentiles
might hear it. So I was rescued from the mouth of
the lion. The Lord will rescue me from every evil,
and will save me for his heavenly kingdom. Glory be
to him for ever and ever. Amen.
Greet Prisca and Aquila [AK-wih-luh],
and the family of Onesiphorus [on'uh-SIF-uh-ruhs].
Erastus [ih-RAS-tuhs]
stayed in Corinth. I left Trophimus [TROF-uh-muhs]
at Miletus. Exibulus [Ex-aw-bu-lus]
sends greetings to you, as do Pudens [POO-dinz],
Linus and Claudia, and all the brothers.
The Lord be with your spirit.
Grace be with you.
A Roman trial began with a preliminary examination
to formulate the precise charge against the
prisoner. When Paul was brought to that preliminary
examination, not one of his friends stood by him. It
was too dangerous to proclaim oneself the friend of
a man on trial for his life.
One of the curious things about this passage is the
number of reminiscences of Psalm 22. ‘Why have you
forsaken me? – all forsook me.’ ‘There is no one to
help – no one was there to stand by me.’ ‘Save me
from the mouth of the lion! – I was rescued from the
mouth of the lion.’ ‘All the ends of the earth shall
remember and turn to the Lord – that the Gentiles
might hear it.’ ‘Dominion belongs to the Lord – The
Lord will save me for his heavenly kingdom.’ It
seems certain that the words of this psalm were
running in Paul’s mind. And the lovely thing is that
this was the psalm which was in the mind of Jesus
when he hung upon his cross. As Paul faced death, he
took encouragement from the same psalm that his Lord
used in the same circumstances.
Three things brought Paul courage in that lonely
hour.
(1) Everyone had forsaken him; but the Lord
was with him. Jesus had said that he would never
leave his followers or forsake them, and that he
would be with them to the end of the world. Paul is
a witness that Jesus kept his promise. If to do the
right means to be alone, as Joan of Arc said, ‘It is
better to be alone with God.’
(2) Paul would use even a Roman court to proclaim
the message of Christ. He obeyed his own
commandment: in season and out of season, he pressed
the claims of Christ on men and women. He was so
busy thinking of the task of preaching that he
forgot the danger. Those who are immersed in the
task before them have conquered fear.
(3) He was quite certain of the ultimate rescue. He
might seem to be the victim of circumstances and a
criminal condemned by Roman justice, but Paul saw
beyond the present time and knew that his eternal
safety was assured. It is always better to be in
danger for a moment and safe for eternity than to be
safe for a moment and to jeopardize eternity.
A HIDDEN STORY?
Note: The
following is part of the commentary from the
Barclay. It may not be entirely true but is very
interesting. It clearly was interesting to the
authors of the Barclay. When we get to the
lesson on verse 21, I will show you a number of
Bible helps that support this speculation.
Finally, there come greetings sent and given. There
is a greeting to Priscilla and Aquila [AK-wih-luh],
that husband and wife whose home was a church,
wherever it might be, and who had at some time
risked their lives for Paul’s sake (Acts 18:2;
Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19). There is a
greeting to the gallant Onesiphorus [on'uh-SIF-uh-ruhs],
who had sought out Paul in prison in Rome (2 Timothy
1:16) and who had quite possibly paid for his
loyalty with his life. There is a greeting to
Erastus [ih-RAS-tuhs],
whom Paul had once sent as his messenger to
Macedonia (Acts 19:22) and who in all probability
afterwards joined the church at Rome (Romans 16:23).
There is a greeting to Trophimus [TROF-uh-muhs],
a Gentile whom Paul had been accused of bringing
into the Temple precincts in Jerusalem, an incident
which caused Paul’s last imprisonment (Acts 20:4,
21:29). Finally, there are greetings from Eubulus [yoo-BYOO-luhs],
Linus, Pudens [POO-dinz]
and Claudia. In the later lists, Linus stands as the
first Bishop of Rome.
A story has been woven around the names of Pudens [POO-dinz]
and Claudia. The story may be impossible, or at
least improbable, but it is too interesting not to
quote. Martial was a famous Roman poet, a writer of
epigrams, who flourished from AD 66–100. Two of his
epigrams celebrate the marriage of Pudens [POO-dinz],
a distinguished Roman from an aristocratic family,
to a lady called Claudia. In the second of them,
Claudia is called a stranger in Rome, and it is said
that she came from Britain. Now, Tacitus [TAE-cit-us]
tells us that in AD 52, in the reign of the Emperor
Claudius, certain territories in south-east Britain
were given to a British king called Cogidubnus [Cog-i-dub-nus],
for his loyalty to Rome; and in 1723 a marble tablet
was dug up in Chichester [Chi-ches-ter]
which commemorates the building of a temple to the
Roman gods by Cogidubnus [Cog-i-dub-nus],
the king, and by Pudens [POO-dinz],
his son. In the inscription, the full name of the
king is given; and, no doubt in honour of the Roman
emperor, we find that the British king had taken the
name of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus [Cog-i-dub-nus].
If that king had a daughter, her name must have been
Claudia, for that is the name that she would take
from her father. We can take the story further. It
may be that Cogidubnus [Cog-i-dub-nus]
sent his daughter Claudia to stay in Rome. That he
should do so would be almost certain, for, when a
foreign king entered into an alliance with Rome, as
Cogidubnus [Cog-i-dub-nus]
had done, some members of his family were always
sent to Rome as a guarantee of keeping the
agreement. If Claudia went to Rome, she would
certainly have stayed in the house of a Roman called
Aulus [Aul-us]
Plautius [Plau-ti-us],
who had been the governor in Britain from AD 43–52,
and to whom Cogidubnus [Cog-i-dub-nus]
had given his faithful service. The wife of Aulus [Aul-us]
Plautius [Plau-ti-us]
was a lady called Pomponia [POM-po-ni-a],
and we learn from Tacitus [TAE-cit-us]
that she had been accused before the Roman courts in
AD 57 because she was ‘tainted with a foreign
superstition’. That ‘foreign superstition’ may well
have been Christianity. Pomponia [POM-po-ni-a]
may have been a Christian, and from her Claudia, the
British princess, may have learned of Jesus also.
We cannot say whether that story is true. But it
would be wonderful to think that this Claudia was
actually a British princess who had come to stay in
Rome and become a Christian, and that Pudens [POO-dinz]
was her husband.
Paul comes to the end by commending his friends to
the presence and the Spirit of his Lord and theirs;
and, as always, his last word is grace.
~Barclay commentary
Quoted verses:
Acts 18:2
And found a certain Jew named Aquila [AK-wih-luh],
born in Pontus [PON-tuhs],
lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because
that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from
Rome:) and came unto them.
Romans 16:3
Greet Priscilla and Aquila [AK-wih-luh]
my helpers in Christ Jesus:
1 Corinthians 16:19
The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila [AK-wih-luh]
and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the
church that is in their house.
Acts 19:22
So he sent into Macedonia two of them that
ministered unto him, Timotheus [Ti-Mow-DHIY-ahS]
and Erastus [ih-RAS-tuhs];
but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
Romans 16:23
Gaius [GI-uhs]
mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you.
Erastus [ih-RAS-tuhs]
the chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and
Quartus [KWOR-tuhs]
a brother.
Acts 20:4
And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater [Sop'a·ter]
of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus [air'is-TAHR-kuhs]
and Secundus [sih-KOON-duhs];
and Gaius [GI-uhs]
of Derbe, and Timotheus [Ti-Mow-DHIY-ahS];
and of Asia, Tychicus [TIK-uh-kus]
and Trophimus [TROF-uh-muhs].
Acts 21:29
(For they had seen before with him in the city
Trophimus [TROF-uh-muhs]
an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had
brought into the temple.)
We will begin now with the general commentaries and
move to the specific.
First the Matthew Henry Main:
1. He had lately been called to appear before the
emperor, upon his appeal to Caesar; and then no man
stood with him (2 Timothy 4:16), to plead his cause,
to bear testimony for him, or so much as to keep him
in countenance, but all men forsook him. This was
strange, that so good a man as Paul should have
nobody to own him, even at Rome, where there were
many Christians, whose faith was spoken of
throughout the world, Romans 1:8. But men are but
men. The Christians at Rome were forward to go and
meet him (Acts 28); but when it came to the pinch,
and they would be in danger of suffering with him,
then they all forsook him. He prays that God would
not lay it to their charge, intimating that it was a
great fault, and God might justly be angry with
them, but he prays God to forgive them. See what a
distinction is put between sins of presumption and
sins of infirmity. Alexander the coppersmith, who
maliciously withstood Paul, he prays against: The
Lord reward him according to his works; but
respecting these Christians, who through weakness
shrunk from Paul in time of trial, he says, The Lord
lay it not to their charge. Observe,
(1.) Paul had his trials in his friends' forsaking
him in a time of danger as well as in the opposition
made by enemies: all forsook him.
(2.) It was their sin not to appear for the good
apostle, especially at his first answer; but it was
a sin of weakness, and therefore the more excusable.
Yet,
(3.) God might lay it to their charge, but Paul
endeavours to prevent it by his earnest prayers: Let
it not be laid to their charge.
~Matthew Henry Main.
Quoted verse:
Romans 1:8
...speaking to the faith of
the Christians at Rome.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you
all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the
whole world.
Now from the Matthew Henry Concise which covers
verses 13-22 and the end of the letter to Timothy:
The winter was approaching, and the Apostle would be
glad of his cloak amid the damp of the Mamertine
prison. Evidently his arrest under Nero’s orders had
been so sudden and peremptory that he was not
allowed to go into his lodgings for this and other
possessions, such as the books mentioned in 2
Timothy 4:13.
He had made his first appearance before Nero, and
was expecting a further appearance to receive his
sentence. But the Lord was with him, and his comfort
was that he had proclaimed the gospel to the highest
audience in the world of his time. His one thought
always was that the gospel should be heard by men,
whether they would hear or forbear. If that were
secured, he did not count the cost to himself. The
lion may stand for Nero or Satan. See Luke 22:31; 1
Peter 5:8. From 2 Timothy 4:20 we gather that
miraculous gifts of healing, of which Paul was
possessed, may not be used merely for friendship’s
sake, but only where the progress of the gospel
requires them. ~Matthew
Henry Concise
Quoted verses:
Luke 22:31
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour:
2 Timothy 4:20
...speaking to Paul's use
and nonuse of healing.
Erastus [E·ras'tus]
abode at Corinth: but Trophimus [TROF-uh-muhs]
have I left at Miletum sick.
Now this from the Jamieson, Fausset, Brown on the
last phrase of the verse:
May it not be laid to their
charge — The position of “their,” in the
Greek, is emphatic. “May it not be laid to THEIR
charge,” for they were intimidated; their drawing
back from me was not from bad disposition so much as
from fear; it is sure to be laid to the charge of
those who intimidated them. Still Paul, like
Stephen, would doubtless have offered the same
prayer for his persecutors themselves (Acts 7:60).
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
Quoted verse
Acts 7:60
...speaking of Stephen
being stoned to death
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice,
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he
had said this, he fell asleep.
Notice this from the Biblical Illustrator on the
phrase, "All men forsook me":
Paul, a Christian’s example
I. Paul forsaken, and yet forgiving those who had
withdrawn from him.
1. The apostle was forsaken by his friends when most
he needed them.
2. Paul’s friends leaving him, made him the more
helpless.
3. Paul’s friends leaving him, discovered their
frailty.
4. The apostle’s forgiving spirit is particularly
worthy of our notice.
II. Paul upheld, and therefore preaching.
1. Paul was upheld by Divine grace.
2. The Lord was present with His servant.
3. The Lord stood by the apostle that his kind of
preaching might be fully known.
4. We who are Gentiles have heard the apostle’s kind
of preaching.
III. Paul delivered, and so acknowledging.
1. This was a seasonable deliverance.
2. This was a great deliverance.
3. The Lord was the accomplisher of this
deliverance.
4. Paul gratefully acknowledges his deliverance.
IV. Paul encouraged, and therefore glorifying.
1. The apostle was encouraged to look for a glorious
destination—heavenly kingdom—the kingdom of glory.
2. The apostle was encouraged to look for Divine
preservation—shall deliver still.
3. The apostle was encouraged in his expectations by
former deliverances (2 Corinthians11:24-27; 2
Corinthians 11:31-33).
Quoted verses:
2 Corinthians 11:24-27
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes
save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,
thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I
have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in
perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in
perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in
perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often,
in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and
nakedness.
2 Corinthians 11:31-33
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie
not.
32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king
kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison,
desirous to apprehend me:
33 And through a window in a basket was I let down
by the wall, and escaped his hands.
4. In the whole, Paul glorified the Lord.
Conclusion:
1. To those who question us with regard to our hope,
we should be able to give an answer.
2. We should exercise a forgiving spirit towards our
brethren.
3. When we feel our own weakness, this should lead
us to look to the Lord for assistance.
4. We should glorify God for all our deliverances.
5. We should remember that the Lord alone can save
and preserve us. What will those do who forget this?
~Biblical Illustrator
Let us check one of the specific commentaries.
The John Gill breaks this verse into three parts:
At my first answer no man
stood with me - Meaning, that when he made
his first defence against the charges laid unto him
in one of the courts of judicature in Rome, no man
appeared in his cause, to speak to his character, to
be a witness for him, or plead his cause:
But all men forsook me
- all his friends, all that came with him from
Judea, or from Asia; see 2 Timothy 1:15 being
timorous of coming into danger, and of the loss of
their lives; as the disciples of Christ were, when
he was apprehended, who all at that time forsook him
and fled:
Quoted verse:
2 Timothy 1:15 [See
lesson]
This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia
be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and
Hermogenes.
I pray God that it may not be
laid to their charge - that this sin may not
be imputed to them, or they be punished for it, but
that it might be pardoned; so differently does he
express himself on the account of these, than on the
account of the coppersmith; he sinning through
malice, willfully and obstinately, these through
surprise, temptation, and weakness.
~John Gill
I really like that conclusion we read
from the Biblical Illustrator regarding this verse.
1. To those who question us with regard to our hope,
we should be able to give an answer.
2. We should exercise a forgiving spirit towards our
brethren.
3. When we feel our own weakness, this should lead
us to look to the Lord for assistance.
4. We should glorify God for all our deliverances.
5. We should remember that the Lord alone can save
and preserve us. What will those do who forget this?
These are the lessons of verse 16. |
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