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| 2 Timothy 4:21 |
Do thy diligence to come before
winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus,
and Claudia, and all the brethren.
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of the chapter to this point and maybe a verse or
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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.)
Notice this from Easton's Bible Dictionary:
Easton's Bible Dictionary
A female Christian mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:21. It
is a conjecture having some probability that she was
a British maiden, the daughter of king Cogidunus,
who was an ally of Rome, and assumed the name of the
emperor, his patron, Tiberius Claudius, and that she
was the wife of Pudens.
~Easton's Bible Dictionary
I found this in the International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia:
Claudia:
A member of the Christian congregation at Rome, who,
with other members of that church, sends her
greetings, through Paul, to Timothy (2 Timothy
4:21). More than this concerning her cannot be said
with certainty. The Apostolical Constitutions (VII,
21) name her as the mother of Linus, mentioned
subsequently by Irenaeus [i'ruh-NEE-uhs]
and Eusebius [yoo-SEE-bee-uhs]
as bishop of Rome. An ingenious [ingenious]
theory has been proposed, upon the basis of the
mention of Claudia and Pudens [POO-dinz]
as husband and wife in an epigram of Martial, that
they are identical with the persons of the same name
here mentioned. A passage in the Agricola of Tacitus
and an inscription found in Chichester [Chi-ches-ter],
England, have been used in favor of the further
statement that this Claudia was a daughter of a
British king, Cogidubnus [Cog-i-dub-nus].
~ISBE
I found this at a web site with the title, "Women in
the Scriptures":
Even though all we really know about Claudia is her
name I can't help but wonder what her story was and
what she gave up in order to follow Christ. It is
very likely that she had been born into wealth and
privilege and that by choosing to become a Christian
she forfeited this material wealth and position. It
is beautiful to me to think of her giving up the
treasures of this earth because she realized that
Christ offered her treasures in heaven, "where
neither moth and rust doth corrupt." (Matthew 6:20)
Claudia, and all the early Christian women converts,
are so inspiring to me [the
author of this piece] because they had
the courage to live the gospel in some very
difficult circumstances. Claudia was living in Rome
at a time when many of the stalwart saints were
falling away from the church. In 2 Timothy 4: 10-11
Paul tells Timothy that "... Demas hath forsaken me,
having loved the present world and is departed unto
Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto
Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me..." This was not an
easy time to be a Christian, especially not in Rome,
and so it is impressive that she stood firm and
unmovable in her support of Paul and of the Church.
I think that sometimes the greatest trial of our
faith comes when what we believe is not popular and
we are perceived as being "old fashioned" or
"radical" to the rest of the world. It is at those
times that we have to search inside ourselves and
choose, like Claudia did, to stand firm in our
testimony of Christ, no matter what. If we don't
then it becomes easy to fall away, like the Demas
that Paul wrote to Timothy about, because we " loved
the present world." I love Claudia's story because
it reminds me that as alluring as the wealth and
philosophies of the world are they can not bring us
true happiness and joy. The only one who offers true
joy and happiness is Jesus Christ and obtaining it
means that we must stand firm in our testimonies--
even when when it is hard or when it means we will
be standing alone. ~Women
in the Scriptures
Now to the other commentaries. We will begin with
the general and move to the specific.
Here is the Matthew Henry which covers verses 16-22.
I will give you what it has for verse 21.
He sends commendations to him from Eubulus, Pudens,
Linus, Claudia, and all the brethren. One of the
heathen writers at this time mentions one Pudens and
his wife Claudia, and says the Claudia was a Briton,
whence some have gathered that it was this Pudens,
and that Claudia here was his wife, and that they
were eminent Christians at Rome.
~Matthew Henry Main
Now the Matthew Henry Concise which covers verses 19-22.
We need no more to make us happy, than to have the
Lord Jesus Christ with our spirits; for in him all
spiritual blessings are summed up. It is the best
prayer we can offer for our friends, that the Lord
Jesus Christ may be with their spirits, to sanctify
and save them, and at last to receive them to
himself. Many who believed as Paul, [are
assured the Kingdom and who will stand before the
Lord]. May we be
followers of them. ~Matthew
Henry Concise
Now notice something from the Biblical Illustrator:
Eubulus and Pudens, and Ltuus, and Claudia. Eubulus
is mentioned here only. It has been thought possible
that Pudens may be the friend of the poet Martial,
whose marriage with Claudia, a foreign lady, he
celebrates in Epigram 8. lib. 4., supposing that
other epigrams which are not favourable to the moral
character of Pudens were written before his
conversion. An inscription found at Colchester
mentions a site given by one Pudens for a temple,
built under the sanction of a British king, Claudius
Cogidubrius; and it has been conjectured that this
was the same Pudens who was a centurion in the army,
and who may have married the daughter of
Cogidubrius, whose name would consequently have been
Claudia. The Claudia Rufina of Martial was a Briton,
and may have received the name of Rufina from
Pomponia, the wife of Aulus Ptantius, commander in
Britain, who was connected with the Ruff family, and
was accused of holding foreign superstitions. All
this, however, is very uncertain. Linus is probably
the same Roman Christian who became the first bishop
of the Church there, according to Ignatius and
Eusebius. ~The Biblical
Illustrator
Because of time we will use only one specific
commentary. The Adam Clarke had the best text on the
verse.
Come before winter -
1. Because the apostle’s time was short and
uncertain.
2. Because sailing in those seas was very dangerous
in winter. Whether Timothy saw the apostle before he
was martyred is not known.
Eubulus - This person
is nowhere else mentioned in the New Testament.
Pudens - Of this person
we have traditions and legends, but nothing certain.
The Catholics make him bishop of Rome.
Linus - He also is
made, by the same persons, bishop of Rome; but there
is no sufficient ground for these pretensions.
Claudia - Supposed to
be the wife of Pudens. Some think she was a British
lady, converted by Paul; and that she was the
first that brought the Gospel to Britain.
All the brethren - All
the Christians, of whom there were many at Rome;
though of Paul’s companions in travel, only Luke
remained there. ~Adam Clarke
The primary lesson of this verse is right there in
the first three words, "Do thy Diligence." I
find it interesting that this admonition to Timothy
is followed by a number of people who had shown
their loyalty and diligence in their relationship to
Paul and their work in the church. I want to
be in a list like this someday. Don't you?
This is the lesson of verse 21. |
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