Survey of the Letters of Paul
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2 Timothy 4:6
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

The second section of Chapter 4 consists of three verses:

2 Timothy 4:6-8
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Let us begin with the Barclay:

PAUL COMES TO THE END

2 Timothy 4:6-8 …paraphrased

For my life has reached the point when it must be sacrificed, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight: I have completed the course: I have kept the faith. As for what remains, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which on that day the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me – and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

For Paul, the end is very near, and he knows it. When the Dutch reformer Erasmus was growing old, he said: ‘I am a veteran, and have earned my discharge, and must leave the fighting to younger men.’ Paul, the veteran warrior, is laying down his arms in order that Timothy may take them up.

No passage in the New Testament [has more] vivid pictures than this.

‘My life’, says Paul, ‘has reached the point where it must be sacrificed.’ The word he uses for sacrifice is the verb spendesthai, which literally means to pour out as a libation, a drink offering, [to God]. Every Roman meal ended with a kind of sacrifice. A cup of wine was taken and was poured out (spendesthai) to the gods. It is as if Paul were saying: ‘The day is ended; it is time to rise and go; and my life must be poured out as a sacrifice to God.’ He did not think of himself as going to be executed; he thought of himself as going to offer his life to God. Ever since his conversion, he had offered everything to God – his money, his scholarship, his time, his physical strength, the acuteness of his mind and the devotion of his heart. Only life itself was left to offer, and gladly he was going to lay it down.

He goes on to say: ‘The time of my departure has come.’  The word (analusis) he uses for departure is a vivid one. It contains many pictures, and each one tells us something about leaving this life.

(1) It is the word for unyoking an animal from the shafts of the cart or the plough. Death to Paul was rest from labour. As Edmund Spenser had it in The Faerie Queene, sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, ease after war, death after life, are lovely things.

(2) It is the word for loosening bonds or fetters. Death for Paul was a release. He was to exchange the confines of a Roman prison for the glorious liberty of the courts of heaven.

(3) It is the word for loosening the ropes of a tent. For Paul, it was time to strike camp again. He had made many journeys across the roads of Asia Minor and of Europe. Now he was setting out on his last and greatest journey: he was taking the road that led to God.

(4) It is the word for loosening the mooring ropes of a ship. On many occasions, Paul had felt his ship leave the harbor for the deep waters. Now he is to launch out into the greatest deep of all, setting sail to cross the waters of death to arrive in the haven of eternity.

So, for Christians, death is laying down the burden in order to rest; it is laying aside the shackles in order to be free; it is dismantling a temporary campsite in order to take up residence in the [Kingdom]; it is casting off the ropes which bind us to this world in order to set sail on the voyage which ends in the presence of God. Who then shall fear it? ~Barclay commentary

Now to the other commentaries.

First, we will go to the general commentaries and move to the specific. Again Paul is speaking minister to minister but clearly all these admonitions speak, in principles and concepts, to all

Let us begin with the Matthew Henry Main. We are breaking into commentary covering the first eight verses.

2. Because Paul for his part had almost done his work: Do thou make full proof of thy ministry, for I am now ready to be offered, 2 Timothy 4:6. And,

(1.) “Therefore there will be the more occasion for thee.” When labourers are removed out of the vineyard, it is no time for those to loiter that are left behind, but to double their diligence. The fewer hands there are to work the more industrious those hands must be that are at work.

(2.) “I have done the work of my day and generation; do thou in like manner do the work of thy day and generation.”

Note: Can we fathom this point? What, me carry on the work of a Paul or Peter or even Timothy? The spiritual answer from God to both modern-day ministry and all firstfruits is YES! Peter, Paul and Timothy were servants of God and they accomplished their work by the power of God, the Holy Spirit and with their maturity, which includes, clearly, fervency, diligence, zeal and perseverance. God called Paul. God called you. You both have the same Holy Spirit in you and the same God is sitting on His throne in heaven with Jesus Christ at His side. If anything, we have more of the Word than those individuals had. We have massive technology and knowledge that help us in virtually every area of our God-given duties and the spread of the Gospel. Paul and Timothy each had angels that were helpers in their salvation. So do we [Hebrews 1:7, 14]. God is never going to record that all the spiritual strength was in the first century of the church. You will see a multitude of names in that record from the times you have lived.

Quoted verse:
Hebrews 1:7, 14
7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
14 Are they [the angels] not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

You and Paul are both heirs of salvation.

(3.) The comfort and cheerfulness of Paul, in the prospect of his approaching departure, might encourage Timothy to the utmost industry, and diligence, and seriousness in his work. Paul was an old soldier of Jesus Christ, Timothy was but newly enlisted. “Come,” says Paul, “I have found our Master kind and the cause good; I can look back upon my warfare with a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction; and therefore be not afraid of the difficulties thou must meet with. The crown of life is as sure to thee as if it were already upon thy head; and therefore endure afflictions, and make full proof of thy ministry.” The courage and comfort of dying saints and ministers, and especially dying martyrs, are a great confirmation of the truth of the Christian religion, and a great encouragement to living saints and ministers in their work. Here the apostle looks forward, upon his death approaching: I am now ready to be offered. The Holy Spirit witnessed in every city that bonds and afflictions did abide him, Acts 20:23 [that is, Christ working in Paul by the power of the Holy Spirit witnessed in every city].

Quoted verse:
Acts 20:23
Save that the Holy Ghost [Spirit] witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.

He was now at Rome, and it is probable that he had particular intimations from the Spirit that there he should seal the truth with his blood; and he looks upon it now as near at hand: I am already poured out; so it is in the original; that is, I am already a martyr in affection. It alludes to the pouring out of the drink-offerings; for the blood of the martyrs, though it was not a sacrifice of atonement, was a sacrifice of acknowledgment to the honour of the grace of God and his truths.

Observe,

[1.] With what pleasure he speaks of dying. He calls it his departure; though it is probable that he foresaw he must die a violent bloody death, yet he calls it his departure, or his release. Death to a good man is his release from the imprisonment of this world and his departure to the enjoyments of another world; he does not cease to be, but is only removed from one world to another. ~Matthew Henry Main

Let us look at the Biblical Illustrator:

Ready to be offered
I. Things which make it difficult to say this.
1. The enjoyment of life.
2. Attachment to friends.
3. The anticipated pain of dissolution.
4. Uncertainty about the future.

II. Things which make it easy, at least comparatively, to say this.
1. The sad experience of life’s ills.
2. The consciousness of having finished one’s life-work.
3. The pre-decease of Christian friends.
4. An ever-nearing and enlarging prospect of heaven’s glory. ~Biblical Illustrator

Here is another:

Paul the martyr, Christian, conqueror
I. The information here given of Paul’s death as a martyr.
1. He looked on his death as an offering on behalf of the gospel.
2. He looked on his death as a departure from every temporal bondage.

II. The declaration here given of Paul’s labour as a Christian.
1. As a soldier in the army.
2. As a runner in a race.
3. As a faithful servant to his Master.

III. The declaration here given of Paul’s reward as a conqueror,
1. The preciousness of this reward.
2. The excellent Giver of this reward.
3. The solemn time of obtaining this reward.
4. The liberality of the Giver. “Not to me only,” [see verse 8] ~Biblical Illustrator

Quoted verse:
2 Timothy 4:8 [see lesson]
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Here is a third item from the Biblical Illustrator:

Looking [to the Kingdom]
1. He looks downward into the grave (2 Timothy 4:6) whither he was going, and there he sees comfort.
2. He looks backward and views his well-spent life with joy and comfort, and in a holy gloriation breaks forth, “I have fought the good fight,” etc.
3. He looks upward, and there he sees [the Kingdom] prepared for him.

But doth not this savor of vain-glory and spiritual pride?
1. Answer: Not at all, for the apostle speaks not this proudly, as if he had merited anything at the hand of God.
2. He speaks this partly to comfort Timothy, and to encourage him to walk in his steps, keeping faith and a good conscience.
3. To encourage himself against the reproach of his reproaching violent death, he eyes that heavenly reward and that crown of life prepared for such as have fought the good fight as he had done. ~Biblical Illustrator

Now to the specific commentaries:

This verse is in two parts and divided by the comma.

1. For I am now ready to be offered.
2. and the time of my departure is at hand.


1. For I am now ready to be offered.

For I am now ready to be offered - Poured out as an offering by having his blood shed. ~People's New Testament

For I am ready to be offered - There is a pathetic tenderness in the reason thus given. ‘Do thy work thoroughly, for mine is all but over.’ The Greek is, however, even more emphatic, ‘I am being offered. My life is being poured out as a libation.’ That which in Philippians 2:17 was thought of as probable, had, after many chances [opportunities/circumstances] and changes, come to be a reality. ~Popular commentary

For I am now ready to be offered -  I am already poured out as a libation. See the note on Philippians 2:17. He considers himself as on the eve of being sacrificed, and looks upon his blood as the libation which was poured on the sacrificial offering. He could not have spoken thus positively had not the sentence of death been already passed upon him. ~Adam Clarke

Quoted verse:
Philippians 2:17
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.

For I am now ready to be offered - Or poured out, as a libation, or a drink offering; or as the blood was poured out at the bottom of the altar; which is expressive of martyrdom, and shows that the apostle knew what death he should die; for which he was habitually ready; and this sacrifice of himself was not to atone for sin, his own, or others; Christ's death was the only sacrifice for sin, and that is a complete one, and needs no other to be added to it; but this was in the cause of Christ, and for the confirmation of the Gospel, and the faith of the saints in it: so covenants have been confirmed by libations or drink offerings of wine; and this was an offering acceptable unto God, in whose sight the death of his saints is precious; as the wine in the drink offering is said to cheer God, that is, to be acceptable to him: ~John Gill

2. And the time of my departure is at hand.

The time of my departure - Death, to Paul, was simply a departure, a leaving the body and this world for a better state. ~People's New Testament

At hand. - His death had been predetermined by his enemies, and was near. ~People's New Testament

The time of my departure is at hand - So undoubtedly God had shown him. I am ready to be offered up - Literally, to be poured out, as the wine and oil were on the ancient sacrifices. ~John Wesley Explanatory Notes

The time of my departure - The Greek word is used here only in the New Testament, and was probably suggested by the way in which it was commonly applied to the ‘breaking up’ or ‘dispersion’ of those who had been gathered together for a sacrifice. ~Popular commentary

And the time of my departure is at hand - death is not an annihilation [total destruction] of man, neither of his body, nor of his soul; the one at death returns to dust, and the other to God that gave it; death is a dissolution [dissolving into parts or elements] of soul and body, or a dissolving of the union that is between them, and a resolution of the body into its first principles; hence the Syriac version renders it, "the time in which I shall be dissolved"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "the time of my resolution". Death analyzes men, and reduces them to their first original earth; it is a removing of persons from one place and state to another; from an house of clay, from this earthly house of our tabernacle, to an house not made with hands, eternal in the [ Kingdom], to everlasting habitations, and mansions in Christ's Father's house. This phrase, "a departure", is an easy representation of death, and supposes an existence after it. Now there is a "time" for this; saints are not to continue here always; this is a state of pilgrimage, and a time of sojourning, and which is fixed and settled; the time for going out of this world, as well as for coming into it, is determined by God, beyond which there is no passing; the number of men's days, months, and years, is with him; and the apostle knew partly from his age, and partly from his situation, being in bonds at Rome, and it may be by divine revelation, that his time of removing out of this world was very near; and which he mentions, to stir up Timothy to diligence, since he would not have him long with him, to give him counsel and advice, to admonish him, or set him an example. ~John Gill

Recap - What did we learn today?

1] Paul knows his end is near.
2] Paul offered everything in his life to God.
3] Paul is now ready to offer the last thing he has; his life.

4] Death for Paul was rest from labor.
5] Paul did not fear death. He looked at the grave as a place of comfort. I have always called the grave the best place of safety on Earth.
6] Paul is now showing Timothy his opportunity to take up the plough he is releasing.

7] When one laborer ends his or her work, it is time for everyone remaining to redouble theirs. There used to be upwards of 150,000 baptized members in the Body of Christ. For many years now, this figure is around just 30,000. I venture to say that these 30,000 are putting in the effort today that matches and exceeds their efforts then.
8] Paul and Timothy did all Work by the power of the Holy Spirit in them. So do we.
9] God was sitting on His thrown with Jesus Christ at His side in Paul's day. He is still there today.

10] Angels have be assigned to be our helpers in salvation. True in Paul's and Timothy's day and true now today.
11] Paul invoked joy and cheerfulness in His last days.
12] Paul was the great encourager. Witness the great encouragement he is giving Timothy and us in these two great letters.

13] Death to a good man is his release from the imprisonment of this world and his departure to the enjoyments of another world.
14] As with Paul, each of us is a soldier in the army of Jesus Christ, a runner in the race to salvation and we are all faithful servants of the Master.
15] There is a crown of righteousness laid up for Paul and to all of them that love the appearing of Jesus Christ.

16] Paul gave all glory to God in all that he did.
17] Paul had a Kingdom perspective [10,000-year perspective].
18] With a Kingdom perspective, death has no power.

All these are the lessons of verse 6.
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