3 - Commentary on 2 Timothy

Summary

This letter is not like 1 Timothy or Titus but is more like a farewell, at least in a traditional reading of 4:1–8, esp. vv. 6–8, and some would argue it is the last letter written by Paul himself. I am unpersuaded that the farewell theory has been overturned. More than two decades ago Séan Charles Martin compared the image of Paul in 2 Timothy with the roughly contemporary images of Moses and concluded that as Moses was depicted as a prophet, a lawgiver, and a suffering intercessor, so also was Paul as depicted in this letter.¹ One cannot deny some thematic connections even if one is not altogether convinced by Martin’s approach. This is one of the several themes in 2 Timothy that distinguishes this letter from the other PEs, though differences tend to get exaggerated at times.