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19 Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. 21 Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers and sisters. 22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all. ~ 2 Timothy 4:19-22
Today, we come to the end of our study of 2 Timothy. The Apostle Paul is in a Roman prison and he is accentuating all who were of help to him and all who were not so helpful to him. We all need one another and there are times when we help one another tremendously, but we must never forget that our hope is in the Lord and not in man. People will let us down but the Lord will always prove to be faithful. As long as our eyes are on him, we can't go wrong. Herein is one of the major difference between walking in the Spirit and walking in the flesh.
In v.19 we read, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.”
Priscilla and Aquilla was a couple who is mentioned six times in the New Testament. Paul met them in Corinth in Acts 18, lived with, and worked with them. According to Acts 18, they left Corinth with Paul and went to Ephesus. When Paul wrote Romans about six years later, they were living in Rome, according to Romans 16:3, but they left under persecution of the Jews by Emperor Claudius. And when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians likely from Ephesus, according to 1 Corinthians 16:8-9, they had a church in Corinth in their house. At this point in their lives, they were living in Ephesus, perhaps due to persecution. Wherever the Lord needed Pricilla and Aquila, He sent them, and, they went and they were useful in the spread of the Gospel.
And then there’s the household of Onesiphorus. As is pointed out in 2 Timothy 1:16, Onesiphorus came to Rome, found Paul in prison, and was an encouragement to him. Having been so helpful to Paul, he greets the family of this courageous man who had passed away before Paul wrote these words.
In v.20 we read, "Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus."
Erastus ministered to Paul and had been around for quite a while. He was sent by Paul to go to Macedonia to help the young believers there. Erastus was an old friend of Paul and Timothy, and he is now following up the work in Corinth. And, Corinth was a difficult place to serve.
And then there was Trophimus who was an Ephesian according to Acts 21:29. He had been at Troas with the apostle, and he carried an offering to the needy Christians in Jerusalem. He was there when Eutychus fell out of the window and was resurrected. He was the unwilling cause of Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem, according to Acts 21. At the writing of 2 Timothy, Trophimus was in Miletus and he was sick. He was just thirty-six miles from his home, but he was too sick to get there.
In v.21 we read, “Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers and sisters.”
The Apostle Paul wanted Timothy to travel before winter because if he waited beyond October it would have been too dangerous on the seas to travel. And then the Apostle Paul closes the epistle out by writing, "Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers and sisters."
Eubulus, Pudens and Linus were Roman Christians, part of the church in Rome. Linus was one of the leaders in the church at Rome. Since his name appears between Pudens and Claudia, it is thought that perhaps he was the son of that couple, Pudens being a male name and Claudia a female name. They, perhaps, were the parents of the man who turned out to be the first Elder of the church in Rome.
In v.22 we read, "The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all."
The last words of the Apostle Paul were his personal farewell, used at the end of his letters to prove it was of him. I wonder if Timothy ever made it to Rome before Paul's death. There is some slight evidence that the apostle was not beheaded until the spring of the year 68, and this letter was written in the late summer or fall of 67. If Timothy had made it to Rome before that time he could have spent several months with Paul.
It is quite fitting that this letter ends with "grace." In a fallen world, populated by selfish, lost, fearful, and rebellious people, grace is the one thing that everyone needs. And we can only give it to someone else when we have first been given it, because we can't give away that which we don't have.
God’s grace is the most powerful force in the universe. It reaches us where we are and takes us where we need to be. God's grace transform us at the heart of who we are as human beings, and it prepares us to be like the Lord Jesus, loving and true.
Being strong in God's grace requires of us to exercise ourselves by it so that we can be strong. We have to work at it, being made daily cognizant that God is for us through the merit of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And, nothing else. And, our badness can not subtract from Christ's applied perfection. And, because of this, we can trust Him. As a result, we are learning to let go of self, of doing things our way, and of depending on our own resources. As we do, depending on God instead, we will grow stronger in His grace.
