2 Tim. 4:9-22

2Ti 4:9 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: 2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. 2Ti 4:11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. 2Ti 4:12 And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. 2Ti 4:13 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. 2Ti 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works: 2Ti 4:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words. 2Ti 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. 2Ti 4:17 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. 2Ti 4:18 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. 2Ti 4:19 Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. 2Ti 4:20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. 2Ti 4:21 Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren. 2Ti 4:22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.

Do Thy Diligence

Before Timothy is even given a chance to process everything he just read in this second epistle, Paul has some very important, personal instructions for him. He must hit the ground running to go see the Apostle Paul. We have in vs. 9, Paul writing, “Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me” and then he says it again in the second to last verse of the epistle. In vs. 21, he writes, “Do thy diligence to come before winter.” This instruction was so important that it was worthy of repeating a second time.

Not only does he tell Timothy twice to Do thy diligence to come, but in vs. 21, he gives a specific timeframe – come before winter, which is why I think it was winter, 65 AD that Paul was put to death, a year after the fire at Rome.

But see, this journey was a very big deal.

This journey was about more than Paul seeing Timothy one last time before he dies. This was, in fact, the most important journey of Timothy’s life.

And I think Timothy knew exactly why this was important the first time he read these passages. He knew why he HAD to risk his life going to Rome, and why there was no room for failure in this journey to Paul in Rome. Timothy HAD to go to Paul. Timothy HAD to risk his life for this journey. And Timothy CAN NOT fail because too much was at stake!

Why?

It was always odd to me that at the end of the very first chapter, Paul tells Timothy about Onesiphorus. Look at these passages.

2Ti 1:16 The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: 2Ti 1:17 But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. 2Ti 1:18 The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.

So we learn here how Onesiphorus went out of his way to travel into Rome, how he sought Paul out “very diligently,” how he was not ashamed of Paul’s chains, and when he found him, he oft refreshed him, just as he did when Paul was in prison at Ephesus. And it seems clear to me that Onesiphorus lost his life doing this for Paul. “How do you know that, Joel?”

Because of verse 16.

Remember how Paul wrote, “The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus.”

That’s a red flag. Something bad has happened.

Now when Paul says the house of Onesiphorus, I don’t think he means Onesiphorus and his household. I think he means just the household of Onesiphorus. Why do I say that? Because Paul had a second prayer for mercy for Onesiphorus himself in vs. 18 when he wrote, The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.

So there are two prayers for mercy here. That’s a lot of prayer for a lot of mercy for both Onesiphorus and for his household.

Why does he do that? Why does Paul pray for “mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus” and then pray that Onesiphorus himself would find mercy of the Lord in that day?

I think Paul prayed for mercy unto the household of Onesiphorus because Paul wanted the whole household to be influenced in their hearts by the Lord’s attribute of mercy.

Why would Paul want them to influenced by the Lord’s mercy?

Because something bad happened to Onesiphorus.

I have no doubt that Nero captured and killed Onesiphorus for being associated with Paul.

You might remember that Nero wasn’t just going to use Paul as the scapegoat for the fire at Rome. Nero was also going to kill all the Christians, especially anyone who is personally associated with Paul. This is why all men forsook Paul when he first stood trial before Nero, because just by being associated with Paul, they would be put death.

But Onesiphorus was not ashamed.

Onesiphorus sought Paul out very diligently and it cost him his life.

You may also recall in 2 Tim. 4:19 how Timothy was instructed that, when he travels to Rome, he’s to salute… the household of Onesiphorus. He’ll only be visiting the household of Onesiphorus because Onesiphorus himself won’t be there.

Why?

Because Onesiphorus was either dead already or he was in prison waiting to be put to death just like Paul.

This is yet another reason why Paul would open the letter by saying to Timothy, “Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” when he would open all his other church epistles with only a declaration of grace and peace. Timothy likewise needed to be influenced in his heart by the Lord’s attribute of mercy, because Nero was about to put the Apostle Paul to death. This was the divine influence of His grace, mercy, and peace upon Timothy’s heart to influence his walk because very bad things were being done to people he loved.

These letters were written during a time in which the church was in ruins, when the Roman empire was about to begin an empire-wide persecution of Christians, and Paul also had in view in these letters the great apostasy in the perilous latter days of the age of grace, and during times of great apostasy and great persecution, we need the Lord’s attribute of mercy to forgive because Christ forgave us. So we show mercy because of the mercy Christ has shown us, and we display grace to all because of the grace displayed to us. And we be at peace with our persecutors with as much forbearance as lieth within us.

In times of persecution and great apostasy, we show mercy, as Paul illustrated in Rom. 12, when he wrote, “Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not…” We “Recompense to no man evil for evil…” And he says, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” We show mercy and grace to those who persecute us and leave vengeance in the hands of the Lord.

But this is what’s odd to me about Paul telling Timothy the story about Onesiphorus. He tells him Onesiphorus lost his life seeking him out in Rome. He tells Timothy about how Onesiphorus was not ashamed of Paul’s chains. He also emphasizes three times in this letter to Timothy to not be ashamed of the gospel or of Paul. And then at the end of the letter, he tells Timothy to come to see him as soon as possible in Rome. He tells Timothy the story of how Onesiphorus died trying to find him in Rome and then he turns around and tells Timothy to come to Rome as soon as possible!

Why would Paul do that?

If Paul loved Timothy like he said, wouldn’t he want Timothy to stay away from Rome so he could carry on his ministry at Ephesus? What’s the point of all this motivation in this letter if Timothy is only going to soon lose his life by going to Rome to see Paul? Was Paul being so selfish about seeing Timothy that he was carelessly putting Timothy’s life at risk just for his own personal benefit?

I would argue that there was something even more important going on here that was actually worthy of Timothy risking his life.

This was the most important journey of Timothy’s life.

Consider the 5 Personal Instructions to Timothy in Chapter 4.

1) He was to come to Paul as soon as humanly possible (2 Tim. 4:9, 21).

2) But before he does that, he was to go to Troas, and collect his cloak that contained his parchments and books (2 Tim. 4:13).

3) He was to pick up John Mark and bring him to Rome (2 Tim. 4:11).

4) He was to go visit Priscilla and Aquila (2 Tim. 4:19).

5) And he was to go visit the household of Onesiphorus (2 Tim. 4:19).

I can’t help but ask “Why?” If Paul was about to die, why would he put Timothy’s life at risk just to bring him a cloak with his parchments and books? If Paul would only have a few short weeks to live after Timothy made it to Rome, then why would he put Timothy’s life at risk just so he could read some NT parchments? What would be the point? And if Paul was about to die, why would he need John Mark? Why would he also put at risk John Mark’s life? What was it that John Mark was going to be doing for Paul while he’s in prison? I’ve said this a few times before but the key to understanding everything is the cloak.

2Ti 4:13 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.

What’s the deal with the cloak? Why did Paul go to Troas? And why does Paul say, “but especially the parchments”? Why were the parchments more important than the books? When I did the introduction to 2 Timothy, I made the case that the cloak is the key to understanding everything about Paul’s 4^th journey, and I’d suggest now that the cloak is the key to understanding why Timothy HAD to risk his life to see Paul.

First, the cloak.

By the time we get to Paul’s day, the cloak had replaced the toga. The Roman cloak was called the Pallium.

So what’s the deal with this cloak? Look at what Paul says. The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee… Just think about this. Timothy is in Ephesus. Paul wants Timothy to immediately come to him in Rome, but before he does that, he wants Timothy to go from Ephesus all the way up to Troas to get Paul’s cloak.

Do you know how far Troas is from Ephesus? It’s 230 miles. That’s for us today a 5-hour car ride with tolls. But in Timothy’s day, that trip would have been a 3-day journey by boat one way. Going by boat would’ve been faster than going over land.

Do you know how long it would’ve taken Timothy to get from Ephesus to Rome? Two weeks by boat.

So think about it. How long would it have taken for Paul’s letter to be delivered to Timothy in Ephesus? Two weeks. Then Timothy would’ve had to go up to Troas and back, which would’ve taken a week. Then it would’ve taken Timothy two weeks to get to Paul in Rome. At best, you’re looking at, from the time Paul sent this letter, maybe 6 weeks before he could see Timothy. And if this letter was written in later summer or early fall, then that means that Paul only had two or three months left to live. Timothy had to be in Rome before winter. If winter had already started, then it’s likely Paul would’ve been dead. Timothy had to be in Rome while it was still fall if he had any hope of seeing Paul, which meant that Timothy had to hit the ground running as soon as he got that letter. They were really cutting it close.

Now I know some may be thinking. “How do you know that it’s a 3-day journey from Ephesus to Troas by boat? And how did you know it’d take 14 days to travel from Ephesus to Rome?”

There is a program online called ORBIS, which is the Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman Word. Basically, it’s Google Maps for the Roman Empire. You’d input the city from and the city to that one would be traveling and you’d input the time of year, whether it’d be summer, fall, winter, etc., and the system would calculate how long that journey would take.

The system would also calculate the fastest route whether by land or by boat, and it would’ve been faster for Timothy to travel by boat than by land.

So just think about this. Timothy had to give up an entire week so he could travel for 3 days by boat to Troas to pick up Paul’s cloak, and then travel by boat for 3 days back to Ephesus. That’s a lot of hassle for one little cloak.

Why did Timothy have to get that cloak? Couldn’t he just buy a cloak in Ephesus and then take a boat to Rome? Why did Timothy have to go get that cloak?

Is Paul acting like some preening apostolic diva? “I don’t want any cloak. I want my cloak.” Is that what’s going on here?

No.

This cloak unlocks a great mystery about Timothy risking his life to go see Paul.

This was a very special cloak. The cloak, the books, and the parchments all went together.

I think Paul had special pockets sewn into his cloak so he could carry his books and parchments with him everywhere he went. If the cloak was in Troas then so were his books and parchments.

Now what were those books and parchments? I’ll bet the books were OT writings, but the parchments were copies of all of the NT writings. And all of those NT writings in those parchments were more important than those OT books.

Paul didn’t go anywhere without his Bible. He carried them with him everywhere he went, which were kept inside pockets sewn onto his cloak.

Paul wasn’t just asking Timothy to get his cloak. He was asking Timothy to go get his Bible, which was in his cloak, and the most important thing is to bring to Rome the NT writings.

I’ve made the case before in detail in a free pdf about Paul’s 4^th journey that I think that before Paul wrote 1^st Timothy, he knew a storm was brewing with Nero, which is why he asked Titus to send Zenas the lawyer. Then Paul wrote the first letter to Timothy in Nicopolis. Then Paul met Timothy in secret, probably in Miletus. Then Paul went to Troas to turn himself in to the Roman authorities. It was most likely in Troas that Paul was arrested, which is why he left his cloak and his books and his parchments with a nobody named Carpus. He didn’t want Roman authorities to get their hands on his books and parchments because they would likely be lost forever. Here’s another question.

Why didn’t Paul leave his cloak and his parchments with Timothy in Ephesus? Because Timothy was almost as famous as Paul, and it may have been possible that Rome might be looking for Timothy, too. But no one knew who Carpus was. His parchments would’ve been safer with Carpus in Troas.

But now Paul wants those parchments.

Why?

See, the entire letter of 2^nd Timothy shows the mindset of Paul at the time. He wasn’t thinking about himself. He was thinking of everyone else after he was gone. He was concerned about spiritual leadership in the grace movement after he was gone and in the context of a church that’s now in spiritual ruins headed into the perilous times of the last days of grace.

The reason he wanted those parchments was the same reason he gave them to Carpus. He wanted to preserve the Word of God.

This is Joel-ology, but this is the only theory that, to me, fits all the facts. And I think it is possible to reach a logical conclusion to all these questions based on the many little clues the Spirit gives us in the text.

I think Paul desperately needed those parchments brought to Rome because they would be given to people who were going to create as many copies of those parchments as possible so that the completed Word of God could be disseminated out into the world after Paul is gone. The duplication and preservation of the written Word of God is the only reason it would be worth risking Timothy’s life to bring those parchments into Rome.

As soon as Timothy read about the cloak and the parchments, I think he knew exactly what Paul was doing. I think he knew instantly that this journey to Rome would be the most important journey of his life.

See, Paul couldn’t explain why he wanted those parchments in his letter. Because if Roman authorities read Paul’s 2^nd epistle to Timothy and learned that Paul was making secret copies of the Bible, then they would’ve gone out of their way to stamp out that underground group of believers making all those copies and they would’ve interfered with God’s work of preserving His Word. They would’ve tortured people until they gave up the names and locations of all those who were making copies and spreading, in their minds, that awful thing called Christianity.

But if some Roman authority had read Paul’s epistle and came across this verse about his cloak and his parchments, they would’ve thought, “Oh, this old guy Paul just wants his cloak and he wants to do some reading before he dies. Nothing to see here.”

I have no doubt Paul had bigger plans for those parchments. He was already thinking ahead – of life after he’s gone, and he’s thinking about the preservation, the duplication, and the dissemination of the Word of God.

This is why Timothy HAD to hit the ground running as soon as he got this letter. This is why Timothy HAD to get the parchments. This is why Timothy HAD to risk his life going to Rome, because what was at stake was nothing less than the preservation and dissemination of God’s Holy Word.

So what was the point of all those other instructions Paul gave to Timothy? Consider again the five personal instructions Paul gave Timothy here:

1) He was to come to Paul as soon as humanly possible (2 Tim. 4:9, 21).

2) But before he does that, he was to go to Troas, and collect his cloak that contained his parchments and books (2 Tim. 4:13).

3) He was to pick up John Mark and bring him to Rome (2 Tim. 4:11).

4) He was to go visit Priscilla and Aquila (2 Tim. 4:19).

5) And he was to go visit the household of Onesiphorus (2 Tim. 4:19).

Why did Timothy have to pick up John Mark and bring him to Rome? Because I’ll bet you Paul wanted John Mark to be involved in the ministry of making secret copies of all the NT parchments. That is the only reason it would be worth risking John Mark’s life by bringing him to Rome. And he was profitable to Paul now. He could be trusted with this very important ministry of preserving God’s Word.

Why did Timothy have to go see Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus? Notice the order of the visitations in vs. 19. He wrote, “Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.” He was to go to Priscilla and Aquila first and then the household of Onesiphorus.

Why?

Because Priscilla and Aquila knew what had to be done with those parchments. They would take the parchments and hand them over to people to make copies. Paul never said to bring those parchments to him personally. He only said in 2Ti 4:13 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.

If Timothy had walked into the Mamertine Prison with all those parchments, no doubt the Roman authorities would’ve confiscated them and burned them all. But he had to see Priscilla and Aquila FIRST.

Priscilla and Aquila would’ve known what to do with all those parchments.

Priscilla and Aquila were now highly instrumental in having as many copies as humanly possible made of those NT parchments.

In addition, if things didn’t go as planned, if Paul would be executed early or if Timothy would somehow be late, Priscilla and Aquila would be the go-to people who would still carry out what Paul wanted accomplished with the copying of those parchments.

So why did Timothy have to also go visit the household of Onesiphorus?

Because his family could tell Timothy exactly where Paul was located, because Onesiphorus had already figured it out.

This is yet another reason why Paul told the story of Onesiphorus in chapter one. Remember how Paul said that Onesiphorus sought him out very diligently? Why is that? Because Paul was a high-profile prisoner. Rome was keeping under wraps where Paul was being held, but Onesiphorus figured it out.

Not only that, the family could also give Timothy important advice so he wouldn’t make the same mistakes as Onesiphorus made. They could give him guidance as to how he could enter the Mamertine Prison, visit Paul, and get out without being arrested. Perhaps something along the lines of, “Look. Tell the guards, ‘I’m just here to deliver a cloak to Paul. That’s it.’ Don’t tell them anything more than that.”

Visiting Priscilla and Aquila was crucial in carrying on the work of preserving God’s Word, but visiting the household of Onesiphorus was crucial in preserving Timothy’s life when he would visit Paul in prison. It may well be argued that one of the reasons we know that Timothy was successful in completing his journey to Rome is because so many copies were made and we now have in our hands a completed, written, Word of God.

Conclusion

So what this entire story tells us is two-fold. 1) details matter. Every detail in the Word of God serves a purpose, and 2) we learn of the courage and the sacrifice of so many dear saints, who lost their lives and who risked their lives in the face of evil and overwhelming persecution in the Roman Empire, so that we may now have in our hands the completed, written, Word of God.

So the question becomes, “How much do you appreciate this Bible you now hold in your hands? How much time do you spend in His living Word for which many saints lost their lives so that you may have a Bible? And are you willing to make the same kinds of sacrifices for the sake of the gospel so that souls will be saved and saints edified?”

Consider the inspirational people we examined. Not just Paul and Timothy but also Onesiphorus who was not ashamed of Paul and lost his life trying to minister to him and his family who had to cope with the loss of a husband and father for the ministry. There was also Priscilla and Aquila and John Mark, who may well have been risking their lives in order to make many copies of those parchments so that we can have the Bible we now hold in our hands.

Are you willing to make the same kinds of sacrifices for the Lord?