2nd Timothy study, Part 27

Hi y'all! Hope y'all are having a great week so far, and a good hump day! We just might finish the study today! Let's see! Remember to pray before we begin today. Oh, btw, remember how I had to cut it short yesterday? Well, today we get to see what Paul was going to say in verse eighteen.

18. And the Lord shall deliver from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for every 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.

Verse eighteen is a part of what Paul was talking about in the previous couple verses. That's why I wanted to do it yesterday, but didn't have time. The cool thing about this verse is that you can almost feel Paul's courage. You can see how sure he was, how much he relied on God to bring him through. He says, "And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom." He doesn't say that he thinks that God might deliver him from some evil works. NO! He says for a fact that God will deliver him, no doubt about it! God will not only deliver him, but he will deliver him from every single evil work! Amazing faith! What amazing faith!

And, not only deliver him from every evil work, but he says that God will also "preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom." I think, that that means that he knows that he is saved, and when he dies (died) that he will go up to heaven to be with God!

He ends that verse by praising God, he says, "...to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Basically, he is saying, not to me, but to God, be all the glory for ever and ever and ever! Never ending glory!

In the last few verses, Paul is telling Timothy to greet some certain people, and telling him that certain people greet him. Let's look and see who they were....

1. Prisca and Aquila. In some versions Prisca is Priscilla. I don't know why it's different, but they are the same person. Priscilla and Aquila were a couple that lived at the same time of Paul, they were Christians, and they opened up their home to be used as a church. To read more about Priscilla and Aquila, click here.
   
2. The household of Onesiphorus. Remember him from chapter one? Paul said that he did not desert him, but refreshed him, and was not ashamed of him like the others.
3. Eratus. I don't know anything about him besides that he lived in Corinth. So all I can do is guess. Since Paul tells Timothy to "salute" (greet) him, he is probably a Christian, and a good friend of Paul and Timothy. Also, since Timothy is told to greet him, he might be in Corinth, or is going to go through it soon.
   
4. Trophimus. This is a pretty sad thing. This is not the only time he is mentioned in the Bible, click here to read the other references to this man. Right here all Paul says is that he left him at Miletum sick, but one of the other references to him notes that he is an Ephesian, a man who lived in Ephesus. Paul wrote a letter to the Christians in that city, the book of Ephesians!
   
5. Eubulus. This is the only time he is mentioned in the Bible, and nothing is really said about him. All I know about him is that he is with Paul, he is probably bringing Paul food, and keeping him company; because Paul says that "Eubulus greeteth thee," he might also know Timothy.
6. Pudens and Linus. Same with them, they are probably with Paul. Also, they are not mentioned any other time in the Bible. (They are not a couple. :P I just put them together since they are in the same position.)
   
7. Claudia is also only mentioned once in the Bible, but Barclay thinks that she may have been a British princess that was sent to Rome after the rulers of Britain and Rome made an agreement, and when she was there she became a Christian. No one knows for sure though, there were probably a lot of people named Claudia back then! :D
8. All the brethren. The Christians.
   

In the beginning of verse twenty one Paul makes request of Timothy, he tells him to try to come before winter. The winters in Europe are cold as far as I know, and Paul did not want Timothy to make that long journey in the cold, and probably wanted to see him as soon as possible. Does that not sound fatherly to you? The further we get through this book, I keep seeing how Paul loved Timothy so much, and basically took him for his own son, he loved and cared for Timothy like a father, and Timothy probably felt the same towards Paul.

The last verse is Paul's farewell, he says, "The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen." One thing that I noticed as I read all of Paul's letters is that, he always ends with, "Grace be with you." Or something similar, it is kind of like his signature or mark, if you think about it! :D

Well, that's it. That is the twenty-seventh part of the four chapter letter written by Paul to Timothy. I hope you all enjoyed the study, and learned something from it too, if you did not get a chance to read them all they are all here, if you type in "2 Timothy" in the search engine, or go down my sidebar to "labels" and click "2 Timothy study" then they will all come up. :) Tomorrow I will try to do the recap for chapter four, then I will do a recap of the whole book sometime soon after. Thanks for reading.

Love you all in Christ,
Buttercup :)