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| A LETTER FROM DEATH ROW |
| Paul sees the end. |
| I am already being poured out like a drink offereing, and the time has come for my departure. 4:6 |
| Occasionally, writings surface from death row, the earnest scratchings of prisoners who know each word may be their last. Whole books, for example, were discovered amid the ruins of Nazi death camps. Understandably, these writings don't usually dwell on abstract, philosophical themes. They chronicle the day-to-day reality of the struggle to survive. Quite naturally, Paul did not devote much space to doctrine in his death row letter. He stuck to personal advice on vital issues such as courage and personal integrity. Paul's Grim Future Although Paul does not elaborate on his present circumstances in 2 Timothy, he mentions that at his first trial not a single witness came forward to defend him (4:16). Through supernatural strength he successfully defended himself, but his prospects in a new trial appeared grim (4:6). Paul's arrest probably occurred in the wave of anit-Christian persecutions begun by Nero in A.D. 64. That crazed emperor tortured Christians by crucifying, by wrapping them in animal skins and turning his hunting dogs loose on them, and by burning them alive, as human torches, to iluminate the games in his garden. Is it any wonder that Paul, imprisoned in that era, exhorted Timothy on the need for boldness and the likelihood of suffering for Christ? The Coming Conflict Toward the end of his life, Paul viewed the future as a growing struggle. Immorality and false teaching would "spread like gangrene" (2:17); he urged Christians to counteract those forces with personal purity. The battle between good and evil would only intensify, he said. After making some predictions about "the last days," Paul |