- This article or section should be merged with First Epistle to Timothy
The Second Epistle to Timothy is a book of the canonic New Testament, one of the three so-called "pastoral epistles" (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and the Epistle to Titus). It is presented as a letter from Paul to Timothy.
Authorship and date
Traditional view The traditional view accepts Paul as the author. According to Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), "It was probably written a year or so after the first, and from Rome, where Paul was for a second time a prisoner, and was sent to Timothy by the hands of Tychicus."
Critical view On the basis of the language and content of the Pastoral Epistles, most scholars today doubt that they were written by Paul, and believe that they were written after his death. There is no certain quotation of any of these epistles before Irenaeus, ca 170 CE, and proposals by such scholars for the date of their composition have ranged from the late first century to well into the second. The later dates are usually based on the contention that the Pastorals are responding to specific second-century developments (Marcionism, gnosticism) and on the fact that they are absent from Marcion's canon, assembled ca 140. However, most scholars do not believe that the targets of the epistles' criticism can be definitely identified. Furthermore, Marcion's canon was exclusionary and omits New Testatment books that clearly were written well before his time. It is plausible the Marcion knew of the Pastorals and rejected them, and Tertullian asserts that this was the case. According to Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament, 1997), the majority of scholars who accept a post-Pauline date of composition for the Pastorals favor the period 80-100.
Characteristics In this epistle Paul entreats Timothy to come to him before winter, and to bring Mark with him (compare Phil. 2:22). He was anticipating that "the time of his departure was at hand" (4:6), and he exhorts his "son Timothy" to all diligence and steadfastness in the face of false teachings, with advice about combatting them with reference to the teachings of the past, and to patience under persecution (1:6-15), and to a faithful discharge of all the duties of his office (4:1-5), with all the solemnity of one who was about to appear before the Judge of the quick and the dead.
See also
External Links Online translations of the Second Epistle to Timothy:
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