Saturday
Saturday
Paul’s Last Imprisonment
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7
Paul is now no longer enjoying the comparative freedom and comfort of house arrest, in which Luke left him at the end of Acts. Twice in this letter he refers to his chains, and once he describes himself as “chained like a criminal” (2:9). So we are to imagine him languishing in some dark, dank, underground dungeon (according to tradition the Mamertime Prison in Rome) with only a hole in the ceiling for light and air. From this dreadful incarceration there was to be no escape except through death. Already with his mind’s eye he could see the gleaming steel of the executioner’s sword, for tradition says he was beheaded (as Roman citizens were) some three miles outside Rome on the Ostian Way.
Second Timothy 4, which perhaps contains the last words Paul wrote, teaches an important lesson. It shows that, however profoundly Jesus Christ has changed us, we remain human beings with human needs. As Bishop Handley Moule (1841–1920) wrote, “We are never for one moment denaturalized by grace.” We see this in Paul.
Firstly, he was lonely. He wrote to Timothy, “Do your best to come to me soon” (4:9 RSV). The same apostle who had set his love and hope on the coming of Christ (v. 8), nevertheless also longed for the coming of Timothy. “I long night and day to see you,” he wrote (1:4 RSV). Super-spiritual Christians may claim that they never feel lonely and have no need of earthly friends, since the companionship of Christ is sufficient. But Paul would not have agreed with them.
Secondly, as winter approached, warm clothing was also necessary, so Paul urged Timothy to bring his cloak with him when he came (4:13). And Paul’s third necessity was “the books, and above all the parchments” (v. 13 RSV). These were Paul’s conscious needs. They are ours too. When our spirit is lonely, we need friends. When our body is cold, we need clothing. When our mind is bored, we need books. To admit this is not unspiritual; it is human.
For further reading: 2 Timothy 4:1–8