2nd Timothy Chapter 4 verse 6 Holy Bible

2nd Timothy 4 : 6 Bible Verse Songs

• When Christ Our Life Appears by Sovereign Grace Music
• Pouring Out by Fresh Life Worship

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 6. - Already being offered for now ready to be offered, A.V.; come for at hand. A.V. I am already being offered. The ἐγώ is emphatic, in contrast with the σύ of ver. 5: "Thou, who hast still life before thee, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. I can do so no longer, for my martyrdom has already commenced, and my end is close at hand. Thou must take my place in the great conflict." Am... being offered (σπένδομαι); am being poured out, as the drink offering, or libation, is poured out. St. Paul uses the same figure in Philippians 2:17, where he couples it with the sacrifice and service (or offering up) of the faith of the Philippians by himself as the priest, and looks upon the pouring out of his own life as the completion of that sacrifice (see Ellicott on Philippians). "The libation always formed the conclusion of the sacrifice, and so the apostle's martyrdom closed his apostolic service" (Huther), which had been a continual sacrifice, in which he had been the ministering priest (Romans 15:16). So that the use of σπένδομαι here exactly agrees with that in Philippians 2:17. "My sacrificial work," St. Paul says," being now finished and ended, I am performing the last solemn act, the pouring out of my own life in martyrdom, to which I shall pass out of the prison where I now am." The time of my departure (τῆς ἐμῆς ἀναλύσεως). The word is found nowhere else in the New Testament, but St. Paul uses the verb ἀναλῦσαι, "to depart," in Philippians 1:23, where, the verb being in the active voice, the metaphor clearly is from weighing anchor, as in common use in classical Greek; hence simply "to depart." The classical use of ἀνάλυσις rather favours the sense, either of" release" or of " dissolution." But St. Paul's use of ἀναλύω in Philippians 1:23, and the frequent use of the same verb in the LXX. and by Josephus, in the sense of "to depart," favours the rendering of ἀνάλυσις by "departure," as in the A.V. and R.V. Is come; rather, is at hand (ἐφέστηκε); the same verb as ἐπίστηθι in ver. 2. (On the difference between ἐνέστηκε ("is come") and ἐφέστηκε ("is at hand"), see Alford on 2 Thessalonians 2:2, and comp. Acts 22:20.)

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(6) For I am now ready to be offered.--What, in the Philippian Epistle (Philippians 2:17), was alluded to as a contingency likely enough to happen here is spoken of as something which was then absolutely taking place. In his first imprisonment at Rome St. Paul looked on to a martyr's death as probable. In his second captivity at Rome he writes of the martyrdom as already beginning. The more accurate, as well as the more forcible, translation would be, For I am already being offered. The Greek word rendered "I am being offered," points to the drink offering of wine which, among the Jews, accompanied the sacrifice. Among the heathen this wine was commonly poured upon the burning victims--the allusion here is to St. Paul's bloody death. So convinced was he that the dread moment for him was at hand, that as he thus speaks he feels as though it was even then taking place, and sees--in his present suffering, in his harsh treatment--the beginning of that martyrdom in which his life-blood would be poured out. But he would not allow Timothy or the many Christians who revered and loved him to be dismayed by his sufferings or shocked at his painful death. He would show them, by his calm, triumphant language, that to him death was no terror, but only the appointed passage to glory. So he speaks of his life-blood being shed, under the well-known peaceful image of the wine poured out over the sacrifice, the drink offering, the sweet savour unto the Lord. (See Numbers 15:1-10; compare John 12:24, where the Master of St. Paul, too, speaks of His approaching death of agony and shame also under a quiet, homely image.)And the time of my departure is at hand.--"My departure:" that is. "from life," from this world to another. The moment of my death, so long looked for, is now close at hand, is all but here. The Greek word rendered "departure," among other meanings, signifies the raising of the ship's anchor and the loosing of the cables by which the vessel was hindered from proceeding on her destined voyage.