Imprisoned in Rome and anticipating his death in the near future, the Apostle Paul offers his parting counsel to his younger colleague in 2 Timothy 4. For all practical purposes, he is giving his last words to Timothy. So he brings his letter to a final, intensely personal exhortation, which aims to arm and encourage him for effective service to the Lord in future years, long after the apostle has been taken home to glory.

This encouragement is not a little human inspiration to do better (which is how the world thinks of it—and so do too many Christians). Christian encouragement is not man strengthening man. Instead it is all about looking to Christ and experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word in the heart—and from the heart to the hand, from the Lord to his disciples. He is the only one who can truly encourage-to-strengthen us. As Paul testifies elsewhere, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9). So look away from yourself, your gifts, your feelings, and your circumstances and always look to Jesus—who is, after all, both “the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).

This thought is basic to Paul’s core message, which is the gist of Paul’s last words to Timothy: that he is to keep his eyes on the prize. He has a race to finish and a goal to reach, even an eternal one. On this he is to keep his focus and, with Paul, “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).

Note three points in this connection. Along with Timothy, we have,

▶ A vital perspective to adopt

▶ A vital task with which to grapple

▶ A vital motive to impel faithfulness

A Vital Perspective to Adopt (4:1)

You live in the presence of God and Jesus. Paul says first, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ.…” Notice three things here:

(1) This is not mere rhetorical flourish. It contains foundational doctrine to be believed and applied at all times and in every challenge.

(2) This is not about whether we feel the presence of Christ but is a fact to be accepted, even if sometimes we can and do have a sense of His presence by the Holy Spirit. But it is the fact of Christ’s presence that is to be taken to heart and worked out in our attitude and perspective on everything in life at all times.

(3) This calls the Father and the Son as witnesses to Paul’s charge to faithfulness: “I charge you…before God and the Lord Jesus.”

Paul is accountable; Timothy too—and every single one of us! Every sermon you’ve heard, every personal testimony shared with you, and your contact with Scripture—all that has faithfully proclaimed God’s Word to you—has exactly this status, effect, and implication. If this makes you tremble that is good. If this doesn’t engage you, you need a big rethink of your relationship to the Lord (cf., the six anti-prayers in Malachi 1:2, 6–7; 2:17; 3:7–8 for examples of similar incomprehension to the character and truth of God).

You live in anticipation of the appearing of Christ and His kingdom. If Paul’s charge needs underlining—and it does, because we too easily skip over the deeper implications of what seem merely introductory flourishes, but are not—the apostle adds a word about the last judgment.

The last judgment is not a toothless wonder, however far away this event may be. (The day you die is not so far away, and death is not a toothless event either.) The fact is, this is the ultimate word of accountability, for we are answerable to the Lord “who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom.”

You can go away shaking your head if you will. But ask yourself what you plan on telling Jesus. What are your excuses? This day will come sooner than you know, and what it adds up to is, in Patrick Fairbairn’s words, that “the great realities of the future world…infinitely outweigh all the present” (Pastoral Epistles, p. 383).

A Vital Task with Which to Grapple (4:2–5)

What is Timothy and each of God’s sent messengers called to do? Paul gives a three-part answer involving preaching, preparation, and purpose (v. 2).

(1) Preaching. Paul writes, “Preach the Word!” This is also his personal experience and testimony elsewhere: “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship” (1 Cor. 9:16–17).

Preaching is the proclamation of the whole counsel of God concerning Christ in all the Scriptures by the church, with the authority of God and in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. This is why we need God-sent preachers.

(2) Preparation. Paul exhorts, “be ready in season and out of season,” i.e., whether you choose the moment or it is chosen for you; whether you feel like it or not; or, as Charles Simeon puts it, “whether in public or private,…on the Sabbath or other days,…early or late, whether in a season of peace or of the bitterest persecution.” We are on duty 24/7. This is all about who we are in our callings in Christ.

(3) Purpose. Paul sketches out the practical aims in Timothy’s calling as to both content and method. As to content, we are to “convince, rebuke, exhort.” Convince is a verb form of the noun rendered “reproof” (elegmos) in 2 Timothy 3:16, which is about the Scriptures and so implies we are to convince from God’s Word. Rebuke and exhort logically follows.

As to method, we need to be “longsuffering” (i.e., patient) and focus on “teaching”—as one writer says, “recognizing that true discipleship is a process, and sanctification takes time” (William B. Barclay, 1&2 Timothy, p. 285). Paul had already testified to the Ephesian elders, “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), and not just some favorite verses.

Why is this task so important? (vv. 3–4). Paul gives two answers:

(1) They will not put up with sound doctrine (v. 3). Is there any mystery as to the reasons? Just think of one or two obvious biblical sins that have obviously disastrous consequences and ask, Why do people reject God’s way, which has obviously happy fruit?

(2) What they will put up with is unsound teachers. Because of self-centered “desires” and “itching ears,” they “heap up for themselves teachers” (v. 3). Off they go, away from God’s revealed truth and into fables (v. 4), i.e., into anything that helps them escape the claims of Christ by furnishing some kind of plausible justification.

How you should fulfill your ministry (v. 5). Obviously, the apostle wants Timothy to keep preaching sound doctrine, all the more because people don’t want God’s truth and false teachers are easier to find. But how to do this? Paul gives four charges: “But you,” he says,

(1) “be watchful in all things”; that is, keep your wits about you.

(2) “endure afflictions”; don’t let the negatives get you down.

(3) “do the work of an evangelist”; keep up a witness for Christ.

(4) “fulfill your ministry”; fight the good fight to the end.

To sum up, we do have a vital task. We must reap or the world perishes (cf. John 4:35). And “we shall reap if we don’t lose heart” (Gal 6:9). God promises that “he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6). O may the Lord bless us in this!

A Vital Motive to Impel Faithfulness (4:6–8)

But what is to be our motive to grapple with this great task of ministry? Paul says, in effect, Keep your eyes on the prize.

Paul first gives his personal testimony on the matter.

Presently he is “already being poured out as a drink offering”—an allusion to Numbers 15:1–10—a poured-out sacrifice to God, pointing to Christ our sacrifice and on to the Romans 12:1 Christian.

Soon, his ministry will be over: “the time of my departure is at hand,” but he can say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (vv. 6–7). O, that we may say this!

He asks us, “Do you want to win this prize?” “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day” (v. 8). The righteousness of Christ and in Christ is the crown, and the believer welcomes the day of judgment. Christ is the prize and the giver of the prize! The prize is all of grace in Christ.

He tells us who will win this prize. It is a prize for all who truly love the Lord: “and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (v. 8). This prize will fit all God’s people as they are faithful in their several callings.

Drawing these threads together, we can say that these “last words” of Paul are not only for young ministers as they take up new ministry but are for all of us in one way or another. This is the issue of issues, not only for Timothy and the ministers of the gospel, but for all of us as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is to know Jesus in the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10).

The promise is that we are to be “more than conquerors,” through Christ who loved us (Rom. 8:37) and shall indeed gain in Christ and from Christ that crown of (His) righteousness that is the prize of faithful service. And we must begin and continue with Christ our Savior.

One of Scotland’s most renowned ministers of Christ, Thomas Halyburton (1674–1712), on his deathbed gave this counsel to his young children: “My children, I have nothing to say to you, but that ye be seekers of God. Fulfil my joy!” (Works, vol. 4, p. 202)

Gordon Keddie is a retired RPCNA minister and an author. This is based on the farewell message delivered at the time of Rev. David Whitla’s departure from the Southside (Indianapolis, Ind.) RPC to complete his doctoral studies in Ireland. Dr. Whitla is now professor of church history at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary.