At My First Defence the Lord Stood By Me (2 Timothy 4:16–18)

2 Tim. 4:16. At my first defense no one was with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.

The final judgment had not yet been pronounced. Holy Paul was only appearing before the court for the first time and was making his defense. Although one cannot conclude that the case was turning against him—on the contrary, the words that follow (v. 17) suggest that holy Paul was not without hope of being spared from condemnation and death, as in the first imprisonment—yet it was still deeply painful for him that during the hearing he had no one from among those close to him present to help. What is meant by “no one was with me”—whom holy Paul has in mind by these words and what exactly their presence might have done—is not clear. But it goes without saying that their presence would have brought holy Paul more than mere consolation, which he knew how to find in other sources apart from people. In one way or another it might also have helped to dispel the accusation against him. Holy Chrysostom says that on this occasion holy Paul was tried and condemned for the conversion of Nero’s cupbearer. There were probably persons who could have testified that holy Paul could not be accused of this, but out of fear they did not come forward in his defense. “All forsook me”—this has the ring of heartfelt sorrow, so natural in such circumstances. In holy David one frequently encounters such passages: “my neighbors stood far off from me.” Those who knew me, my friends and intimates, withdrew from me (Ps. 37:13; 87:9 — and others).

“May it not be charged against them.” They did this not out of hostility, but out of fear of the unbridled Nero, before whom nothing lawful had any weight when it did not accord with his wishes. They had no hope of helping holy Paul, and they would have delivered themselves into the hands of death; this is why they withdrew. The Lord and Saviour too was forsaken by His disciples. He had foreseen this beforehand and did not condemn them. Holy Paul does the same: “May it not be charged against them”—that is, by God and the Lord. “The Apostle showed fatherly compassion toward them; for their withdrawal arose not from malice of character but from fear” (blessed Theodoret). “See how gently he speaks of those close to him, though they committed a grave transgression; for it is not the same thing to be forsaken by strangers as by one’s own. Do you see how great his grief was? You cannot say, he implies, that I, suffering persecution from outsiders, found consolation, relief, and support from those near to me; for they too abandoned me: ‘all forsook me.’ This is indeed no small sin. If in war the man who abandons a comrade in danger, saving only himself from the hands of the enemy, is rightly called by his own people a man who ruined everything and a traitor; how much more so in the work of preaching” (holy Chrysostom).

2 Tim. 4:17. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully made and all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered from the mouth of the lions.

Throughout all his life the Lord never left the Apostle without His personal guidance and consolation. He did the same at the end of it. He whom men had forsaken the Lord did not forsake; but stood by and strengthened him—breathed courage into him in the face of death—“granted him boldness, did not permit his spirit to fail” (holy Chrysostom).

“So that through me the proclamation might be fully made,” πληροφορηθη — confirmed, persuasively attested for all in its truth. This refers not to some future preaching but to the preaching that had already taken place, or to the proclamation of the Gospel at large, spread everywhere by all the Apostles. How then was it confirmed in its truth at this time by holy Paul? Through his self-defense before the court. Trials in those days were conducted publicly. Besides the judges, a large gathering of the people was present. In Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, persons of all nations might be present. The Lord, appearing, emboldened the Apostle and gave such power to his words that all, to varying degrees, came to feel conviction in the truth of the Gospel—both the judges and those assembled—and the Apostle was not condemned. The court had probably intended to settle the case and dispose of the Apostle himself at the same time; but after his speech left both the case unresolved and the Apostle alive. Those present at the trial, persons of various nations, had cause to carry news of this to all the ends of the world. And beyond that, news of what happened in Rome quickly spread throughout the whole world. This circumstance too was bound to spread abroad—that they had sought to condemn him for the Gospel, but had to yield to the power of truth and did not condemn him—and thus to confirm the Gospel. This is the meaning of the words: “and all the Gentiles might hear.” Doubtless they did hear, and felt the same as those who had been present.

Holy Chrysostom says on this passage: “so that through me the proclamation might be fully made”—that is, that it might be confirmed. See how great is his humility. Not because I was worthy of such a gift, he says, did God strengthen me, but so that the Gospel entrusted to me might be confirmed. This is like someone who carries the purple robe and diadem and is saved on account of them. “And all the Gentiles might hear.” What does this mean? So that both the words of the preaching and the care of Providence for me might become known to all.

“And I was delivered from the mouth of the lions,” λεοντος — of the lion. “See how near to death he was; he was in the very jaws of the lion; and by lion he means Nero, on account of his savagery, the power of his kingdom, and his inflexibility” (holy Chrysostom). “By lion the Apostle meant Nero both as a king and as a most cruel man” (blessed Theodoret). So too the rest of our commentators. Some think it better to understand by “lion” here the extreme danger of death. But from whom did that danger come at this time? From Nero. Why then accept a different interpretation? Ambrosiaster sees here the invisible lion, always roaring and seeking whom he may devour. This is closer to the mark than the preceding allegorical interpretation, because without this lion no misfortune occurs. “He speaks of the lion in a manner similar to how his fellow-Apostle Peter speaks: ‘your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour’ (1 Pet. 5:8). But since in the Apostle he found no occasion to deceive him, he stirred up against him his own sons and through them pressed him hard and subjected him to torments; so that if not as a sinner, then at least as a righteous man, he might somehow be removed from the midst of the living, lest he should convert yet more to the faith. This he had now fully managed to accomplish; but, delivered by God’s providence, the Apostle turns to attack against him, convicting him of powerlessness by the fact that he was taken from his jaws and did not allow him to accomplish what he intended. Thus the Apostle now expresses his thanksgiving to God that by His help he has been delivered from death. And he shows himself so confident of God’s care for him that he also hopes to be delivered from future trials. Such deliverance he hopes for not only in this present life, but also on the day of judgment he hopes to be saved and to be counted worthy to reign with Christ the Lord for ever and ever.”

2 Tim. 4:18. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and save me into His heavenly Kingdom; to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

“And He will deliver me.” “The Apostle did not say: He will deliver me from the lion another time, but says: ‘from every evil work’; for he knew that he would certainly meet the end of his life” (blessed Theodoret). “He delivered me, says he, and He will deliver me. But if He will deliver him again, how does he say: ‘I am already being offered up’? But consider his words carefully. ‘I was delivered,’ he says, ‘from the mouth of the lion’; and further: ‘He will deliver me’—not from the mouth of lions, but from what? ‘From every evil work.’ Then He delivered me from danger, but from now on He will deliver me from every sin, that is, He will not permit me to depart from this life deserving condemnation” (holy Chrysostom). “Before this He snatched me from the jaws of bodily death; and since I have already preached sufficiently, from now on He will, I trust, deliver me not from bodily death, but from every sin, that is, He will not permit me to grow weak before death, but will grant me to resist sin to the shedding of blood—which is to be delivered from the spiritual wolf” (blessed Theophylact). “Truly, to wrestle with sin to the shedding of blood and not fall is to be delivered from another lion—the devil. This latter deliverance is greater than the first, when he was on the point of being handed over to death” (holy Chrysostom).

“And save me into His heavenly Kingdom.” Into the Kingdom—for the sake of the Kingdom, that is, for the granting to me of the Heavenly Kingdom, for entrance and dwelling in it. Only those who are pure from all sin enter the Heavenly Kingdom. Since this is true salvation, so long as one is not settled in the Kingdom, one is not yet saved. “This is true salvation, when we shall shine there. What does ‘He will save me into His Kingdom’ mean? He will deliver me, he says, from every charge and preserve me for that blessed life to come (even if for this one must here be deprived of life). For to be saved for the Heavenly Kingdom (often) means to die for it here. ‘He who hates his soul in this world,’ says the Lord, ‘shall preserve it for eternal life’ (Jn. 12:25)” (holy Chrysostom).

“To Whom be glory”—“this doxology is to the Son” (holy Chrysostom). “For the Lord is the Son. To Him is rendered glory, as also to the Father and to the Holy Spirit” (Oecumenius).