The Letters
- When
- c. AD 66–67, from prison in Rome
- Written by
- Paul
- Chapters
- 4
The big idea
Paul’s last letter: facing death, he urges Timothy to guard the deposit of faith, preach the word in season and out of season, and endure as a good soldier.
Themes
- Guard the faith
- Endurance
- Scripture inspired
- Finishing well
Memory verse
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Key passages
- 1:6–7Stir up the grace
- 2:1–13A good soldier
- 3:14–17All scripture inspired
- 4:1–5Preach the word
- 4:6–8I have fought a good fight
Links to other Scripture
- Acts 16:1–3Timothy chosen
- 1 Corinthians 9:24–27Run to win
- Philippians 1:21–23To die is gain
- Hebrews 12:1–2The race set before us
Read the text
Choose a chapter to read it here in the King James Version. Verses with a dotted underline have notes from Bible scholars. Tap one to open them.
Notes from
Chapters
King James text and the commentaries of Henry, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Gill, Clarke, Calvin, and Keil and Delitzsch are in the public domain. Tyndale Open Study Notes are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license, from tyndaleopenresources.com. Texts were reformatted for this site.
Journal prompts
Keep a journal or notebook for your study. Write your answers there, in your own words.
- Where do you see Christ in this book?
- Paul writes this near the end of his life. What would you want to say at the end of yours?
- “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Which of the three do you most want to be able to say?
- All Scripture is God-breathed and useful. Which part have you been neglecting?
- In one sentence, this book is about…