Recently a colleague asked me about what Paul meant in 2Timothy 4.7. He said: "I want to use this passage in something I’m doing, but I lack a greater context for it, and I don’t want to get into a “Road Not Taken” misinterpretation situation. To me the lines of the passage are direct and reassuring, but I want to make sure I’m not missing anything. So... If you have time, I’d love to hear your views on it." So, if this helps anyone, here's my response:
This is a great passage which is embedded in a larger section where St. Paul is defending his reputation "against the haters". Specifically, we find here:
2 Timothy 4.6–8 [6] As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. [7] I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [8] From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
So, here we go. This is probably more than you wanted, and it is all stream of thought for me, so I hope it makes sense:
Some speculate that this letter is a forgery because it uses different vocabulary and phraseology than most other unquestioned Pauline letters. I think this is not true because Paul was known to dictate his letters to secretaries who would write for him, and we know he had several secretaries (this was a common practice in the ancient world). I think differences in vocabulary and syntax largely come from his secretaries, and the fact that when you work with ideas for 30 years, some of those ideas and the vocabulary associated with them are bound to grow. And there are all of these homey little touches in the letter that don't make sense without Paul. To wit: "When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments." [4.13] That is a really odd detail to put in if it was a generic forgery, and not a specific letter to a specific person. In addition, Paul was literally a nobody to the Roman elite of his day, so nobody would want to forge him until decades or centuries after his death.
So, what I think we are dealing with is an aging missionary who is tired. Bone tired and ready to leave this world. He is going on trial for being subversive to the Roman Empire, and has been called to Rome to make his final case. He is on a journey he knows will probably end in his judicial execution, and he is trying to make sure leadership is in place for all the communities he has started all over the Mediterranean, including the community led by Timothy (the recipient of this letter) as well as Titus (in the letter that bears his name).
Again and again Paul makes reference to how he feels sold out and abandoned by so many. For instance:
[9] Do your best to come to me soon, [10] for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. [11] Only Luke is with me... [14] Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will pay him back for his deeds... [16] At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! [17] But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. (2 Timothy 4.9–17)
In addition to feeling abandoned by people he thought supported him, Paul also has to deal with people who are coming in behind him and stirring up drama, and trying to get people to buy into different ideas. And I mean literally "buy into". Like today, there were preachers of different religions that offered prosperity and health and wealth if people paid for their blessings. Paul speaks of them in his first letter to Timothy where he talks about "people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain" (1Timothy 6.5). These preachers seems to be kind of like a first century multilevel marketing and prosperity gospel all rolled into one. Scholars places these under the category of the "mystery religions" that were sweeping the urban Roman world in the first century. Paul, on the other hand, offered his "Good News" about the resurrection and new hope free of charge (cf. 1Cor. 9.18; 2Cor. 11.7). As a result, the prosperity preachers, like the good salesmen they were, often accused Paul of being the false one, and defended themselves as authentic. Thus Paul warns about them:
Avoid profane chatter, for it will lead people into more and more impiety, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus... [2 Timothy 2.16–17]
Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. [2 Timothy 2.23]
And this leads to Paul's crescendo of irritation:
[1] You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. [2] For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, [3] inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, [4] treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, [5] holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! [2 Timothy 3.1–5]
This last passage is pretty epic in English, and even better in Greek. It uses alliteration and assonance with a kind of driving tempo that makes it symphony of anger. But I digress...
Anyway, in light of all of this Paul is (a) feeling a little sorry for himself; (b) defending his ministry against critics, especially those who compare him to these prosperity preachers; (c) I think trying to convince himself that all of his hard work has not been in vain, in light of the fact that he is broke and forsaken by many and on his way to his final trial.
So Paul draws on Jewish temple imagery, and compares his life to a sacrifice poured out to God:
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. [4.6]
Then he draws on Roman Military imagery and Athletic contest imagery to make the same point. Remember, he is a Jew being taken to the heart of the Roman Empire, under military guard, to be put on display in a public trial. Much like how gladiators are put on public display in the Coliseum. Thus he writes:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [4.7]
Then he ends with an image which would be well known in Ancient Roman culture. It would strike them just like seeing the Superbowl trophy strikes us. And he says:
From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness... [4.8]
The winner of a contest or race or gladiatorial match would usually get a laurel leaf crown, perhaps made out of silver or gold for bigger contests. It would usually be awarded by the highest ranking Roman official in attendance, and often by the Emperor himself in the Colosseum of Rome. But Paul's crown will be awarded by someone even MORE important:
...which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. [4.8]
Thus, Paul (and all who pledge allegiance to the Good News proclaimed by Paul) will ultimately be vindicated. They may not be vindicated in this life by corrupt earthly judges, but they will be vindicated in the Resurrection by the only Just Judge of all humanity.
Overall, Paul is presenting a beautiful synthesis of Jewish and Roman images to vindicate himself and his ministry against those who hate him, and against the judicial fate that almost certainly awaits him (and according to our best history, did in fact befall him when he was killed during the persecutions of Nero).
I definitely think this could lend itself to a "I chose the path less travelled" kind of treatment, so long as that path is one of great cost and controversy, with an unclear reward at the end. At least that's my take on it.
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