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This second epistle which was written several years after the first draws a totally different picture before our eyes. Paul was a prisoner again and awaited death. But the condition of the believers had deteriorated.

The assemlies which Paul had so carefully planted and nourished departed more and more from their source of life and strength, the Lord Jesus.

But even if the house of God, the church, is in decay because the believers become unfaithful to their Lord, the Lord Jesus abides faithful: He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

Paul saw that his young co-worker Timothy might be frightened and maybe despair at his spiritual father’s death as he might see himself all by his own amidst the beginning decline of Christendom. This is why Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage and strengthen him by this farewell epistle.

In spite of the decay of Christendom the Lord Jesus remains always the same. In Him everything is sure and stable.

In this epistle we, therefore, find seven times the expression ‘in Christ Jesus’:

• Life (chap. 1:1)

• Saving Grace (chap. 1:9)

• Faith and Love (chap. 1:13)

• Keeping Grace (chap. 2:1)

• Salvation (chap. 2:10)

• Godly Living (chap. 3:12)Faith (chap. 3:15)

• Faith (chap. 3:15)

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LISTEN TO 2 TIMOTHY READ BY ALEXANDER SCOURBY

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