Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - 2 Timothy 4:1-22
2 Timothy 4:2 Observe, he puts longsuffering before doctrine, and that because nothing except patience answers with those who are hard to win. Patience enables us to possess not only our own souls but those of others also. St. Francis de Sales. 2 Timothy 4:2 In the ninth chapter of The Saints' Everlasting Rest, Baxter observes that 'we are commanded to "exhort one another daily," and "with all longsuffering" (2 Timothy 4:2 ). The fire is not always brought out of the flint at one stroke; nor... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - 2 Timothy 4:16
(16) At my first answer no man stood with me . . .—And then, after the mention of what his enemy had done out of hatred to the cause of Christ, the old man passed on to speak of the conduct of his own familiar friends at that great public trial before—most probably—the city præfect: Præfectus Urbi, a nominee of the Emperor Nero. No one friend stood by him; no “advocate” pleaded his cause; no “procurator” (an official who performed the functions of the attorney in an English court) helped him in... read more