2 Timothy 4:6 - Exposition

Already being offered for now ready to be offered, A.V.; come for at hand. A.V. I am already being offered. The ἐγώ is emphatic, in contrast with the σύ of 2 Timothy 4:5 : "Thou, who hast still life before thee, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. I can do so no longer, for my martyrdom has already commenced, and my end is close at hand. Thou must take my place in the great conflict." Am … being offered ( σπένδομαι ); am being poured out, as the drink offering, or libation, is poured out. St. Paul uses the same figure in Philippians 2:17 , where he couples it with the sacrifice and service (or offering up) of the faith of the Philippians by himself as the priest, and looks upon the pouring out of his own life as the completion of that sacrifice (see Ellicott on Philippians). "The libation always formed the conclusion of the sacrifice, and so the apostle's martyrdom closed his apostolic service" (Huther), which had been a continual sacrifice, in which he had been the ministering priest ( Romans 15:16 ). So that the use of σπένδομαι here exactly agrees with that in Philippians 2:17 . "My sacrificial work," St. Paul says," being now finished and ended, I am performing the last solemn act, the pouring out of my own life in martyrdom, to which I shall pass out of the prison where I now am." The time of my departure ( τῆς ἐμῆς ἀναλύσεως ) . The word is found nowhere else in the New Testament, but St. Paul uses the verb ἀναλῦσαι , "to depart," in Philippians 1:23 , where, the verb being in the active voice, the metaphor clearly is from weighing anchor, as in common use in classical Greek; hence simply "to depart." The classical use of ἀνάλυσις rather favours the sense, either of" release" or of " dissolution." But St. Paul's use of ἀναλύω in Philippians 1:23 , and the frequent use of the same verb in the LXX . and by Josephus, in the sense of "to depart," favours the rendering of ἀνάλυσις by "departure," as in the A.V. and R.V. Is come; rather, is at hand ( ἐφέστηκε ); the same verb as ἐπίστηθι in Philippians 1:2 . (On the difference between ἐνέστηκε ("is come") and ἐφέστηκε ("is at hand"), see Alford on 2 Thessalonians 2:2 , and comp. Acts 22:20 .)