2 Timothy 4:6

2. Triumphal anticipation of martyrdom, 2 Timothy 4:6-8.

6. For St. Paul now furnishes the reason for this urgent charge just given, and for the solemnity of the charge of this entire epistle. He was about exchanging labour for reward. His place in the Church below will soon be vacant; and O that Timothy might fill the blank as a second Paul!

Ready to be offered The elder biblical scholars literally translated the words, I am already poured upon with the libation. The allusion was to the ancient sacrificial custom of pouring a libation of wine upon the living victim the moment before his slaughter. Hence Paul’s meaning would then be, as in the English version, I am ready to be offered. But later critics maintain that the accurate rendering of σπενδομαι is not to be poured upon, but to be poured. What St. Paul, then, literally says is: “I am already poured as a libation.” He was not then the victim moistened with the drink offering, but the drink offering itself. And then the allusion is to his own blood poured forth under the Roman axe. Yet as this event seems not to have taken place until after the ensuing winter, the word already appears hardly fulfilled.

The answer is, that he viewed his present sufferings as part of his martyrdom. Nor must the words be viewed as an exact prophecy, but as a personal anticipation.

Departure An allusion, perhaps, to a ship’s loosening for sailing forth.