2 Timothy 4:16

The reference in my first defence seems at first sight somewhat uncertain, since 2 Timothy 4:17 states the issue of that “defence” to have been that “the message was fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles heard it”. This would agree with the circumstances of the trials before Felix and Festus, a direct result of which was that Paul was enabled to “bear witness also at Rome” (Acts 23:11). On this view, the apostle would be recalling a signal past instance in which God had overruled evil for good. On the other hand, it is a fatal objection to this reference of the phrase that when he was at Cæsarea he seems to have been kindly treated by his friends as well as by the officials. And, moreover, the sentence reads like a piece of fresh information. This latter consideration is also an argument against referring it to the first Roman imprisonment (as Euseb. H. E. ii. 22), though the very similar sentiments of Philippians 1:12-13, render the identification plausible. But in this latter case again the language of Philippians has no traces of forsakenness. We decide therefore that St. Paul is here referring to the preliminary investigation (prima actio) which he underwent after he arrived at Rome a prisoner for the second time, and which resulted in his remand. He was now writing to Timothy during the interval between his remand and the second, and final, trial. But if we thus explain “my first defence,” how are we to interpret ἵνα διʼ ἐμοῦ, κ. τ. λ.? The explanation will be suggested by a comparison of such passages as Romans 15:19, “From Jerusalem, and round about even unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ”; Colossians 1:23, “The gospel which … was preached in all creation”. We annex a territory by the mere act of planting our country's flag on a small portion of its soil; so in St. Paul's thought a single proclamation of the gospel might have a spiritual, almost a prophetical, significance, immeasurably greater than could be imagined by one who heard it. “Una sæpe occasio maximi est momenti” (Bengel). It is to be noted too that παρέστη and ἐνεδυνάμωσεν refer to the occasion of the “first defence,” and St. Paul does not say that the Lord set him free; so that we are obliged to explain ἵνα διʼ ἐμοῦ, κ. τ. λ. of St. Paul's bold assertion of his faith in Christ on that occasion, which however was a public one, not like his previous private teaching to those who came to him “in his own hired dwelling” (Acts 28:30).

παρεγένετο : adfuit (Vulg.), supported me as “advocatus”. The verb is used of appearing in a court of justice in reff. It simply means to come or arrive in 1 Corinthians 16:3. This complaint is difficult to reconcile with 2 Timothy 4:21. Perhaps here St. Paul is referring to old friends on whom he had a special claim.