1I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom: 2preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching. 3For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn away to fables. 5But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
6For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. 7I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. 8From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.
9Be diligent to come to me soon, 10for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia. 11Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. 12But I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come—and the books, especially the parchments. 14Alexander the coppersmith did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15Beware of him, for he greatly opposed our words.
16At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them. 17But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
19Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus. 20Erastus remained at Corinth, but I left Trophimus at Miletus sick. 21Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus salutes you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.
22The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.
While in Athens, Paul met with philosophers from the Epicurean and Stoic philosophical schools, rival schools of thought, and two of the most prominent philosophical schools of the age. Epicureans were followers of the Greek thinker Epicurus (341-270 B.C.), who taught that pleasure was the chief goal of life, because how one lived in the here and now was important, rather than a misplaced hope for the future or afterlife, since, in their view, the soul does not survive the death of the body. He was also a determinist, believing people’s lives are governed by the interplay of atoms. Epicurus also believed that people should strive for a self-sufficient life of tranquility, free from pain or too much passion, should not fear death, and should spend life surrounded by friends. Epicureans were the secular agnostics and deists of their day, indifferent to monotheism and polytheism, believing that any God or gods were too far removed from human activity to be of value and were controlled by the same determinism as people. Although they did not advocate licentious behavior, the tendency of their philosophy to encourage immoral conduct led later generations to dub persons bent on self-indulgence as epicurean.
The Stoics, on the other hand, followed the teaching of the Greek philosopher Zeno (c. 334-c.262 B.C.), who came from Citium, Cyprus. Stoics got their name from the Painted Stoa (i.e., Porch), the marketplace in Athens where Zeno taught. Stoics were pantheists who believed that all of humanity and the world were united with impersonal divinity, and were thus diametrically opposed to the Epicureans. Stoics tried to achieve goodness and peace of mind from living a life of virtue in harmony with nature. The only genuine good is virtue, which led Stoics to inculcate indifference to everything but virtue. Since such indifference requires an unemotional disposition and high tolerance for pain, persons even today refer to those who exemplify these personality traits as stoic.
This passage demonstrates that Paul was willing and prepared to engage the culture and ideas of his day with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom 1:16; 2 Tim 4:2; see also Peter’s encouragement in 1 Pet 3:15).