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The Apostle Paul writes his “in conclusion” words sending greetings to some close friends in the Churches in Ephesus. His dear friends/ co-workers Priscilla and Aquila were fellow tent-makers with Paul when he first arrived in Corinth. He also sent personal warm greetings to the family of Onesiphorus. He had asked the Lord to be kind to them earlier in 2 Tim. 1:16-18: “May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.” Onesiphorus was loyal to Paul in the midst of disloyalty and desertion by others.
The Apostle goes on to tell Timothy the whereabouts of Eratus and Trophimus. Eratus, a mission team member, previously helped Paul, together with Timothy (Acts 19:22.). Trophimus, on the other hand, went with Paul when he brought gifts to the needy Christians in the Jerusalem Church. Paul may be sharing this information with Timothy so that he can reach out to them and stay in touch, to be accountable to each other and encourage and support each other. God places fellow Christians in our lives for support and encouragement for He knows we face challenges all the time. Do we consider the family of believers as our own family that God has graciously blessed us with – to support and encourage each other through bad times and rejoice together in good times? Are we personally there for our fellow brothers/sisters-in-Christ?
Paul continues to hasten his son in the faith Timothy to come to him quickly before the cold winter season. He was in prison alone (in Rome probably), forsaken and ill-treated and would really loved for somebody to be there with him. These “in conclusion” words in his letter remind us of the human part of Paul despite his simple faith and trust in the Almighty God. As humans we are indeed weak and frail but our great God is the one who can supernaturally enable us – always. Our gracious and faithful Holy Spirit will live through us as we live our Christian lives for God.
