II TIMOTHY CHAPTER 1 - 4

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY

Just as in his first letter, Paul comes in
To remind Timothy of churchly din,
And softens it with his own bit of hope
In hymnic liturgies as fine as pope.
Both first and second Timothy are more
Than just descriptions of the churchly floor.
They make a tiny hymnal on the shore
Of hymn-writing tradition that would start
With heresy and how to play its part.
That's why I myself prefer Psalms alone,
Or at the most just Scripture to atone,
Eschewing hymns sung at the divine throne
Of worship on the Sabbath in my gate.
If Paul had known the future, he'd berate.

2 TIMOTHY 1

1 Paul who is an apostle of
Jesus Christ sent down by the love
And will of God, according to
The promise of life come in view
In Christ Jesus, 2 to Timothy,
Dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy
And peace from God the Father and
Christ Jesus our Lord come to stand.
3 I thank God, whom I serve from my
Ancestors with pure conscience nigh,
That without ceasing I retain
Remembrance of you to regain
My prayers both night and day in reign;
4 Greatly desiring to see you,
Remembering your tears come due,
That I may be filled up with joy;
5 When I call to remembrance’ tie
The unfeigned faith that’s in your pew,
Which stood first in your grand-dam Lois,
And also in your mother Eunice;
And I am sure it’s in you too.
6 That’s why I want to remind you
To stir up God’s gift that’s in you
By laying of my hands on you.
7 For God’s not given us spirit of fear,
But of power and of love come near,
And of a sound mind to appear.

St. Paul tells Timothy to stir the gift
Up that is in him, not lie in the rift.
But that gift is not talents lodged for use
As Milton would have in blindness’ abuse.
It’s nothing of the sought-for self-esteem
That is the catchword of the day and dream.
Instead, that gift is laying on of hands,
Whatever blessing comes from rite’s commands.
Beloved, I lift a hand to You to take
The blessed universe for dervish sake,
And with the left, unseen from the right’s wake,
Dispense the breeze and spirit to the fold,
The dusty street, the littered cup and old
That flutters in retreat, having been sold.

8 Don’t be ashamed of our Lord’s witness,
Nor of me prisoner for fitness,
But be partaker of afflictions
Of the gospel in all its dictions
According to the power of God,
9 Who’s saved us and called by the rod
Of holy calling, and not by
Our works, but by His purpose nigh
And grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began,
10 But is now very clear to scan
By the appearing of our Saviour
Jesus Christ, who’s abolished death,
And brought life and immortal savour
Of light come through the gospel’s breath,
11 To which I’m called to preach and be
Apostle and teacher’s degree
Among the Gentiles. 12 And that’s why
I also suffer and I cry,
And still I am not ashamed here,
Because I know whom without fear
I have believed, and so I’m sure
That he is able to keep pure
What I’ve committed to his care
Against that day I come to share.

The point is that Jesus abolished death,
At least for those to whom he gives his breath.
I trow the reason he’s left in the lurch
By every sort of synagogue and church,
Is simply that he was too late on perch.
Sweet Socrates was swindled of his life
Some centuries before Christ met the strife.
And Plato taught us all that death is not
A thing at all: the soul survives the plot.
That’s why we fear no longer crosses and
The death that yawns upon us from the sand.
We need no Jesuses who have the drought
Of heady, deathless soul we always sought.
We’re independently alive and stand.

13 Keep hold of the form of right words
That you have heard from me in sherds
In faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. 14 That good thing which was spliced
To you keep by the Holy Ghost
Which dwells in us and we’re his host.
15 You know that all those who are in
Asia are turned away with din
From me, of whom are Phygellus,
Hermogenes too with a fuss.

St. Paul neglects the truth that underdog
Is stepped on by the crowd swirled in the fog
Of praise to the victorious and free.
He should not have written such a decree.
Now everyone knows his rejection’s state,
And sees him fall from pedestal and rate.
If he’d not mentioned this, now we’d not know
That he was so unpopular in show.
If everyone in the church in the east
Had turned away from Paul, that just increased
The likelihood in human mind that he
Was not Your preacher preaching faithfully.
Beloved, I don’t say so, though, for I see
Only the crickets hear my prodigy.

16 The Lord give mercy to the house
Of Onesiphorus and spouse,
For he refreshed me often and
Was not ashamed of my chain’s band.
17 But when he was in Rome he sought
Me diligently until caught.
18 The Lord grant him that he may find
Mercy of the Lord in the bind
Of that day, and in how many
Things he served me at Ephesus,
You know well and in great degree.

St. Paul keeps up the pretence that his chain
Brings shame on him from church, not wicked stain
Of preaching against law and circumcision.
His blindness comes from his own blind decision.
I too am blind. I think that I’m rejected
For being great and true, and I’m neglected
Because of competition and the file
Of jealousy of my great wit and smile.
Let St. Paul and myself lie wallowing
In faint conceits and read our Psalms or sing,
While everyone knows our successes ring
To the extent our advertising sits
In places visible with power and glitz.
It’s cover picture, not the inside fits.

2 TIMOTHY 2

1 So you, my son, be strong in grace
That comes before Christ Jesus’ face.
2 And what you’ve heard from me among
Manifold witnesses in tongue,
Commit to faithful men who can
Teach others also of the plan.
3 Endure then hardness like a man,
Good soldier in Jesus Christ’s scan.
4 No man in battle gets caught up
With this life’s matters and its cup,
But pleases the one who chose him
To be a soldier on the rim.
5 And if a man strives to compete,
Then he’s not crowned, unless replete
With lawfulness in his retreat.
6 The farmer that works must partake
First of the harvest in its wake.
7 Consider what I say and may
The Lord make you grasp every ray.

Grace does not in the Gospel plot remove
The soul from battles on the march and prove
The life of indolence to be the share
Of those who are beneath Your loving care.
The soldier and the farmer both sit tight
And lend both eye and arm to harvest right
And to the winning of the desperate fight.
Grace merely lays the desperation bare.
Paul tells good Timothy he must be strong
In grace to oppose every sort of wrong.
Today grace is the pressing proof we need
That strength is the last thing on which to feed.
Instead grace nourishes the weak resolve,
Belief that no one here need to involve.

8 Remember Jesus Christ’s the seed
Of David and raised up indeed
From the dead by my gospel’s creed,
9 In which I suffer trouble here,
As a malefactor to appear
In chains, but God’s word is not bound.
10 That’s why I’m patient all around
For the elect’s sake, so they’ll get
Salvation in Christ Jesus met
With his eternal glory yet.

To tell the truth I like David the better,
Matter of taste I guess, pointer or setter.
He’s charismatic. Jesus holds his own,
But David’s rhymes ought to be carved in stone.
If there could be salvation in the singing
Of Psalms instead of crosses and blood wringing,
I’d cantillate the Psalms both night and day
And leave Jesus alone that night to pray
That one would watch a while. He’s David’s seed,
And so I take the both in awkward greed,
Whether or not I number with elect,
Rich and increased and in my white robe decked.
Beloved, eternal glory’s not my speed,
But if You give it, I’ll take as I need.

11 A faithful saying: If we are
Dead with him, then we’ll be a star
To live with him. 12 If we are hurt,
We’ll also reign with him alert;
If we deny him, he too then
Comes to deny all such of men;
13 But if we don’t believe, still he
Remains one faithful, because he
Cannot deny his own decree.

I’m Thomas Doubter, that’s a saying too,
And in my case I am afraid it’s true.
And yet St. Paul brings comfort to my kind,
Revealing that I may be saved though blind,
Because the one is faithful and resigned,
Despite my faithlessness here in my pew.
Beloved, despite my doubts, I don’t deny
Either You by my words, nor with a sigh
The one You sent below to live and die.
The resurrection seems too much to take,
And doubt forever lingers in my wake,
And yet the promise is not set to be
Contingent on my incredulity.
Alternative’s a fiery, burning lake.

14 Remember these things, give command
Before the Lord, so they’ll not stand
To argue about words in vain
That subvert hearers for no gain.
15 Try hard to show yourself approved
To God, a workman not behoved
To shame, but in the righteous way
Interpret word of truth in sway.
16 But shun profane babblings in vain,
For they’ll increase unto more gain
In their ungodliness and stain.
17 Their word will eat like canker sore,
Such as Hymenaeus in store
And Philetus behind the door,
18 Who have erred from the truth to say
That resurrection’s in past day,
And overthrow the faith of some.
19 Still God’s foundation stands to come,
Having this seal, that the Lord knows
Those who are his planted in rows.
So let each one who names the name
Of Christ depart from sin and blame.
20 But in a fine house there are not
Just gold and silver in the pot,
But also wood and earthly lot,
Some for display, some chamber pot.
21 If a man then will cleanse himself
From these, he’ll be a vase on shelf
Of honour, sanctified, and fine
For the master’s use at his wine,
Prepared for good use on the vine.

Sometimes the chamber pot is of use far
Beyond the pretty vase set on a par.
But when it comes to usefulness or not,
There are still as Paul says some in the plot
Subverting truth and Your established right.
There are still many walking in the night.
For night-time occupations chamber pots
Are more in use than flowers cut in lots.
Until the time when flowers are cut to be
The glory of the parlour under key,
You know the ones planted to grow by name,
To keep their hands and fingers out of shame.
Cleanse me, Beloved, while I still try to stay
Beside the temple fountain on a day.

22 Flee also youthful lusts, but go
After the righteousness and glow
Of faith and charity, and peace,
With those who call on the Lord’s lease
Out of a pure heart without cease.
23 But stay away from questions that
Are foolish and unlearned fat,
Knowing that they just give rise to
The strifes that separate the pew.
24 The slave of the Lord must not strive,
But be gentle to all the hive,
Ready to teach, patient to do,
25 Meekly instructing all those who
Oppose themselves, if perhaps God
Will give them penitence in rod
To admit what is true on sod,
26 So they may get themselves set free
Of the snare the devil in spree
Has made them captives in degree.

Beloved, I follow not the counsels here.
My lusts no longer youthful still appear.
My heart is never pure and single taught,
Inventing questions to complain a lot.
With every fish that targets me with tale
Of questions, I rise to the bait, no fail,
And wrangle with the angle, bait gone stale.
I strive and am not gentle with the folk
Who stand to proclaim falsehood like a joke.
If I instruct at all, no meekness makes
The penitent admit their true mistakes.
Beloved, after the snare to spare the spree,
Look down in the same patience and degree
Upon Your faithful servant, upon me.

2 TIMOTHY 3

1 Know this too, that in the last days
Shall come dangerous times and ways.
2 For men shall love of their own selves,
Be covetous, boasters like elves,
Proud, and blasphemers, disobey
Their parents in ungrateful sway,
Unholy be, 3 without the way
Affectionate in nature’s ray,
Truce breakers and accusers false,
Incontinent, and fierce to waltz,
Despisers of those who are good,
4 Traitors, heady, high-minded wood,
Lovers of pleasures more than God,
5 Having godliness in form shod,
But to deny its power on sod:
Turn back from such who meet the clod.

I turn back from all men, Beloved, I see
Upon the sodden meadow I plough free,
Who are described by every lusty word
That You have fastened on the heaving herd.
I turn back on the church and state and flee
To You and to Your Scriptures' purity,
And take no doctrine but the honey sweet
Of Your commandments at the Saviour's feet.
Beloved, I find the power that sits upon
The throne of humble waiting for Your dawn,
And see the flash of sword glittered and drawn
From Ali's and from David's scabbard neat.
I turn back from all men upon the seat
Of their injustice to seek Your last treat.

6 These are the kind who creep inside
Houses and lead captive to bide
Such silly women who will hide
There with their sins, and lead away
With many kinds of lust in sway,
7 Always learning, but never come
To know the truth in all its sum.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres came
To withstand Moses, so the same
Do these too in resisting truth:
Men of corrupt minds and uncouth,
And reprobate from faith for sooth.

Beloved, I see the creepers creeping fair,
Not just Jehovah's Witnesses to share,
But every kind of creeper in the vein
Of printed books and magazines in bane,
Of internet and television's fane.
They speak to change both times and laws and take
Their silly women into their mistake.
They preach their Sundays and new moons in wake,
Their trinities and silver spoons in lake.
Beloved, the pair that withstood Moses there,
Magicians in their right of court and fair,
Have still their brass descendants on the cake.
I too am always learning, but I've come
To know the ten commandments are truth's sum.

9 But they will get no further on,
For their own follow shall be drawn
Before all as has been from dawn.
10 But you have fully known my word
Of doctrine, way of life and heard
The purpose, faith, long-suffering and
My charity and patient stand,
11 With persecutions and afflictions,
Which came to me and by predictions
At Antioch, Iconium,
At Lystra, what trials in sum
I had to endure, but out from
Them all the Lord saved me a bum.
12 Indeed, and all who’ll live godly
In Christ Jesus shall suffer spree.
13 But evil men, seducers too,
Shall just get worse and worse in view,
Deceiving and being deceived.
14 But keep on in the things relieved
That you have learned and been assured,
Knowing who taught you and who cured,
15 And that since you were just a child
You’ve known the holy Scriptures mild,
Which can make you wise to salvation
Through faith in Christ Jesus in ration.

My own childhood was marked by Scriptures read
And then recited to me by my bed.
As I learned twelve verses and could repeat,
My mother read me one tale as a treat.
Reward for learning Scriptures still commands
My soul to follow on the glowing sands
Of Hebrew words and letters strung on page
To sing aloud their songs from age to age.
Beloved, I find You present on the air
Where Your grand dwelling of the Psalms sounds fair,
And as I taste that You are good, I raise
Another song of penitence and praise.
And as I taste that You are true, I find
A healing for the dumb as well as blind.

16 All Scripture’s give by inspiration
Of God, and is for profit’s station
For doctrine, for reproof, and for
Correction, for instruction’s store
In righteousness, 17 that man of God
May become perfect under rod,
Fully endowed with all good works
Above everyone here that shirks.

All Scripture is one thing upon the sod.
And yet I'm not sure that all leads to God.
You mark Your passing with a single note,
A thing from Genesis I've got by rote.
The great wind on the waters seems to sing,
And when I listen hard to hear the thing,
It turns to melody without a sting.
For doctrine and reproof I need the writing
Upon the page my soul is always fighting.
I do not wait to find the Scriptures slighting,
But still am not sure of the building's lighting.
Beloved, look down upon my great inciting
And see if You're reflected in the pair
Of books of life my soul has come to share.

2 TIMOTHY 4

1 I command you then before God,
And the Lord Jesus Christ in prod,
Who’ll judge the quick and dead when he
Appears in his own kingdom free;
2 So preach the word, be quick in time
And out of the right time in rhyme,
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all
Patience and doctrine in the stall.

Beloved, You hear me preaching by the wood,
Beneath the firs and birches as I should.
You see the birds and moles come round to hear,
And once or twice grasshopper without fear,
And listen to my chiding them for gear,
And for false doctrine on the itching ear.
You see and hear me preaching in my time
And with my running metres and my rhyme.
But do you see a single sparrow stay
Before repentant's altar and to pray?
They all fly off, Beloved, and I am left
Before my sermons huffing and bereft.
Send me a congregation where I preach,
And I'll rebuke each nobleman and peach.

3 For time will come when they will not
Endure sound doctrine in their lot,
But after their own lusts they’ll heap
Up to themselves teachers to keep
Their itching ears, 4 and they shall turn
Away their ears from truth, discern
Merely the fables that they earn.

I've seen the itching ears and those who do
Not endure the sound doctrine and the true.
The most of men run to the Sunday's rue,
But of the rest who slumber, there are few
Who turn back to the moon to tell them when
To keep their sabbaths in the witch's glen.
Beloved, I gather with the one or two
Who take the seventh-day set up by You
For worship, and I read Your sacred word,
And never stumble at the things I've heard.
Sound doctrine is left on the drift by all
Who rush about at every whim and call
And fill the many palaces, each hall
Where fantasy's displayed to hide the gall.

5 But watch in all things and endure
Afflictions, do the work and sure
Of an evangelist, and make
Full proof of your ministry’s stake.
6 I’m ready to be sacrificed,
And my departure is sufficed.
7 I’ve fought a good fight, I have come
To the end of my course in sum,
I’ve kept the faith. 8 From now on there
Is saved up for me righteous share,
A crown, which the Lord, righteous judge,
Shall give me on that day a drudge,
And not to me alone, but to
All those also that love the view
Of his appearing to the true.

My ministry is left both high and dry,
Unlike that of poor Noah under sky
Of violence before the Flood came late.
He almost got a shower on his pate.
My ministry is left both high and spy,
Unlike that of poor Paul who came to cry
Aloud to every mariner awake
Not to abandon ship for mercy's sake.
Beloved, I may depart, but I reveal
A life that is deprived of all appeal
Of great success as an evangelist,
As prophet or of fighter with my fist.
My day of judgement finds me with bare hands,
Except for sonnets praising Your commands.

9 Try hard to come soon to me here,
10 For Demas left me in his fear
And love of this world present dear,
And has gone to Thessalonica,
Crescens to Galatia to strike her,
And Titus to Dalmatian sphere.
11 And only Luke is with me here.
Take Mark and bring him with you too,
He’s beneficial for my cue.

Mark is the one that Paul would leave behind
And quarrelled with his friend when he designed
To take the young man back under his wing.
Paul too can change his mind about a thing.
There are a few that I too think would be
Both beneficial and no threat to me
Who are long lost behind the veils of time
And distances of continent and clime.
Beloved, the love of world may separate
The men from friends upon an outer gate,
But I still have the strong bonds of the mate
Or two or three I knew in youthful crime.
I need not pray that they remember now,
Nor that they come to me again somehow.

12 And Tychicus I’ve sent unto
Ephesus. 13 The coat that I left
At Troas with Carpus bereft,
When you come, bring, and the books too,
Especially the parchments’ hue.

Paul knows what's needful in the earthly life:
A coat and books, but neither sword nor knife.
I wonder where Paul's old coat disappeared.
No doubt if it were found today unfeared,
It would be quite a relict of the just,
Even if eaten by the moth and dust.
Beloved, my cousin gave me once a coat,
A denim one with pockets that could float
The snaps the held my treasures like a boat.
I wore it out with wearing after years
And do not know now where it lies in biers.
Perhaps cold Paul was also of the kind
To wear a coat till threadbare to unwind.
Some others buy them faster than designed.

14 Alexander the coppersmith
Did me much wickedness in pith,
The Lord reward him for his works,
15 So you beware too of his quirks,
For he’s greatly opposed our due.
16 When I first answered, none in crew
Stood with me, but all men forsook
Me, so God will not let them cook.
17 Despite all that the Lord stood by
Me and strengthened me on the sly,
So by me preaching might be known
Completely and the Gentiles shown,
And I was saved from lion’s own.
18 The Lord shall deliver me from
Each evil work that’s like to come,
And keep me in heavenly kingdom
Of his, and so be glory then
To him for aye and aye. Amen.
19 Greet then Prisca, Aquila too,
And Onesiphorus’ house crew.
20 Erastus live in Corinth’s view,
But Prophimus I’ve left in pew
Of Miletum ill from his brew.
21 Try hard to come before it’s cold.
Eubulus greets you and is bold,
And Pudense, and Linus, as well
As Claudia, and the brothers swell.
22 The Lord Jesus Christ be again
With your spirit. Grace and amen.

Paul does not hesitate to write a word
About the evil men did and occurred.
He does not shy from cursing men that do
The wicked thing to missionary crew.
Perhaps that's how he assays to obey
The word of Your Christ sent that we should pray
For enemy and foe among the herd.
If so, that's a prayer that has my heart stirred.
Beloved, deliver me from every man
And every demon set out in the plan,
And let them fry in hell for what they stake
Against me and those who come and partake
Of bread and cabbage where I find my place
Beneath the hill of quartzite, fir and grace.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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