How much hardship had Paul endured by the time he wrote 2 Timothy?
By the time Paul wrote 2 Timothy, he had spent over twenty years enduring hardships and sufferings, enjoying very little of life's comforts. The context describes him as having gone through all these hardships and sufferings over that period, which grieved and broke his heart as he wrote.
Les explains that Paul, by the time he wrote 2 Timothy, had spent 20 some years going through all these hardships and sufferings, probably enjoying very little of the comforts of life. Les says this must have grieved and broken the heart of the Apostle, and it boggled his mind how Paul was brokenhearted to have to write something like this in 2 Timothy. In the letter, Paul writes to Timothy, one of his young men who had labored with him in the ministry and was now a pastor, telling him to hold fast the form of sound words heard from Paul in faith and love in Christ Jesus, and to keep the good thing committed unto him—the deposit of truth, the mystery—by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
More Questions
Why was Paul so brokenhearted when he wrote 2 Timothy?
Paul wrote 2 Timothy out of a broken heart, after some 20 years of hardships and sufferings in which he enjoyed very little of life's comforts.