pauline chronology 75
and taken to rome. in rome, he wrote 2 timothy, before being martyred
under nero.24
Whereas lightfoot includes a trip to spain, gordon fee does not. fee
argues that, soon after his release from rome, Paul traveled to Crete with
titus and probably timothy, where they established churches but met
opposition from hellenistic Jews. leaving titus to establish church order,
Paul, accompanied by timothy, went to macedonia by way of ephesus.
the stop in ephesus proved disastrous, as some teachings that were also
found in Colossae and Crete were undermining the ephesian church.
Paul had to dismiss hymenaeus and alexander, who were the leaders of
this counter-movement. Paul, needing to go to macedonia, left timothy
in charge, and, upon his arrival, wrote both to timothy (1 timothy) and
titus. he instructed timothy to remain in ephesus to continue his work,
but titus was to be replaced by tychicus or artemas and to come to Paul
in nicopolis. Probably traveling to ephesus, Paul was arrested near troas
and then brought to rome where he had a preliminary interrogation
and was held for trial. onesiphorous found him in rome, while others
abandoned him. deciding that he needed timothy with him, Paul sent
tychicus with a letter (2 timothy) to timothy to replace him, and to urge
timothy to come to him as quickly as possible.25 these are two reason-
ably plausible reconstructions of the intermediate period.
two other views that fall within this category are also worth noting.
these are by Jerome murphy-o’Connor and Wolfgang metzger. murphy-
o’Connor believes that only 2 timothy is authentic, and that there are
indications within 2 timothy that it was written during a second roman
imprisonment (2 tim 1:16–17 regarding onesiphorous; 2 tim 4:16 regard-
ing a first defense; and 2 tim 4:19 regarding Prisca and aquila), one that
is also attested by early church authors (as noted above). instead of only
a single roman imprisonment, Paul was released and had a failed mis-
sion to spain, after which he returned to the aegean, and then traveled
to rome after the fire, where he was martyred under nero’s persecution.26
Whereas there is some substance to murphy-o’Connor’s evidence regard-
ing a second roman visit, he does not satisfactorily address all the issues
connected with 2 timothy (such as understanding of 2 tim 4:6–8). the
most telling problem is that much of what he states is sheer speculation,
24 J. B. lightfoot, Biblical Essays (london: macmillan, 1893), 223. there are many other
such proposals found in a variety of commentaries and introductions.
25 fee, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 4–5.
26 murphy-o’Connor, Paul, 356–71.