---
title: "2 Timothy"
canonical: "https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/evidence-2-timothy"
updated: "2026-09-21"
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
source: "Pauline Letters"
---

# 2 Timothy

Second Timothy presents itself as a final charge from an imprisoned Paul, urging endurance, faithful teaching, and personal attention to a network under strain.

**What situation does 2 Timothy address, and what is debated about its setting or authorship?**

Whether the letter comes directly from Paul, preserves authentic memories, or was composed later remains disputed.

## What remains uncertain

The letter’s narrative setting presents Paul in custody in Rome. Dating it to a final imprisonment around AD 64–67 depends on direct Pauline authorship and a post-Acts sequence.

Acts does not narrate a second Roman imprisonment, and the exact custody location and date are not independently established.

2 Timothy belongs to the traditional Pauline corpus and presents itself as a final prison letter. Its authorship remains disputed with the other Pastoral Letters, although some scholars treat its personal material as preserving authentic Pauline memories or fragments.

A later work preserving Pauline memory: Many scholars regard Second Timothy as a later pastoral work, while some still see its personal material as preserving authentic Pauline memories or fragments. The final Roman setting becomes a literary or remembered frame rather than a securely dated final stage in Paul’s life.

## Sources

- Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (Doubleday, 1997). Chapter 31, “Pastoral Letter: The Second to Timothy,” “General Analysis of the Message”; Chapter 31, “Pastoral Letter: The Second to Timothy,” “II Timothy and Possibilities about the Pastorals”
- Romans through Philemon, World English Bible (public domain).  — https://ebible.org/web/
- Acts 7–28, World English Bible (public domain).  — https://ebible.org/eng-web/ACT.htm
- The project’s 67-row chronology, cross-referencing Acts and the letters and labeling debated dates. 
- Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Paul: A Critical Life (Oxford University Press, 1996). Chapter 1, “The Chronological Framework,” “The Evidence from the Pauline Letters” and “The Evidence from the Acts of the Apostles”

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Canonical: https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/evidence-2-timothy