The Second Epistle to Timothy is one of the three Pastoral Epistles, written by Paul, and is part of the canonical New Testament. It may have been written sometime in 67 A.D. during Paul's second Roman imprisonment. In his letter, the writer urges Timothy to not have a "spirit of timidity" and to "not be ashamed to testify about our Lord" (1:7-8). The writer also entreats Timothy to come to him before winter, and to bring Mark with him (cf. Philippians 2:22). He was anticipating that "the time of his departure was at hand" (4:6), and he exhorts his "son Timothy" to all diligence and steadfastness in the face of false teachings, with advice about combatting them with reference to the teachings of the past, and to patience under persecution (1:6-15), and to a faithful discharge of all the duties of his office (4:1-5), with all the solemnity of one who was about to appear before the Judge of the quick and the dead.
