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who grow in grace and come out into clear light and testimony at the end. Mark had
already been commended to the church by the apostle:
"Marcus sister's son to Barnabas (touching whom ye received commandments: if he
come unto you receive him)" (Col. 4: 10).
The inclusion of Barnabas here, plainly refers back to the incident recorded in
Acts 15: 36-39. There, Mark had turned back when he learned the project to enter
Pamphylia, now he stood boldly by the side of the imprisoned apostle. The incident
illumines the character of more than that of Mark. Peter, with whom Mark had laboured,
had evidently helped the younger man and had certainly not prejudiced him against Paul.
It throws light, too, upon the nature of Paul, who did not hesitate to commend and accept
the services of the selfsame man on account of whose departure, at Perga, he had
sacrificed the friendship of Barnabas. Tradition is unanimous that Mark was the
companion and interpreter of Peter. Peter was in the habit of visiting the house of Mark's
mother (Acts 12: 12), and there the young disciple would learn most of the facts which he
was afterwards inspired to place in the "Gospel" that bears his name. Jerome wrote
concerning the office that Titus filled in service to Paul as compared with that of Mark:
"Therefore he had Titus for a secretary, and the blessed Peter had Mark, whose Gospel
was composed by him after the dictation of Peter."
Thus, in the prison cell at Rome there gathered with the apostle of the Gentiles, Luke
who wrote his gospel to a Gentile "Theophilus", and had the Gentiles in mind all the
time, as a comparison with Matthew will reveal, and Mark, who wrote his gospel,
presumably for those Gentiles who had become attached to the kingdom ministry of
Peter, as a comparison of his gospel with that of Matthew will show. Who can estimate
the worth or the fruit of the written testimony of these three men who at the time were
despised, ill-treated and reckoned of no possible account.
"But Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus." The "but" suggests a contrast between those
mentioned before, who were absent, and Tychicus who had definitely been sent by the
apostle. There is every reason to believe that Timothy was at Ephesus when this
second epistle was written to him.
In II Tim. 1: 16-18 and 4: 19 the reference to the household of Onesiphorus and
his ministry at Ephesus, certainly suggests that that city was his home. In 2: 17
Hymenæus, the teacher, and in 4: 14 Alexander the coppersmith, are mentioned
separately, but in I Tim. 1: 20 they are mentioned together, and Alexander figures in the
riot at Ephesus (Acts 19: 33). Timothy, at the time of writing, was evidently not far from
Troas (II Tim. 4: 13) and would have to pass through this city if he were journeying from
Ephesus to Rome.
The last notice of Mark was a recommendation of him to the church at Colosse
(Col. 4: 10), and Paul assumes in his second epistle, that Timothy would find Mark near
at hand. With all the anxiety which his own personal affairs brought, Paul is seen here
still mindful of the stewardship with which he had been entrusted and while not hesitating
to call Timothy to his side, did not omit to provide another faithful minister in his place.