Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Timothy 4:6

"For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come." — 2 Timothy 4:6 (ASV)

For I am now ready to be offered.—What, in the Philippian Epistle (Philippians 2:17), was alluded to as a contingency likely to happen is spoken of here as something that was then absolutely taking place. In his first imprisonment at Rome, St. Paul anticipated a martyr’s death as probable. In his second captivity at Rome, he writes of the martyrdom as already beginning.

The more accurate, as well as the more forceful, translation would be, For I am already being offered. The Greek word translated “I am being offered” points to the drink offering of wine that, among the Jews, accompanied the sacrifice. Among the Gentiles, this wine was commonly poured upon the burning victims—the allusion here is to St. Paul’s bloody death.

He was so convinced that the dread moment for him was near that, as he speaks this way, he feels as though it were even then taking place, and sees—in his present suffering and harsh treatment—the beginning of that martyrdom in which his life-blood would be poured out.

But he would not allow Timothy or the many Christians who revered and loved him to be dismayed by his sufferings or shocked at his painful death. He would show them, by his calm, triumphant language, that to him death was no terror, but only the appointed passage to glory.

So he speaks of his life-blood being shed under the well-known peaceful image of the wine poured out over the sacrifice, the drink offering, the sweet savour unto the Lord. (Compare John 12:24, where the Master of St. Paul also speaks of His approaching death of agony and shame under a quiet, familiar image.)

And the time of my departure is at hand.—“My departure”: that is, “from life,” from this world to another. The moment of my death, so long looked for, is now very near, is almost here. The Greek word translated “departure,” among other meanings, signifies the raising of the ship’s anchor and the loosening of the cables that hindered the vessel from proceeding on its destined voyage.