Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Timothy 4:11

"Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee; for he is useful to me for ministering." — 2 Timothy 4:11 (ASV)

“Only Luke is with me.” There is pathos in these words. Luke was probably the one who acted as the apostle’s secretary in the actual writing of this letter (see introduction). Perhaps Luke’s own loneliness is also reflected here. He stayed with Paul to the end perhaps because the aged, ailing apostle needed the care of a doctor (Colossians 4:14) in his closing years and because Luke’s deep personal devotion to Paul would lead him to stay right with him. “Mark” had had a checkered career. We first meet him in Ac 12:12. When Peter was miraculously delivered from prison, he went to Mark’s home. Barnabas and Paul took him to Antioch (Acts 12:25) and then took him with them as their assistant on the first missionary journey (13:5). But the young Mark left and returned to Jerusalem (13:13). Because of this, Paul refused to take him along on the second journey (15:36–40). Later Mark matured and was with Paul in his first Roman imprisonment (Colossians 4:10). Now the aging apostle gives his young associate his highest accolade: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.”