Editor's note

Writing to the Philippians from his first Roman imprisonment around the year 62, Paul thanks the church for the gift Epaphroditus has brought him, and uses the occasion to teach what he has learned in chains. He does not say he was born content. He says he learned it, schooled by chains, cold, and the daily uncertainty of whether tomorrow brings a sword or a meal, into a kind of freedom he could not have known on the road.

Editor's note

Years later, in chains again and this time awaiting the sword, Paul writes his second letter to Timothy from a Roman prison cell. It is the last surviving letter from his hand. He tells Timothy to come quickly, to bring his cloak from Troas, and to bring the books, especially the parchments. Then he reaches the verses the Orthodox Church reads at his feast and at every memorial of an apostle. The crown is the Greek athletic prize, the wreath the runner receives at the end of the race. He does not say he has won; he says he has finished.