“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.”
For I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. — Paul announces his imminent martyrdom: spendō (poured out) as libation (spondeion), the time of his analusis (departure) approaching. The cultic metaphor transforms execution into sacred offering.
Church Fathers on 2 Timothy 4:6
It was for this therefore, that he foretold these things; as Christ also toward the end predicted that there should be “false Christs and false prophets”; so he too, when he was about to depart, spoke of these things. “But watch thou in all things, endure affliction”; that is, labor, preoccupy their minds before this pestilence assails them; secure the safety of the sheep before the wolves enter in, everywhere endure hardship. “Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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