Do thy diligence; - 2 Timothy 4:9.

To come before winter - Probably because of the dangers of the navigation then, and because the circumstances of the apostle were such as to demand the presence of a friend.

Eubulus, ... - These names are of common occurrence in the works of the classic writers, but of the persons here referred to we know nothing.

Come before winter -

1. Because the apostle's time was short and uncertain.

2. Because sailing in those seas was very dangerous in winter. Whether Timothy saw the apostle before he was martyred is not known.

Eubulus - This person is nowhere else mentioned in the New Testament.

Pudens - Of this person we have traditions and legends, but nothing certain. The Catholics make him bishop of Rome.

Linus - He also is made, by the same persons, bishop of Rome; but there is no sufficient ground for these pretensions.

Claudia - Supposed to be the wife of Pudens. Some think she was a British lady, converted by St. Paul; and that she was the first that brought the Gospel to Britain.

All the brethren - All the Christians, of whom there were many at Rome; though of Paul's companions in travel, only Luke remained there.

Do thy diligence to come before winter,.... When travelling would not be so safe and comfortable: the apostle consults Timothy's good, as well as his own advantage.

Eubulus greeteth thee. Eusebius (k) makes mention of one of this name of Manganaea, who suffered martyrdom with one Adrian at Caesarea; but he cannot be thought to be the same with this, since he suffered in the times of Dioclesian.

And Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia; the first of these is said to be a person of note at Rome, and of the senatorial order, and the father of two pious virgins, Praxis and Pudentiana. He is put among the seventy disciples; See Gill on Luke 10:1. Mention is made by Pliny the younger (l), of Servilius Pudens, a Roman; and Martial, a poet of those times, speaks (m) of the marriage of Pudens and Claudia, and of Aulus Pudens. Linus is said to be the first bishop of Rome after the martyrdom of Peter and Paul (n). Though some will have it, that he was bishop of Rome in the time of Peter, and that he and one Cletus were co-pastors with Peter; and Platina, who wrote the "Lives of the Popes", first makes Peter to consecrate Clement his successor, and to commend the chair, and the church of God, to him, and yet afterwards places Linus, and not Clement, as his immediate successor; yea, puts Cletus also before Clement; so much are the Papists at a loss about, and so little account can they give of the boasted succession of their popes from Peter, that they are not agreed about his immediate successor. This Linus is said to be born at Volterra in Tuscany, and to be of the family of the Moors, whose father was one Herculaneus, who sent him at twenty two years of age to Rome, for the sake of his studies; at which time, as is pretended, Peter came thither, by whom he was converted, and with whom he continued as a fellow helper in the Gospel. He is moreover said to be bishop of Rome ten years, (Platina says eleven,) three months, and twelve days, and to have suffered martyrdom under Saturninus the consul, whose daughter he had delivered from a diabolical possession, and was buried in the Vatican. He is reckoned among the seventy disciples of Christ, but very wrongly; See Gill on Luke 10:1. The name is a Latin one, and is often mentioned by Martial the poet. And Claudia is the name of a woman, very likely of considerable note. Some think she was the wife of Pudens, the same Martial speaks of, and is said to be a Briton.

And all the brethren: that is, of the church of Rome, these all sent greeting to Timothy.

(k) Eccl. Hist. l. 8. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 11. (l) L. 10. Ephesians 10. (m) Epigram. l. 4. Ephesians 10. 23. 1. 6. Ephesians 45. l. 7. Ephesians 10. (n) Iren. adv. Haeres. l. 3. c. 3. Euseb. Ec. Hist. l. 3. c. 2, 4. & l. 5. c. 6.

Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia

N.T.o.

Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.

4:21 Come before winter. He could not come in the winter because navigation was suspended.

Eubulus. Not before mentioned. It is probable that all these were Roman brethren.

Prudens. He is thought to have been a Roman senator, from data secured outside the New Testament.

Linus. A Linus appears as a bishop of Rome not many years later.

Claudia. It has been argued that this lady was the daughter of a British king, and the wife of Prudens. See Conybeare and Howson.

21. before winter-when a voyage, according to ancient usages of navigation, would be out of the question: also, Paul would need his "cloak" against the winter (2Ti 4:13).

Pudens . Claudia-afterwards husband and wife (according to Martial [Epigrams, 4.13; 11.54]), he a Roman knight, she a Briton, surnamed Rufina. Tacitus [On Agriculture, 14], mentions that territories in southeast Britain were given to a British king; Cogidunus, in reward for his fidelity to Rome, A.D. 52, while Claudius was emperor. In 1772 a marble was dug up at Chichester, mentioning Cogidunus with the surname Claudius, added from his patron, the emperor's name; and Pudens in connection with Cogidunus, doubtless his father-in-law. His daughter would be Claudia, who seems to have been sent to Rome for education, as a pledge of the father's fidelity. Here she was under the protection of Pomponia, wife of Aulus Plautius, conqueror of Britain. Pomponia was accused of foreign superstitions, A.D. 57 [Tacitus, Annals, 3.32], probably Christianity. She probably was the instrument of converting Claudia, who took the name Rufina from her, that being a cognomen of the Pomponian gens (compare Ro 16:13, Rufus, a Christian). Pudens in Martial and in the Chichester inscription, appears as a pagan; but perhaps he or his friends concealed his Christianity through fear. Tradition represents Timothy, a son of Pudens, as taking part in converting the Britons.

Linus-put third; therefore not at this time yet, as he was afterwards, bishop. His name being here inserted between Pudens and Claudia, implies the two were not yet married. "Eubulus" is identified by some with Aristobulus, who, with his converts, is said to have been among the first evangelists of Britain. Paul himself, says Clement, "visited the farthest west [perhaps Britain, certainly Spain], and was martyred under the rulers at Rome," who were Nero's vicegerents in his absence from the city.

4:19-22 We need no more to make us happy, than to have the Lord Jesus Christ with our spirits; for in him all spiritual blessings are summed up. It is the best prayer we can offer for our friends, that the Lord Jesus Christ may be with their spirits, to sanctify and save them, and at last to receive them to himself. Many who believed as Paul, are now before the throne, giving glory to their Lord: may we be followers of them.