<p>4:18 <i>The Lord will deliver me from every evil work</i><i> and will save me to his heavenly kingdom; to him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen</i>- Paul writes to Timothy as if he is shortly to die. So I don't take this as meaning that he was confident of deliverance from death at the hands of the Romans. Rather is this confidence that despite the &quot;evil work&quot; of his execution, he would be delivered from that through resurrection of the body at the Lord's return. He was using the very words of the Lord's payer, &quot;Deliver us from evil, for Yours is the Kingdom...&quot; (Mt. 6:13). He understood this as ultimately a prayer for deliverance from death into the Kingdom of God on earth at the Lord's return. Admittedly he has spoken of past deliverance from his persecutions (3:11), but here he speaks of deliverance as a 'saving me to His heavenly Kingdom', the Kingdom of Heaven to come on earth at the Lord's return. The Greek term for &quot;evil work&quot; however may well not refer to the 'evil work' of his execution. The plural &quot;every evil work&quot; suggests many evil works. And the phrase is consistently used in the NT of sins (Col. 1:21; 1 Jn. 3:12; 2 Jn. 11; 3 Jn. 10), specifically those committed by Judaism against Jesus (Jn. 3:19; 7:7). At the end of his life, faced with death, Paul's mind was inevitably on the serious sins he had committed against Jesus under the influence of Judaism. And as he surveys his future, he is confident that he will be delivered from them, and accepted into God's Kingdom. And that is enough for him to face death calmly. And it is with this issue of forgiveness and subsequent salvation in view that he can comment: &quot;to him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen&quot;. This language is more appropriate to the triumph of Divine forgiveness and salvation than it is to Paul's being delivered from Roman punishment and released from prison.</p>