Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
Take—Greek, "take up" on thy journey (Acts 20:13-14). John Mark was probably in, or near, Colosse, as in the Epistle to the Colossians (Colossians 4:10), written two years before this, he is mentioned as about to visit them. Timothy was now absent from Ephesus and somewhere in the interior of Asia Minor; hence he would be sure to fall in with Mark on his journey.
he is profitable to me for the ministry—Mark had been under a cloud for having forsaken Paul at a critical moment in his missionary tour with Barnabas (Acts 15:37-40; Acts 13:5, Acts 13:13). Timothy had subsequently occupied the same post in relation to Paul as Mark once held. Hence Paul, appropriately here, wipes out the past censure by high praise of Mark and guards against Timothy's making self-complacent comparisons between himself and Mark, as though he were superior to the latter (compare Philemon 1:24). Demas apostatizes. Mark returns to the right way, and is no longer unprofitable, but is profitable for the Gospel ministry (Philemon 1:11).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 2 Timothy 4:11:
Ezekiel 44:10-11
Acts 15:39
Colossians 4:10
Colossians 4:14
1 Peter 5:13
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