Separation causes loneliness. In prison, awaiting execution, Paul feels isolated from those he loves. He asks his protégé Timothy to visit, “Do your best to come to me quickly” (2 Timothy 4:9, NIV).


Paul later mentions some of his friends, such as Priscilla, Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus (2 Timothy 4:19). They are among Paul’s his closest friends and he misses them.


He is feeling the loneliness of separation. Paul never went anywhere alone; he always had at least one traveling companion. Yet, here at the end of his life, he’s in prison in a foreign country and he can’t just pick up the phone and reach out and touch somebody.