The name Tychicus literally means “fortunate.” It is found here and in four other places in the New Testament (Acts 20.4; Col 4.7; Titus 3.12; Eph 6.21). Once again it is very hard to be certain as to whether all these verses are referring to the same person. From these references we gather that Tychicus is a Gentile Christian from the Roman province of Asia and was with Paul on his journey to Jerusalem. One can of course wonder whether he is being sent to Ephesus to take Timothy’s place, since Timothy is leaving shortly for Jerusalem.

I have sent is taken by some to be an epistolary aorist, which means that at the time of writing, Tychicus has not yet left for Ephesus but will have left by the time Timothy receives the letter. So in some languages one must translate “I am about to send….” For Ephesus see 1 Tim 1.3 (note also the map, page 6|fig:Map_Paul-12.jpg).

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .