Sufferings No Surprise

2 Timothy 2:8-13
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, February 21, 2016
Copyright © 2016, P. G. Mathew

In 2 Timothy 2:8–13, the apostle Paul speaks about suffering. In a fallen world, suffering is normal. All people suffer, whether unbelievers and believers. The world is full of sickness, plague, war, enmity, killing, abortion, death, and so on.

Christians suffer especially because of their faith in Jesus Christ. If we are born of God, God will call us to suffer in this world. So Peter wrote, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pet. 4:12). Jesus himself said, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other” (Matt. 24:9–10). The “many” Jesus is speaking about are not true believers. Elsewhere Jesus taught, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first,” and, “In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God” (see John 15:18–16:4). Such a person will think he is worshiping God.

Many preachers do not tell people about suffering for Christ. They say, “Receive Jesus and life will be all good.” The biggest fools are preachers who will not preach the truth of the Bible. They will go to the bottom of hell because they deceive people. The theology of health, wealth, power, and fame for believers in Christ in this world contradicts Christ’s own teaching. It is a heresy.

Read the history of the Christian martyrs. If we are true believers, suffering is our lot. Paul writes, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). We are to deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily, and follow him to death.

If we are not hated by the world and by the false church, we are not shining as the light of the world. Elect believers, for whom only Jesus died and lives again, will be faithful till death. This is what Jesus told the church of Smyrna: “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).

True believers will never deny Jesus or become unfaithful to him. Jesus Christ will enable them to persevere till death. To them, suffering for Jesus is a means of grace. To them, suffering produces holiness. That is what Paul says in Romans 5:3–5: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” James also speaks about this: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2–4).

Those who are born of God will persevere to the very end in following Jesus Christ. So in 2 Timothy 2:8–13, Paul was exhorting Timothy to follow his example of enduring hardship until death as he fulfilled his duty of preaching the gospel, which declares that Jesus Christ destroyed our death and brought life and immortality to light for all who believe in him. Jesus accomplished this by his own death and resurrection, as Paul declared, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). So the writer to the Hebrews said, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14–15). Through his death and resurrection, Christ freed us from the fear of death.

This same Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:28). God’s people, who are regenerate and who follow Jesus, are eternally secure.

 

Remember Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:8)

Paul begins, “Remember Jesus Christ” (v. 8). Timothy was to remember Jesus Christ continually. In the Greek it is a present active imperative; it is a command, in the present tense. We are to remember Christ’s incarnation, his perfect obedience to the Father’s will, his sufferings, his death on the cross as a criminal, his burial, and especially his resurrection, his ascension, and his session on the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords.

This Jesus is coming again to glorify his people and to punish all the wicked unbelievers. So Paul was saying, “Timothy, fix your eyes on Jesus, the Son of David, the Messiah, the Savior/King, who triumphed over death and all his enemies.” This command was similar to that of the Hebrews writer, who exhorted, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb. 12:2–3).

The triumph of Jesus Christ is our triumph. He died and was raised by the Father for our sins and in our place. So he died, and in him we died to sin; he lives, and in him we live to God by his resurrection power. Timothy was to remember this central fact of Christ’s resurrection.

Israel forgot God’s blessings and they were defeated (see Ps. 106:7, 13, 21). So Paul was saying, Timothy, do not forget the gospel—the person and work of Jesus. Believe and proclaim it, so that the elect of God may hear and believe and be saved. Christ is risen as the first fruits of all who have fallen asleep. Elsewhere Paul wrote, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” That means all the elect. “But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him (1 Cor. 15:22–23). He also wrote, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:56–57).

Remember Jesus Christ, and do be not afraid or ashamed to suffer and die for the gospel. Remember, Christ is risen. Christ is the victor. His victory is our victory because by faith we are united with him. This risen Jesus is with us always to help us. So we can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives us strength (Phil. 4:13). Later in this same epistle Paul wrote to Timothy, “At my first defense, no one came to my support. But everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.” Even Paul’s fellow believers were afraid, so they stayed home. Then he said, “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom,” through death. Paul concluded, “To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (2 Tim. 4:16–18).

 

Remember Me (2 Tim. 2:9-10)

In verses 9 and 10, Paul speaks about his own suffering. In essence, he is telling Timothy, “Remember me, your spiritual father.” Paul was saying, “I continually suffer persecution for preaching the gospel for which the risen Christ appeared to me and appointed me a herald and an apostle and a teacher. I have no choice but to preach this glorious gospel of forgiveness and justification, and to suffer daily for the preaching of the gospel. No true preacher has any choice in this matter. Moses did not have any choice either. But I am not afraid or ashamed because Christ is risen, and he is mighty to guard the deposit of my life, which I gave him; he is able to guard it forever.” Earlier in this epistle Paul wrote, “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). He was speaking about his very life.

Elsewhere the apostle wrote, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). He also said, “To be absent from the body [is to be] present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8, KJV). In fact, Paul said, for him to die is better, blessed, and precious. Because Jesus lives, we shall live in him forever, because he never dies again. That is what Jesus said on the island of Patmos to John. He said, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Rev. 1:18). We live in him who will never die again.

Paul was saying, “Remember, Timothy, I am in chains and thrown in prison for the sake of the gospel. I am being treated as a criminal as Jesus was treated (see John 18:30). Though I am a Roman citizen, I am suffering. In fact, Jesus told me that I must suffer many things for his name” (Acts 9:16).

Paul suffered daily for the name of Christ. He wrote,

 

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2 Cor. 11:23–27).

 

As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (2 Cor. 6:4–10).

 

That is the story of the apostle. A lot of people get into this business of preaching to make money, to steal from people, to buy mansions and businesses.

Though Paul was now bound in chains, the word of God is never bound; because Christ rose from the dead, God poured out the Holy Spirit and other ministers, including Timothy, are now free to preach the gospel. God always has someone who will preach the gospel. Elsewhere Paul wrote, “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly” (Phil. 1:12–14). We may be bound and thrown into prison, but God’s word is never bound. Jesus said, “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say” (Matt. 10:19). The Holy Spirit himself will give us words to speak.

Paul was saying, “Remember, Timothy, I suffer and bear up under all sufferings for the sake of God’s elect, whom Christ came to save, who are chosen from all eternity” (v. 10). Aren’t you glad that you have been chosen from all eternity in Christ, in grace? Elsewhere Paul says, “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:13–14). In Christ, we are destined to glory.

The elect cannot be saved without a preacher sent by Christ preaching the gospel by the authority of Christ. The elect must hear the gospel, believe the gospel, and call upon Jesus to save them. So God’s word is never bound. The Holy Spirit gives his word to his servants to speak. And even when his servants are killed, God will raise up other servants to preach the word.

Every elect of God will, in time, experience eternal salvation that is found only in Jesus Christ through faith in him. In this epistle, Paul says that life is found in Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 1:1), love is found only in Jesus Christ (1:13), grace is found only in Jesus Christ (2:1), and salvation is found only in Jesus Christ (2:10). There is no other Savior.

This salvation comes to us with eternal glory. Consider the ordo salutis as delineated by Professor John Murray in his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied:

 

1. Election of love.
2. Predestination to eternal glory.
3. Effectual calling
4. Regeneration
5. Conversion (i.e., repentance and faith)
6. Justification
7. Adoption
8. Sanctification
9. Perseverance
10. Glorification

 

We are destined for eternal glory. What we lost in Adam, Christ has gained for us, and more. So Paul says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal [weight of] glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16–18).

The elect shall persevere to the end. Jesus said, “Be faithful till death and I will give you a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). Those who walk away from the church and turn away from Jesus Christ are false believers. They were never regenerate. That is why we are exhorted to examine ourselves, and make our calling and election sure.

Saving faith is persevering faith, and that persevering faith shall not fail us because it is the gift of God for every regenerate person. In the parable of the sower, only the good soil people were true believers. Only they brought forth fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Others were temporary believers. They were unregenerate. They were bad trees.

But the elect are regenerate. They are good trees. They have the divine nature that produces the good fruit of good works of obedience. Paul says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10). Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). He also said, “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matt. 7:20).

If obedience to Jesus Christ is hard for you, you may not be born again. You must ask the question: Who is my father, God or the devil? And the Bible gives the paternity test: “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he [Jesus Christ] is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil” (1 John 3:7–8).

 

Remember the Scripture (2 Tim. 2:11–13)

Second Timothy 2:11–13 is thought to be part of an ancient hymn or creed. When believers were baptized, they were told to understand this hymn and believe it. This creed consists of four true conditional statements, each one beginning with the Greek word ei (“if” or “since”). When used, as it is in these verses, with the indicative, it means the statements following it are true.

The first two lines (vv. 11–12a) speak of salvation in what is known as synthetic parallelism. Psalm 92:9 is an example of synthetic parallelism, in which the second line speaks essentially what the first line says but in different words: “For surely your enemies, O LORD, surely your enemies will perish.” The first line states God’s enemies will perish. The second line says, “All evildoers will be scattered.” In other words, it is essentially the same as the first line.

This matters in the exegesis of this hymn found in 2 Timothy. The second line speaks essentially the same as the first line but in different words. So Paul writes, “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (vv. 11–13).

The first two lines speak of salvation. They speak of conversion and continuance, and of the comfort of God’s salvation. The second two lines speak of God’s judgment. It is a warning. So the fourth line speaks essentially the same thought as the third line, that is, the idea of judgment. Through this, Paul is exhorting Timothy to persevere in sufferings, including death, that he might obtain the crown of life, the crown of glory, and the crown of righteousness.

 

Conversion and Continuance

The first line begins, “If we died with him” (v. 11b). That speaks of conversion: we died with Christ when we believed in him with saving faith. We are united with Christ by faith in his death, burial, and resurrection. So Paul says, “If we died with him, we will also live with him” (vv. 11b–12a). This agrees with what Paul wrote elsewhere: “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:8–11).

We died with Christ to sin; we have been buried with Christ; and we have been raised with Christ to live a new, resurrection life. That is why godliness and obedience are important. In another place, Paul writes, “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live” – this is speaking about self-denial – “but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:19–20). Saints, when we believed in Christ with saving faith, we died with Christ to sin. Sin no longer is our lord; it no longer holds dominion over our lives.

In other words, a believer does not have to sin. God has given us the ability not to sin (posse non peccare). Don’t come and say, “I did it again.” We do not have to sin if we understand what it meant that we believed in Christ and in his death. Christ died to atone our sins.

When we believed in Christ with saving faith, we died with Christ to sin, we were buried with him, and we were raised with him to live a new life—a holy life, an obedient life, a transformed life. Now we can do what the Bible says we must do. And not only that, even now we are seated with Christ in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6). We have been united with Christ in an inseparable union, and nothing in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord except unbelief.

In Jude 24 we read, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” This is what God will do for every elect. If you are an elect of God, you will persevere to the very end. You will not become apostate. You will not deny him. In Romans 8:35–39 we read, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” The answer is that nothing in all creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The only exception is unbelief. Persistent, settled unbelief in Jesus Christ proves that a person is not an elect of God.

Jesus declared, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28–29). This is called the eternal security of the elect of God who will persevere to the end. Even if they stumble and sin, they will repent of their sins, receive forgiveness from God, and move on with Christ.

Paul writes, “[I am] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). This is true of an elect believer. He also writes, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12–13). God works in us, and we work out his will by grace.

The people of God are an obedient, holy people. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31). Notice, “If you continue in my teaching” or “if you persevere in my teaching.” There must be conversion and continuance in the teaching of Christ.

 

Perseverance

Line 2 begins, “If we endure with him, we will also reign with him” (v. 12a). By grace we can endure hardship continually. Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.” This means with God’s grace, we can endure, obey God, and abound in every good work. Whatever the Bible says, we are able to do.

Salvation is by grace from beginning to end. Those who endure will reign with him. We read about this in Revelation 22: “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:5).

That is our destiny. If we endure ongoingly (the Greek word is in the present tense), we will reign with him. (PGM) The future of the people of God is bright and glorious. We are destined for glory, to live eternally with God and to reign with God forever and ever.

Even now we live with him and reign with him. Yet we will experience salvation in its fullness when Christ comes again. Then we will be glorified to live in a new heaven and a new earth where dwells no sin.

 

Warning against Apostasy

Then Paul writes, “If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (vv. 12b–13). These last two lines are a warning against apostasy, unbelief, unfaithfulness.

Having confessed Christ, some people want to live in unfaithfulness. They want to sin, which the Greek text makes clear. In the fourth line, Paul uses apistoumen for “faithless.” It is the present active indicative first person plural of apisteô. The present tense means their unbelief is ongoing and settled. In line 3 he says, “If we deny him.” In other words, if we deny Jesus as Savior and Lord, he will deny us as Judge. Those who do this are second and third soil Christians. As such, they will deny the Christ of their confession in due course. They do so because they are unregenerate and theirs is not saving faith. Such people get baptized and join the church. But eventually they go out to commit immorality. By so doing, they prove themselves to be not God’s elect. Christ did not die for them. So this is a serious warning in verse 12b: If we deny him, he will also deny us.

Now look at verse 13: “If we are unbelieving.” As we said, it is in the present tense, meaning to be unfaithful in an ongoing manner, displaying a settled life of unbelief and unfaithfulness. Verse 13, the fourth line, is parallel to the third line, 12b. So verse 13 is speaking essentially what is stated in line 3, “If we deny him, he will also deny us.” This is crucial to understanding this passage. If we are unbelieving, then Christ must remain faithful to his character as judge. He will condemn the unbeliever as he condemned the denier in 12b.

Let me make it very simple for you. The Philippian jailer asked the question, “What must I do to be saved?” What was the answer? “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30). This is speaking about ongoing faith and trust in Jesus Christ. If someone says that the Lord will save those who remain unbelieving and unfaithful, then he is saying that Christ can deny himself. Jesus himself said, “If you want to be saved, believe in me and you will be saved.” So if anyone says that God will save those who remain unbelieving and apostate, he is saying that Christ can deny himself. But the text says Christ cannot deny himself; he must remain faithful to his own character. Spurgeon said God cannot die, God cannot lie, and God cannot be deceived. I would add that God cannot be mocked.

There are some theologians who teach that although a person lives an unbelieving and unfaithful life in a habitual, settled way, God understands and will still save such a person in his unbelieving, unfaithful state. This is the lie of “one-way love.” This is the heresy of antinomianism. God says, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” And if we are not living holy lives, we have not been saved by Jesus Christ.

Consider Jesus’ teaching about the four soils: “Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown” (Mark 4:16–20).

Those who live unfaithful, unbelieving, unholy lives are second soil and third soil Christians. They are non-elect and unregenerate. They are like Demas, who abandoned the faith, “having loved this present world.” The following scriptures emphasize this truth:

 

• 1 John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” These people were apostate.
• Hebrews 3:12, 19: “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. . . . So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”
• Matthew 10:32–33:”Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (see also Luke 12:8–9).
• Timothy 2:19: “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.’” People like to believe in Jesus and sin. Many churches permit them to do that. Such churches are synagogues of Satan. In God’s holy church, the word of God is preached and obeyed.
• Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.” Our God saves and he kills. He is committed to one thing only: his own glory (see Exod. 14). He will never let anyone to spit on his face by violating his law. Such people will pay for it in due time, unless they repent and ask God to forgive them.
• 2 Peter 2:20–22: “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.’” The church is not for dogs but for God’s elect holy people.
• Matthew 7:21–23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you [wicked doers]!’” Note, these lawless antinomians are ministers.
• 1 John 2:22–23: “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

 

 

Friends, I counsel you what Peter and Paul counseled us. Peter wrote, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall” (2 Pet. 1:10). Paul said, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5). Take this simple test: Do I love God? Do I worship God? Do I serve God? Do I obey God? Hebrews 5:9 tells us that Jesus became the author of eternal salvation of those who obey him (Heb. 5:9).

Fruitless Christianity is dead, demonic and damning. So the faithful saying of 2 Timothy 2:11–13 is a warning to all believers in the church. Consider the words of the Hebrews writer:

 

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:26–31)

 

Consider also what the late professor John Murray said: “Where there is justification, there is sanctification.” We cannot have justification without sanctification. A disobedient Christian is an unbelieving Christian. God justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5) to make them godly.

In Hebrews 12 we read, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). We can go around and do whatever we want. But we will not see God. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matt. 5:8).

Peter wrote, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:1–2). Jesus saved us so that we may obey him. That is what we agreed to when we confessed, “Jesus is Lord.” Peter also writes, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance” (1 Pet. 1:14). John says, “Everyone who has this hope [of the coming of Christ] . . . purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).

My mother would often say, “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy” (Rev. 22:11). We also read, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22:14–15). Those who love and obey Christ will go into the city; others are outside.

Think about the last words of Paul: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6–8).

Paul was preparing to die. God is also calling us to suffer and die. Jesus told the truth when he told us to deny ourselves, take up the cross daily, and follow him to death. But, praise God, he has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light to his elect people who will not become apostate. They will do what is right by the power of the Spirit of God and persevere to the end.

Friends, life is serious. May we prove ourselves to be God’s elect by hearing and doing the will of God by the energy of God’s Holy Spirit, which so powerfully works in us.

 

Addendum

As noted above, there are some theologians today who would argue that verse 13 allows people to persist in their unbelief without living obedient lives. Such antinomian teaching is found throughout the church world today. In the Reformation Study Bible, we find the following note about verse 13: “Though we are called to endure and be faithful, [our] salvation does not rest ultimately on our faithfulness but upon the perfect faithfulness of Christ.” Now, no one will argue with the truth that our salvation depends on the perfect faithfulness of Christ. But this is a wrong interpretation of this passage. The following are quotes from other theologians who agree with my position:

 

1. “Many interpreters have taken this as a wonderful affirmation that salvation does not rest on our faithfulness, but on that of Christ. . . . As true as this is, the parallelism with verse 12 and the preceding context (vv. 8–11) suggests that Paul meant that God would remain faithful in the sense of remaining true to the threat of judgment: God will not fail to judge those who turn away from Christ. . . . God will always remain true to his character. Both Christian hope and the threat of judgment are firmly rooted in the character of God.”¹ So we read, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Num. 23:19). God saves the believing and damns the unbelieving.
2. “[Elect believers will persevere to the end]. “Believers persevere . . . because Jesus Christ through the Spirit ensures that every true believer will endure to the end.”²
3. “Faithfulness on [Christ’s] part means carrying out his threats (Matt. 10:33) as well as his promises (Matt. 10:32). . . . It is hardly necessary to add that the meaning of the last line cannot be, ‘If we are faithless and deny him, nevertheless he, remaining faithful to his promises, will give us everlasting life.’ Aside from being wrong for other reasons, such an interpretation destroys the evident implication of the parallelism between lines three and four.”³
4. “All who deny Christ are disowned by him.”⁴
5. “‘If we are faithless’ is in the present tense (apistoumen), indicating a settled state of refusing to believe in Jesus and obey him. But whatever we do, he will remain faithful, for he cannot deny himself.”⁵ God’s faithfulness is eternal. But the issue is, God is faithful to his own nature. He cannot save an unbelieving person. That would be a denial of himself. He is faithful to his promises and threatenings. He cannot lie.”
6. “I have heard 2 Timothy 2:13a used often to say that if we are faithless he will still be faithful to us. We will be saved. That is not what it says or means. . . . This is a threat of lostness, not a promise of salvation.”⁶
7. “The meaning must be, that if we are unbelieving and unfaithful, Christ will remain true to his word, and we cannot hope to be saved. . . . It would be a denial of his very nature to save those who are unfaithful. He is holy; and how can he save one who is unholy?”⁷
8. “It has often been taken as a comforting assurance that, even if we turn away from Christ, he will not turn away from us, for he will never be faithless as we are. And it is true, of course, that God never exhibits the fickleness or the faithlessness of man. Yet the logic of the Christian hymn, with its two pairs of balancing epigrams, really demands a different interpretation. ‘If we deny him’ and ‘if we are faithless’ are parallels, which requires that ‘he will deny us’ and ‘he remains faithful’ be parallels also. In this case his ‘faithfulness’ when we are faithless will be faithfulness to his warnings. . . . Indeed, if he did not deny us (in faithfulness to his plain warnings), he would then deny himself.”⁸
9. “He is faithful to his threatenings, faithful to his promises; neither one nor the other shall fall to the ground, no, not the least, jot nor tittle of them. If we be faithful to Christ, he will certainly be faithful to us. If we be false to him, he will be faithful to his threatenings: he cannot deny himself, cannot recede from any word that he hath spoken, for he is yea, and amen, the faithful witness.”⁹

 

 

 

 

¹Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, Richard L. Pratt, Jr., general editor (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 1964n.

²Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, 1919.

³ William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Pastorals, New Testament Commentary series (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 260.

⁴ John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 219.

⁵ Ralph Earle, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 11, Ephesians–Philemon (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978), 401.

⁶ John Piper, http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/he-cannot-deny-himself.

⁷ Albert Barnes, http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/view.cgi?book=2ti&chapter=2.

⁸ John R. W. Stott, The Message of 2 Timothy, The Bible Speaks Today series (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity, 1973), 64.

⁹ Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. VI, Acts to Revelation (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, n.d.), 839.