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This section has three verses
2 Timothy 2:8-10
8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David
was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even
unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's
sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which
is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
We will begin with the Barclay Commentary.
REMEMBER JESUS CHRIST
2 Timothy 2:8–10
…paraphrased
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, born of
the seed of David, as I preached the gospel to you,
that gospel for which I suffer, even to the length
of fetters, on the charge of being a criminal. But
though I am fettered, the word of God is not bound.
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of God’s
chosen ones, that they too may obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
RIGHT from the beginning of this letter, Paul has
been trying to inspire Timothy to his task. He has
reminded him of his own belief in him and of the
godly parentage from which he has come; he has shown
him the picture of the Christian soldier, the
Christian athlete and the Christian worker [farmer-husbandman].
And now he comes to the greatest appeal of all –
Remember Jesus Christ. Sir Robert Falconer calls
these words ‘The heart of the Pauline gospel’. Even
if every other appeal to Timothy’s strength of
character should fail, surely the memory of Jesus
Christ cannot. In the words which follow, Paul is
really urging Timothy to remember three things.
(1) Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead.
The tense of the Greek does not imply one definite
act in time, but a continued state which lasts
forever. Paul is not so much saying to Timothy:
‘Remember the actual resurrection of Jesus’, but
rather: ‘Remember your risen and ever-present
Lord.’ Here is the great Christian inspiration. We
do not depend on a memory, however great. We enjoy
the power of a presence. When Christians are
summoned to some great task that they feel is beyond
them, they must go about it in the certainty that
they do not go alone, but that the presence and the
power of their risen Lord is always with them. When
fears threaten, when doubts invade the mind, when
inadequacy depresses, remember the presence of the
risen Lord.
(2) Remember Jesus Christ born of the seed of
David. This is the other side of the question.
‘Remember’, says Paul to Timothy, 'that the Master
shared our humanity.' We do not remember one who is
only a spiritual presence; we remember one who trod
this road, and lived this life, and faced this
struggle, and who therefore knows what we are going
through. We have with us the presence not only of
the glorified Christ, but also of the Christ who
knew the desperate struggle of being human and
followed the will of God to the bitter end.
(3) Remember the gospel, the good news. Even
when the gospel demands much, even when it leads to
an effort which seems to be beyond human ability and
to a future which seems dark with every kind of
threat, remember that it is good news, and remember
that the world is waiting for it. However hard the
task the gospel offers, that same gospel is the
message of liberation from sin and victory over
circumstances for us and for all people.
So, Paul fires up Timothy to courageous action by
calling on him to remember Jesus Christ, to remember
the continual presence of the risen Lord, to
remember the sympathy which comes from the humanity
of the Master, to remember the glory of the gospel
for himself and for the world which has never heard
it and is waiting for it.
THE CRIMINAL OF CHRIST
WHEN Paul wrote these words, he was in a Roman
prison, bound by a chain. This was literally true,
for all the time he was in prison night and day he
would be chained to the arm of a Roman soldier. Rome
took no risks that its prisoners might escape.
Paul was in prison on the charge of being a
criminal. It seems strange that even a hostile
government should was able to regard a Christian,
and especially Paul, as a criminal. There were two
possible ways in which Paul might seem to the Roman
government to be a criminal.
First, Rome had an empire which extended almost as
far as the known world of that time. It was obvious
that such an empire was subject to stresses and to
strains. The peace had to be kept, and every
possible center of discontent had to be eliminated.
One of the things about which Rome was very
particular was the formation of associations. In the
ancient world, there were many associations. There
were, for instance, dinner clubs whose members met
at regular intervals. There were what are known as
friendly societies designed for charity for the
dependents of members who had died. There were
burial societies to see that their deceased members
were decently buried. But so particular were the
Roman authorities about associations that even these
humble and harmless societies had to receive special
permission from the emperor before they were allowed
to meet. Now, the Christians were in effect an
illegal association; and that is one reason why
Paul, as a leader of such an association, might well
be in the very serious position of being a political
criminal.
Second, the first persecution of the Christians was
intimately connected with one of the greatest
disasters which ever hit the city of Rome. On 19th
July AD 64, the great fire broke out. It burned for
six days and seven nights and devastated the city.
The most sacred shrines and the most famous
buildings perished in the flames. But worse – the
homes of the ordinary people were destroyed. By far
the greater part of the population lived in great
tenements built largely of wood, and these went up
in flames like tinder. People were killed and
injured; they lost their nearest and dearest; they
were left homeless and destitute. The population of
Rome was reduced to what has been called ‘a vast
brotherhood of hopeless wretchedness’.
It was believed that Nero, the emperor, himself was
responsible for the fire. It was said that he had
watched the fire from the Tower of Maecenas and
declared himself charmed with ‘the flower and
loveliness of the flames’. It was said that, when
the fire showed signs of dying down, men were seen
rekindling it with burning torches, and that these
men were the servants of Nero. Nero had a passion
for building, and it was said that he had
deliberately set fire to the city so that from the
ruins he might build a new and nobler Rome. Whether
the story was true or not – the chances are that it
was – one thing was certain. Nothing would kill the
rumor. The destitute citizens of Rome were sure that
Nero had been responsible.
There was only one thing for the Roman government to
do; they must find a scapegoat. And a scapegoat was
found. Let Tacitus, the Roman historian, tell how
it was done: ‘But all human efforts, all the lavish
gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations [pruh-pish-ee-ey-shuhs]
of the gods did not banish the sinister belief that
the conflagration was the result of an order.
Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero
fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite
tortures on a class hated for their abominations,
called Christians by the populace’ (Annals, 15:44).
Obviously, slanders were already circulating
regarding the Christians. It has been suggested that
the influential Jews were responsible. And the hated
Christians were saddled with the blame for the
disastrous fire of Rome. It was from that event that
the first great persecution sprang. Paul was a
Christian. More importantly, he was recognized as
the leader of the Christians. And it may well be
that part of the charge against Paul was that he was
one of those responsible for the fire of Rome and
the resulting misery of the people.
So, Paul was in prison as a criminal, a political
prisoner, member of an illegal association and
leader of that hated sect of fire-raisers, on whom
Nero had pinned the blame for the destruction of
Rome. It can easily be seen how helpless Paul was in
the face of charges like that.
IN CHAINS YET FREE
EVEN though he was in prison on charges which made
release impossible, Paul was not dismayed and was
very far from despair. He had two great uplifting
thoughts.
(1) He was certain that, though
he might be bound, nothing could bind the word of
God. Andrew Melville was one of the earliest heralds
of the Scottish Reformation in the sixteenth
century. One day, the Regent Morton sent for him and
denounced his writings. ‘There will never be
quietness in this country’, he said, ‘till half a
dozen of you be hanged or banished the country.’
‘Tush! sir,’ answered Melville, ‘threaten your
courtiers in that fashion. It is the same to me
whether I rot in the air or in the ground. The earth
is the Lord’s; my fatherland is wherever well-doing
is. I have been ready to give my life when it was
not half as well worn, at the pleasure of my God. I
lived out of your country ten years as well as in
it. Yet God be glorified, it will not lie in your
power to hang nor exile his truth!’
You can exile an individual,
but you cannot exile the truth. You can imprison a
preacher, but you cannot imprison the word that is
preached. The message is always greater than the
individual; the truth is always mightier than the
bearer. Paul was quite certain that the Roman
government could never find a prison which could
contain the word of God. And it is one of the facts
of history that if human effort could have
obliterated Christianity, it would have perished
long ago; but you cannot kill that which is
immortal.
(2) Paul was certain that what
he was going through would in the end be a help to
other people. His suffering was not pointless and
profitless. The blood of the martyrs has always been
the seed of the Church, and the lighting of the pyre
where Christians were burned has always been the
lighting of a fire which could never be put out.
When people have to suffer for their Christianity,
let them remember that their suffering makes the
road easier for someone else who is still to come.
In suffering, we bear our own small portion of the
weight of the cross [stake]
of Christ and do our own small part in the bringing
of God’s salvation to the world.
~Barclay commentary
Now to the other commentaries. We will begin with
the general and go to the specific.
How the apostle suffered (2 Timothy 2:9): Wherein I
suffer as an evil-doer; and let not Timothy the son
expect any better treatment than Paul the father.
Paul was a man who did good, and yet suffered as an
evil-doer: we must not think it strange if those who
do well fare ill in this world, and if the best of
men meet with the worst of treatment; but this was
his comfort that the word of God was not bound.
Persecuting powers may silence ministers and
restrain them, but they cannot hinder the operation
of the word of God upon men's hearts and
consciences; that cannot be bound by any human
force. This might encourage Timothy not to be afraid
of bonds for the testimony of Jesus; for the word of
Christ, which ought to be dearer to him than
liberty, or life itself, should in the issue suffer
nothing by those bonds. Here we see,
(1.) The good apostle's
treatment in the world: I suffer trouble; to
this he was called and appointed.
(2.) The pretence and colour
under which he suffered: I suffer as an
evil-doer; so the Jews said to Pilate concerning
Christ, If he were not a malefactor, we would not
have delivered him up to thee, John 18:30.
Quoted verse:
John 18:30
They answered and said unto him, If he were not a
malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto
thee.
(3.) The real and true cause
of his suffering trouble as an evil-doer:
Wherein; that is, in or for the sake of the gospel.
The apostle suffered trouble unto bonds, and
afterwards he resisted unto blood, striving against
sin, Hebrews 12:4. Though the preachers of the word
are often bound, yet the word is never bound.
~Matthew Henry Main
Quoted verse
Hebrews 12:4
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving
against sin.
Now to the Matthew Henry Concise for verses 8-13.
Let suffering saints remember, and look to Jesus,
the Author and Finisher of their faith, who for the
joy that was set before him, endured the cross [stake],
despised the shame, and is now set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. We must not think it
strange if the best men meet with the worst
treatment; but this is cheering, that the word of
God is not bound. Here we see the real and true
cause of the apostle's suffering trouble in, or for,
the sake of the gospel. If we are dead to this
world, its pleasures, profits, and honours, we shall
be for ever with Christ in a better world. He is
faithful to his threatenings, and faithful to his
promises. This truth makes sure the unbeliever's
condemnation, and the believer's salvation.
~Matthew Henry Concise
Now to the specific commentaries
The commentaries generally break the verse down into
three parts.
1] Wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer.
2] Even unto bonds.
3] But the word of God is not bound.
1] Wherein I suffer trouble as an
evildoer.
Wherein I suffer trouble as an
evildoer - As a malefactor, as if guilty of
some capital crime; an enemy to the law of Moses, a
pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition everywhere,
and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, Acts
24:5. The Ethiopic version renders it, "as a thief".
The "trouble" he suffered were reproaches,
persecutions, whipping, beating, stoning,
imprisonment: for he adds.
~John Gill
Quoted verse:
Acts 24:5
For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a
mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the
world, and a ringleader of the sect of the
Nazarenes:
Wherein I suffer trouble, as
an evil doer - This verse contains one of the
proofs that this epistle was written while Paul was
a prisoner the second time at Rome.
~Adam Clarke
Wherein I suffer trouble, as
an evil-doer - as if I were a violator of the
laws. That is, I am treated as if I were a criminal.
~Barnes Notes
Wherein I suffer trouble, as
an evil doer - Hardship rather than
‘trouble,’ the same word as in 2 Timothy 2:3;
malefactor rather than ‘evil doer,’ the same word as
of the thieves on the cross, Luke 23:32, these being
the only N.T. occurrences.
~Cambridge Bible
Quoted verses:
2 Timothy 2:3 [See
Lesson]
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ.
Luke 23:32
And there were also two other, malefactors, led with
him to be put to death.
Wherein I suffer trouble.
- The same emphatic word as the ‘endure hardness’ of
2 Timothy 2:3, the ‘be partaker of afflictions’ in 2
Timothy 1:8. The way in which Paul dwells upon the
actual chains that were the outward marks of what
men thought shame is eminently characteristic. So,
at the outset, he is ‘for the hope of Israel bound
with this chain’ (Acts 28:20), so at a later stage
he is ‘an ambassador in bonds’ (Ephesians 6:20).
~Popular commentary
Quoted verses:
2 Timothy 2:3
~quoted above [See
Lesson]
2 Timothy 1:8 [See
Lesson]
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of
our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according
to the power of God;
Acts 28:20
For this cause therefore have I called for you, to
see you, and to speak with you: because that for the
hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.
2] Even unto bonds.
Even unto bonds. - for
he was now a prisoner, and in chains; nor was it the
first time, he was in prisons frequent; and all this
for the sake of the Gospel, which he preached,
concerning the incarnation, death, and resurrection
of Christ: ~John Gill
Even unto bonds - As if
I were one of the worst kind of malefactors; see
Ephesians 6:20. During the apostle’s first
imprisonment at Rome, he was permitted to “dwell in
his own hired house,” though guarded by a soldier,
and probably chained to him; see Acts 28:16, Acts
28:30. What was his condition in his second
imprisonment, during which this Epistle was written,
we have no means of knowing with certainty. It is
probable, however, that he was subjected to much
more rigid treatment than he had been in the first
instance. The tradition is, that he and Peter were
together in the Mamertine prison at Rome; and the
place is still shown in which it is said that they
were confined. The Mamertine prisons are of great
antiquity. According to Livy, they were constructed
by Ancus Martius, and enlarged by Servius Tullius.
The lower prison is supposed to have been once a
quarry, and to have been at one time occupied as a
granary. These prisons are on the descent of the
Capitoline Mount, toward the Forum. They consist of
two apartments, one over the other, built with
large, uncemented stones. There is no entrance to
either, except by a small aperture in the roof, and
by a small hole in the upper floor, leading to the
cell below, without any staircase to either. The
upper prison is twenty-seven feet long, by twenty
wide; the lower one is elliptical, and measures
twenty feet by ten. In the lower one is a small
spring, which is said at Rome to have arisen at the
command of Peter, to enable him to baptize his
keepers. ~Barnes Notes
Quoted verses:
Ephesians 6:20
For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein
I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Acts 28:16
And when we came to Rome, the
centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of
the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself
with a soldier that kept him.
Acts 28:30
And Paul dwelt two whole years in his
own hired house, and received all that came in unto
him,
3] But the word of God is not
bound.
But the word of God is not
bound - for the apostle, while a prisoner at
Rome, had the liberty of dwelling by himself, in his
own hired house, though held in chains, and guarded
by a soldier, and of receiving his friends, and of
preaching the Gospel to as many as would come to
hear him, Acts 28:16 as well as of sending letters
to the churches; for several of his epistles were
written by him when a prisoner, as those to the
Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians; and this to
Timothy, and also that to Philemon: so that the
Gospel was not restrained, or the apostle restrained
from publishing it, both by word of mouth, and by
writing; which was a great support to him under his
troubles. Moreover, the Gospel was the more spread
through the bonds of the apostle, and met with great
success; it became known in Caesar's palace, and was
the means of the conversion of some of his
household; and many of the brethren, through his
bonds, became bolder to preach the Gospel of Christ;
so that it had a free course, and was glorified: and
sometimes so it is, that persecution is a means of
the greater spread of the Gospel; which was an
effect that followed upon the persecution raised
against the church at Jerusalem, upon the death of
Stephen, Acts 8:1. And indeed, when God opens an
effectual door, none can shut it, though there be
many adversaries; and when he gives the word a
commission, there is no stopping it; when it comes
in power, it bears down all before it; it cannot be
fettered and bound by men, though men may be
fettered and bound for the sake of it.
~John Gill
Quoted verses:
Acts 28:16
And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered
the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul
was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that
kept him.
Acts 8:1
And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that
time there was a great persecution against the
church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all
scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea
and Samaria, except the apostles.
But the word of God is not
bound - This is one of Paul’s happy turns of
thought; see Acts 26:29. The meaning is plain. The
gospel was prospered. that could not be lettered and
imprisoned. It circulated with freedom. even when he
who was appointed to preach it was in chains; see
Philippians 1:13-14. As this was the great matter,
his own imprisonment was of comparatively little
consequence. What may befall us is of secondary
importance. The grand thing is the triumph of truth
on the earth; and well may we bear privations and
sorrows, if the gospel moves on in triumph.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verses:
Acts 26:29
And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou,
but also all that hear me this day, were both
almost, and altogether such as I am, except these
bonds.
Philippians 1:13-14
13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all
the palace, and in all other places;
14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing
confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak
the word without fear.
Now from the Biblical Illustrator
“The Word of God is not bound”
The apostle is imprisoned, but his tongue and his
companion’s pen are free. He can still teach those
who come to him; can still dictate letters for
others to Luke and the faithful few who visit him.
He has been able to influence those whom, but for
his imprisonment, he would never have had an
opportunity of reaching—Roman soldiers, and warders,
and officials, and all who have to take cognizance [awareness]
of his trial before the imperial tribunal. “The Word
of God is not bound.” While he is in prison Timothy
and Titus and scores of other evangelists and
preachers are free, Those who are left at large
ought to labour all the more energetically and
enthusiastically in order to supply whatever is lost
by the apostle’s want of freedom, and in order to
convince the world that this is no contest with a
human organization, or with human opinion, but with
a Divine word and a Divine Person. “The Word of God
is not bound,” because His Word is the truth, and it
is the truth that makes men free. How can that of
which the very essence is freedom, and of which the
attribute is that it confers freedom, be itself kept
in bondage? ~Biblical
Illustrator
But the word of God is not
bound - Not his own preaching power, but the
power of the Gospel at large. The Church is more
than the individual, however eminent. The perfect
passive tense here represents the state, ‘is not in
a bound state,’ is not ‘cribbed, cabin’d and
confined’; according to the proper force of the
perfect, as in 1 Timothy 6:17, nor have their hope
set on,’ 2 Timothy 4:8, ‘who have their love set on
his appearing.’ ~Cambridge
Bible
Quoted verses:
1 Timothy 6:17 [See
Lesson]
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they
be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches,
but in the living God, who giveth us richly all
things to enjoy;
2 Timothy 4:8 [See
Lesson]
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing. |