Survey of the Letters of Paul
Lesson: 2 Timothy 2:11
It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him,
we shall also live with him:
This section has three verses:
2 Timothy 2:11-13
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with
him, we shall also live with him:
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we
deny him, he also will deny us:
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he
cannot deny himself.
We will begin with the Barclay Commentary.
THE SONG OF THE MARTYR
2 Timothy 2:11–13
This is a saying which can be relied upon:
If we die with him,
we shall also live with him.
If we endure,
we shall also reign with him.
If we deny him,
he too will deny us.
If we are faithless,
he remains faithful
For he cannot deny himself.
THIS is a particularly precious passage because in
it is enshrined one of the first hymns of the
Christian Church. In the days of persecution, the
Christian Church put its faith into song. It may be
that this is only a fragment of a longer hymn.
There are two possible interpretations of the first
two lines – ‘If we die with him, we shall also live
with him.’ There are those who want to take these
lines as a reference to baptism. In Romans 6,
baptism is likened to dying and rising with Christ.
‘Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism
into death, so that, as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life.’ ‘But if we have died with
Christ, we believe that we will also live with him’
(Romans 6:4, 6:8). No doubt the language is the
same; but the thought of baptism is quite irrelevant
here; it is the thought of martyrdom that is in
Paul’s mind.
Quoted verses:
Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:8
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with him:
The hymn goes on: ‘If we endure, we shall also reign
with him.’ It is the one who endures to the end who
will be saved. Without the cross [stake], there
cannot be the crown.
Then comes the other side of the matter: ‘If we deny
him, he too will deny us.’ That is what Jesus
himself said: ‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges
me before others, I also will acknowledge before my
Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before
others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven’
(Matthew 10:32–3). Jesus Christ cannot vouch in
eternity for someone who has refused to have
anything to do with him in time; but he is always
true to those who, however much they have failed,
have tried to be true to him.
Quoted verse:
Matthew 10:32-33
32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in
heaven.
33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will
I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
These things are so because they are part of the
very nature of God. We may deny ourselves, but God
cannot. ‘God is not a human being that he should
lie, or a mortal, that he should change his mind’
(Numbers 23:19). God will never fail those who have
tried to be true to him; but not even he can help
someone who has refused to have anything to do with
him.
Quoted verse:
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the
son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and
shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he
not make it good?
Jesus died to be true to the will of God; and
Christians must follow that same will, whatever
light may shine or shadow fall.
~Barclay commentary
[with some edits]
Now to the other commentaries. First the general and
then the specific.
From the F. B. Meyer:
The elect, 2 Timothy
2:10-13 : The Apostle sketches the experiences of
the elect soul. It must endure, suffer, and die with
Christ, that out of its surrender may come the
truest, richest life, John 12:25. There is no path
to lasting success save that of the cross [stake]
and grave of Christ. It has been allotted to the
redeemed in the divine program; each must tread it
separately and with resolute purpose. But there is
no doubt as to the sequel of a true life. The world
of men may count it a failure, but God pledges
Himself that as the pendulum swings here in the
dark, it shall swing equally in yonder world of
light. Three things are impossible with God-to die,
to lie, and to fail the soul that trusts Him. Even
when we cannot muster faith enough, His word of
promise cannot be frustrated in the case of those
whose faith is weak and trembling as the smoking
flax. ~F. B. Meyer
Quoted verse:
John 12:25
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that
hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto
life eternal.
Now the Matthew Henry Main:
Another thing with which he encourages Timothy is
the prospect of a future state. Those who
faithfully adhere to Christ and to his truths and
ways, whatever it cost them, will certainly have the
advantage of it in another world: If we be dead with
him, we shall live with him, 2 Timothy 2:11. If we
be dead with him, we shall live with him, 2 Timothy
2:11. If, in conformity to Christ, we be dead to
this world, its pleasures, profits, and honours, we
shall go to live with him in a better world, to be
for ever with him. Nay, though we be called out to
suffer for him, we shall not lose by that.
~Matthew Henry Main
Now the Matthew Henry Concise which covers 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,
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 from the Cambridge Bible covering verses 8-13:
Just as in the first
chapter Paul appeals first to Timothy’s sympathies
and experiences of an earthly kind to brace him
up—his own strong feelings moved even to tears, his
mother’s and grandmother’s faith and piety, the
touch of the vanished hand in the solemn rite of
ordination (2 Timothy 2:4-7), and then paints for
him ‘the power of God,’ ‘the appearing of our
Saviour Christ Jesus who abolished death,’ as the
chief and strongest motive for keeping up heart and
hope, since His must be the winning side, He must be
able to keep that which is committed to Him (2
Timothy 2:8-12): so now, after the appeal to earthly
analogies and common human experiences as to the
necessity and the reward of pains and perseverance,
he rises from the earthly to the heavenly, from the
human to the Divine. ‘Remember, God’s plan—even the
old, old promise to “the seed of the woman”—came out
complete in the fullness of time. Jesus Christ of
the seed of David bruised the, old serpent’s head
when He rose “victor over the tomb.” True, I, or any
one of us His humble servants, may for a time seem
trodden under, but ’tis only for a time; the
salvation, the eternal glory, is assured in His
power; if we endure we shall also reign with Him.
This is the motive of motives to play the man; this
is indeed being strengthened in the grace that is in
Christ Jesus.
~Cambridge Bible
The verse is primarily in three parts:
1] It is a faithful saying.
2] For if we be dead with him.
3] We shall also live with him
1] It is a faithful saying.
It is a faithful saying
- Or, rather, that which he was about to say was
worthy of entire credence and profound attention;
see the notes at 1 Timothy 1:15. The object is to
encourage Timothy to bear trials by the hope of
salvation. ~Barnes
Notes
Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 1:15
[See
Lesson]
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
It is a faithful saying
- Literally, Faithful is the saying, as in 1 Timothy
1:15; 1 Timothy 3:1; 1 Timothy 4:9; Titus 3:8. To
close the argument, this rhythmical, perhaps
liturgical, strain is quoted. It is introduced by
‘for,’ as is the quotation in Acts 17:28. The R.V.
by printing ‘For’ in the text and ‘for’ in the
margin thus incline to regarding the conjunction as
part of the quotation. If it be not part, it will
still have quite a fitting sense, as often in
classical Greek ‘indeed’ or ‘in fact’ gives a better
translation than ‘for’; cf. Donaldson’s Greek
Grammar, p. 605.
~Cambridge Bible
Quoted verses:
1 Timothy 1:15
quoted above
1 Timothy 3:1
[See
Lesson]
This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of
a bishop, he desireth a good work.
1 Timothy 4:9
[See
Lesson]
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptation.
Titus 3:8
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will
that thou affirm constantly, that they which have
believed in God might be careful to maintain good
works. These things are good and profitable unto
men.
Acts 17:28
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as
certain also of your own poets have said, For we are
also his offspring.
It is a faithful saying
- This may refer either to what goes before, that
all things, all reproaches and sufferings, through
the ministration of the Gospel, are endured for the
elects' sake; and that shall certainly obtain
salvation in Christ, and eternal glory, to which
they are predestinated: or to what follows, which
being of moment and importance, and difficult to be
believed, as that death led to life, and sufferings
were the way to the kingdom; the apostle prefaces it
in this manner, affirming the truth of it, that it
was sure and certain, and to be believed, and
depended on as such.
~John Gill
It is a faithful saying.
- The rhythmical form of the sentence that follows
suggests the thought that we have a fragment of one
of the ‘spiritual songs’ of Ephesians 5:19,
Colossians 3:16, uttered under prophetic
inspiration, accepted by the Church, used in its
worship, taught to children and to converts.
~Popular commentary of the
Bible
Quoted verses:
Ephesians 5:19
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your
heart to the Lord;
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord.
2] For if we be dead with him.
For if we be dead with him
- see the notes at Romans 6:8.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verse:
Romans 6:8
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with him:
Here is the commentary on Romans 6:8:
Now if we be dead with Christ - If we
be dead in a manner similar to what he was;
if we are made dead to sin by his work, as
he was dead in the grave.
~Barnes Notes
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If we be dead with him
- That is: As surely as Christ rose again from the
dead, so surely shall we rise again; and if we die
for him, we shall surely live again with him. This,
says the apostle, is πιστος ὁ λογος, a true
doctrine. This is properly the import of the word;
and we need not seek, as Bp. Tillotson and many
others have done, for some saying of Christ which
the apostle is supposed to be here quoting, and
which he learned from tradition.
~Adam Clarke
For if we be dead with him
- with Christ, as all his people are, by virtue of
union to him; they are dead with him, He and they
being one, in a legal sense; when He died, they died
with Him; being crucified with Him, as their head
and representative, their old man, their sins, were
also crucified with Him, being imputed to Him, and
laid upon Him; and through the efficacy of His
death, they became dead to sin, both to its damning
and governing power, and so are planted together in
the likeness of His death; so that as He died unto
sin once, and lives again to die no more, they die
unto sin, and are alive to God, and shall live for
ever. Moreover, this, agreeably to what follows, may
be understood of the saints dying for Christ's sake,
and the Gospel, whereby they are conformed unto Him,
and feel the fellowship of His sufferings, and so
may be said to be dead with Him: and such may assure
themselves of the truth of what follows.
~John Gill
3] We shall also
live with him
We shall also live with him
- This was a sort of maxim, or a settled point,
which is often referred to in the Bible; see the
Romans 6:3-5 notes; John 11:25 note; 1 Thessalonians
4:14 note.
Quoted verses:
Romans 6:3-5
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection:
John 11:25
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the
life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live:
1 Thessalonians 4:14
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him.
We shall also live with him
- as many as were crucified with Christ, and buried
with Him, rose with Him from the dead, and were
justified in Him, as their head and representative;
the free gift came on them to justification of life;
and they that are dead to sin, through the efficacy
of His death, live a life of sanctification, which
they have from Him, and is maintained and supported
by Him, and is to His glory; and they live a life of
communion with Him, in whose favour is life; and
though they die, and for His sake, they shall rise
again; and because He lives, they shall live also,
even a life of glory, happiness, and endless
pleasure. And this is part of the faithful saying,
and to be believed, and is believed by the saints:
see Romans 6:8 [quoted
above]. Moreover, since the word "Him" is
not in the original text, and the elect are spoken
of in the preceding verse, what if the sense should
be this, this is true doctrine, and a certain matter
of fact, if we and the elect of God die together in
the same cause, and for the sake of Christ, and the
Gospel, we shall live together in everlasting bliss
and glory? ~John Gill
Note: In
the past, we spoke a number of times about the word,
"sanctification." The words means:
1] to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate.
2] to purify or free from sin.
3] to impart religious sanction to; render
legitimate or binding
4] to entitle to reverence or respect.
5] to make productive of or conducive to spiritual
blessing
This is Strong's G37, Hagiazo [hag-ee-ad'-zo]:
From G40; to make holy, that is, (ceremonially)
purify or consecrate [to
make or declare sacred; set apart or dedicate to the
service of God]; (mentally)
to venerate [to hold in
deep respect; revere]: - hallow, be holy,
sanctify.
The verse says that if we be
dead with Jesus, we shall also live with Him
ultimately in the Kingdom of God. To be dead with
Christ is something only possible in the Salvation
Process where we are sanctified and justified. This
is the lesson of verse 11. |