CHAPTER 2
If we have died with him
we shall also live with him;i
we shall also reign with him.
But if we deny him
he will deny us.j
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.k
III. Instructions Concerning False Teaching
Warning against Useless Disputes.
* [2:1–7] This passage manifests a characteristic deep concern for safeguarding the faith and faithfully transmitting it through trustworthy people (2 Tm 2:1–2; cf. 2 Tm 1:14; 1 Tm 6:20; Ti 1:9). Comparisons to the soldier’s detachment, the athlete’s sportsmanship, and the farmer’s arduous work as the price of recompense (2 Tm 2:4–6) emphasize the need of singleness of purpose in preaching the word, even at the cost of hardship, for the sake of Christ (2 Tm 2:3).
* [2:8–13] The section begins with a sloganlike summary of Paul’s gospel about Christ (2 Tm 2:8) and concludes with what may be part of an early Christian hymn (2 Tm 2:11b–12a; most exegetes include the rest of 2 Tm 2:12 and all of 2 Tm 2:13 as part of the quotation). The poetic lines suggest that through baptism Christians die spiritually with Christ and hope to live with him and reign with him forever, but the Christian life includes endurance, witness, and even suffering, as the final judgment will show and as Paul’s own case makes clear; while he is imprisoned for preaching the gospel (2 Tm 2:9), his sufferings are helpful to the elect for obtaining the salvation and glory available in Christ (2 Tm 2:10), who will be true to those who are faithful and will disown those who deny him (2 Tm 2:12–13).
* [2:14–19] For those who dispute about mere words (cf. 2 Tm 2:23–24) and indulge in irreligious talk to the detriment of their listeners (2 Tm 2:16–19), see notes on 1 Tm 1:3–7; 6:20–21. Hymenaeus and Philetus (2 Tm 2:17), while accepting the Christian’s mystical death and resurrection in Christ through baptism, claimed that baptized Christians are already risen with Christ in this life and thus that there is no future bodily resurrection or eternal glory to come. The first quotation in 2 Tm 2:19 is from Nm 16:5; the other quotation is from some unidentified Jewish or Christian writing.
* [2:14] Before God: many ancient manuscripts read “before the Lord.”
* [2:22] Those who call on the Lord: those who believe in Christ and worship him as Lord, i.e., Christians (Acts 9:14–16, 20–21; Rom 10:12–13; cf. 2 Tm 2:19, literally, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord”).
* [2:26] Some interpreters would render this passage, “Thus they may come to their senses and, forced to do his (i.e., God’s) will, may escape the devil’s trap.” This interpretation of the Greek is possible, but the one accepted in the text seems more likely.
c. [2:5] 1 Cor 9:25.
f. [2:8] Rom 1:3; 1 Cor 15:4, 20 / Rom 2:16; Gal 1:11; 2:2.
h. [2:10] Col 1:24; 1 Tm 1:15.
j. [2:12] Mt 10:22, 33; Lk 12:9.
k. [2:13] Nm 23:19; Rom 3:3–4; 1 Cor 10:13; Ti 1:2.
m. [2:15] 1:8; 2 Cor 6:7; Eph 1:13; Col 1:5.
p. [2:18] 2 Thes 2:2.
q. [2:19] Is 28:16; 1 Cor 3:10–15 / Nm 16:5; Jn 10:14.
s. [2:22] Gal 5:22; 1 Tm 6:11 / Rom 10:13; 1 Cor 1:2.
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