If We Deny Him – 2 Timothy 2:8-13

Paul says that if we deny Jesus, he will deny us. But we can all sympathize with the person who is tortured, or whose family is threatened, who weakens and denies Jesus, but doesn’t really want to. He or she confesses his or her weakness to Christ. Is he or she forgiven? The early church, during state persecution, said yes. They understood the difference between a more permanent kind of denial of Christ, and Peter’s kind of denial of Christ. Paul is here focusing on the more permanent denial of Christ.

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:8-13 ESV)

What Paul is enduring for the gospel and what we are called to endure is only possible as we remember Jesus Christ, who himself suffered the utmost persecution but also experienced resurrection. The character of this salvation we preach is such that it cannot be restrained even by restraining its preachers. And it moves it preachers to endure all things for the sake of those chosen by God to obtain it. It results in eternal glory.

Paul uses a saying common among believers to encourage and challenge Timothy and the other readers of this letter:

Though we may die for the sake of the gospel, we will live eternally with Jesus.
Endurance despite persecution is rewarded with a royal regency in the kingdom.
Denial of Jesus and leaving the faith because of persecution will mean we are denied by Christ at the judgment.

About the Author Randall Johnson

A full-time pastor since 1979, Randall originally graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM) in 1979 and from Reformed Theological Seminary (DMin) in 1998. He is married with four grown children and a pile of epic grandchildren.

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