`I am appointed a preacher ... for the which cause I also suffer

these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed' (1:11,12).

`The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft

refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain'(1:16).

The subject of the section is `Paul and his message forsaken', and it

is interesting to notice that in the structure (page 148), 1:8 -18 balances

4:9 -18.  Did Phygellus and Hermogenes turn away because they were `ashamed'?

Did Demas forsake the apostle out of `shame'?  If so, and it looks very much

like it, what a word for us all.

Closely linked with this subject of Paul's peculiar ministry is the

principle of `right division':

`Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to

be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth' (2:15).

Vitally associated with this principle and in the same chapter is the

great theme of the epistle, `suffering and reigning'.  While the actual word

`ashamed' is not used in 2 Timothy 2:1 -13, we find there its synonym,

`deny'.  `If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will

also deny us' (2:12).  That `denying' Him is equivalent to `being ashamed of'

Him, the following parallel passages will make clear.

`For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the

Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His

Father's, and of the holy angels' (Luke 9:26).

`He that denieth Me before men shall be denied before the angels of

God' (Luke 12:9).

The preceding verse in Luke 12 places `confessing' over against

`denying'.  In 1 Timothy we find the exhortation to `confess' while in 2

Timothy we have the warning not to `deny' or `be ashamed'.

`I give thee charge in the sight of God, Who quickeneth all things, and

before Christ Jesus, Who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good

confession; that thou keep this commandment without spot ... O Timothy,

keep that which is committed to thy trust' (1 Tim. 6:13,14,20).

Closely linked with the thought of not being ashamed in 2 Timothy

chapter 1 is the `testimony of our Lord, and of Paul His prisoner' (2 Tim.

1:8).  This is called `my deposit' (A.V. `that which I have committed') in 2

Timothy 1:12, and `that good thing which was committed unto thee' in 1:14.

This same trust is also in view in 2:2 where the apostle writes:

`The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same

commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also'.

We must remember that 2 Timothy contains a message for ourselves at the

present time, and, as in Philippians, sets before us `examples' both of those

to whom the prize will be awarded, and of those who will be `denied' (2:12).

No one can rightly entertain the remotest hope of `reigning with the Lord' or

of receiving a `crown', who is ashamed of the special `deposit of truth'

associated with the Lord's prisoner.