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One of the reasons why Timothy needed such God-given strength is found in the
nature of the testimony he was called upon to give. Its chief exponent was a prisoner and
one who would soon pay the price of faithfulness in his life's blood, consequently the
Apostle prefaces the call to follow in his steps by a reference to "power":
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power (dunamis), and of love, and
of a sound mind. 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
(dunamis) of God" (II Tim. 1: 7, 8).
Although disguised by the English "to be able", in his own personal testimony the
Apostle introduces the thought of power:
"For the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I
know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able (dunatos) to keep that
which has been committed, against that day" (II Tim. 1: 12).
From the initial call of the Apostle on the road to Damascus, suffering for the truth
and for the Name of the Lord went hand in hand with his ministry (Acts 9: 16). When
brought together, the list of things that Paul endured is staggering, but if the
contemplation of them makes the stoutest heart quail, surely the record of the grace that
sustained him should embolden the weakest. So sure is the Apostle that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory, that after he has
given a most appalling list of sufferings, he suddenly calls upon his hearers to step out
into these sufferings in joyous fellowship.
This matter is too vital, both to the understanding of II Timothy and to ourselves, to
leave with only these casual comments. We need to see for ourselves what the Scriptures
say. Take the dreadful list in I Cor. 4: 9-13. The Apostle likens himself and his
fellow-workers to Roman criminals, in this respect, that they were "set forth last", as in
the arena games, a culminating sight, to satisfy the blood lust of the populace, which was
glutted by the sight of these criminals, forced to expiate their crimes by mutual slaughter.
Added to this he says that he was a "fool", "weak", "despised"; suffering hunger and
thirst, nakedness and buffeting, with no certain dwelling-place. Labouring and working,
being resisted and persecuted, he says, "We are made as the filth of the world, and are the
offscouring of all things, unto this day". Yet, though reckoned literally as "the scum of
the earth", this glorious fool for Christ's sake has the blessed effrontery to conclude this
list of horrors by saying to the Corinthians:
"Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me" (I Cor. 4: 16).
The same true, uncrushable, invincible trust is seen in II Cor. 4: There he contrasts
the earthen vessel with the power of God, and after giving another series of sufferings
that are summed up in the words, "We which live are always delivered unto the death for
Jesus' sake", he once more concludes on the optimistic note:
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen"
(II Cor. 4: 17, 18).