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characteristics of the soldier. As he has done elsewhere, he could speak of his arms and
of his armour; he could speak of his bravery, his discipline, his prowess, his obedience,
his chivalry or his cruelty. But none of these things were in the Apostle's mind in the
writing of II Tim. 2: 3, 4. What he selects and brings forward are:
(1)
The quality of endurance, which was so fully exhibited in the Roman Soldier.
(2)
The complete freedom from all business entanglements and property which was
demanded of the Roman soldier upon his enrolment.
"Enduring hardness" is a passive quality and one not immediately associated with
soldiering. Yet who is there that passed through the horrors of the Great War, whether
personally or in imagination, that does not know that the long drawn-out horror of mud,
filth and suspense of the trenches, demanded more from the soldier than the short, sharp,
decisive, conflict of arms? These words, "Endure hardness", translate the Greek
kakopatheo, "To suffer evil". Kakos is just the opposite of kalos, the word translated
"good" in the same verse.
Josephus uses this word in his "Wars of the Jews", saying:
"Now here it was that, upon the many hardships which the Roman underwent,
Pompey could not but admire . . . . . the Jews' fortitude" (Wars of the Jews, 1: 7. 4).
Again, in the "Antiquities of the Jews", speaking of the father of Nebuchadnezzar, he
writes:
"When his father heard that the governor . . . . . had revolted, while he was not himself
able any longer to undergo the hardships of war, he committed to his son
Nebuchadnezzar . . . . . some part of his army" (Ant. of Jews, 10: 11. 1).
It is highly significant to learn that kakos, evil, is derived from chazo, to recede, retire,
retreat in battle (So Eustath, quoted by Leigh). Homer and other Greek writers frequently
use kakos in this sense (see Xen. An. 2: 6, 17. Eur. Phoen. 1022; Hom. Od. G. 375), and
so the word meant cowardly, dastardly, faint-hearted. If these unsoldierly qualities inhere
in the word kakos, "evil", one can readily appreciate the Apostle's choice of the word
kalos for the "good" soldier.
In Matt. 21: 41 we have brought together kakòs and kakos, "He will miserably
destroy those wicked men".
Coming to the word kakopatheo, "to suffer evil", we find it in two forms and in all
five references. Let us see them together:
Kakopatheia, "A suffering of evil".
"Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for
an example of suffering affliction, and patience" (James 5: 10).
Kakopatheo, "To suffer evil".
"Thou therefore endure hardness (kakos), as a good (kalos) soldier of Jesus
Christ" (II Tim. 2: 3).
"Wherein I suffer trouble (kakos), as an evil doer (kakos)" (II Tim. 2: 9).