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dungeon, yet the risen and ascended Lord Jesus was his constant sufficiency. The
Apostle's reference to Christ as the "seed of David" takes us back to Rom. 1: 3 where,
as in our present context, he is dealing with the gospel he had received form Christ
(Gal. 1: 11, 12). But this gospel was not without its cost to Paul. He was able to
endure all his sufferings "for the elect's sakes". He realized that although nominally he
was the prisoner of Nero, in actuality he was the `prisoner of the Lord for you Gentiles'
(Eph. 3: 1). He was in this position by Christ's permission, and although he himself was
chained, yet the Word of God was still free and making headway in bringing sinners to a
knowledge of salvation and then to the deeper truths resident in Christ. Satan might
rejoice that he was shut up in prison, yet he could never imprison the Word of God! "The
Word of God is not bound" (II Tim. 2: 9). These triumphant words still ring out with
truth today.
No.5.
2: 10 - 15.
pp. 106 - 111
The Apostle Paul has stated a reason for the endurance of his sufferings as a prisoner
at Rome. It is "for the elect's sakes" (II Tim. 2: 10), that is, not only for those who had
already responded to the Truth, but for those in the future who would yet do so. The
Apostle doubtless had in mind the whole company of God's children who constitute the
Body of Christ, those whom the Father had elected in Christ before the foundation of the
world (Eph. 1: 3, 4). His desire was not just that they might be saved but might
experience `that salvation with eternal glory' (II Tim. 2: 10) which takes the thought
much further. It is comparable with the salvation to the uttermost of the epistle to the
Hebrews, which like Philippians and II Timothy is stressing in parallel teaching the
maturing of the saint; the running of the race with respect to the recompense of reward
(Heb. 11: 24-26) as Moses did.
That there is such a difference the following verses of II Timothy make clear. To
enforce this, Paul quotes the fourth of the five "faithful sayings" of the Pastoral Epistles
(I Tim. 1: 15; 3: 1; 4: 9; II Tim. 2: 11; Titus 3: 8). These were probably fragments of
hymns in which doctrine was embodied. This one reads:
"Faithful is the saying: for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him: if we
endure, we shall also reign with Him: if we shall deny Him, He also will deny us: if we
are faithless, He abideth faithful; for He cannot deny Himself" (2: 11-13, R.V.).
We shall have problems with this context unless we recognize two distinct lines of
truth that we have already touched upon when dealing with the Philippian epistle. We
must distinguish between (1) salvation by grace and all it entails, which is not of works,
but is the free gift of God and is received personally by faith in Christ and what He has
accomplished on the cross, and (2) Christian service which should follow or `accompany'
salvation, resulting in a prize or crown which will be awarded by the Lord if that service
is reckoned by Him as faithful. If not, the crown or reward will be denied, as the above