2 Timothy 2.9-Paul Encourages Timothy By Telling Him the Word of God is Never Imprisoned Even Though He is Imprisoned as a Criminal
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday April 14, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 2:9-Paul Encourages Timothy By Telling Him the Word of God is Never Imprisoned Even Though He is Imprisoned as a Criminal
Lesson # 33
2 Timothy 2:8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. (NASB95)
“For which” is marking the gospel as the reason why Paul suffered hardship even to the point of being a criminal.
In other words, Paul is saying that I am imprisoned because of proclaiming the gospel which is about Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection.
“I suffer hardship” is the verb kakopatheō (κακοπαθέω), which means “to endure hardship, to endure suffering” and refers to the apostle Paul enduring undeserved suffering because of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Even to imprisonment” is marking the degree to which Paul was suffering hardship because of the gospel of Jesus Christ indicating that Paul suffered hardship because of the gospel of Jesus Christ “to the point of” or “to the extent of” suffering imprisonment as a criminal.
“As a criminal” expresses the manner in which Paul suffered hardship to the point of imprisonment.
“But the word of God is not imprisoned” stands in direct contrast with the previous statement that Paul was suffering imprisonment because of Jesus Christ to the point of imprisonment as a criminal.
Thus, the contrast is between Paul being imprisoned as a criminal and the impossibility of the Word of God ever being imprisoned.
“The word of God” refers to the gospel because Paul has previously stated that he suffered hardship because of the gospel.
“Is not imprisoned” is composed of the following: (1) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “not” (6) verb deō (δέω), “is imprisoned.”
The verb deō means “to imprison” since it pertains to causing someone to be under authority of someone or something else and means “to confine someone by various kinds of restraints.”
The word’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou which means “never” since it is expressing an absolute, direct and full negation of the Word of God being imprisoned.
Therefore, these two words indicate that the Word of God, i.e. the gospel of Jesus Christ “is never imprisoned.”
The perfect tense of the verb deō is a “gnomic” perfect used to speak of a generic or proverbial occurrence and here it is expressing the idea that the Word of God as an eternal spiritual truth is never imprisoned.
The perfect tense is also an “intensive” perfect meaning that it emphasizes a present state produced by a past action.
The present state refers to the freedom in which the gospel is proclaimed in the Roman Empire in Paul’s day in the first century A.D.
The past action refers to eternity past when the Father designed a plan to provide salvation for sinful humanity through His Son becoming a human being and then dying in the place of sinful humanity and then rising from the dead to create a new humanity.
Second Timothy 2:8 Continue making it your habit of remembering Jesus who is the Christ as risen from the dead ones, David’s biological descendant in accordance with my gospel 9 because of which, I am presently suffering hardship to the point of imprisonment as a criminal. But in fact, the Word originating from God is never imprisoned. (My translation)
We noted in Second Timothy 2:8 that Paul issued Timothy another command.
He orders his young delegate, disciple and friend to continue making it his habit of remembering Jesus Christ as risen from the dead ones who is King David’s biological descendant and who has and will fulfill the Davidic covenant and then, Paul says that this is all according to his gospel.
Now, here in verse 9 Paul continues to write about the gospel.
He reminds Timothy that he was presently suffering hardship to the point of imprisonment as a criminal because of this very same gospel whose subject is about the person, life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Messiah.
When Paul wrote Second Timothy as we noted in our introduction, he was suffering his second Roman imprisonment while languishing in the infamous Mamertine dungeon in the city of Rome which was a subterranean building consisting of two vaulted chambers.
Therefore, in Second Timothy 2:9, the apostle Paul is asserting that he was arrested and imprisoned in Rome because of proclaiming the gospel.
Obviously this would mean that he was unjustly incarcerated by the Roman authorities since the gospel is based upon truth.
Jesus Christ died and rose again and this can be and has been confirmed by witnesses, some of which were the apostles themselves like Paul who himself saw Jesus of Nazareth after His resurrection.
Undoubtedly, Paul’s imprisonment was the result of his enemies claiming that he was undermining the authority of Caesar and challenging Rome by proclaiming that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah and the Son of God and Lord of all creation.
This in turn resulted in the arrest of Paul by the Roman authorities.
Furthermore, in the mid-sixties of the first century Nero ordered parts of Rome to be set on fire so that he could rebuild these portions of Rome and then he blamed it on the Christians.
Paul was arrested in approximately 67 or 68 A.D.
Therefore, because he was an apostle and a leader of the Christians, his arrest was more than likely connected to this fire in Rome.
So Paul was arrested and executed by Nero as a result of this persecution of Christians in Rome.
Then, Paul states that in contrast to himself, the Word of God is never imprisoned.
The Word of God here is of course speaking of the gospel since Paul has just finished saying that he was suffering hardship to the point of imprisonment as a criminal because of the gospel.
The Roman authorities could arrest and execute him but they will never stop the gospel from being proclaimed.
By describing the gospel as the Word of God, Paul is emphasizing the divine origin of the gospel.
Therefore, by waging war on the gospel of Jesus Christ, Nero’s Rome would be waging war against God and this is a war they could never win.
In fact, in the end Rome was conquered by the gospel since Constantine decreed Christianity to be the religion of Rome in A.D. 313.
Though Paul was imprisoned, he was still able to write letters which is witnessed by the fact that Timothy received this epistle from him.
Thus, Paul could write letters to churches if he could write to Timothy.
Consequently, he was communicating in these letters the gospel to the churches.
His imprisonment thus did not imprison the communication of the gospel.
Furthermore, Timothy continued to communicate the gospel in Ephesus.
There were also other teachers of the gospel and evangelists throughout the various provinces of the Roman Empire who were continuing to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ despite the apostle Paul being imprisoned in Rome.
Thus, Paul is encouraging Timothy here in Second Timothy with the fact that his imprisonment is not hindering the communication of the gospel (cf. Philippians 1:12-18).
Also, one must remember that the Word of God is omnipotent.
The gospel is omnipotent since it is the Word originating from the Triune God.
Rome was powerful and Nero was a powerful tyrant but they were no match for the omnipotence of the gospel.
The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes whether Jew or Gentile (Romans 1:16) and it has the power to transform sinners into the image of Jesus Christ.
Rome had the power to execute criminals of the state and wage war so as to conquer nations and various ethnic groups but they were no match for the omnipotence of the gospel.
Therefore, Timothy should be encouraged that the gospel he proclaims is infinitely more powerful than the power of Rome or Nero.
Nero’s Rome could end the biological life of Paul but his faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ gave him eternal life.
Therefore, though he might die physically at the hands of Nero’s Rome, he would continue to live forever in the presence of Jesus Christ (John 11:25-26; 2 Corinthians 5:8).
In fact, at His Second Advent, which ends Daniel’s seventieth week, Jesus Christ will violently bring an end to the final stage of the Roman Empire which will be under the Antichrist who will be a dictator who will emerge out of Rome according to Daniel chapters seven and nine.
