2 Timothy 2.11b-Paul Reminds Timothy of His Identification with Christ in His Death and Resurrection to Encourage Him to Remain Faithful
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday April 23, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 2:11b-Paul Reminds Timothy of His Identification with Christ in His Death and Resurrection to Encourage Him to Remain Faithful
Lesson # 37
2 Timothy 2:11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him. (NASB95)
“For” is the conjunction gar (γάρ), which is epexegetical meaning it is introducing a series of statements which appear in Second Timothy 2:11-13 which define for the reader what in fact is this trustworthy statement the apostle Paul is referring to.
“If we died with Him” is composed of the following: (1) conditional particle ei (εἰ), “if” (2) first person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb sunapothnēskō (συναποθνῄσκω), “we died with.”
The conditional particle ei introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
The idea behind the first class condition is not “since” but rather, “if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that, then...”
Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that we have died with Christ.”
This is a responsive first class condition meaning that Timothy would agree with Paul’s premise since he was taught this premise by Paul and taught to the body of Christ.
It was a part of the gospel to the Christian that they had died positionally with Christ at the moment of their conversion.
The apodosis is “then we will also live with Him.”
The relationship between the protasis and the apodosis is evidence-inference.
The evidence is the Christian is identified with Christ in His death in a positional sense at their conversion through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The inference is the Christian will live with Christ meaning that they are guaranteed a resurrection body.
In other words, Paul is inferring from the evidence that the Christian is identified with Christ in His death that they also must be identified with Christ in His resurrection.
Thus, Paul is saying that if and let us assume it is true for the sake of argument that we are identified with Christ in His death and we both agree this is true.
Then, we can infer that we are identified with Christ in His resurrection as well and thus we will live with Him.
If they are identified with Christ in His death then we can certainly infer that we are identified with Him in His resurrection.
The verb sunapothnēskō means “to die with” someone and is used a metaphorical sense of the Christian being identified with Jesus Christ in His spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
This took place at their conversion when they exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and was accomplished through the baptism of the Spirit.
“We will live with Him” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “also” (2) first person plural future active indicative form of the verb suzaō (συζάω), “we will live with.”
The verb suzaō means, “to live in association with or together with someone else” and here it is used of the Christian’s identification with Christ in His resurrection.
The future tense of the verb suzaō is a “predictive” future tense indicating that the Christian will live with Christ “in the future” in a resurrection body at the rapture or resurrection of the church.
The future tense of the verb suzao also can be interpreted as a “gnomic” future if we understand that it signifies “the certainty” of the Christian receiving a resurrection body.
Second Timothy 2:11 This statement is, as an eternal spiritual truth, trustworthy, namely if and let us assume it is true for the sake of argument that each and every one of us has died with Christ and we all agree this is true. Then, each and every one us as a certainty, will, in the future live with Him. (Author’s translation)
The guarantee of a resurrection body here in Second Timothy 2:11 would be a great encouragement to Timothy and all Christians when faced with persecution and death since it would encourage them to suffer martyrdom with courage because they know they are guaranteed victory over physical death.
In Romans 6:3-5, the apostle Paul teaches that the Christian was identified with Christ in His death and resurrection through the baptism of the Spirit.
Just as Paul inferred that the Christian will live with Christ because they are identified with Him in His death in Second Timothy 2:11, so Paul does the same in Romans 6:3-5.
So just as in Romans 6:3-5, the apostle Paul teaches about the Christian’s identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, so here in Second Timothy 2:11, he does the same.
Just as Romans 6:3-5 teaches on the Christian’s conversion to their glorification in a resurrection body so this first statement in Second Timothy 2:11 does so as well.
Positional truth is the foundation of the Christian way of life and serves as the basis for the Christian experiencing their sanctification and is the guarantee of a resurrection body.
So if Timothy was to remain faithful, he would have to continue to appropriate by faith his position in Christ and identification with Christ in His death and resurrection.
The reference to the Christian’s identification with Christ in His death and resurrection is directly tied to the Christian’s sanctification.
The church age believer’s “sanctification” is directly related to the baptism of the Spirit.
During the dispensation of the church age when a sinner exercises faith alone in Christ alone, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit places that person in an eternal union with Christ, thus identifying the believer positionally with Christ in His crucifixion, death, resurrection and session.
This results in making the believer a permanent member of the royal family of God, a new spiritual species and eternally secure (Mark 16:16; John 7:37-39; 14:20; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:26-28; Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:11-13; 1 Peter 3:21).
This is called the “baptism of the Spirit.”
“Sanctification” is a technical theological term for the believer who has been set apart through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of conversion in order to serve God exclusively and is accomplished in three stages: (1) Positional (2) Experiential (3) Perfective.
The baptism of the Spirit results in positional sanctification and the potential to experience sanctification in time and the guarantee of perfective sanctification at the resurrection of the church.
By positional, I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ since at the moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit placed the believer in union with Christ, identifying him with Christ’s crucifixion (Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20), His death (Romans 6:2, 7-8; Colossians 2:20; 3:3), His burial (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12), His resurrection (Romans 6:5; Ephesians 2:6; Philippians 3:10-11; Colossians 2:12; 3:1) and His session (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1).
“Positional sanctification” is the believer’s “entrance” into the plan of God for the church age resulting in eternal security as well as two categories of positional truth (1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Ephesians 5:26-27; Hebrews 2:11; 10:10; Acts 20:32; 26:18; Romans 6:3, 8; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
“Retroactive” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His death and burial (Romans 6:3-11; Colossians 2:12).
In other words, when Christ, died God considers the believer to have died with Him.
“Current” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His resurrection, ascension and session (See Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 3:1-4).
In other words, when Christ was raised and seated at the right hand of the Father, the Father considers the believer to have been raised and seated with Christ as well.
“Positional sanctification”: (1) What God has done for the church age believer. (2) His viewpoint of the church age believer. (3) Sets up the potential to experience sanctification in time. (4) Provides the believer with the guarantee of receiving a resurrection body.
“Experiential sanctification” is the function of the church age believer’s spiritual life in time through obedience to the Father’s will, which is revealed by the Spirit through the communication of the Word of God (John 17:17; Romans 6:19, 22; 2 Timothy 2:21; 1 Peter 3:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, 7; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Timothy 2:15).
Experiential sanctification is only a potential since it is contingent upon the church age believer responding to what God has done for him at the moment of conversion, therefore, only believers who are obedient to the Word of God will experience sanctification in time.
“Perfective sanctification” is the perfection of the church age believer’s spiritual life at the rapture, i.e. resurrection of the church, which is the completion of the plan of God for the church age believer (1 Corinthians 15:53-54; Galatians 6:8; 1 Peter 5:10; John 6:40).
It is the guarantee of a resurrection body and will be experienced by every believer regardless of their response in time to what God has done for them at salvation.
All three stages of sanctification refer to the process of conforming the believer into the image of Jesus Christ, which is the Father’s plan from eternity past (Romans 8:28-30).