2 Timothy 2.12b-If the Christian Refuses to Follow Jesus Christ in Life, Then He Will Refuse to Reward Them
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday April 29, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 2:12b-If the Christian Refuses to Follow Jesus Christ in Life, Then He Will Refuse to Reward Them
Lesson # 39
2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us. (NASB95)
The apostle Paul is once again employing the figure of asyndeton meaning he is not using a connective word between his previous first class conditional statement and the one to follow here in Second Timothy 2:12.
Paul employs this figure in order to emphasize the solemn nature of the second of these two first class conditional statements here in verse 12.
The apostle Paul employs the figure of asyndeton because he wants Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community and all Christians to understand the eternal implications of not remaining faithful to the gospel in face of persecution and underserved suffering.
“If we deny Him” is composed of the following: (1) conditional particle ei (εἰ), “if” (2) first person plural future middle indicative form of the verb arneomai (ἀρνέομαι), “we deny.”
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 deny Christ.”
The apodosis is “then we will also refuse us rewards.”
The relationship between the protasis and the apodosis is cause-effect.
The cause is the Christian denying Christ by not remaining faithful to Him in life.
The effect is Jesus Christ will refuse the Christian rewards.
Thus, Paul is saying that if and let us assume it is true for the sake of argument that we deny Christ by not remaining faithful to Him, then the consequence will be that He will deny us rewards.
The verb arneomai could be interpreted as meaning “to deny” any association with a person which in our context would be Jesus Christ.
Thus, it would be speaking of a Christian denying any association with Jesus Christ when confronted by the Roman authorities when arrested.
However, it is better to interpret this verb as meaning “to refuse to follow someone as a leader” in the sense of refusing to obey someone as a leader.
Thus, here it would refer to the Christian refusing to follow Jesus Christ as their leader by refusing to obey Him.
In context Paul is teaching that the Christian will be rewarded for their faithfulness to their leader Jesus Christ in that they will be made a ruler with Him during His millennial kingdom.
Also he teaches that if they refuse to follow the Lord in this life, then the Lord will refuse to allow them to reign with Him in His millennial kingdom.
Therefore the idea with this verb arneomai is that if the Christian refuses to follow Jesus Christ in this life, then the Lord will refuse to make them a ruler with Him in His millennial government.
By interpreting this verb arneomai as meaning to repudiate or deny any association with Jesus Christ would emphasize one moment of a Christian’s life whereas interpreting the word as meaning to refuse to follow Christ as one’s leader would emphasize the attitude of a Christian during their lifetime.
The Christian will not be rewarded because of a lifetime of unfaithfulness rather than a momentary lapse.
In fact, the Christian who remains faithful to Christ throughout their lifetime will be faithful to Christ in a moment of persecution and facing death since their lifetime of faithfulness will result in becoming a spiritually mature individual.
On the other hand, a lifetime of unfaithfulness will surely result in unfaithfulness when confronted with the prospect of being executed for being a Christian.
The first person plural form of this verb arneomai is a reference to all Christians without exception.
If any Christian endures in life and leaves this earth in a state of being faithful to the Lord, then they will be rewarded by the Lord who will bestow upon them authority to rule with Him in His millennial government.
The first person plural could be taken as a reference to just Paul and Timothy.
However, this epistle is not only directed at Timothy but also the entire Christian community in Ephesus and throughout the Roman Empire.
The first person plural should be taken as being used in a distributive sense meaning if “any of us” refuse to follow Jesus Christ in this life, then the Lord will refuse to reward us.
The present tense of the verb arneomai is a customary present or stative present used to signal an ongoing state.
This would indicate that the Lord Jesus Christ will refuse to reward the Christian by making them a ruler with Him in His millennial government if they finished their life on earth in a state of refusing to follow Him as their leader.
The present tense expresses the idea of the Christian completing their life on earth in a state of unfaithfulness to the Lord.
“He also will deny us” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine singular form of the demonstrative pronoun kakeinos (κἀκεῖνος), “He also” (2) third person singular future middle indicative form of the verb arneomai (ἀρνέομαι), “will deny” (3) accusative first person plural form of the personal pronoun egō (ἐγώ), “us.”
The conjunction kai is emphatic meaning it is introducing the apodosis of the first class conditional statement and placing emphasis upon it.
Thus, it emphasizes the seriousness of the apodosis in that Jesus Christ will refuse to reward the Christian because of their unfaithfulness in life.
Once again we have the verb arneomai but this time it means “to refuse” someone rewards or specifically to refuse to give someone a position of authority.
Thus, here it would refer to Jesus Christ refusing to reward an unfaithful Christian in the sense of refusing them a position of authority in His millennial government.
In the protasis Paul taught that the Christian will be rewarded for their faithfulness in that Jesus Christ will give them a position of authority in His millennial kingdom.
So what is being refused here in the apodosis is the reward of reigning with Christ in His millennial government.
The future tense of this verb arneomai is a predictive future indicating something that will take place or come to pass.
The portrayal is external and is summarizing the action as something that “will happen.”
Therefore, the future tense of this verb expresses the certainty that the Lord Jesus Christ will refuse to reward the Christian because of their unfaithfulness in life.
Second Timothy 2:12 If, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that any of us endures, then we will indeed certainly reign with Him. If, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument any of us, refuses to follow Him, then He also will in fact certainly refuse us. (My translation)
With this second first class conditional statement in Second Timothy 2:12, the apostle Paul is emphatically not teaching that the Christian will lose their salvation because of their unfaithfulness since the apostle Paul is speaking in the context of rewards as indicated by the first conditional statement in the verse.
Furthermore in Second Timothy 2:13 Paul reassures Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community and all Christians in the Roman Empire that if the Christian is unfaithful, the Lord remains faithful to the Christian.
The reason He remains faithful to the Christian despite the latter’s unfaithfulness is that He can never deny Himself.
So he is reassuring Christians that they will never lose their salvation because of unfaithfulness.
Paul is teaching the Christian that there are serious consequences for unfaithfulness.
Remember Peter denied the Lord three times but was never disowned by the Lord Jesus Christ because he was eternally secure which the Lord affirmed to Peter and his fellow disciples in John 13:10, 11 and 15:3 by calling him and his fellow disciples “clean.”
The New Testament teaches emphatically the eternal security of the Christian who has been declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
By way of definition, the term “eternal security” refers to the fact that the believer’s eternal salvation is guaranteed.
It can never be lost due to sin or forfeited due to sin on the part of the believer since the believer’s eternal salvation is non-meritorious and is based solely upon God and what He accomplished through the death, resurrection and session of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 10:28 “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given {them} to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch {them} out of the Father's hand.” (NASB95)
Our salvation is a gift according to Ephesians 2:8-9 and the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable according to Romans 11:29.
Therefore, since salvation is a gift and the gifts of God are irrevocable, the believer can never lose his salvation.