2 Timothy 3.11b-The Lord Rescue Paul From All the Persecutions He Endured at Antioch, Iconium and Lystra
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday July 23, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 3:11b-The Lord Rescued Paul From All the Persecutions He Endured at Antioch, Iconium and Lystra
Lesson # 75
2 Timothy 3:10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! (NASB95)
“What persecutions I endured” is composed of the following: (1) accusative masculine plural form of the relative adjective hoios (οἷος), “what” (2) accusative masculine plural form of the noun diōgmos (διωγμός), “persecutions” (3) first person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb hupopherō (ὑποφέρω), “I endured.”
The relative adjective hoios means “what manner of” in the sense of “how great were” the persecutions and sufferings Paul endured in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra.
The noun diōgmos is anarthrous but still in the plural and means “all persecutions” since the word pertains to the suffering or pressure, mental, moral, or physical, which authorities, individuals, or crowds inflict on others.
The verb hupopherō means “to endure” since it pertains to a person continuing to bear up despite difficulty and suffering.
Here it speaks of Paul “enduring” persecutions in the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium and Lystra in the sense that he remained firmly committed to communicating the gospel in these cities despite the suffering and pressure placed upon him to stop doing so.
“And out of them all the Lord rescued me” presents a contrast with the previous assertion that Paul endured persecutions in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium and Lystra.
“The Lord” is the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος), which is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ since He was this word’s referent the last time it was used in Second Timothy 2:24.
“Rescued me” is composed of the following: (1) accusative first person singular form of the personal pronoun egō (ἐγώ), “me” (2) third person singular aorist middle indicative form of the verb rhuomai (ῥύομαι), “rescued.”
The verb rhuomai means “to rescue, to deliver, to save” and is used with reference to the persecutions Paul experienced and endured in the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium and Lystra.
Therefore, it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ “rescuing” or “delivering” or even “saving” Paul out of all these persecutions.
The indirect middle voice of this verb is expressing the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ acted by Himself in rescuing Paul from all the persecutions he experienced and endured in the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium and Lystra.
It also expresses the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ did this in His own interest in the sense that He rescued Paul to demonstrate His sovereign power over Paul’s life.
“Out of them all” is composed of the following: (1) preposition ek (ἐκ), “out of” (2) genitive masculine plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “them all.”
The plural form of the adjective pas means “each and every one of them” since it pertains to the totality of any object and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
It is the object of the preposition ek, which means “out from, out of” since it is used as a marker of separation.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ rescued Paul “out of each and every one of” his persecutions in the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium and Lystra.
This prepositional phrase is in the emphatic position in this emphatic clause in order to emphasize the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ and His providential care for him.
Second Timothy 3:10 You, however, in contrast to them, faithfully followed as a disciple my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my divine-love, my perseverance, 11 all of my persecutions, all of my sufferings such as experienced by me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions, I endured! However, the Lord rescued me out of each and every one of them! (My translation)
Paul emphatically states that the Lord Jesus Christ rescued him out of each and every one of his persecutions in the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium and Lystra.
He does this in order to emphasize the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ over his life and his enemies as well as His providential care for him.
Persecution is the suffering or pressure, mental, moral, or physical, which authorities, individuals, or crowds inflict on others, especially for opinions or beliefs, with a view to their subjection by recantation, silencing, or, as a last resort, execution.
That persecution of believers took place in Old Testament dispensations is clearly attested to by what Jesus said to the Pharisees.
He specifically referred to the innocent blood which had been shed in those times, and told the Pharisees that they were showing themselves heirs in a legal sense to their fathers who had persecuted the righteous, “from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah” (Mt 23:35).
In the period between the close of the Old Testament and the coming of Christ, there was much and protracted suffering endured by the Jews, because of their refusal to embrace idolatry, and of their fidelity to the Mosaic Law and the worship of God.
During that time there were many patriots who were true martyrs, and those heroes of faith, the Maccabees, were among those who “know their God .... and do exploits” (Dan 11:32).
Hebrews 11 lists a number of Old Testament believers that suffered persecution.
After our Lord’s resurrection the first attacks against His disciples came from the high priest and his party.
The high-priesthood was then in the hands of the Sadducees, and one reason which moved them to take action of this kind was their “sore trouble,” because the apostles “proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:2; 5:17).
The Lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples to not be afraid of persecution from the authorities as a result of proclaiming the Gospel but rather, He told them to fear God (Luke 11:53-54; 12:1-12).
He forewarned them again and again that it was inevitable and said that He Himself must suffer it (Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23; Mark 8:31) and would be a test of true discipleship.
In the parable of the Sower, He mentions this as one of the causes of defection among those who are Christians in outward appearance only (Mark 4:17).
It would be a sure means of gaining a blessing, whenever it came to His loyal followers when they were in the way of well-doing; and He thus speaks of it in two of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:10-11).
Persecution would take different forms, ranging through every possible variety, from false accusation to the infliction of death, beyond which, He pointed out (Matthew 10:28; Lk 12:4), persecutors are unable to go.
There were several methods of persecution which were employed by the Jews, and also by the heathen against the followers of Christ.
Men would revile them and would say all manner of evil against them falsely, for Christ’s sake (Matthew 5:11) and there would be contempt and disparagement (John 8:48; Matthew 10:25).
Christians would be forcibly separated from the company and society of others and expelled from synagogues or other assemblies for the worship of God due to their loyalty to Christ (Luke 6:22; John 16:2).
They would be illegally arrested and be executed.
It was the fear of apprehension and death that led the eleven disciples to forsake Jesus in Gethsemane and to flee for their lives.
Jesus often forewarned them of the severity of the persecution which they would need to encounter if they were loyal to Him (John 16:2; Matthew 23:34).
Serious persecution of the Christian church began with the case of Stephen (Acts 7:1-60); and his lawless execution was followed by “a great persecution” directed against the Christians in Jerusalem which scattered the members of the church, who fled in order to avoid bonds and imprisonment and death.
At this time Saul signalized himself by his great activity, persecuting “this Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women” (Acts 22:4).
James the brother of John, was slain with the sword by Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:2) and Peter also was imprisoned, and was delivered only by an angel (12:7-11).
Three of the books of the New Testament bear the marks of that most cruel persecution under Nero, the Second Epistle to Timothy, the First Epistle of Peter and the Revelation of John.
In Second Timothy, Paul speaks of his impending condemnation to death, and the terror inspired by the persecution causes “all” to forsake him when he is brought to public trial (2 Tim 4:16).
The “fiery trial” is spoken of in 1 Peter, and Christians are exhorted to maintain their faith with patience.
During the period covered by Acts there was not much purely Gentile persecution: at that time the persecution suffered by the Christian church was chiefly Jewish.
There were, however, great dangers and risks encountered by the apostles and by all who proclaimed the gospel then.
Thus, at Philippi, Paul and Silas were most cruelly persecuted (Acts 16:19-40); and, even before that time, Paul and Barnabas had suffered much at Iconium and at Lystra (Acts 14: 5, 19).
Paul’s martyrdom is implied in Second Timothy, throughout the whole epistle, and especially in 4:6-8.
