2 Timothy 4.5b-Timothy Must Continue Making it His Habit of Enduring Hardship
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday September 1, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 4:5b-Timothy Must Continue to Make it His Habit of Enduring Hardship
Lesson # 91
2 Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (NASB95)
At this point in Second Timothy 4:5 the apostle Paul is employing the figure of asyndeton meaning he is not using a connective word between the previous command and the one to follow.
The figure is emphasizing the solemn nature of this second command and its critical importance for the success of Timothy’s ministry and the spiritual growth of the church.
“Endure hardship” is the second person singular aorist active imperative form of the verb kakopatheō (κακοπαθέω), which means “to endure hardship, to endure suffering” and refers to Timothy enduring undeserved suffering and adversity which is the direct result of living a godly life and proclaiming the gospel.
The aorist imperative form of the verb kakopatheō is a constative aorist imperative which emphasizes solemnity or urgency of the action.
The idea is that one must “make this their top priority.”
Therefore, the aorist imperative form of this verb is emphasizing how important it is for Timothy to endure hardship.
The aorist imperative expresses the idea that this is to be a top priority in Timothy’s life and expresses the fact that this command is very solemn and expresses the critical nature of this command.
Second Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge in the presence of God (the Father) as well as the Christ who is Jesus, who is inevitably going to judge the living as well as the dead and in addition by His appearing as well as by His kingdom: 2 to make it your top priority of publically proclaiming with authority as a herald the message. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority of always being prepared to perform this task whether the circumstance is favorable or unfavorable. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority to convict. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority to rebuke. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority to exhort with a patience which is absolute as well as by means of instruction. 3 The reason for this is that the time will come when they will no longer tolerate sound doctrine. But rather, they will, as a certainty accumulate for themselves teachers because of their own sinful desires because they will as a certainty want to have their ears tickled. 4 Consequently, on the one hand, they will, as a certainty turn their ears away from the truth while on the other hand, they will, as a certainty be turned away from the truth because of myths. 5 However, you in contrast to them, continue making it your habit of being sober with respect to each and every thing. I solemnly charge you to make it a priority of enduring hardship. I solemnly charge you to make it a priority of performing an evangelist’s duty. I solemnly charge you to make it a priority of fulfilling your ministry. (Author’s translation)
The apostle Paul issues Timothy four more commands in Second Timothy 4:5.
By obeying these commands Timothy would stand in contrast to the apostate Christians who he describes in Second Timothy 4:3-4.
The first command Paul issues Timothy in Second Timothy 4:5 required that Timothy continue to make it his habit of being sober with regards to each and every one of his responsibilities as a pastor-teacher and as Paul’s delegate to the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia.
This is figurative language for possessing a godly state of mind or a godly way of thinking as a result of obeying the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God which He inspired according to Second Peter 1:20-21.
It speaks of Timothy continuing to make it his habit of being filled with the Spirit or more accurately influenced by the Spirit which is commanded of every church age believer in Ephesians 5:18.
By exercising faith in the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching of the apostle Paul which resulted in obedience to the Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions of this teaching, Timothy would be filled or more accurately influenced by the means of the Spirit and thus he would be sober in all of his responsibilities.
The second command which Paul issues Timothy in Second Timothy 4:5 required that he make it a priority of enduring hardship.
When Paul issues this command he is being very solemn.
When he speaks of enduring hardship, he is of course speaking of Timothy enduring undeserved suffering.
The Bible teaches that God uses undeserved suffering to advance His children to greater spiritual growth.
The believer must experience undeserved suffering since it is through undeserved suffering that the believer is conformed to the image of Christ.
Underserved suffering is designed to get us to exchange our old pre-salvation Adamic life for the new post-salvation Christ life.
It is designed to draw us closer to the Lord by leading us to appropriate by faith our union and identification with Christ in His death, resurrection and session.
It is designed to get us to rest in our position in Christ (2 Corinthians 3:17-4:18).
There are three agencies that God employs to bring about suffering: (1) Old sin nature (2) Cosmic system (3) Satan.
Now there are different categories of suffering: (1) Self-induced misery (2) Divine discipline (3) Undeserved Suffering for Blessing.
The power of God in our lives is never more noticeable or conspicuous as when we are suffering, going through adversities and even going through the process of dying.
When self has been crucified then the life of Jesus can be manifested in the believer.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 illustrates this Biblical principle that divine power is manifested in human weakness.
Tribulation and undeserved suffering will be the lot of God’s people while living in enemy territory.
The problems, difficulties and adversities which take place in a believer’s life were already decreed by God the Father in eternity past to occur and are now controlled in time by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the believer should have confidence and comfort in the midst of these things (John 16:33; Rom. 8:35; 2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Thess. 1:6-7).
God’s will, purpose and plan will be accomplished regardless of a believer’s difficult circumstances or seemingly insurmountable problems because God ordained them to take place in eternity past under the divine decree.
Therefore, He has already provided a solution for every problem, difficulty and adversity in life through the appropriation by faith of the promises in the Word of God.
The believer who is executing the plan of God and learning Bible doctrine will go through suffering which is undeserved (1 Thess. 3:4) and it is called undeserved because they did not bring this suffering upon themselves (1 Pet. 2:19-20; 2 Cor. 1:6).
It is a privilege to suffer undeservedly for Christ’s sake (Phil. 1:29).
God never permits us to undergo any testing that we don’t have the capacity for (1 Cor. 10:13).
Just as the Father’s plan for the Lord Jesus Christ involved undeserved suffering so the plan of God for our lives involves undeserved suffering.
In 2 Corinthians 3:17-4:18, Paul writes to the Corinthians regarding his experience with undeserved suffering and his attitude regarding it.
The believer’s sole ambition in life must be to become like Christ in His death in order to grow to spiritual maturity.
Paul’s sole ambition in life was to become like Christ by experiencing identification with Christ in His death and resurrection (Philippians 3:10-11).
Undeserved suffering gives the believer an opportunity to appropriate by faith his union and identification with Christ where all the believer’s spiritual blessings and infinite wealth reside and which wealth is superior to “temporal” wealth and riches.
It is also the means by which God employs so that the believer might gain rewards that will be given to the believer at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church, which will be conducted by the Lord Jesus Christ subsequent to the Rapture of the church (2 Corinthians 4:5-18).
Advancement, promotion, spiritual growth and prosperity in the spiritual life can only be achieved through undeserved suffering, which is experiencing identification with Christ in His death (1 Pet. 4:12-13).
Adversity is the means that God employs to enable the believer to experience his union and identification with Christ and all the spiritual assets and provisions and privileges that are the result of this union and identification with Christ.
The believer who appropriates by faith his union and identification with Christ in His death, resurrection and session will enable the Holy Spirit to develop more of the character of Christ in his life.