Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Timothy · About this commentary
God's Word Is Not Chained
2 Timothy 2:8-10
8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the offspring of David, according to my Good News, · WEB
Paul is bound as a criminal and observes, in the same breath, that the message is not.
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the offspring of David. Two facts are given as the content of remembering, and both are physical — a resurrection that happened and a lineage that can be traced. Paul calls this my Good News, meaning the gospel entrusted to him rather than one of his own devising.
In which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. The word is the one used of a common felon, and Paul does not soften it; the two who were crucified beside Christ are called by a related term Luke 23:32.
Then the sentence that has outlasted the chain: but God's word isn't chained. It is stated flatly, with no argument attached, and the letter is itself the evidence — a document composed under guard, carried out, and still being read.
Verse 10 explains what makes the confinement bearable. Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones' sake, that they also may obtain salvation with eternal glory. The suffering is not endured for its own sake or as a discipline; it is endured for particular people who are not yet in the room.
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