Okay, that title might be a little over the top, but the AI bot who critiques these posts keeps telling me I need to get peoples attention.
This entire letter is filled with imperatives. Paul keeps telling Timothy ‘you must!’ And that is the way he begins his lesson in verse 8. I chose to translate it as ‘you must’, the NRSV and the ESV just goes with the verb ‘remember’ which I think is a mistake. It misses the urgency and necessity which Paul is placing upon Timothy, and by extension, us. So here is my translation of II Timothy 2:8-19. It is a longish bit, but I feel like this is the smallest possible section divider before he moves into the household metaphor in verse 20.
II Timothy 2:8-20
8. You must remember Jesus the Messiah was raised from the dead, from the seed of David, according to my gospel.
9. For whom I suffer as a criminal, even in chains, but the word of God has not been chained.
10. I endure all of this for the sake of the elect, so that they may attain salvation in Messiah Jesus with eternal glory.
11. This is a trustworthy saying, ‘If we die together, we will also live together.
12. If we endure, we will reign together, but if we deny, he will deny us also.
13. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he is not able to deny himself.’
14. You must remind people of these things as a testimony before God. Do not argue about words, which is useless except to upset those listening.
15. You yourself must be eager before God as a qualified worker cutting straight the word of God.
16. Avoid irreligious empty talk, all the more as their ungodliness increases.
17. Their word will be like a septic infection eating away, as it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus.
18. who are far from the truth when they say the resurrection has already happened. They upset some faithful people.
19. However, God’s solid foundation stands, having this inscribed upon it, ‘The Lord knows who are his,’ and ‘all who call upon the name of the Lord’ must keep away from unrighteousness.
I tried to stick with the imperatives feel that flows throughout the text in my rendering here. There are four main ones. The first, ‘You must remember Jesus’ in verse 8, then ‘You must remind people’ in verse 14 and ‘You yourself must be eager’ in verse 15 and finally ‘must keep away’ in verse 19. The first three are about Timothy and his role as a leader while the last is universal although all four probably are for each of us in some way or another. These imperative ‘musts’ strengthens the call, which is weakened significantly by other renderings which use ‘let’ (I’m looking at you, ESV).
I find verses 8 through 13 do go together as a tight unit of thought. Paul is encouraging Timothy to cling to the gospel message of Jesus crucified and resurrected in the face of persecution, just like he has, and he employs a bit of common lyric to prove the point. I will tell you in translating it, I think most major renditions get it very wrong in the beginning of the lyric in verse 11. Most versions say something like, ‘If we live die with him, we will also live with him,’ and of course the him is Jesus. Now, that is true in the sense of theology, but the actual text of the Greek New Testament doesn’t have a ‘him’ there. Instead it has the verbs ‘die’ and ‘live’ with a compound prefix of ‘with’ and the conjugations of ‘we’ that should be taken as ‘together.’
That is deep in the weeds, and I am sorry to do that to you. Paul very much believes in union with Christ, I am not against that understanding but here he is not teaching mystic union with Christ, he is teaching Timothy that we are in this together, as a group, and that is the key to enduring hardship and suffering. Just don’t quit the gopsel! It is a call back to the first seven verses of the chapter — we are like soldiers in this together!
I find verse 14 almost comical. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. Paul telling anyone not to quibble or argue about words is laughable.
There is a contrast between the qualified worker in verse 15 and the two characters of Hymenaeus and Philetus in verses 16-18. The qualified worker cuts straight. Cutting is a metaphor for quality work — a board, a rock, cloth, meat — it doesn’t matter. Cutting straight is an important skill in making sure the work is done right. A crooked line, a crooked cut, ruins the whole thing. That is what Hymenaeus and Philetus have done. They have cut crooked with two things. One is bad theology. They say the resurrection has happened, and it has not. Second, they are using empty and harmful language in their rhetoric. One can imagine slander and gossip is what is on Paul’s mind, or maybe just gutter talk. It is an infection which, in the pre-antibiotic world Paul lived in, could often result in death.
The only cure for such things is a qualified, well trained, eager, passionate person who properly handles the Scriptures. This kind of leadership is priceless, and if I may add a bit of social commentary, it is sorely lacking in today’s Christianity. We have celebrity, we have platform, we have one cliche after another, we have political movements, and we have plenty of entertainment. We lack wise leadership who will open the Bible and tell us how it instructs our lives today toward gospel, love, repentance, and justice.
He finishes with a beautiful thought of the foundation of a building with a cornerstone inscription. These were very common in the ancient world and I’ve been privileged to see a few of them. On this particular stone is inscribed two well known biblical thoughts: The Lord knows his own and all who call on the name of the Lord. Jesus said ‘my sheep hear my voice.’ Romans teaches us whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
But Paul emphasizes not salvation, but repentance. He may very well be thinking of Timothy. Timothy must repent of his malaise or whatever ministry funk he is engaged in so he might be truly the wise leader handling the word of truth to defend the faith against foul-mouthed slandering heretic propagandists who are doing nothing but upsetting everyone who they can’t exploit for personal gain and power.
To follow Jesus, is to always be at once both repenting and reveling in the grace of God.