2 Timothy 2:11

Faithful is the saying: For if we died with him, we shall also live with him: if we endure, we shall also reign with him: if we shall deny him, he also will deny us: if we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself.

All of the nonsense one reads about this and other metrical passages in Paul's writings being "early liturgies" used by the church, or "fragments of hymns" sung by the earliest Christians should now be rejected. This letter was not written in the second century, as was once alleged, but in the period of Nero, as the Greek text shows; and there simply had not been sufficient time elapsed for hymns and liturgies to have been developed and to have gained popularity that would have justified Paul's use of such things in his letters. The knee-jerk response to all allegations that this is part of a hymn or liturgy should be avoided. No evidence supports such a notion; it is quite unreasonable and absolutely unnecessary. The writings of Shakespeare are almost entirely written in the same style of metrical prose that one finds here. Was Shakespeare quoting the hymns of Medieval Englishmen? Neither was the apostle Paul.

Faithful is the saying ... Lenski wrote:

We see that Paul is not quoting some ancient hymn as some think ... Although we have symmetry in the sentences, this is not poetry, but Paul's own prose.[16]

Furthermore, there is no evidence that "faithful is the saying" constitutes any kind of popular formula for introducing a proverb. Where or when in the history of the world have popular proverbs needed to be "introduced" by any kind of preliminary identification? No. This is Paul's own way of emphatically affirming the truth of the pithy statement he was about to write. It has exactly the same force as "Before God, I lie not" (Galatians 1:20; Romans 9:1; 2 Corinthians 11:31; 1 Timothy 2:7). Also, one of these affirmations is just as Pauline as the other.

If we died with him ... "This is the death which occurs in baptism"[17] (see Romans 6:3-5). Dying with Christ is a metaphorical reference to denying one's self, contrition and repentance experienced at the time of being baptized "into his death." There are also legal implications of the most profound character connected with this: (1) when the sinner is baptized into Christ and identified with him "as Christ," he is therefore by God's flat automatically entitled to all the privileges of the death of Christ; (2) he is dead to the law of Moses; (3) he has already paid (through the death of Christ) all the penalty of sin, etc.

We shall also live with him ... That is, if we endure persecution, hatred, opposition and even death itself - if we do all this, we shall partake of the glory of Christ in heaven. In the light of this, how unpromising must be the hope of those who will not endure any hardship or suffering at all for the sake of the holy faith?

If we deny him, he also will deny us ... Jesus himself said the same thing (Matthew 10:33). It is true that Peter denied the Lord, lived to repent of it, and was forgiven; but the denial in this passage speaks of a final decision, a deliberate choice of repudiation against the Lord. The following verse does not mitigate the severity of this passage.

If we are faithless ... Gould thought that the sin in focus here was of a less reprehensible nature than that of denying Christ, saying, "This represents a failure not in belief, but in fidelity. Even for such a one there is still a remaining hope."[18] However, the notion that faith exists (in any saving degree) where there is no longer fidelity is but a vagary of theological speculation. The true analysis of this place, as written by Spence, is appreciated:

Those who understand this passage as containing soothing, comforting voices for the sinner, for the faithless Christian who has left his first love, are gravely mistaken ... This is one of the sternest passages in the Book of Life; for it tells how it is impossible for the pitiful Redeemer to forgive in the future life ... He cannot treat the faithless as though he were faithful - cannot act as though faithfulness and faithlessness were one and the same thing.[19]

Hendriksen also agreed that:

The meaning of the last line cannot be, "If we are faithless and deny him, nevertheless he, remaining faithful to his promise, will give us everlasting life."[20]

The overall thought of the entire faithful saying should be carefully observed. As DeWelt summarized it, "Without a cross, there is no crown; without a thorn, there is no throne."[21] All that Paul wrote to Timothy and his charges in Ephesus had in view the utter necessity of true fidelity and unwavering loyalty to Christ on the part of every Christian who hoped to share in the eternal reward.

He cannot deny himself ... This truth is exactly parallel to Romans 6:18 and Titus 1:2, being therefore Pauline and having no connection whatever with any old proverb. Where in history was there ever such a proverb as this?

[16] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 792.

[17] Ibid., p. 793.

[18] J. Glenn Gould, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. IX (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1969), p. 641.

[19] H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., p. 228.

[20] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 260.

[21] Don DeWelt, Paul's Letters to Timothy and Titus (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1961), p. 218.