Homily 4 — Second Timothy 2, verses 1 to 10

“You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard from me among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. You, therefore, endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one serving as a soldier entangles himself in the affairs of this life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. And if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully. The farmer who labors must be the first to share in the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.” [a]

A young sailor at sea takes great courage if the ship’s captain has come safely through a shipwreck. He will not think that he is caught in the storm because of his own inexperience, but because of the nature of things; and this has no small effect on his mind. In war, too, an officer who sees his general wounded and then recovered takes great heart. In the same way it brings some comfort to the faithful that the apostle was exposed to great sufferings and was not made weak even by the worst of them. Had it not been so, he would not have told of his sufferings.

For when Timothy heard that the man who had such great powers, who had conquered the whole world, was a prisoner and in distress, and yet was not impatient or resentful when his friends deserted him, then if he were ever exposed to the same sufferings himself, he would not think that they came from human weakness, or from his being a disciple and inferior to Paul, since his teacher had suffered the same; he would think that all this happened in the natural course of things. That is what Paul himself was doing when he told what had happened to him: he meant to strengthen Timothy and renew his courage.

And he shows that this was why he mentioned his trials and afflictions, by adding: “You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” What are you saying? You have shaken us with terrors; you have told us that you are in chains and in distress, that everyone has deserted you; and then, as though you had said that you had suffered nothing and been abandoned by no one, you add, “You, therefore, my son, be strong”? And rightly too. For he told these things more to strengthen Timothy than for his own sake. If I, Paul, endure these things, much more ought you to bear them. If the master does, much more the disciple.

He brings in this encouragement with great affection, calling him “son” — and not only that, but “my son.” If you are a son, he means, imitate your father. If you are a son, be strong, considering the things I have told you; or rather, be strong not merely from what I have told you, but from God. “Be strong,” he says, “in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” — that is, through the grace of Christ. That is: stand firm. You know the battle. For elsewhere he says, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6, verse 12). And he says this not to depress them but to rouse them. So be sober, he means, and keep watch. With the grace of the Lord working with you and helping you in your contest, contribute your own part with great eagerness and resolve.

“And the things you have heard from me among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men” — to “faithful” men, not to questioners or debaters, but to the “faithful.” Faithful in what way? Such as will not betray the good news they are to preach. “The things you have heard,” not the things you have searched out. For “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10, verse 17). But why “among many witnesses”? As if he had said: You did not hear it in secret or privately, but in the presence of many, spoken with complete openness. And he does not say “tell” but “entrust,” as a treasure that is entrusted is laid away in safety. Again he puts his disciple on the alert, both from things above and from things below. [c]

But he does not say only “entrust it to faithful men.” For what use is it that someone is faithful, if he cannot pass his teaching on to others — if he does not, indeed, betray the faith, but makes no one else faithful? So the teacher must have two qualities: he must be both faithful and able to teach. That is why he says, “who will be able to teach others also.”

“You, therefore, endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Oh, how great an honor this is, to be a soldier of Jesus Christ! Look at the kings on earth: how great an honor it is counted to serve under them. If, then, the king’s soldier must endure hardship, not to endure hardship is not the part of any soldier at all. So you ought not to complain if you endure hardship, for that is a soldier’s part; you ought to complain if you do not. [d]

“No one serving as a soldier entangles himself in the affairs of this life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. And if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully.”

These things are said to Timothy, it is true, but through him they are addressed to every teacher and every disciple. So let no one who holds the office of bishop disdain to hear them; let him rather be ashamed not to do them. “If anyone competes as an athlete,” he says, “he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully.” What does “lawfully” mean? It is not enough for him to enter the contest, to be anointed with oil, and even to come to grips, unless he keeps all the laws of the training: in diet, in self-control and sobriety, and in all the rules of the wrestling school. In short, unless he goes through everything that is fitting for a wrestler, he is not crowned. And notice Paul’s wisdom. He mentions wrestlers and soldiers: the one to prepare him for slaughter and blood, the other for endurance, so that he would bear everything with courage and always be in training.

“The farmer who labors must be the first to share in the crops.” [e]

He had first spoken from his own example as a teacher. Now he speaks from more ordinary examples, such as wrestlers and soldiers, and in their case he sets the rewards before him: first, “so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier”; second, that he may be crowned. Now he puts forward a third example, one that suits him more closely. For the example of the soldier and the wrestler fits those who are under authority, but that of the farmer fits the teacher. Strive, then, not only as a soldier or a wrestler, but as a farmer too. The farmer takes care not of himself alone but of the fruits of the earth. That is, no small reward for his labors is enjoyed by the farmer.

Here he shows both that God lacks nothing and that there is a reward for teaching; and he shows it by an everyday example. As the farmer, he says, does not labor without profit, but enjoys the fruits of his own toil before anyone else, so it is right that the teacher should too. Either he means this, or he is speaking of the honor that is owed to teachers; but that fits the passage less well. For why does he not say simply “the farmer,” but “the farmer who labors” — not only one who works, but one who is worn out with toil? And here, with an eye to the delay of the reward, so that no one would grow impatient, he says: You are reaping the fruit already; or, there is a reward in the labor itself.

So when he has set before him the examples of soldiers, of wrestlers, and of farmers, all of them figuratively, he says, “No one is crowned unless he competes lawfully.” And having said that “the farmer who labors must be the first to share in the crops,” he adds, “Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.”

That is why he has spoken these things in proverbs and parables. Then again, to show his affection, he does not stop praying for him, as one who fears for his own son. And he says (verses 8 and 9): “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead, according to my good news, in which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains.” [f]

Why is this mentioned? It is aimed chiefly at the heretics, and at the same time it encourages Timothy by showing the benefit of sufferings, since Christ, our Master, himself overcame death by suffering. Remember this, he says, and you will have comfort enough.

“Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead.” For on that point many had already begun to overturn the plan of salvation, because they were ashamed at the vastness of God’s love for humankind. The benefits God has given us are of such a kind that people were ashamed to credit them to God, and could not believe that he had stooped so low. “According to my good news.” He speaks this way everywhere in his letters, saying “according to my good news,” either because they were bound to believe him, or because there were some who preached “a different good news” (Galatians 1, verse 6).

“In which I suffer trouble,” he says, “as an evildoer, even to the point of chains.”

Again he brings in comfort and encouragement from his own case, and he prepares his hearer’s mind with two things: first, that Timothy should know that he endures hardship; and second, that he does so only for a useful purpose. For in that case Timothy will gain from it; otherwise he will even be harmed. What good is it to be able to show that a teacher has exposed himself to hardship, if it was for no useful purpose? But if it is for some benefit, for the profit of those who are taught, then is it not worthy of admiration?

“But the word of God is not bound.” That is: if we were soldiers of this world, waging an earthly war, the chains that tie our hands would do their work. But as it is, God has made us such that nothing can overpower us. Our hands are bound, but not our tongue, since nothing can bind the tongue except cowardice and unbelief alone; and where these are absent, even if you fasten chains on us, the preaching of the good news is not bound. If you bind a farmer, you stop his sowing, for he sows with his hand. But if you bind a teacher, you do not hinder the word, for it is sown with his tongue, not with his hand. So our word is not subject to chains. Though we are bound, it is free and runs its course. How?

Because, look, though bound, we preach. This is for the encouragement of those who are free. For if we who are bound preach, how much more ought you who are free to do so. You have heard that I suffer these things as an evildoer. Do not be downhearted. It is a great wonder that, bound, I do the work of the free; that, bound, I overcome everyone; that, bound, I prevail over those who bound me. For it is the word of God, not ours, and human chains cannot bind the word of God. “These things I suffer on account of the elect.”

Verse 10: “Therefore I endure all things,” he says, “for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”

Here is another encouragement. I endure these things, he says, not for myself but for the salvation of others. It was in my power to live free of danger and to suffer none of these things, if I had looked to my own interest. Why, then, do I suffer them? For the good of others, so that others may obtain eternal life. What, then, do you promise yourself? He did not say simply “for the sake of these particular people,” but “for the sake of the elect.” If God has chosen them, it is right for us to suffer everything for their sake. “So that they too may obtain salvation.” By saying “they too,” he means “as well as we.” For God chose us too; and as God suffered for our sake, so we should suffer for theirs.

So it is a matter of repayment, not of favor. On God’s part it was grace, for he did us good without having first received any benefit. But on our part it is repayment: having first received benefits from God, we suffer for these people for whom we suffer, “so that they may obtain salvation.” What are you saying? What salvation? You, who were not the author of salvation to yourself, but were destroying yourself — are you the author of salvation to others? Surely not; and so he adds, “the salvation that is in Christ Jesus,” the salvation that is truly salvation, “with eternal glory.” [g]

Present things bring distress, but they are only on earth. Present things bring disgrace, but they are temporary. They are full of bitterness and pain, but they last only today and tomorrow. The good things are not like that: they are eternal; they are in heaven. That is true glory; this is dishonor.

Notice, I beg you, beloved: the glory that is on earth is not glory; the true glory is in heaven. If anyone wants to be glorified, let him be dishonored. If he wants to obtain rest, let him suffer affliction. If anyone wants to be renowned forever and to enjoy pleasure, let him despise the things of time. And to see that dishonor is glory and glory is dishonor, let us now set the matter before ourselves as well as we can, so that we may see what real glory is.

It is not possible to be glorified on earth. If you want to be glorified, it must be through dishonor. Let us prove this from the examples of two men, Nero and Paul. The one had the glory of this world, the other its dishonor. How? The first was a tyrant. He had won great successes and set up many trophies; wealth was always flowing in to him, and he had huge armies everywhere. The greater part of the world and the imperial city itself were subject to his rule, the whole Senate crouched before him, and his palace too went on in splendid display. [h]

When he had to be armed, he went out arrayed in gold and precious stones; when he was to sit at ease in peace, he sat clothed in purple robes. He was surrounded by crowds of guards and attendants. He was called Lord of land and sea, Emperor, Augustus, Caesar, King, and other such high-sounding names as spoke of flattery and fawning; nothing was lacking that could add to his glory. Even wise men, rulers, and kings trembled before him. For besides all this, he was said to be a cruel and violent man. He even wanted to be thought a god, and he despised all the idols and the very God who is over all.

He was worshiped as a god. What greater glory than this? Or rather, what greater dishonor? For somehow my tongue is carried away by the force of the truth and passes sentence before the trial. [i]

For now, though, let us examine the matter by the opinion of the crowd and of unbelievers, and by the reckoning of flattery. In the common reckoning of glory, what is greater than to be reputed a god? It is a great disgrace, of course, for any human being to be so mad; but for the present let us consider the matter by the opinion of the crowd. Nothing, then, that adds to human glory was lacking to him: he was worshiped by everyone as a god.

Now let us set Paul over against him. He was a Cilician, and everyone knows the difference between Rome and Cilicia. He was a tentmaker, a poor man, untrained in the wisdom of those outside, knowing only the Hebrew language, a language despised by everyone, and especially by the Italians. For they do not despise the barbarian tongue, or Greek, or any other language so much as Syriac, and Syriac is akin to Hebrew. Do not be surprised at this: if they despised Greek, so admirable and beautiful, much more did they despise Hebrew.

He was a man who often went hungry and often went to bed without food; a man who was naked and had no clothes to put on — “in cold and nakedness,” as he says of himself (Second Corinthians 11, verse 27). Nor was that all. He was thrown into prison at the command of Nero himself and shut up with robbers, impostors, grave robbers, and murderers; and he was, as he himself says, flogged as a criminal. Who, then, is the more renowned? The name of the one, most people have never heard. The other is celebrated every day by Greeks and barbarians and Scythians, and by those who live at the ends of the earth.

But let us not yet consider how things stand now. Even at that time, who was the more renowned, who the more glorious: the man in chains, dragged bound out of prison, or the man clothed in a purple robe, walking out of a palace? The prisoner, certainly. For the other, who had armies at his command and sat arrayed in purple, could not do what he wanted; but the prisoner, treated like a criminal and meanly dressed, could do everything with more authority. How?

The one said, “Do not spread the word of God.” The other said, “I cannot hold back. ‘The word of God is not bound.’” So the Cilician, the prisoner, the poor tentmaker who lived in hunger, looked down on the Roman — rich as he was, emperor, ruler over all, who made so many thousands rich — and with all his armies the emperor could do nothing. Who, then, was renowned? Who was worthy of reverence?

Was it the one who conquered in chains, or the one who was conquered in a purple robe? The one who, standing below, struck the blow, or the one who, sitting above, was struck? The one who gave orders and was despised, or the one who received orders and paid them no attention? The one who, alone, won the victory, or the one who, with huge armies, was defeated? So the king came off in such a way that his prisoner triumphed over him. Tell me, then: whose side would you be on? Do not look at what came afterward, but at how things stood then. Would you be on Nero’s side or on Paul’s? I am not speaking by the reckoning of faith, for that is obvious, but by the reckoning of glory, reverence, and preeminence.

Anyone with sound judgment would say: on Paul’s side. For if conquering is more glorious than being conquered, he is the more glorious. And it is not yet much that he conquered; what is great is that, in so lowly a state, he conquered a man in so exalted a position. For I say it, and I will not stop repeating it: though bound with a chain, he struck down the man who wore the diadem.

Such is the power of Christ. The chain outshone the royal crown, and this clothing was shown to be more brilliant than that. Dressed in filthy rags, like someone who lived in a prison, he turned every eye to the chains that hung on him rather than to the purple robe. He stood on the ground, bound and bent low, and everyone left the tyrant mounted on his golden chariot to gaze at him. And well they might. It was a common sight to see a king with white horses; but it was a strange and unheard-of sight to see a prisoner speaking with a king as boldly as a king would speak to a pitiful, wretched slave. The crowd standing around were all the king’s slaves, yet they admired not their lord but the man who was greater than their lord. And the one before whom everyone feared and trembled was trampled underfoot by one solitary man. See, then, how great was the brightness of these very chains!

And why mention what followed afterward? The tomb of the one is nowhere to be seen; but the other lies in the royal city itself, in greater splendor than any king, right there where he conquered, where he set up his trophy. If the one is mentioned, it is with reproach, even among his own people, for he is said to have been debauched. But the memory of the other is everywhere spoken of with honor, not only among us but among his enemies. For when the truth shines out, it puts even one’s enemies to shame; and if they do not admire him for his faith, they admire him for his boldness and his manly freedom of speech. The one is praised by every mouth as a man who has been crowned; the other is loaded with reproaches and accusations. Which, then, is the real splendor? [k]

And yet I am only praising the lion for his claws, when I ought to be speaking of his real honors. And what are those? The ones in heaven.

How he will come, in shining clothing, with the King of heaven! How Nero will stand then, mournful and downcast! And if what I say seems unbelievable and ridiculous to you, you are the ridiculous one, for laughing at what is no laughing matter. If you do not believe what is to come, be convinced by what is past. The time for being crowned has not yet come, and yet how great an honor the contestant has already won! What honor, then, will he not receive when the one who hands out the prizes comes? He was among foreigners, “a stranger and a temporary resident” (Hebrews 11, verse 13), and even so he is admired: what good will he not enjoy when he is among his own? Now “our life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3, verse 3); and yet the dead man accomplishes more and is more honored than the living. When that life of ours comes, what will he not share in? What will he not attain?

God has let him enjoy these honors for this reason, not because Paul needed them. For if, while he was in the body, he despised the glory the crowd hands out, much more will he despise it now that he is set free from the body. And not only for this reason has God let him enjoy honor, but so that those who do not believe in what is to come may be convinced by what is present. I say that when the resurrection comes, Paul will come with the King of heaven and will enjoy blessings without end. But the unbeliever will not be convinced. Then let him believe from what is present. The tentmaker is more renowned and more honored than the king. No emperor of Rome ever enjoyed such honor. [n]

The emperor has been thrown out and lies no one knows where. The tentmaker holds the middle of the city, as if he were a king, and alive. From these things believe about what is to come as well. If he enjoys such honor here, where he was persecuted and driven out, what will he not be when he comes hereafter? If, as a tentmaker, he was so renowned, what will he be when he comes rivaling the rays of the sun? If in such lowliness he overcame such magnificence, whom will he not surpass at his coming? Can we escape the conclusion? Who is not moved by the fact that a tentmaker became more honored than the most honored of kings? If things happen here so far beyond the course of nature, much more will they do so hereafter.

If you will not believe what is to come, my friend, believe what is present. If you will not believe things unseen, believe the things that are seen — or rather, believe the things that are seen, for in that way you will believe the things that are unseen. But if you will not, we may rightly say with the apostle, “We are innocent of your blood” (Acts 20, verse 26), for we have testified to you about everything and have left out nothing we ought to have said. So blame yourselves; you will have only yourselves to charge with the punishment of hell.

But let us, my beloved children, imitate Paul, not in his faith only but in his life, so that we may attain heavenly glory and trample on the glory that is here. Let nothing present draw us. Let us despise visible things so that we may obtain heavenly things — or rather, so that through these we may obtain the others. But let it be our aim above all to obtain those things; and may God grant that we may all be counted worthy of them, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and forever. Amen.