2 Timothy 2:12

suffer--rather, as the Greek is the same as in Ti2 2:10, "If we endure (with Him)" (Rom 8:17).

reign with him--The peculiar privilege of the elect Church now suffering with Christ, then to reign with Him (see on Co1 6:2). Reigning is something more than mere salvation (Rom 5:17; Rev 3:21; Rev 5:10; Rev 20:4-5).

deny--with the mouth. As "believe" with the heart follows, Ti2 2:12. Compare the opposite, "confess with thy mouth" and "believe in thine heart" (Rom 10:9-10).

he also will deny us-- (Mat 10:33).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Ti 2:12. Ὑπομένομεν, we endure) The present and something more significant, and reaching further than to die; therefore also there is a further rewrard than life, viz. the kingdom.—εἰ ἀρνούμεθα, if we deny) with the mouth. If we do not believe, viz. with the heart, follows in the next verse. The denial is put first, for it extinguishes the faith which had previously existed.—κᾀκεῖνος, He also) Christ.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ti 2:12 . εἰ ὑπομένομεν καὶ συνβασιλεύσομεν : See Mat 25:34 ; Luk 22:28-29 ; Act 14:22 ; Rom 8:17 ; 2Th 1:5 ; Rev 1:6 ; Rev 20:4 .

εἰ ἀρνησόμεθα , κ . τ . λ .: An echo of our Lord’s teaching, Mat 10:33 . See also 2Pe 2:1 ; Jud 1:4 . “The future conveys the ethical possibility of the action” (Ell.)

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 12. If we suffer - with him] These are other parts of the true doctrine, which the apostle mentions above.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12 If we deny him, he will also deny us A threatening is likewise added, for the purpose of shaking off sloth; for he threatens that they who, through the dread of persecution, leave off the confession of his name, have no part or lot with Christ. How unreasonable is it, that we should esteem more highly the transitory life of this world than the holy and sacred name of the Son of God! And why should he reckon among his people those who treacherously reject him? Here the excuse of weakness is of no value; for, if men did not willingly deceive themselves with vain flatteries, they would constantly resist, being endued with the spirit of strength and courage. Their base denial of Christ proceeds not only from weakness, but from unbelief; because it is in consequence of being blinded by the allurement of the world, that they do not at all perceive the life which is in the kingdom of God. But this doctrine has more need of being meditated on than of being explained; for the words of Christ are perfectly clear,

“Whoever shall deny me, him will I also deny” (Matthew 10:33.)

It remains that every one consider with himself, that this is no childish terror, but the judge seriously pronounces what will be found, at the appointed time, to be true.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(12) If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.—And the faithful saying went on with this stirring declaration. How, it seems to ask, can a believer in Christ shrink from suffering, when he knows what to him will be the glorious consequences of this present suffering? The word rendered “suffer” would be better translated, if we endure—that is, if we bravely bear up against sufferings for His sake, and all the while work on with hand and brain for Him and for our brother as best we can. If we do this in this life, we shall, in the life to come, reign with Him—more than merely live with Him, as the last verse told us: we shall even “be kings with Him.” (See Rom_5:17; Rom_8:17; and Rev_1:6, where Jesus Christ is especially spoken of as having made us “kings.”) The promise thus woven into the faithful saying, and repeated in these several passages, of the “reign of the saints in Christ,” gives us a strangely glorious hope—a marvellous on-look, concerning the active and personal work which Christ’s redeemed will be intrusted with in the ages of eternity.

If we deny him, he also will deny us.—But there is another side to the words of the Blessed. While to the faithful and the believer He will grant to sit down with Him on His throne, the faithless and unbeliever will have no share in the glories of the life to come. These grave warnings are apparently addressed rather to unfaithful members of the outward and visible Church, than to the Pagan world who have never known Christ. The words, “He also will deny us,” imply something of a recognition on the part of us who are denied by Him—something of an expectation on our part that He would recognise us as friends. They are evidently an echo of the Lord’s own sad reply to those many who will say to Him in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? . . . and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” (Mat_7:22-23. See too Mat_10:33 and Mar_8:33.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. if we suffer] Rather endure with brave and manly submission; 2Ti_2:10. The submission is followed by sovereignty, as death by life. Cf. Mat_19:28 ‘ye which have followed me … shall sit on twelve thrones.’

if we deny him] The ms. authority requires the future if we shall deny him, cf. Mat_10:32-33. The future there and here indicates ‘ethical possibility,’ i.e. what can and may take place, viewed speculatively. Is it not possible that this very phrase of the ‘Oral Gospel’ embodied in Mat_10:33 may have already found a place in this earliest of hymns?

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If we suffer,.... With him, with Christ, as in Rom 8:17 all the elect suffered with Christ when he suffered; they suffered in him the whole penalty of the law, all the righteousness, strictness, and severity of it; and they are partakers of the benefits of his sufferings, as peace, pardon, righteousness, redemption, and everlasting salvation. And such being called by grace, and having made a profession of Christ, they suffer shame and reproach, loss of credit and reputation, and sometimes loss of goods, and corporeal punishment, and even death itself: but though they do, and if they should, they may be satisfied of the truth of this,

we shall also reign with him; they reign with him now in the kingdom of grace; grace reigns in their hearts, where Christ, the King of glory, has entered, and has set up his throne, and where he dwells by faith, they being made kings and priests unto God by him; and they shall reign with him in his kingdom here on earth, for the space of a thousand years; and they shall reign with him in glory to all eternity: this is certain, for this kingdom is prepared for them, it is given to them, they are called unto it, and have both a right unto, and meetness for it; see Rom 8:17,

if we deny him, he also will deny us: there is a denying of Christ in words; so it is denied by the Jews that Christ is come in the flesh, and that Jesus is the Messiah; and some that have bore the Christian name, though very unworthily, have denied his true deity, his real humanity, proper sonship, and the efficacy of his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, for pardon, justification, and atonement: and there is a denying of him in works; so some that profess to know him, and do own him in his person and offices, yet in works deny him; their conversation is not becoming their profession of him; they have the form of godliness, but deny the power of it: there is a secret and silent denying of him, when men are ashamed of him, and do not confess him; and there is an open denying of him, by such who set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh throughout the earth; there is a partial denying of Christ, which was Peter's case, though his faith in him, and love to him, were not lost; and there is a total denying of him, a thorough apostasy, and from which there is no recovery; and if there be any such apostates among those who have named the name of Christ, he will deny them, he will not own them for his another day; he will set them at his left hand; he will declare he knows them not, and will banish them from his presence for evermore. This is another branch of the faithful saying; this will certainly be the case; Christ himself has said it, Mat 10:33.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Ver. 12. If we suffer] No wearing the crown but by bearing the cross first. Ne Iesum quidem audias gloriosum, nisi videris prius crucifixum, saith Luther (Epist. ad Melancthon). Christ himself was not glorified till first crucified. Queen Elizabeth is said to have swam to her crown through a sea of sorrow; so must we.

If we deny him] {See Trapp on "Mat 10:33"} God usually retaliates, pays men home in their own coin, proportions jealousy to jealousy, provocation to provocation, Deu 22:21; Isa 66:3-4.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him - The meaning is, that the members will be treated as the Head is. We become united with him by faith, and, if we share his treatment on earth, we shall share his triumphs in heaven; see the notes at Rom 8:17.

If we deny him, he also will deny us; - see the notes at Mat 10:32-33.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him; that is, if we suffer for his name’s sake, for a constant owning and adherence to his doctrine of faith, or discharge of any trust he hath reposed in us, we shall reign with him in glory.

If we deny him, he also will deny us; but if we, upon prospect of danger, deny his truth, or desert the profession of him, he in the day of judgment will not own us before his Father and the holy angels, Mat 10:33; Mar 8:38; Rom 8:17.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Endure for suffer, A.V; shall deny for deny, A.V and T.R. Endure; as ver. 10. Mark the present tense as distinguished from the aorist in ajpeqanomen, betokening patient continuance in suffering. If we shall deny him (ajrnhsomeqa); comp. Mat_10:30; Luk_12:9; Act_3:13, Act_3:14, etc.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If we deny him - To escape suffering for him.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

12. If we suffer. We die in order to live. So our suffering with Christ “works out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Compare also Rom. 8:17, and Matt. 19:27, 28. If we deny him. See Matt. 10:33.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

12. ἀρνησόμεθα. So א*AC f and the Bohairic. ἀρνούμεθα, the rec. reading, is supported by אcD2EKLP d e; it seems to be a correction of tense due to a misunderstanding of the sequence of thought in the three clauses. See note in loc.

12. εἰ ὑπομένομεν. We have again a close parallel in the Ep. to the Romans (Rom 8:17), εἵπερ συνπάσχομεν ἵνα καὶ συνδοξασθῶμεν; cp. Rom 5:17 and Rev 1:6. The verb συμβασιλεύειν only occurs in the N.T. here and in 1Co 4:8.

εἰ ἀρνησόμεθα κ.τ.λ., if we shall deny Him, He also will deny us, a reminiscence of our Lord’s words recorded in Mat 10:33, words which may well have been present to the mind of many a martyr for the Name of Christ. The tense ἀρνησόμεθα has in this third clause been made future, to mark a mere contingency, improbable in itself and to be deprecated.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If we suffer we shall also reign with him [ει υπομενομεν, και συνβασιλευσομεν] . For suffer, rend. endure. Sunbasileuein to reign with, only here and 1Co 4:8. Comp. Luk 19:17, 19; Luk 22:29, 30; Rom 5:17; Rev 4:4; Rev 5:10; Rev 22:5.

If we deny him he also will deny us [ει αρνησομεθα. κακεινος αρνησεται ημας] . The verb P o. Him must be supplied. The meaning of the last clause is, will not acknowledge us as his own. Comp. Luk 9:26; Mt 10:33.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.