2 Timothy 2:9

ἐν ᾧ κακοπαθῶ : in which sphere of action, cf. Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 10:14; Philippians 4:2. The connexion seems to be that St. Paul is now indicating that he himself, in his degree, is an imitator of Jesus Christ.

ὡς κακοῦργος (see reff.): malefactor (R.V.). Evil doer (A.V.) does not so vividly express the notion of criminality implied in the word. Ramsay notes that the use of this word here marks “exactly the tone of the Neronian period, and … refers expressly to the flagitia, for which the Christians were condemned under Nero, and for which they were no longer condemned in A.D. 112” (Church in the Roman Empire, p. 249). Compare 1 Peter 4:15.

ἀλλὰ οὐ δέδεται : We have the same contrast between the apostle's own restricted liberty and the unconfinable range of the Gospel in Philippians 1:12; Philippians 1:14, and 2 Timothy 4:17. There is no reference, as Chrys. supposes, to the liberty permitted to St. Paul to preach the kingdom of God in his prison, as during the first imprisonment (Acts 28:30-31). The clause here is a natural reflective parenthetical remark.