2 Timothy 1:8

Ver. 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner. Having received from God such a spirit, show it now by repressing all emotions of shame, and boldly avowing your adherence to the faith of Christ, and your connection with me as His apostle. The exhortation does not imply that any indication had yet been given by Timothy of an improper sense of shame; rather the reverse, indeed, it is a fatherly admonition, lest he should give way to the feeling (μὴ ἐπαισχυνθῇς, coupled here, as elsewhere, with the accusative, 2 Timothy 1:16; Romans 1:16). But amid the painful experiences of the apostle at the time of his writing, seeing how one after another of his old friends had been dropping away from him, and now only one faithful companion remained to stand by him (2 Timothy 4:10-11), we cannot wonder that he should have manifested solicitude about his beloved Timothy, and called him to exhibit another spirit. The testimony of Christ, or, as it is put somewhat unusually, of our Lord (see, however, 1 Timothy 1:14; Hebrews 7:14), is certainly not Christ's personal martyrion. His martyr death, or the witnessing that had to be borne respecting it, but all that the faithful servant and minister of Christ was bound to testify concerning His person and work, His life and death. The genitive, therefore, is the genitive of the object (μαρ. τοῦ Κυρίου): the primary aim of apostolic and evangelistic work was to bear witness about Him (Acts 1:8; Acts 2:32). And with this primary testimony St. Paul couples himself as the Lord's prisoner, a prisoner, that is, for the Lord's sake, and in a sense also (though this only by implication) by the Lord's appointment. It was the duty of Timothy to be no more ashamed of the apostle in such a crisis than of the gospel itself: for Christ was, in a manner, suffering in His servant; and to turn the back on the one (considering the closeness of Timothy's relation to him), would have been virtually to turn it on the other.

From what Timothy should not do, the apostle proceeds to say what he should: But suffer hardship with me for the gospel, according to the power of God. The preposition (σὺν) in the verb (συγκακοπάθησον seems to be most naturally referred to the apostle; as the question which now presented itself for solution was, whether Timothy would join himself with the apostle in suffering for the gospel, or to avoid the suffering would stand aloof. Not, therefore, as in the A.V., “be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel” (which also somewhat harshly represents the gospel as susceptible of suffering), but be partaker of affliction, or suffer hardship with me, for the gospel εὐαγγελίῳ the Dat. of interest, for its sake, or on its behalf We have a similar mode of expression in Philippians 1:27, “Striving together for the faith of the gospel” (συναθλοῦντες τῇ πίστει τοῦ εὐαγ.). When the apostle exhorts Timothy to share with him in this readiness to suffer for the gospel according to the power of God, he points to the great things done by God in the matter of salvation as a ground and motive for something corresponding being done by us: Consider what power He has displayed in meeting with and overcoming the evils of our condition, and in that power show that you have become a partaker. Chrys.: “Because it was a hard saying, Suffer hardship, he again comforts him, saying, not according to our works; that is, Do not think to bear these things by thine own power, but by the power of God; for it is thine to choose and be ready to undertake, but it is God's to relieve and to give rest. Then also he brings forth proofs of His [God's] power: Consider how thou wert saved; how thou wert called. As he says elsewhere, According to His mighty power that works in us. Thus there is greater power required to persuade the world than to make the heavens. How wert thou called?” he asks: “ By a holy calling. That is. He made those holy who were sinners and enemies; and these things are not of us they are the gift of God.”