--- title: "2 Timothy 2 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary" description: "Read 2 Timothy 2 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commi" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2" --- [ Read](/kjv/2-timothy/2)[ Commentary](/study/2-timothy/2)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/2-timothy/2) Audio 1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of *this* life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 5 And if a man also strive for masteries, *yet* is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. 6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. 7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. 8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: 9 Where in I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, *even* unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. 10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 *It is* a faithful saying: For if we be dead with *him*, we shall also live with *him*: 12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with *him*: if we deny *him*, he also will deny us: 13 If we believe not, *yet* he abideth faithful: he can not deny himself. 14 Of these things put *them* in remembrance, charging *them* before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, *but* to the subverting of the hearers. 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane *and* vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, *and* prepared unto every good work. 22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. 24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all *men*, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And *that* they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. [2 Timothy 1](/study/2-timothy/1) [2 Timothy 3](/study/2-timothy/3) ## Commentary To verse 1 *STRENGTHENING GRACE* **‘Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.’** ** [2 Timothy 2:1](/kjv/2-timothy/2/1)** ** The Holy Spirit speaking through St. Paul does not say ‘be strong’ merely. That would only end in despair. It is not ‘Be strong,’ but ‘Be strong—be strengthened in the strength that is already freely given to thee.’ God has loved thee, God has baptized thee, God has marked thy forehead with His cross, God has laid His hands upon thee and made thy very body the temple of the Holy Ghost, God has poured into thee all the strength thou dost need. Does the hand feel withered? There is a power to stretch it out. Does the body, the will, feel paralysed? There is a force, not thine own, supernatural, within thee, through the indwelling of God the blessed Spirit, that shall lift thee up to go on thy way rejoicing. ‘My child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.’ **I. Try to lay hold of this difference:** on the one side it is like that saying to the branch lying in the street, ‘Rise up, bear leaves, bear flowers, bear fruit!’ The Bible teaching is, ‘Branch in that tree, branch grafted by God’s own hand into that living tree, with the sap all flowing through thee, bring forth fruit in due season.’ The one teaching is like saying to the rusty iron tossed aside into the dust-heap, ‘Send out on all sides sparks of light, and life, and warmth.’ The other is like saying to the same bit of iron in the middle of a furnace, heated by God Himself, ‘Become radiant, let the fire kindle, let the warmth diffuse that has come into thee from God, by Whom thou hast been placed in the very midst of the fire of heaven.’ That you cannot do better, of course you cannot, than the words of the text; not ‘Be strong,’ but ‘My son, my daughter, my child, let the power that is within be manifested, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.’ **II. How utterly deficient we are in this**.—Who amongst us is not tempted to be satisfied with weakness when we are called to power? (*a*) *We are told to repent*. (*b*) *We are called to believe*. We hold back and we lose power. **III. The power of God is ‘made perfect in weakness.’**—You are feeling the reaction. You did once work with a will, you had once a bright hope, you did once find joy in the Lord: it has gone, you cannot claim it, you cannot recall it. You can! There is the power of the living God, with all the joy and the peace and the hope and the force that shall crush under thy feet every doubt of the world, the flesh, and the devil. —Bishop G. H. Wilkinson. **Illustration** ‘About the fifth or sixth century, in one of the very cold climates of Europe, a great persecution was raised against the Christians. It was determined that not one single man or woman who acknowledged Christ should be allowed to live. And there forty young men, all young, all in the prime of life, and they were taken to a great castle in those northern wilds. They were led into the courtyard, and there was seen a fire blazing with all its genial warmth. And then they were led into the rooms with comfortable couches, and into great baronial halls spread with costly viands and food of every kind. And one by one they were told, “Give up your Christianity, give up Christ, let nobody know you are a Christian.” Oh, what a parable it is of the way Satan whispers, “You will fall one day; you had much better make no profession. It will be very hard to bear to be quite alone and laughed at and made the offscouring of the earth. Eat, drink, and be merry. There is the warm fire, there is the companionship of all whom you love and respect. Just give up the Crucified.” And these men said what St. Peter said in the olden time, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. We have the mark of the cross on our forehead. We belong to Jesus Christ. We are strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. We shall die if you like, but we keep the truth.” Oh, would to God every man and woman here would say that when they go into business tomorrow, when they go out to the world, “I am on the side of Christ.” And they went out these forty men, and the cold was piercing, and they made a rough chant to keep the circulation going. “Lord Jesus,” they sang, “here are forty warriors come out to die for Thee. Grant that forty warriors may wear the crown in paradise.” ’ ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2","name":"2 Timothy 2 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read 2 Timothy 2 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commi","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","name":"the church pulpit commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy","name":"2 Timothy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/2-timothy/2","name":"2"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```