Paul has just likened the Christian life to that of a soldier, an athlete and a farmer, all hard workers, training and toiling.
(8) Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel,
Paul personalized the Gospel, that Jesus was born into the royal family of King David, and He rose from the dead to never die again, to reign on David's throne.
(9) for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.
He is so impassioned for his Lord to be known that he is willing to suffer whatever hardship is necessary, even being mistreated as a criminal.
Even though he is in prison, the message is not, and is still going out, even more!
(10) For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.
He will go through all this for his love for those who will believe, his sisters and brothers in the Lord, who will not only be rescued here, but also will sit with King Jesus on His throne ruling with Him, as He sits in His Father's throne.
(11) It is a trustworthy statement:
This opening formula is always attached to a maxim relating to doctrine or practice on which full reliance can be placed.
This is generally thought to be an early Christian hymn. It is in the typical form of Hebrew poetic parallelism, with four "if" clauses.
For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
This is in the aorist tense, indicating a crisis. Paul spells this out in Romans 6: 3-6, 8, 11. It's only as we die with Christ, in admitting He died our death, that we can have spiritual life with Him right now, as His Holy Spirit lives in us. We must die in order to live.
(12) If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
To endure is in the present continuous tense, indicating that we are to continually keep on enduring to the end, not giving up, to reign with Him on His throne.
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
This does not say we can lose our salvation. If we give in to denying our relationship with Him, He will deny our rewards that would have been due us. We will suffer much loss eternally in our ruling position in doing this, so we must stay strong even in the midst of the maelstrom that will swirl around us. We have the Armor of God (in Ephesians 6: 13-18), in which we will be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. No excuse.
(13) If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
Even if we give in to the forces arrayed against us, and are unfaithful to Him, He will still be faithful to us, to do everything He said He would do: in us, to us, for us and through us. Our Lord God is good, and true, and faithful. Nothing can change Him, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We can count on it. And put our full trust in Him.
O my Father, thank You so much for being who You are, our Almighty God. Thank You for being true to Yourself, so that we can trust You. You have shown Yourself to be completely worthy of all of our trust, regardless of what may be going on around us.
My Father, strengthen us to withstand whatever the world will throw at us. When we stumble, we will not fall; Your hand will hold us up. When we are perplexed, we will never give in; we can trust that You know what You're doing. When we're persecuted, we know You will not forsake us; and when we are cast down, we will not be destroyed, but You will raise us up. (II Corinthians 4: 8-9.)
Father, even when we will be dying in our flesh, we know that we are alive in Your Spirit forevermore. We need not fear anyone who can only attack us in this world. We've read the last chapter--we win!
O Father, we who are in Christ are safe. Please send us out as Your messengers and missionaries to share with every living person in the world how much You have loved us all, and want everyone to turn to You to receive Your generous and gracious gift. Father, Your hands are open wide, draw all of Your embryonic children to Yourself. Let everyone understand enough to turn to You, and those who refuse and rebel will have no excuse.
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
