Search Tools


 
Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

2:9 not bound. As the old saying goes, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” The great apostle would never emerge again from his miserable prison, but the world can never imprison the Word of God, which Paul had preached so faithfully for many years, and would still proclaim as long as he lived. Its enemies have been many and mighty, but nineteen centuries later it remains the most widely read and most influential book ever written.


2:10 for the elect’s sake. The Scriptures in a very natural way combine the doctrines of divine election and human responsibility, apparently not concerned with the problem this would later seem to pose to generations of theologians. Paul was willing to suffer countless difficulties and persecutions so that the elect might hear and believe and receive the salvation for which they already had been chosen by God before the world began. The apparent paradox is only resolved in terms of the infinite mind and ability of the Creator. We may not be able to understand how both can be true, just as we cannot see both sides of a coin at the same time. However, both sides are real, and both doctrines are true. We can believe and rejoice in both truths, even though we don’t yet comprehend how each supports the other.


2:11 faithful saying. On the “faithful sayings,” see note on I Timothy 1:15. This particular saying reminds us again of the great truth that Christ died for us and rose again, so that we can identify with Him by faith and receive eternal life. See Romans 6:4-10; Galatians 2:20.


About the New Defender's Study Bible