Paul proceeded to undergird his appeal to suffer hardship with the examples of Jesus (v. 8) and Paul (vv. 9-10).
2:8 The greatest example of suffering hardship for a worthy purpose, of course, is Jesus Christ. Paul urged Timothy to meditate on His example too. This is the only place in this epistle where Paul arranged Jesus' names in this order (cf. 1 Tim. 6:3, 14; Titus 1:1; 2:13; 3:6). He probably did so to stress Jesus' humanity.
Paul may have intended his references to Jesus' resurrection and lineage to provoke meditation on our Lord's vindication and reign following His sufferings. Jesus was the culmination of a line of rulers whom God's enemies consistently opposed and persecuted. The record of Jesus Christ was part of the gospel Paul preached and the gospel Timothy was in danger of neglecting (1:8). Paul could call the gospel "my gospel"because God had entrusted it to him.
"The perfect tense of the participle for raised' suggests that Paul was stressing the result of Christ's resurrection, the demonstration of his lordship (Rom 1:4), rather than the fact of the resurrection. . . .
"Second, the mention that Christ descended from David' shows that Christ has messianic qualifications and is the heir to the glorious promises of God for David. . . .
"The memory of Christ cloaked with resurrection power and messianic dignity is an inspiration for Christian service."27
"The Davidic Messiah who suffered and was raised from the dead is the very essence of Paul's gospel."28
2:9 Paul, too, was willing to suffer hardship for the gospel. He had done so all his Christian life and was presently in prison because of it. The Greek word translated "criminal"(kakourger) is a strong one and occurs only in Luke 23:32, 33, and 39 elsewhere in the New Testament. There it describes the criminals crucified with Jesus. Under Nero's persecution non-Christians viewed Christians as serious criminals. Timothy needed to remember that the Word of God was just as powerful to change lives as ever. Its power was as great as it ever was even though its champion defender was in chains. Therefore Timothy should continue to proclaim it.
2:10 Because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation Paul was content to endure anything so long as this message went forth.29He had been the chief suppresser of the gospel (Acts. 22:4; 26:9-11). Now he was its chief promoter. He had been the greatest oppressor of the saints. Now he was the most greatly oppressed of them.
"While the majority of the commentators understand the elect' to refer to the unregenerate who have not yet believed (but certainly will), there is good reason to understand the term in this context as a virtual synonym for a regenerate saint. First of all, in everyusage of the term applied to men, in the New Testament it alwaysrefers to a justified saint. Conversely, it neverrefers to someone who was elect in eternity past but who has not yet entered into the purpose of their election, justification. . . . It is best to understand by the elect' Timothy and the faithful men of v. 2. Timothy is being exhorted to suffer in his ministry to the faithful men just as Paul has been imprisoned for his ministry to the elect.' The idea of Paul suffering for the sanctification and growth of the churches is a common New Testament theme, and is easily seen in this passage as well.
"Here then are saved people in need of salvation! The salvation in view is necessarily sanctification or, perhaps, more precisely, victorious perseverance through trials (1:8; 2:3, 9)."30
