Many American Christians think that Christians who suffer for Jesus live somewhere else—in nations where Christians endure imprisonments, beatings, and martyrdom for their testimony.
But how can this be the only kind of suffering that the apostle Paul has in mind if he invites Timothy to join him in suffering? Physical persecution is something that happens to someone, right? Can someone enter into sufferings? Paul seems to think so.
“So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God” (1:8).
“Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2:3).
Paul invites Timothy to join him in suffering. That’s an unusual invitation. Does this mean that Christians are supposed to try to suffer? Is that what Paul means when he invites Timothy to join him in suffering?
The answer, I believe, must be no. It’s clear that in 2 Timothy, Paul doesn’t intend for Timothy to try to get thrown into prison or martyred. Rather than isolating the above-quoted verses, if you read them with sensitivity to the letter’s literary context, you can see what Paul intends when he invites Timothy into suffering. Paul is exhorting his young friend and mentee to do hard things and make sacrifices to get the gospel out and build up Christian communities. In some cases this results in persecution, but only in some cases. This observation keeps us from separating ourselves—that is, those who reside in countries largely free of persecution—from those who live in countries where external persecution is a lived reality. Paul’s words apply to us, too.
That doing hard things and making sacrifices is Paul’s point gets reinforced throughout the letter when Paul calls on Timothy to make various kinds of sacrifices. I see eight sacrifices Paul calls on Timothy to make (or that he reminds Timothy that he has already made) in 2 Timothy. Along with each example, I will comment on how each sacrifice constitutes a type of suffering. Here are eight sacrifices in 2 Timothy—in the order they appear in the letter.
Sacrifice 1: Doing the slow and patient work of passing on the faith to mentees who will then pass on what they have learned to others (2:2). How is this suffering? To a spiritual mentor it can feel like nothing is movingin the one with whom they are spending time and trying to inculcate wisdom; rather it frequently feels like doing one-on-one spiritual training is a waste of time.
Sacrifice 2: Not getting entangled in the affairs of everyday life; staying focused and hard-working (2:4-6). How is this suffering? A Christian must battle to keep from getting pulled into the things of the world. A Christian either fights the battle or gets assimilated.
Sacrifice 3: Patiently correcting and instructing people who speak foolish and ignorant words (2:14, 23-26; 4:2). How is this suffering? Christians who correct those who speak foolish and ignorant words, even when correction is expressed wisely and lovingly, often become targets for backbiting and gossip from those whom they seek to reprove.
Sacrifice 4: Fleeing youthful lusts (2:22). How is this suffering? Anyone who has fought against temptation will be painfully aware that saying no to one’s sinful urges can be excruciatingly difficult.
Sacrifice 5: Doing ministry in places where physical persecution is more likely to take place (3:11-12; cf. Acts 13:45, 50; 14:2, 5-6; 14:19). How is this suffering? Some places are simply more dangerous for Christians to live in or even visit. Your decision to relocate to a more dangerous place makes you susceptible to future suffering.
Sacrifice 6: Faithfully preaching during seasons of high receptivity and low receptivity, “in season and out of season” (4:2-4). How is this suffering? Faithful preaching demands substantial grit by a preacher to keep proclaiming and applying God’s word when such preaching appears to have little impact.
Sacrifice 7: Doing the work of an evangelist (4:5). How is this suffering? A Christian who shares his or her faith is likely—at least sometimes—to feel the social embarrassment of talking to people who don’t agree…or even strongly disagree.
Sacrifice 8: Visiting prisoners—and thereby risking association with a person deemed to be a criminal (4:9). How is this suffering? You might find yourself associated with someone viewed by the state as a criminal or even end up in prison yourself. (Note that Timothy did eventually land in prison, see Hebrews 13:23. Notice also the example of Onesiphorus who was “not ashamed of my chains” 2 Tim 1:16).
These eight categories of sacrifices appear to be what Paul has in mind when he invites Timothy to join him in suffering.
Practically, this means that if you are a Christian, you can be certain that God will at various moments in your life call you to do hard things or sacrifice yourself to get the gospel out and build up his church. Here are a few examples (among many) of the types of (hard) things God might call you to do.
- Move into a less safe neighborhood to meet the physical and spiritual needs of your new neighbors.
- Invite younger believers to join you in street witnessing (or beach or park witnessing) to model how to effectively share the gospel.
- Step into harder long-term church ministries. (Think of a pastor/elder who sometimes has to enforce discipline when a church member sins and refuses to repent).
- Open your home through hospitality (hard for introverts).
- Escape for a three-day solitary prayer retreat to pray about the ministries God has given you to do (hard for extroverts).
- Substantially scale down expenses to free up money for the work of the Lord.
- Relationally connect with the persecuted church.
When we acknowledge the various types of sacrifices Paul mentions in 2 Timothy, we will better understand how Paul can claim that: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (3:12). Do all Christians, including those living in the USA, suffer persecution? Yes—or at least employing Paul’s categories, all Christians should be making sacrifices for the sake of the gospel and God’s church. Though Paul wrote these words just after mentioning Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra (where Paul and his co-workers were verbally opposed and had rocks literally thrown at them—almost killing Paul in Lystra [3:11]), notice that Paul immediately follows 3:12 by writing about imposters who “go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (3:13). In other words, everyone who follows Christ will experience hardship—sometimes of the Lystra-stoning type, but sometimes through having to deal with imposters in the church. There are various ways following Christ can result in hardship.
Are some places in the world worse for Christian suffering than others? Yes, Christians in countries like North Korea, Afghanistan, Eritrea, and northern Nigeria face extreme danger for their Christian testimony, including imprisonment, beatings, and martyrdom. We dare not minimize that fact.
But this does not mean that we who live in very or relatively free places can whistle our way through life on the assumption that we don’t need to suffer the way some Christians do. The theme of intentionally entering into hardship in 2 Timothy (for the gospel and God’s church) applies equally to someone living in the USA as it does to a Christian living in Iran, Sudan, or Myanmar. As Paul writes, “But you…endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry” (4:5).
I know. This goes against one of the predominate cultural values shared by people throughout North America and Western Europe: avoid hardship whenever possible. But Paul would disagree with this culturally-conditioned impulse. In the final letter Paul writes before his death, Paul instructs his mentee (along with any who would later read 2 Timothy) to intentionally join him in suffering—to enter into various kinds of sacrifices for the sake of the gospel and the church of Jesus Christ.
Early announcement: In June of 2026, only two months from now, pastor Keith Krell and I will release a book entitled: God’s Purposes in Our Pain: How God Uses Suffering for Our Good (Crossway). It’s already available for pre-ordering.
Kindle Afresh 