Three Metaphors

The book of Acts ends with Paul’s first Roman imprisonment, from which he was eventually released and which was a comparative walk in the park.

Acts is the final historical book of the New Testament, so we must infer anything further about Paul’s life and ministry from his later letters. Without an independent witness to Paul’s travels, trials and tribulations, we only know what went on by reading between the lines of the apostle’s subsequent correspondence with local churches, friends and associates.

Everything we know about the circumstances of his second imprisonment comes from 2 Timothy.

The First Imprisonment

From what Luke has to say about Paul’s first imprisonment, it sounds as if he was actually better off than at many times in his travels. Rather than throwing him into Caesar’s dungeon to await trial, the Roman authorities permitted Paul to rent his own lodging and stay there under the supervision of a single guard, from which he was able to teach and evangelize without impediment for the next two years, welcoming all who came to visit him.

We can supplement that account from a few personal notes in Paul’s prison epistles. In Colossians, we learn that Luke was still with him and that his companions and caregivers in Rome were mostly Gentiles. He concludes the epistle with the words “Remember my chains”, but it is also clear that he was able to read, write, visit and freely correspond during this period. In Ephesians, he calls himself “a prisoner of Christ Jesus”, “a prisoner for the Lord” and “an ambassador in chains”, but does not dwell on his personal difficulties. In Philippians, he reveals the gospel had spread through the entire Imperial Guard because of his imprisonment, and that others in Rome were confidently spreading the word as a result. He had even made converts in Caesar’s household. By the time he wrote Philemon, he seems to have anticipated imminent release. Philippians also hints at this hope. When he wrote 1 Timothy and sent the epistle to Ephesus, Paul was between imprisonments.

Back in Chains

By the time we get to 2 Timothy, Paul is back in chains, and the circumstances are less congenial than during his first visit to Rome. He refers to suffering this time around. Rather than living in a rented house with friends coming and going at will, he writes:

“All who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me — may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!”

During his first imprisonment, Paul’s whereabouts were well known and he seems to have had almost constant companionship. This time around, not so much. Onesiphorus had to search for him, his trial was already underway, and his friends had almost entirely deserted him. Only Luke remained.

He also had no expectation of release. Quite the opposite; toward the end of the book, he writes:

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

Paul’s final instructions presume it would be some time before any verdict would be pronounced. He expected he would still be incarcerated come winter, and urged Timothy to try to come before then.

Share in Suffering

So it is in this context — rejection, abandonment, suffering and the expectation of martyrdom — that the apostle writes these words in chapter 2:

“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

The apostle has used three metaphors here to describe the life of a sold-out servant of Christ, and he’s inviting Timothy to spend himself and be spent for the Lord in exactly the way his mentor has served his Master over the decades. Considering the circumstances in which he writes this, not everyone would leap at that invitation!

Picking Apart the Imagery

As with all biblical imagery, we need to ask ourselves which specific aspect of each metaphor is in view. For example:

1/ The Good Soldier

If we only had the words “good soldier”, we might imagine Paul was referring to skill in waging spiritual warfare, tenacity or tactical wisdom. But his second sentence clarifies that he is talking about focus. A “good soldier” is single-minded. He does not allow himself to become distracted from his mission. He is under orders and has a commander he is trying to please. It is not wickedness or worldliness that might take Timothy off course, but getting “entangled in civilian affairs”. These may not be evil at all, but they are to be rejected because they are not “on mission”. The servant of God has higher priorities.

In the spiritual sense then, a good soldier is undistracted and undistractable. He is single-minded in pursuit of the goal.

2/ The Crowned Athlete

A king receives his crown because he happened to be born into the right family, or because his rivals are all dead. The diadem on one’s brow or in a display case is no reflection of intrinsic worth, as certain members of the British royal family continue to demonstrate. By way of contrast, the crown in view in these verses is an honorary wreath [stephanos] conferred on the victor in a contest. You only get it if you actually do something, not for simply showing up. For this reason, the Olympic Games were also called the Stephanitic Games, because winners received only a crown for victory rather than financial or material prizes. The stephanos is also associated with the Lord Jesus, always with the words “glory and honor”. His stephanos is a separate thing from his royal crown as heir to David’s throne.

Again, we must ask what aspect of athleticism Paul has in view. He is not talking about speed, the development of musculature, or even physical discipline, but about paying attention to the rules of the game. In 1904, Frederick Lorz hitched a ride in a car for 11 miles of the St. Louis Olympic marathon, then jumped out and jogged to the finish line, where he was hailed as the winner. Naturally, he was later disqualified when his deception came to light. The crowned athlete is the one who completes the contest in compliance with the terms he accepts when he enters it. Just as the faster man in the race is disqualified if he is later discovered to have used performance enhancing drugs, so the servant of Christ may be disqualified from his reward if he serves without self-control. In the kingdom of God, there are no shortcuts to success.

3/ The Hard-Working Farmer

Farming is fundamentally a natural process. Provided I sprinkle enough seed over a wide enough area, I will still probably reap some sort of harvest even if I do not first pull up trees, plow the soil, then later tend and protect my crop as it grows. Nature has its own script, and it will still do much of the work for me. But the farmer who is invested, hard-working and takes ownership of the process, going out daily into the field to water his crop, is going to see better results than I will by simply flinging handfuls of seed into the field and then heading off to watch TV, perhaps thirty, sixty or a hundred times what I may produce.

Like nature, Christ will build his church regardless of my performance. Salvation is the work of God, and the making of disciples is also a natural process. I may preach the gospel and never follow up. But even if I do not get heavily invested in the work of Christ, some of the spiritual seed I have scattered may still germinate and grow to maturity, ultimately resulting in glory to God. I have known men and women who received Christ on the testimony of some fairly uninvested believers, quickly going on to surpass them.

But is such an indifferent approach to my credit? Of course not. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to be entitled to the first share of what he produces, and it is the servant of Christ who diligently pursues the task of making disciples from beginning to end who will rejoice in a rich harvest of souls.

The Invitation

Did you get involved in the service of Christ to share in his suffering, or Paul’s or Timothy’s? Probably not. Nevertheless, this is the invitation Paul extends to his young associate: share in suffering.

Do you want to be effective in preaching and teaching? Be prepared to miss out on lots of good things in this life, because you will need to remain completely undistracted. You may be thought fussy, or weird, or driven, or any number of uncomplimentary things by those unwilling to make the same sacrifices.

Do you want to receive glory from God? Be prepared to play by the rules, which will involve accepting restrictions others do not. Restrictions on your conduct, financial dealings, manner of speech, diet and weight, and all manner of other inconveniences and limitations. Be prepared even to accept restrictions on how you argue a theological point. Again, you will stick out like a sore thumb, even among fellow believers.

Do you want to rejoice in the fruits of your labor? Be prepared to chop down the undergrowth, plow the soil, chase away the crows, water the growing seed and pull up the weeds that may choke it out. You may have to be available 24/7 until the crop comes in. Are you up to that? Not everyone is.

Serving Christ is a lot of work, and it comes at a cost. Timothy, it seems, was willing to pay it. Are we?