Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
“Therefore,” because the Word of God is not bound, Paul says, “I endure everything.” Paul’s suffering and imprisonment would be intolerable if that meant the end of the gospel, of its freely being preached. But that is not the case. So he can endure everything, because the gospel continues unbound, still wins victory after victory.
Paul is not thinking of himself and feeling sorry for himself. He is thinking of those who are still benefiting from the gospel. The “elect” are all those whom God chose in eternity, who have been or will be brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be preserved in that faith through the Word and finally “obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” For their sake Paul endures everything. In him they can see that the way to glory leads through suffering. Paul was an example of what he taught, that “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). What an encouragement Paul offers to fellow Christians by his patience and endurance while suffering affliction and persecution for the sake of the gospel!
Paul now recites a “trustworthy saying” that further shows the relationship between suffering and glory. From the way he introduces the saying, “Here is a trustworthy saying” (in Greek simply, “trustworthy the saying”), it seems that Paul is referring to a saying familiar to Timothy. Its form is poetic, each verse containing a condition and conclusion. The condition states the circumstances under which the conclusion follows, not necessarily a condition we must fulfill to gain or earn what follows in the conclusion.
When did we die with Christ? What does it mean to live with him? Paul gives the answer to these questions in Romans 6:2-11. He tells us that we were “buried with him [Christ] through baptism into death.” With him our “old self was crucified.” Thus joined to Christ and his death by faith, we also live with him now in newness of life. And we share in his resurrection to life eternal in heaven. By baptism, by the faith we there receive, we have a part in Christ’s death and resurrection.
The Christian’s life in this world calls for endurance. Jesus said, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13). To Christians in the face of persecution, the living and exalted Lord says, “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). Those who wear crowns are kings, so the Lord says of them that “they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). What a glorious prospect! What an encouragement for patience in suffering!
There is a corresponding warning: “If we disown him, he will also disown us.” This echoes Jesus’ own words: “Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:33). Even those who render Christ lip service during Sunday worship may deny him by their ungodly lives during the week. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (7:21). Those who have served only with their lips will hear the fearful words of Jesus on the day of judgment: “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (verse 23). As pastors, as Christians, we must take care lest ungodly lives deny him whom we with our lips claim as our own. The pastor’s life is a sermon that either confesses Christ or denies him.
“If we are faithless,” what then? Will the Lord also then become faithless toward us? Not so. Never. The Lord ever remains faithful to his promises. “He cannot disown himself.” He would not be God if he were to become unfaithful. Paul writes to the Romans: “What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar” (3:3,4). “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
Does this mean that it really doesn’t matter much if we are faithless? By no means, let the unbeliever, let whoever turns from faith to unbelief, let whoever denies Christ by his ungodly life be warned. A faithful God remains true to his word, also his word of judgment: “Whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
It nevertheless remains a comfort and an encouragement to know that God remains faithful. To disown God and reject his grace in unbelief will indeed result in rejection. But God invites the sinner to repent, to return. When the sinner does, he will find the same grace and forgiveness from which he had turned. It remains and is there for the returning prodigal.
Luther applies this to our baptisms: “If anybody falls away from his Baptism let him return to it. As Christ, the mercy-seat, does not recede from us or forbid us to return to him even though we sin, so all his treasures and gifts remain. As we have once obtained forgiveness of sins in Baptism, so forgiveness remains day by day as long as we live.”8 Those who have become faithless, a pastor (shepherd) will seek to bring back; he will “go to look for the one [sheep] that wandered off” (Matthew 18:12).