Always Faithful
2 Timothy 2:1-16[1]
One of the challenges of living in these days of turmoil
and strife is that it can leave you wondering on whom you can depend. The
polarization we are all feeling divides churches, friends, families, and even
marriages. It can make you uncertain about whom you can trust, or even with
whom you can even discuss your concerns. That’s on top of the normal challenges
we have with our relationships and our commitments. Even in the best of times,
employees may find their years of loyalty to their companies rewarded with a
pink slip. Friends have disagreements that turn into ruptures that turn into years
of estrangement. Couples that pledge “til death do us part” find themselves
going their separate ways. Relationships are always complicated, and because we’re
human it’s always difficult to know on whom you can depend. It’s even more so
in these trying times.
I would say that all of this is particularly challenging
when you add betrayal to the mix. I don’t know about you, but I personally find
betrayal something most difficult to forgive. I’ve learned over the years to
forgive a lot. But forgiving a perceived betrayal of trust can be difficult.
Most of us have some experience with this unfortunate part of human life. The
truth of the matter is that people simply let us down sometimes. They very
likely mean well, but when push comes to shove, they can disappoint us in the
most disheartening of ways. Of course, since we’re “people” too, that applies
to us as well. Recognizing that about myself helps me to forgive others. And as
we all know, forgiving someone is something we do as much for ourselves as we
do for one who we think has wronged us. But betrayal remains a challenge. It
can take a long time, maybe years, maybe even decades, to forgive a perceived
betrayal of trust. Truth be told, some of us never get there.
If you pay close attention to the story of the people who
claim to trust and obey God, you find that we have betrayed God’s trust
repeatedly. That’s the theme of the history books in the Bible: there is a
cycle of betrayal, the subjugation of the people by a hostile enemy, their repentance
and restoration, followed by further betrayal. It’s one of the major plots in
the story of the people of Israel in that part of the Hebrew Bible. They
continually betrayed God’s trust, and though they suffered consequences for it,
he restored them every time. I think it’s important to recognize that even when
they may have had to experience the consequences of their actions, in the end
God always restored them. In fact, I would say that God was supporting them
with his faithful love even and especially in the midst of those consequences. They
may have abandoned God, but God never abandoned them. The truly remarkable
feature of this story is the way that God remains true to himself by remaining
faithful to love and care for his people, throughout all time and change, and
regardless of our failures.
Our lesson from 2 Timothy for today addresses this issue in
something of a “backhanded” way. There we find an interesting “litany.” It is
one of the “sure” or “faithful” sayings that are found throughout 1 and 2
Timothy. The first part is fairly clear: “If we have died with him, we will
also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Tim. 2:11-12).
This is a theme that St. Paul was fond of: our inclusion in the body of Christ means
that we share in his death and resurrection. The purpose of this, as he says
elsewhere, is “so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). That part is fairly
clear.
It’s the second part of the litany that’s troubling: “if we
deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he
cannot deny himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). On the surface, that doesn’t sound like
good news. In fact, it sounds positively menacing. We’re used to hearing about
the good news of salvation by God’s grace alone as a gift of his unconditional
love. But this seems to introduce some conditions for actually achieving
salvation. That impression is only reinforced by remembering that Jesus himself
said, “Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and
sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in
the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mk. 8:38).
It sounds like we’re back to having to earn God’s love and
trying to do enough good to deserve salvation! There is, of course, another way
of looking at this strange litany. If we look at it from the perspective of the
way God has dealt with people for generations, we could see it as a promise.
From that point of view, it could mean that even when we are at times
“faithless” and betray God’s trust, he remains faithful to us. Even when we go
astray, even when that leads to
consequences in the short run, through it all God always continues to
love us and offer us grace and mercy. That would seem to make more sense in the
light of the consistent witness of the Scriptures. The most fundamental
affirmation of the Bible is that God remains faithful to us, no matter what.
Always has been and always will be.
But there’s still that part about denying and being denied.
Would Jesus really deny us if we happened to not perfectly live up to our
commitment to follow him and to bear witness to him? Does God really reject us
if we have times in our lives when we fall short and are “faithless”? That
seems to be the implication here. And many in the history of the church have
understood it that way: they think it means that if we fall short or lose
heart, God will remain true to himself by rejecting us! In fact, throughout
history, when Christians have faced persecution, church leaders have debated
whether someone could be forgiven for denying their faith in Jesus in the face
of imminent death. Some thought you could be forgiven once, but no more. Many
have taken a harder stance and said even once is too much![2]
Again, I would argue that interpretation doesn’t do justice
to the way God actually deals with his fallible and wayward people in
Scripture. Whatever “denying” and being “denied” means in this context, it has
to take into account the fact that Peter specifically “denied” Jesus three
times, and yet he was not “denied” but restored! Perhaps that’s the point—even if we fall short
the way Peter did, God’s faithfulness provides a way back for us, ultimately
and finally, if not immediately as in Peter’s case. Whatever the “denying” that
leads to being “denied” means, it has to be something more than just human
weakness. It must be a final and definitive rejection of God’s grace and mercy
and love, not simply a failure of nerve.[3] I think
that applies to Jesus’ warning as well as our lesson from 2 Timothy.
The Bible bears witness time and again to the promise that,
even if we are faithless, God remains faithful to his love, mercy, and grace
toward us, which are unconditional, unqualified, unlimited, and irrevocable.[4] In light
of our experience with betrayal, it may be hard for us to wrap our heads around
this promise. How can God respond to our betraying him with such love, mercy,
and grace? We don’t readily respond to betrayal by offering even forgiveness,
let alone unconditional love. But as the Scriptures remind us, our way is not
God’s way. God’s way is to send his son to die for those who are at odds with
him, effecting reconciliation once and for all. God’s way is to remain faithful
to us, even when we can at times fall short. God’s way is to restore us when we
stumble and fall. When we wonder on whom we can depend in these trying times, I
would say we can always depend on God, because throughout time and change,
throughout all of history, God has demonstrated that he is always faithful to
us!
[1] © 2025 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 10/12/2025 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] See, notably, John Calvin, Commentary on
the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, 218-19: “he threatens that
they who, through the dread of persecution, leave off the confession of his
name, have no part or lot with Christ. … Hence it is evident, that all who deny
Christ are disowned by him.”
[3] Cf. J. D. G. Dunn, “The First and Second Letters to Timothy and the Letter to
Titus,” New Interpreter’s Bible
XI:844.
[4] See Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics
2.1:510, where he describes “God’s
action in relation to the apostasy of the creature” as one of grace and
reconciliation, and in this God is supremely true to himself and his purposes.
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