Three companies are given this title in
Scripture: Israel (see Is. 45: 4), the Church (see Col. 3: 12) and
angels (see 1 Tim. 5: 21). The view of many is that those referred
to as the elect in 2 Tim. 2: 10 are Christians but I think that this
is incorrect. The verse reads “For this cause I endure all things
for the sake of the elect, that
they also may obtain the
salvation which [is] in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”. Before
looking at the detail of the verse, we must remind ourselves that in
Scripture there is nothing missing that should be there on the one
hand and that there is nothing superfluous that need not be there on
the other. Hence every word given in the verse in question must be
essential for its correct interpretation.
Now if Christians are in mind, then the word
“also” is made redundant. The presence of this word clearly supposes
two companies: those who have obtained salvation and those who, as
yet, have not but are “elect”. Now
all saints at the
present time are “elect” (Rom. 8: 33) but it is
only those for whom
Paul desires salvation that are here called “elect”. If Paul was
thinking of Christians, the verse could simply have been ‘For this
cause I endure all things for the sake of the elect that they may
obtain…’ and the word “also” would not be required. But it
is there. Not only that, but the preceding word “they” is
emphatic, further
accentuating the distinction between the two companies. Thus I
think that the elect are Israel.
The apostle was in prison and bound but he
rejoiced that “the word of God is not bound” (v9). This was his
final imprisonment. On the occasion of his first detention in Rome
he says “for on account of the hope of Israel I have this chain
about me” (Acts. 28: 20). He had previously written to those in Rome
saying “that I have great grief and uninterrupted pain in my heart,
for I have wished, I myself, to be a curse from the Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen, according to flesh; who are Israelites” (Rom.
9: 2, 3). It was his intense love for his own nation that had
resulted in his first imprisonment. When the recorded history in
Acts closed, Israel as a nation had been set aside judicially, any
hope of the kingdom being established on earth had evaporated and
the glad tidings of that kingdom were no longer proclaimed. Israel
thus lost her priority for blessing. While all this marked a radical
change in the ways of God, it would be difficult to imagine that the
apostle’s intense love for those of his nation had diminished. Hence
it would be no surprise then if his deep affection for Israel had
been the cause of his imprisonment recorded in 2 Tim. 2: 10. Let us
now see if the rest of the detail of this verse will bear out this
view of Israel as the elect.
The salvation that Paul desires that the elect
may obtain is
particular and not
general. It is not just salvation but “the salvation which [is] in
Christ Jesus”. Salvation was not unknown to Israel as the OT proves
on many an occasion. From the Red Sea and onwards God had intervened
to save them time and again. But the salvation they had experienced
in the past was always national, on earth and temporal. The
salvation that Paul desired for “the elect”, however, is identified
with the Man in heaven, “in Christ Jesus”, and is eternal and
individual. Paul had just spoken of the glad tidings as “my glad
tidings” (2 Tim. 2: 8). One of the features of Paul’s unique
presentation of this message is that he identifies our blessings
with Christ where He is now. Redemption, eternal life and the love
of God (see Rom. 3: 24; 6: 23; 8: 39) are all said to be “in Christ
Jesus. Apart from a single mention by Peter, this term “Christ
Jesus” is peculiar to the writings of Paul.
But 2 Tim. 2: 10 does not end with “the
salvation which [is] in Christ Jesus”—the words “with eternal glory”
are added. The force of these words can be appreciated when we
remember that Israel had known something of glory in the past,
especially in the kingdom under Solomon (see 2 Chron. 7). But that
glory, like their salvation, was national, earthly and temporal.
However, the glory that accompanied this salvation that Paul desired
for “the elect” was “eternal”. It cannot pass without notice that
Peter, writing to Jews who had accepted Jesus as the Christ says in
his benediction “But the God of all grace who has called you to his
eternal glory in Christ Jesus …” (1 Pet. 5: 10). This “eternal glory
in Christ Jesus” is clearly contrasted with the temporal glory they
had known in the past as Israelites. Now their calling is no longer
to temporal glory on earth linked with a Messiah here but to eternal
glory with Christ where He now is. Parallel this with Paul’s desire
in 2 Tim. 2: 10 for the elect and it is clear that the elect that
Paul had in mind must be the nation of Israel.
