12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).
There is not a lot of ambiguity in this verse. Paul states, rather matter-of-factly that all that live according to Christ’s commands will be persecuted. It is not if, but how and when that is left unanswered. While we should not seek persecution, the fact is, persecution will find us. Paul’s purpose in stating that all that follow Christ will be persecuted is two-fold. The first purpose is to prepare followers for persecution and the second purpose is to make followers realize that following Christ means we will very often be in juxtaposition to the world. And so we should be comfortable with this difference.
There is not a lot of ambiguity in this verse. Paul states, rather matter-of-factly that all that live according to Christ’s commands will be persecuted. It is not if, but how and when that is left unanswered. While we should not seek persecution, the fact is, persecution will find us. Paul’s purpose in stating that all that follow Christ will be persecuted is two-fold. The first purpose is to prepare followers for persecution and the second purpose is to make followers realize that following Christ means we will very often be in juxtaposition to the world. And so we should be comfortable with this difference.
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