2 Timothy 2:13
if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
BSB
ASV
if we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself.
KJV
If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
Now the so-called gods of the Greeks, unworthy of the name, are faithful neither in their essence nor in their promises. They do not abide everywhere. The local deities come to nought in the course of time and undergo a natural dissolution.… But the God of all, being one really and indeed and true, is faithful, who is ever the same.… He is ever the same and unchanging, deceiving neither in his essence nor in his promise.
If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful,.... The Syriac and Ethiopic versions read, "if we believe not him".
If we believe not - That is, though some believe not, God will make good all his promises to them that do believe. He cannot deny himself - His word cannot fail.
If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful - This cannot mean that, if we live in sin, he will certainly save us, as if he had made any promise to the elect, or formed any purpose that he would save them; whatever might be their conduct; because: (1) He had just said that if we deny him he will deny us; and, (2) There is no such promise in the Bible, and no such purpose has been formed.
THIS is one of the five faithful sayings which the Apostle mentions. All those faithful sayings are weighty and important. I suppose that they may have come into the possession of the Church by having been uttered by some of those Prophets who were raised up to cherish the infancy of the Church, such as Agabus and the daughters of Philip and others. These may have been some of their more remarkable sayings which laid hold upon the minds of good men; were quoted by the preachers and teachers and so became current throughout the Church.
This impossibility is not one of infirmity, but of infinite power and majesty. Also, indirectly, comfort is suggested to believers, that He is faithful to His promises to them; at the same time that apostates are shaken out of their self-deceiving fancy, that because they change, Christ similarly may change. A warning to Timothy to be steadfast in the faith.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Numbers 23:19God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
leads to
Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.
in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
Through
2 Thessalonians 3:3But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
leads to
God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Through
1 Thessalonians 5:24The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
leads to
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
