Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Timothy 1:8

"Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God;" — 2 Timothy 1:8 (ASV)

Do not therefore be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me his prisoner:

What! Were people ashamed of Paul? Oh! Yes, dear friends. The great Apostle, because he was persecuted, found himself despised by some of the very people who owed their souls to him. It is the lot of those who are faithful to Christ to find even good men sometimes turning against them. But what of that? They are responsible to their Master, not to their fellow-servants.

Yet it is a hard thing when anyone becomes ashamed of you – ashamed of you, though you know that you have done right. I do not wonder that he puts it even to Timothy, Do not, therefore, be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. Some of us know what it is to have trained and brought up those around us, who were to us what Timothy was to Paul, who have been ashamed of us, and of the testimony of our Lord.

But you be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

You will need the power of God to do it, and make sure you do it.

Take your full share in whatever affliction the gospel brings upon Christians. According to the power of God.

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,

It is necessary to say this today, for many are becoming ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, that old-fashioned gospel which Paul received by direct revelation from his Lord, and for which he laid down his life. It is fashionable today to put on the showy trappings of modern philosophy rather than to be robed in the snow-white garment of truth. Paul says to Timothy, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.