John Calvin Commentary 2 Timothy 2:11

"Faithful is the saying: For if we died with him, we shall also live with him:" — 2 Timothy 2:11 (ASV)

A faithful saying. He prefaces the statement he is about to make, because nothing is more contrary to the inclination of the flesh than that we must die in order to live, and that death is the entrance into life. For we can gather from other passages that Paul was accustomed to use a preface of this kind in matters of great importance or difficult to believe.

If we die with him, we shall also live with him. The general meaning is that we will not be partakers of the life and glory of Christ unless we have first died and been humbled with him, as he says that all the elect were predestinated that they might be conformed to his image (Romans 8:29).

This is said both to exhort and to comfort believers. Who is not stirred by this exhortation, that we should not be distressed because of our afflictions, which will have such a happy result? The same consideration lessens and sweetens all that is bitter in the cross, because neither pains, nor tortures, nor reproaches, nor death should be received by us with horror, since in these things we share with Christ; especially since all these things are the forerunners of a triumph.

By his example, therefore, Paul encourages all believers to receive joyfully, for the name of Christ, those afflictions in which they already have a taste of future glory. If this shocks our belief, and if the cross itself so overpowers and dazzles our eyes that we do not perceive Christ in these things, let us remember to present this shield: It is a faithful saying.

Indeed, where Christ is present, we must acknowledge that life and happiness are there. Therefore, we ought to believe firmly and impress deeply on our hearts this fellowship: that we do not die apart, but along with Christ, so that we may afterward have life in common with him; and that we suffer with him, so that we may be partakers of his glory. By death he means all that outward mortification about which he speaks in 2 Corinthians 4:10.