“for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained” (2 Timothy 2:9).
It seems ironic that the Gospel message that offered freedom in Christ was the same Gospel message that led to imprisonment for Paul the Apostle. Unfortunately, those who were responsible for Paul’s incarceration did not recognize him as someone who brought “good news.” Instead, he was branded as an evildoer.
This undoubtedly came as no surprise to Paul, for as he had written earlier to the Corinthian church…
“Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16 NLT).
Nevertheless, one does not need to be imprisoned for Christ to gain an appreciation for this passage…
“Persecuting Christians and consenting to their death didn’t make (Paul) a criminal, but preaching the gospel did, in the eyes of the Jews! How often someone who curses, drinks, and carouses gets saved and stops all that, and then receives persecution from loved ones for trying to live right.” (1)
The New Testament book of 1 Peter addresses this concept in a portion of Scripture that applies to this discussion…
“You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:3-5 NLT).
Those who derive pleasure and enjoyment from a life lived apart from God (2) may find it difficult to understand why others might seek to honor Him. Then there are some who resent others who decline to participate in the list of activities given to us in the passage from 1 Peter quoted above. This helps explain why such individuals may choose to “…criticize and abuse and ridicule you and make fun of your values” (1 Peter 4:4 AMP).
So even while Paul was suffering imprisonment, he took comfort in the fact that God’s Word had free reign. We can thus summarize Paul’s response in a simple, yet profound way: “I’m chained up, but God’s Word isn’t.”
(1) Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 2512). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
(2) For a while, at least. See Luke 12:16-21