Does Jesus Deny His Own?

For if we died with Him,

We shall also live with Him.

If we endure,

We shall also reign with Him.

If we deny Him,

He also will deny us.

If we are faithless,

He remains faithful;

He cannot deny Himself.

(2 Timothy 2:11-13)

How do the words of this scripture passage impact you when you read them? Are you confused? Are you encouraged? Are you challenged?

Many are confused. After all, this passage sounds like a riddle to all those who aren't familiar with the subjects it references. To others who have read and understood those subjects the passage is more of an encouragement. But I wonder how many people would say that they are challenged to be a better disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That may sound like quite a jump if you're not familiar with the other New Testament passages that explain this passage, but that's why it is very important to study them. Doing so will help us gain a full understanding of what the author meant to be conveyed. This passage is a creed – a sentence or short set of sentences that capture a snippet of God's revelation – and like many other creeds, it is meant to be further explained using the rest of God's revelation. There is a very good reason why.

Why Creeds Often Required an Explanation

The New Testament is composed of letters which were written by the Apostles to preserve and spread God's revelation. It is because God's Word was preserved and spread that we can be confident that we have the pure Word of God. However, the epistles that form the New Testament were not written immediately after God gave the revelation. Further, it took some time for the early church to spread the epistles among the churches. Because of this time gap there was a need for the early church to maintain doctrinal purity as well as a need to quickly and easily spread the truth of God. On top of that, the culture of those times did not rely as heavily on paper as we do today. Instead they preferred oral distribution of knowledge over written distribution. For these reasons, creeds like the one found in 2 Timothy 2:11-13 were created

ⁱA creed is the next best thing to paper for the preservation and distribution of knowledge. The creeds the early church used were short so they could be easily memorized. Memorization of creeds preserved important truths and made them easy to relay. The only area where creeds fall short of paper is in length. On paper it is easy to give a full explanation, whereas an explanation must be supplied to a creed.

That is why I say that the creeds of the early church often required an explanation, and that's also why I have written this article, to supply the explanation of the 2 Timothy 2:11-13 creed – but not all of it. I want to focus our attention on the second half.

Explanation of the 2 Timothy 2:11-13 Creed

From my experience, most people have a fairly good grasp on the first half of the creed, it's the second half people seem to struggle to understand. Dying with Christ that we may live with Him and enduring that we may reign with Him are mostly clear subjects for a large majority of believers. The subjects are referenced throughout the New Testament, and most specifically addressed in Romans chapter 6 and Revelation chapter 20. On the other hand, Christ's denial of His own is much harder to digest, and is not a subject that is addressed in many places.

We are told that if we deny Christ, He will deny us. “Christ deny His own!” one may ask, “How is that possible?” That is the question I would like to address for the rest of this article. I believe that in realizing how and why God would deny His own, you will be spurred on to be a better disciple of Christ. We must realize the seriousness of the warning within this beautiful creed. Doing so will make it all the more meaningful.

The Logical Explanation:

Before we answer the question “how could Christ deny His own” I want to point out to you an apparent contradiction the second half of the creed seems to make with itself. This will help us gain a full understanding of what the author intended to convey in only a few words.

The apparent contradiction has to do with the faithfulness of God. We are told that God is faithful even when we are not. He will not deny us, according to this verse, because to do so would be to deny Himself. The reason: we are one with Him. Jesus was the first to teach about the oneness man may have with God. While praying to His Father, He said in John 17:21 “That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Since we are one with God, He cannot deny us, because to do so would be to deny Himself.

This is the perceived contradiction the text makes with itself. First we are told that God will deny us if we deny Him, and yet in the next breath we are told that God cannot deny us. How do we reconcile this contradiction? It's easy.

This apparent contradiction is cleared up very simply when we realize that I can deny a thing about someone and uphold another truth about him at the same time. For instance, sometimes my son is not very obedient. I may then deny that he is obedient, but that doesn't mean that he ceases to be my son. So then, I can deny and acknowledge my son simultaneously. It is this awkward use of grammar the author of our creed employs to enhance its poetic feel.

Some will argue and say that in my example I am denying and upholding a truth about my son, whereas the text says that Christ will deny us personally. Christ did not say He will deny a truth about us, but that he will deny us. To that I will ask the pointed question, What does it mean to deny a person? How would you answer that?

The truth is, it is impossible to deny a person. Even to deny a man's existence is to deny a truth about him. To deny him in this case would be to deny the truth that he exists. Therefore, when we come to this verse the questions we must ask are “what truth about His own is Christ going to deny” and “what truth will He uphold”. The answer to these questions will help us understand how it's possible for Christ to deny His own, and clear up the apparent contradiction the text seems to make with itself.

The Biblical Explanation:

In order to bring further clarification, I will now take you to the scripture the author of our creed likely had in mind when he composed it. Our Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples he would deny them if they denied Him in Matthew 10.

Matthew 10 is probably the most important passage of scripture for anyone who is serious about discipleship. Jesus was just about to send his disciples out on their first evangelistic crusade, but before He did He chose to give them some practical advice. This advice was clearly not intended for them only, but also for future disciples, therefore it applies to us too. It's in this context of speaking to His disciples about the cost of discipleship that Jesus gives the warning that if we deny Him, He also will deny us.

Jesus warns His disciples that being a disciple will cause great division even among the closest human bonds in verse 21. Next, He warns them that to be a disciple means to be hated by all for His names sake in verse 22. His third warning is from verses 23 to 25. He warns them they will be reviled even more than He was during His earthly ministry, but encourages them that their enemies can do nothing to destroy the soul in verse 28. Mere men can only harm our bodies.

His focus switches in verses 29 through 30 to the care that God has for His disciples. The value God places on a disciple is so great that He knows how many hairs we have on our heads. Further, Jesus said we are more valuable than animals, which God takes great interest in. In this vein of thought about our value, Jesus tells us that if we confess Him before men who are apt to harm us, He will acknowledge us before His Father in heaven.

This verse is especially meaningful when considered in its context. We value our closest human relationships (v. 21), as well as what others think about us (v. 22), and our bodies (vv. 23-25). That's natural – but the context leads us to ask the question, do we value Jesus more? If we do, we will be willing to give up our dearest relationships to brokenness, our bodies to death, and our reputation to complete loss. If we value Jesus more, we count it all loss for the sake of knowing Him and confessing him before men who will harm us for our testimony. (Philippians 3:7, 8)

The Value of a Disciple

As a reward for giving up all for Christ, we are told in verse 32 that Jesus will commend us before the Father as valuable disciples. Only those who value Christ can be considered valuable disciples. In other words, the value we place on Christ determines our value as disciples. We show we value Christ more than the natural things everyone values when we confess Him before the world who will strip us of what earthly things we value most.

In the same way that Jesus will acknowledge us before the Father because we acknowledged Him, if we deny Him, He also will deny us.

Often times this verse has been taken to mean that Jesus will deny us salvation. I have already shown that is not the case through examining the context, which has nothing to do with salvation. I would also like to point out that this verse does not speak of our intrinsic value. Your value as a person is not in question here, but rather your value as a disciple. Jesus has demonstrated our value as people is not cheapened by our actions when He died on the cruel cross for the worst of sinners. This verse speaks of our worth, our value, and as Jesus goes on to tell us, about our worthiness to be called disciples.

Jesus will deny the worth of any disciple who refuses to acknowledge Him before men. By refusing to acknowledge Him a man reveals his heart – that he does not value Christ more than his closest relationships, his body, and his reputation.

This warning is amplified when we take into account the whole of what Jesus said. He did not simply say that He will deny our worth as disciples and leave it at that. In that case, He might deny us in an empty room, as though to reprove us in private. Instead He adds the notation, “before my Father who is in heaven”.

This is an event which will take place in heaven at the Judgment Seat of Christ where believers will either be rewarded or shamed. (2 Corinthians 5:10) Jesus said He will deny the worth of any disciple that denies Him before the Father. Personally, I would rather have Christ reprove me before all the angelic host and before the entire human race than before the Father. A disciple's value is based on his faithfulness to the cause of the gospel. On the other hand, God's value cannot be measured because He is the one who defines all worth. The Father is of equal worth as the Son, whose worth cannot be measured. To have one whose worth cannot be measured deny your value before another whose worth cannot be measured is more than just serious, it's something that inspires fear – the fear of God's disapproval! (2 Corinthians 5:11) The ⁱⁱshame of whatever disciple makes this prophecy come true will be devastating.

Some are not Worthy

Further clarity of what it means that Christ will deny His own is received when we take into account what Christ says next. According to Christ, some men are not worthy to be called disciples.

Jesus continues in verse 34 by reiterating what He said where I began in Matthew 10:21. He reiterates the fact that being a disciple comes at a great cost by once again telling His disciples that even the closest human bonds are in great jeopardy when one is serious about discipleship. He says, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39) If you do not take up your cross you may be saved, but you are not a disciple. You are not worthy of such a high title.

To take up your cross is to perform the work of a disciple, therefore the unconscious excuse we all make, “I won't deny Him, but I won't necessarily acknowledge Him either”, crumbles in the face of Christ's words. Discipleship is an active lifestyle. To be a disciple is to make disciples. It requires effort, pain, loss, even the suicide of all you hold dear that is not Christ. This is what it takes to be worthy of the title “Disciple.”

Conclusion

The question is not “will Jesus deny your intrinsic value” or “will Jesus deny you salvation”. Christ came for all men, and if you have accepted the death of Christ as payment for your sin, God remains faithful to you because you are one with Him and He cannot deny Himself. What is at stake here is your worth, your value, and your worthiness of being called a disciple. The question is are you worthy of the title “Disciple”? Are you willing to restrain Jesus' powerful gospel because you fear it will damage the relationship you have with your father, your mother, your son, or your daughter? Or, are you willing to climb the hill of Calvary, ⁱⁱⁱbearing the cross of shame, for the opportunity to be called a disciple? If you are not, you are just “saved,” but you are not a disciple.

With that said, 2 Timothy 2:11-13 takes on a deeper meaning than most of us have ever given it credit for. Within this simple creed is a call to faithfulness. It means to challenge us to be disciples.

Do not deny Him. In the same way, do not restrain His gospel, because to restrain it for the sake of what this world has to offer is just another form of denying Him. Take up your cross and follow Him, even if it leads to Calvary.

If we deny Him,

He also will deny us

[the privilege of being called a disciple]

If we are faithless,

[because we counted the things of this world of

greater value than Christ and so denied His worth]

He remains faithful

[to give us the salvation we don't deserve because]

He cannot deny Himself.

i There are many other places in the New Testament where creeds were recorded. In some cases we can know for sure that a creed is being referenced, in other cases it is much more difficult to determine. I have listed examples of both cases.

Sure Creeds of the Early Church:

1 Corinthians 15:3-7

1 Timothy 3:16

2 Timothy 2:11-13

Possible Creeds of the Early Church:

1 Thessalonians 1:9, 1; 4:16, 17; 5:8

1 Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; 8:6; 12:3, 13 16:22

2 Corinthians 1:21, 22

Romans 1:3, 4; 3:23-26; 4:24-25; 6:3, 4; 10:9

Philippians 2:6-11

Galatians 4:27, 28; 4:6

Colossians 1:15-20;

Ephesians 4:4-6; 5:14

1 Timothy 6:15, 16

2 Timothy 1:9, 10;

Titus 3:4, 7

1 Peter 1:18-21; 2:21-25; 3:18, 19

1 John 4:7-10

Revelation 4:11; 5:9, 10; 5:12-14

iiFor more information on the topic of shame in heaven read this short article: http://www.grace-bible.org/blakesblog/2012/10/fear-and-shame-in-heaven/

iiiEveryone will face shame, either before men for bearing the name of Jesus, or before the Father in heaven. The greater shame is reserved for those who are unwilling to bear it now.