What Does 2 Timothy 1:8 Mean in the King James?

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

2 Timothy 1:8 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

God’s power here sustains shared hardship; it does not mean the hardship disappears.

THE MEANING

The testimony of the Lord and the speaker’s imprisonment stand together, showing that shame can attach to both message and messenger. You are a sharer in the gospel’s hardship, and that participation takes place according to God’s power. The power of God sustains the testimony through affliction rather than making affliction proof of abandonment.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

God’s power means I will be spared hardship; this verse places sharing in hardship within the reach of that power.

THE ROOT

συγκακοπάθησον

synkakopathēson

GROWS FROM

⁨κακοπαθέω⁩ (kakopatheō), with ⁨σύν⁩ (syn, “with”)

To undergo hardship; with ⁨σύν⁩, to undergo it together.

The word translated “partaker” names shared suffering, not merely observing someone else’s pain. Its “together” is inside the word: the gospel’s hardship is borne in company, according to God’s power.

ALSO GROWS

synkakopathēson: Suffer hardship together

συγκακοπάθησον

The same compound appears in 2 Timothy 2:3, where it is rendered “endure hardness.”

kakopathēson: Endure hardship

κακοπάθησον

In 2 Timothy 4:5, the base verb names hardship without the “together” prefix, making the shared sense here stand out.

δύναμις

dynamis

GROWS FROM

⁨δυν-⁩ (from ⁨δύναμαι⁩, dynamai)

To be able; to have capacity.

“According to the power of God” points to God’s capacity at work within the call to share hardship. The word does not promise a life untouched by affliction; it names the power by which the testimony can be carried through it.

ALSO GROWS

dynamai: Be able, have the capacity

δύναμαι

This verb makes the root’s emphasis on ability visible beneath “power.”

dynatos: Able, capable, strong

δυνατός

This related word connects power with what can be borne or accomplished.

THE PATTERN

Witness to God can carry real suffering without making that suffering a sign of abandonment.

Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

Psalm 44:22 · KJVThe verse names suffering borne for God’s sake, showing that costly witness is not a new or isolated pattern.

And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

Acts 5:41 · KJVShame and public cost accompany witness, while the testimony remains meaningful to those bearing them.

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Romans 8:17 · KJVSuffering with Christ is held within shared belonging, echoing this verse’s language of participation.

THE THREAD

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:3 · KJV

The Greek verb behind “partaker” here appears again in 2 Timothy 2:3 as “endure hardness.” The repeated word opens hardship as something shared and sustained, rather than a private sign that God’s power is absent.

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