GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 TIMOTHY 2:12b-13
If we deny him, he will also deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
These two declarations are both threats about the will of God. The first one is easy to understand: “If we deny him, he will also deny us.” That is to say, if we, any one of us from within the church of believers, turns on God and denies God in any way, God is right and just to turn and deny that person. “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19). God may change the direction of his conduct, but never his will. Indeed, it is not any change in God that ever is the point, but it is a change in man that brings about any change in what God does. For example, it pleased God to make Saul the first king over Israel, but Saul changed his behavior. Therefore God said, “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions” (1 Samuel 15:11). So when King Saul was told this, and tried to stop the prophet Samuel from turning away from him, he caught hold of Samuel’s robe, and it tore. So Samuel said, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors– to one better than you.” And he added: “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind” (1 Samuel 15:28-29).
In the second threat, Paul says, “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful.” The first phrase is really, “If we become unbelieving.” A human being can lose his or her faith, but God remains faithful. This is not an unexpected threat, as if we would expect God to be gentle with those who reject him. But God will remain as he always has been. “But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations” (Psalm 33:11). God’s judgment of unbelief is to punish it, no matter who the one was who fell into unbelief. There stood Cain, a man who had heard the very voice of God speaking to him, yet with his brother’s blood on his hands and evil wickedness in his heart, rejecting God’s word and God’s will, and elevating his own judgments and opinions above God. The Lord warned him once (“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” Genesis 4:6-7), and then the Lord warned him again even after the murder (“Where is your brother Abel?” Genesis 4:9), but Cain would not repent. The first child born to humanity fell into unbelief despite having the great Adam and Eve for his parents. But God’s resolve remains constant. He says, “I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6). This is a warning, then, and an emphatic warning.
God makes no promises to the faithless, whether they are unbelievers, or those who have made vows and been faithless to their vows. Whatever God has promised to do to punish, he will certainly do. He cannot deny himself, who he is, what he is. “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).
What a wretched state this seems to leave us in! Which of us, even among his faithful believers, can truly say that he has never strayed, never wandered, never once betrayed God and sinned against him? Not one! And so when Paul adds, “He cannot deny himself,” this doesn’t sound at all like anything but the law, and a grim condemnation of all who have sinned against the Lord.
But the Scripture also says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). It is God’s holy word, already at work in the world and in our hearts, that brings about a change in us. For remember, it is not any change in God that causes God to change what he does, including the punishment of unbelief, sin, and other denials. But it is a change in the heart of man. And that change is brought about by God’s working in us.
Moses said, “The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). But he also added: “But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him” (Deuteronomy 7:10).
Luther’s dear friend and colleague Johannes Bugenhagen (1485-1588) said, “This statement is especially comforting to troubled consciences. God has made a promise, and he is not a liar because unbelievers do not receive the promise. For believers receive what God does not owe to unbelievers.”
The forgiveness of God by grace alone is on full display here. For there can be nothing at all inside of us, wretched sinners as we are, that prompts God to love us. Instead, he loves us and he forgives us purely out of his grace, because that is who God is. He remains faithful to that– to who he is– and this is why we are saved. And glorious and merciful Lord that he is, he hands us the faith he wants to see in us. This is the act of mercy and kindness that has rescued us and made us his. What else could our response be apart from our eternal adoration?
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Listen or watch Bible classes online. https://splnewulm.org/invisible-church/
Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2026
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Timothy 2:12b-13 God’s faithful grace