Bible Strands
2 Timothy 3:12
Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul, writing to his protégé Timothy from a Roman prison (c. 66–67 AD), in the final warning section of his last letter, anticipating his own death.
The words — thelontes (θελόντες), "desiring," is the hinge: persecution is attached not to mere profession but to the active choice to live piously, making it a certainty rather than a contingency.
The thread — 1 Peter 2:20 and 3:14 frame suffering for doing right as credit and blessing; 1 Peter 4:12 removes the element of surprise, calling the trial expected rather than strange.
Why it lands — It removes the option of a comfortable faith: if you have chosen to live piously, opposition is not a sign you have gone wrong but a sign you have gone right, and the only question left is whether you will stay.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.”
- 1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you.
- 1 Peter 2:20 How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
- Acts 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. “We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
- Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
- John 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
- 1 Peter 5:9 Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.
- John 15:19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
- Psalms 37:12 The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,