Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Thou therefore endure hardness,.... "Or afflictions"; as in Ti2 4:5. The same word is used there as here, and properly signifies, "suffer evil"; and means the evil of afflictions, as persecutions of every kind, loss of name and goods, scourging, imprisonment, and death itself, for the sake of Christ and the Gospel: as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Thou therefore endure hardness--The oldest manuscripts have no "Thou therefore," and read, "Endure hardship with (me)." "Take thy share in suffering" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].
Still we find our apostle prosecuting the great and general design of this epistle, which is to direct Timothy in the faithful discharge of his office, as a minister of the gospel, and particularly to prepare for sufferings, and to inure himself to hardship, and to encounter with difficulties and dangers: Hence, he compares him to a soldier, to a wrestler, and an husbandman: 1.