GREEK
WORD WITH ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION: συγκακοπαθεω (sugkakopatheo)
PRONUNCIATION:
soong-kak-op-ath-EH-oh
STRONG’S
CONCORDANCE #: 4777
MEANING:
a unique word made up of three root Greek words "sun",
"kakos" and "patheo" literally meaning "to suffer evil
hardships together with someone else;
BACKGROUND
OF WORD (ETYMOLOGY): a military term used to describe
soldiers in battle caring for a wounded soldier;
HOW
TRANSLATED IN KJV, NASB AND/OR ESV: endure hardships; share in sufferings; suffer
hardship;
#
OF TIMES USED IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT: 2
KEY
VERSE IN THE BIBLE WHERE GREEK WORD USED:
2
Timothy 2:3
- "Share in suffering (συγκακοπαθεω)
as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."
THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY:
In 2 Timothy, Timothy
was facing a horrible predicament. Thousands
of his brothers and sisters in the Lord were being slain by
a man on the Roman throne named Nero. Of
course, Satan was behind this vicious persecution of believers. Infuriated
that Jesus had been raised from the dead, the
devil was releasing all the power and fury of hell in his fierce efforts to
destroy the Church.
It is difficult for us to
imagine the persecution and martyrdom the early believers experienced during
this time period. However, an even greater crisis that Timothy faced was the mass defections that
were taking place. Many people were fleeing the
church and returning to the pagan temples in order to save their lives.
The fact is,
crises only serve to reveal the genuineness of people's
faith. The fires of persecution revealed that
many in the Early Church were not as committed as
they had pretended to be. Many forsook the Lord, deserted the faith, and went back to their old ways. Timothy
was seeing this take place among the members of
his congregation — and even among many of his leaders. Many
of the men and women whom he thought he could depend on had left. They
didn't want to be associated with Timothy and the church any longer. Hence, this
was a very, very tough time for the Ephesian believers and their pastor.
It was in the midst of
these catastrophic challenges that Paul wrote Timothy
and said, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as
a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” The phrase “endure
hardness” in Greek tells us something very
important about doing the work of God. Please
pay careful attention to this, because if you are going
through a difficult ordeal as you obey God with your life, this
also applies to you.
The phrase “endure
hardness” comes from the Greek word sunkakopatheœ, a compound of three Greek words. The
first part of the word is the Greek word sun. This little word sun always connects you to someone
else. It is a word that describes partnership. For
example, in 2 Corinthians 6:1, Paul
says, “We then, as workers together with him....” The
word sun is used in
the phrase “workers together.”
The word “workers” is
from the word ergos, which
simply means work, but
when the words sun and
ergos are
compounded together as in 2 Corinthians 6:1, the
new word describes coworkers or people who are partnered together as they work alongside each other on a common job. These
are workers who are connected and joined to each other in the pursuit of a shared goal.
You see, we
are not working for the Lord by ourselves; rather, we
are fellow workers with Him. Thus, 2 Corinthians 6:1 is a description of partnership with God and carries the
idea of cooperating with Him in
our work. It also means that God is with us, working
on the same task at the same time, cooperating with
us as our Partner. This is exactly what Paul means when he writes that
we are “...workers together with him....”
As we look at the phrase “endure
hardness,” it is imperative that you understand the use of the word sun in this Greek phrase. But
you must also grasp the next two parts of
this triple compound. The second word is the Greek word kakos. This is a very familiar Greek word that most often describes something that is vile, foul, or
wicked. If all you had were these first two words, it
would mean, “become
a partner with this vile, foul, horrible, wicked situation.” However, Paul
goes further and uses a third Greek word, pathos.
The word pathos is another well-known
Greek word. It normally describes suffering, but
it has more to do with mental suffering than
it does physical suffering. This was a word perfectly
suited for Timothy at this time, for
he was suffering great mental anguish as a result of the disturbing events
occurring around him.
Have you ever been in such
an intense situation that you thought your mind might “break”? Or
have you ever felt like you might mentally collapse from being pushed hard
up against the wall with no obvious way of escape? If
the answer is yes, you may relate to what Timothy was going through at the time
Paul wrote him.
Consider the thoughts that
must have been racing through Timothy's
mind. Nero was killing many of the young minister's
friends and church members. As the most visible Christian leader, Timothy
must have wondered if the emperor's
men would kill him — and if they did, what kind of especially
terrible death would be planned for him as the most famous Christian of the city? Add
to all these concerns the great disappointment Timothy felt because of those who had
abandoned him and the church, and it is clear that his
mind could have felt very overwhelmed, subdued, and
mentally affected. This is why Paul told him to “endure
hardness,” using the words sun, kakos, and
pathos to
make his point.
Compounded together, these words could be interpreted this
way:
“Join in as a partner with the rest of us (sun) and face this vile, horrible, ugly circumstance (kakos) that is all around you. And
if you must undergo a little suffering (pathos) to do this job, then brace yourself and go for it!”
Several key messages to
Timothy were included in this one word. First, Paul
used the word sun to
let the younger man know he wasn't the only soldier serving the Lord. Although
Timothy may have emotionally perceived that everyone else was
abandoning the Lord, this wasn't the truth of the matter. In
reality, many believers were still faithfully fighting the fight of faith. This
is why Paul told him, “Join in as a partner with the rest of us.”
Second, by
using the word kakos, it
is almost as though Paul was saying, “Yes, you're
right. It's pretty bad out there, and
it seems like things are getting worse. There
is no doubt that a terrible, ugly mess lies before
us. It is the most wicked situation we've
ever faced.”
Third, by
using the word pathos, Paul
is telling Timothy to brace himself for a fight and to toughen himself. A
job needed to be done, no matter what kind of atmosphere surrounded him. Timothy's
obedience couldn't depend on good or bad circumstances. If
circumstances were turning against him and the other faithful Christians, it
was time for them to make the quality decision to do whatever was necessary in
order to complete their assignment. If
suffering was required for Timothy to do his part in pushing the Kingdom of God forward, then
he needed to be willing to undergo suffering. Every
Christian soldier who is committed to taking new territory for the Kingdom of God must have this
mentality.
CHALLENGE
FOR THE DAY:
The truth is, we
all face hardships from time to time. And
whether or not we want to admit it, we've
all experienced times when fear has tried to wrap its tentacles around
us and drain the victory of Jesus Christ from our lives.
But the next time fear tries
to grab hold of you, just
remember what Paul told Timothy. This is an opportunity for
you to lay hold of God's power, rise up to meet the occasion, and
overcome every challenge in the power of the Holy Spirit. God is calling you to endure hardship
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ!
PRAYER
FOR THE DAY:
Lord, please forgive me for being so soft
and wimpy about my faith and my commitment to
Your call on my life. Please help me to become tough in the
Spirit so I can deal with any attack the devil might try to bring against my
life. I am so sorry that I've bent under pressure, whining and complaining that things were
too hard, despite the fact that the power of
Your resurrection lives inside me. I don't
want to waste one more minute feeling sorry for myself. Therefore, I ask You to help me brace myself, grab hold of Your power, and
bravely overcome every situation in the power of the Holy Spirit! I
pray this in Jesus' name! Amen.
