That is, in the preaching of the gospel.

 Gr. kakopatheō, “to suffer evil,” “to suffer disgrace.” Compare chs. 1:8; 2:3.

That is, treated like a common criminal, even to the extent of being bound in chains.

 While Paul was under Roman guard he so effectively preached the gospel that a number in Rome, even some in Caesar’s household, were converted (see on Acts 28:17-24; Phil. 4:22). The apostle may also refer to the continued preaching of the other apostles, men like Timothy, who carried on Paul’s labors while he was restricted to a Roman dungeon.

 Though, like Paul, preachers may be silenced, the preaching continues through an unbroken succession of men to whom God entrusts the gospel (see 2 Tim. 2:2). Paul’s words were prophetic of the triumphal march of the Word of God through the centuries. Though Martin Luther was imprisoned in the Wartburg castle, the Biblical truth of righteousness by faith was “not bound,” for while he was thus imprisoned, he prepared his monumental contribution to the German people, the Scriptures in German (see p. 53). William Tyndale was finally martyred for his work in translating the Scriptures into the English language. Much of his life was spent in exile from England, and the printing of his translation was expressly forbidden. Yet, within a year after Tyndale’s death, the first English Bible, Tyndale’s translation, was printed in England, the vanguard of a worldwide tidal wave of Bibles to come forth from this country. Men may outlaw Bible translators, burn the Bibles, and condemn all propagation of scriptural truth, but the “word of God is not bound.”