2 Timothy 2:8

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel:

Risen from the dead ... The constant theme of Paul's preaching invariably stressed the resurrection of Christ from the dead; and, in the threatening situation under which Paul wrote, it was most appropriate that this should be stressed again. Of special significance is the mention in this connection of "the seed of David," stressing the fact of the humanity of Jesus, the fact of his having an earthly body just like ours, and that it was that body which was raised from the dead. Neither Timothy, therefore, nor any of the Christians need have the slightest fear of anything that Rome may be able to do to them.

According to my gospel ... Of all the countless comments this student has read regarding the meaning of this expression, the most intriguing is the following:

Jerome remarked that, "As often as St. Paul in his epistles writes `according to my gospel' he refers to the volume of Luke ... Considering the weighty traditional evidence we possess of St. Luke's gospel being in reality written by Paul, appears on the whole substantially correct."[12]

That Paul in this expression always referred to the Gospel of Luke could also just as easily be true, regardless of the obviously incorrect notion that Paul wrote it. Even if Luke is the author, which we do not for a moment doubt, it was nevertheless composed during times when the beloved physician was a constant companion of Paul, and we may be certain, with very little element of speculation in the certainty, that Paul was intimately familiar with Luke's gospel, and there would have been no inconsistency whatever in his calling it his own. Surely this understanding of the phrase is preferable to the heretical notion that Paul's gospel was a brand new version of Christianity which offered salvation "by faith alone" instead of "by faith and obedience of the gospel."

Despite the above, however, it appears best to consider the passage as a reference to the total gospel as delivered both to Paul and to the Twelve, rather than as having any limited implication. Paul's gospel was the same as that of all the apostles, and he used the possessive pronoun in exactly the same sense as when he said, "my God and my Saviour." This is true because 2 Timothy 2:9, immediately afterward, connects Paul's hardship with "my gospel," there being no evidence at all that the gospel of Luke was any more connected with his sufferings than any other of the holy Scriptures.