"are determined" (Amp)

All (pas) means everyone without exception -- with the caveat that they must fulfill certain qualifications in order to receive the "promise" of persecution! What are the conditions one must meet? There must first be the right attitude - a desire and this desire must have God-ward direction. And lastly, and most important, they must be the right "energy". Paul says a godly, Christlike life is only possible by abiding in Him, in Christ, in the Vine, the Ark of our salvation. See related discussion of the phrases in Christ and in Christ Jesus.

It follows that from a practical standpoint every saint desiring to live godly should not regard the resulting experience as peculiar, but only as part of the price of loyal service to Christ.  Jesus made it very clear to His disciples that...

If the world hates (present tense = their continual reaction to)  you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world (note He does not say "in" the world but "of" the world), the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates (present tense = their continual reaction to) you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. (John 15:18-21)

In the sermon on the mount Jesus said there was a beatitude in store for those who suffered in His place...

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. "Rejoice (present imperative) and be glad (present imperative), for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (See notes Matthew 5:10, 11, 12)

Paul explained to the saints at Philippi that...

to you it has been granted (charizomai - from charis = grace -- a gift of grace!) for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake (See note Philippians 1:29)

Peter has a parallel warning exhortation...

Beloved, do not be surprised (present imperative + a negative = stop an action or reaction that is already in progress; i.e., they were being surprised by the trials!) at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing (note carefully the trials God sends or allows are not without a high and holy purpose, cp Deut 8:2 Moses to Israel "testing you, to know what was in your heart"), as though some strange thing were happening to you but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation (agalliao). If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." (see notes 1 Peter 4:12; 13; 14)

Paul encouraged the Thessalonians with words about the inevitability of their suffering reminding them that

we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. (see notes 1Thessalonians 3:2; 3:3)

Desire (thelo) refers to a desire that comes from one’s emotions and indicates an active decision of the will, thus implying volition and purpose.

These men and women are continually (present tense) desiring to pursue godliness and it reflects an active decision (active voice) of their will.

Vine adds that thelo

expresses not simply a desire but a determined and constant exercise of the will.

Vincent translates this as all

Whose will is to live, or who are bent on living.

The present tense points to those whose who have an abiding determination to live a godly life. Notice that desire in the present tense indicates this is not an occasional desire to choose to live godly, but a persistent passion which manifests itself in their lifestyle. They recognize that they are not in a religious "100 meter dash" but a spiritual "marathon". And so Paul exhorted Timothy to...

discipline (present imperative = command to make this his lifestyle)  yourself for the purpose of godliness; 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. 10 For it is for this we labor (kopiao = to the point of weariness and exhaustion) and strive (agonizomai = agonize), because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. (See notes 1Timothy 4:7; 4:8; 4:9; 4:10)

Yes, pursuit of godliness is costly now but eternity will show it to be worth the cost of commitment.

If anyone proposes to introduce into his life a loyalty which surpasses all earthly loyalties, there will be clashes with this "present evil age" (Gal 1:4) that loves self rather than the Savior. And that is precisely the loyalty that Christ demands of a disciple. (see note Matthew 6:24)

In sum, it is vital for every young "Timothy" to remember that persecution is an integral part of the godly life in Christ Jesus.  Otherwise, when we encounter persecution, we might be tempted to think that he has failed the Lord or that the Lord is displeased.

As Steven Cole observes this "promise of persecution" means that...

spiritual faithfulness requires recognizing and following godly examples who follow the Scriptures. You can recognize them by their teaching, their character, and their godly demeanor under trials. But, once you recognize them, you need to follow them.   (Spiritual Faithfulness)

William Hendricksen has written that...

Scars are the price which every believer pays for his loyalty to Christ.

TO (continually) LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS: eusebos zen (PAN) en Christo Iesou: (2Co1:12; 1Ti2:2; 3:16; 6:3; Titu1:1; 2:12; 2Pe3:11)

in union with Christ Jesus (GWT)

united with the Messiah Yeshua (Jewish NT)

Godfearingly

The TEV paraphrases it

a godly life in union with Christ Jesus

Vance Havner said...

If you are under any illusions about the attitude of this world towards Jesus Christ, try really living for him for a week and you will find out!

Live (zao) can refer to living a natural physical life, to the general idea how one conducts themselves or behaves (as in this verse) and to the supernatural, spiritual life, resurrected eternal life which is available to believers now. The present tense depicts one who is making it a habit to daily determine to die to self (Mk 8:34), to present one's self as a living sacrifice (see note Romans 12:1), daily making the choice that Christ is Lord of every area of my life. And so we see a godly life is not native to the human heart but can only be lived "in Christ Jesus". The only way to live godly is in vital spiritual union with Christ Jesus (cf note Galatians 2:20 Romans 6:5 Romans 7:4), abiding in the Vine (John 15:5) and living in obedience to Him in the grace He provides. He is the only source and sphere of a truly godly life. The believer experiences fellowship with Christ in suffering as a part of the mystical union with Him. On the other hand, it is possible to be persecuted for being obnoxious, rather than for being obedient. Disciples are not called to go looking for trouble but simply to obey Christ and when you do trouble is not far behind!

Paul writing to Titus explains that it is possible to live godly because "the grace of God has appeared...instructing ("child training" - in context what trains us?) us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age (continuously, earnestly, expectantly) looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus (what should motivate us to "live godly"?). (see notes Titus 2:11; 12; 13; 2:14)

Hugh Latimer has an interesting thought postulating that...

Wherever you see persecution, there is more than a probability that truth is on the persecuted side.

Godly (2153) (eusebos from eu = well + sebomai = reverence <> Sebomai is from root "seb" = sacred awe ) is an attitude of reverence exhibited in one's actions. In secular Greek use eusebos described practical piety towards one's parents. The Greek root was also commonly used in the Greco-Roman world of Paul to describe respect for the pagan gods. For example in one ancient text we read

In summary, eusebos means reverence or awe that is well directed. It is not talking "godly" but living "godly". The godly person lives a life characterized by a "Godward" attitude leading to actions that are well-pleasing to Him.

Spurgeon "qualifies" the persecution Paul is referring to admonishing the disciple to...

Take care if the world does hate you that it hates you without cause.

Pope writes that...

godly indicates the Christian life on its ethical side in the life of conduct; the words 'in Christ' give the other aspect of the Christian life--its inner, mystic fellowship with Christ.

Hiebert writes that

There is an intimate connection between truth and godliness. A vital possession of truth is inconsistent with irreverence…. Real truth never deviates from the path of piety. A profession of the truth which allows an individual to live in ungodliness is a spurious profession

Vine emphasizes that godly...

is not sanctimoniousness ('hypocritical holiness", cf note 2 Timothy 3:5). It cannot be exercised except in communion with Christ; hence the phrase “in Christ Jesus; hence the phrase “in Christ Jesus.” The order of the titles points to the living person, Christ, who became man, Jesus, in order to be our Savior. Not the simple phrase “in Christ” is here used, expressing our position in Him, but the double title, indicating His power as the Lord and sustainer of our life in all its vicissitudes."

Edwards adds that

Paul is careful to point out that his persecution was not anything out of the ordinary. It is in fact, an absolute promise for any believer "who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus." Though there are not many believers standing in line to claim this promise, it is nevertheless a sure promise from God's word. The word for "desire" (thelo) can also be translated "wish" or "want'. The thought seems to be that any believer with the slightest inkling to break ranks with the world and walk in line behind Christ will feel the heat of this world's rage. If we find that we seldom, if ever, are being persecuted for our faith, then certainly we must question whether we genuinely are "living godly in Christ Jesus." (Call to Completion)

As H T Mahan said...

Persecution and opposition ought to encourage rather than discourage us, for we are faithfully warned by our Lord that the natural man and the religionist will not receive the gospel of the grace of God.

Milner phrased it similarly writing that...

Persecution often does in this life what the last great day will do completely—separate the wheat from the tares.

Bishop Ryle agrees writing that...

Persecution is like the goldsmith's hallmark on real silver and gold; it is one of the marks of a converted man.

Realize also that "suffering for Christ" is not only physical abuse but can include social ostracism and verbal insults:

Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. (Lu 6:22)

"A good man a good mark for the arrow: — The better the man, the sooner persecuted; the devil shoots his arrows at the whitest marks." Hall writes "It is a miracle of mercy to consider how the lily subsists in the midst of so many briars and thorns, how the Lord’s wheat grows in the midst of so many tares, how His doves live in the midst of so many birds of prey, and His lambs in the midst of so many roaring lions. Were not the Almighty her defence, those bands of ungodliness would soon destroy her...God is pleased to reserve the sweetest manifestations from the bitterest afflictions. The fountain runs most sweetly when the cistern is broken. When comforts are most needed they will be most prized. The traveler in summer, when the sun shines, casts off his cloak, but in winter, or when the wind blows hard, he wraps it closer to him. So when we bathe ourselves in creature comforts we value not the promises of God, but when we are stripped of all then we look after God. When the salt waters are dried up, then there are fresh springs in God." (The Biblical Illustrator)

WILL BE PERSECUTED: diocthesontai (3PFPI): (Jos 17:14; Ps 37:12-13;37:14 37:15 Mt 5:10, 5:11, 5:12; 10:22;10:23 10:24 10:25 16:24; 23:34; Mk 10:30; Lu 14:26;14:27 Jn 15:19;15:20 15:21 16:2;16:33 17:14; Acts 14:22; Ro 8:17 1Co 15:19; 1Thes 3:3;3:4 Heb 11:32-33;11:34 11:35-36 11:37-38 1Pe 2:20;2:21 3:14; 4:12 4:13 4:14 4:15;4:16 5:9;5:10 Rev 1:9;1:10 7:14; 12:4 12:7 12:8 12:9 12:10)

See sermon by the great revival preacher George Whitfield

Persecution: Every Christian's Lot

Steven Cole (Spiritual Faithfulness) observes that...

While the type and intensity of the persecution will vary from ridicule or rejection to physical violence or even death, every true Christian who lives a godly life in this evil world will experience persecution. If you are honest at work, your honesty will convict those who cheat, and they will try to get you. If you speak out about injustice or evil, you will be ridiculed and attacked. Calvin (Calvin's Commentaries [Baker], on 2 Ti 3:12, p. 244) put it plainly:

they who wish to be exempt from persecutions must necessarily renounce Christ.

Calvin also said...

Persecutions are in a way seals of adoption to the children of God.

B E Fernando echoes the conclusion that...

Persecution is one of the surest signs of the genuineness of our Christianity.

Or as Billy Graham put it...

It is unnatural for Christianity to be popular.

Persecuted (dioko) means literally to be hunted, and then to be followed or pressed hard after, pursued with earnestness and diligence with repeated acts of enmity (See J C Ryle's sermon esp part III Formalism). The picture of the verb dioko is of a fox being chased and hunted by the bloodhounds. Samuel Rutherford in fact wrote that...

If you were not strangers here the hounds of the world would not bark at you.

Paul is reminding Timothy, as well as us, that persecutions and afflictions are required courses in Christ's school of discipleship, not electives!

William Barclay wrote that when...

Anyone proposes to introduce into his life a loyalty which surpasses all earthly loyalties, then there are bound to be clashes and collisions.

Opposition will come when we attempt to bring the light of Christ into a world that loves darkness. Jesus described this same principle in His nighttime conversation with the Jewish teacher Nicodemus declaring that...

this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

As Paul wrote to the Galatians he did not shrink back from proclaiming the truth because of fear of persecution:

But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished."

Or as stated in paraphrase:

Dear friends, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised--as some say I do--why would the Jews persecute me? The fact that I am still being persecuted proves that I am still preaching salvation through the cross of Christ alone. (NLT) (Gal 5:11)

Vine adds that

This antagonism is something to be expected but not to be feared. Nay, rather it is the believer’s glory....Faithfulness to the Lord draws the hostility of the foe but makes the faithful one safe in His keeping.

Because of the abiding antagonism of the world to genuine godliness, persecution is the natural lot of the godly. Persecution and suffering for sake of Christ is a truth interwoven all through the NT in stark contrast to the paucity of preaching on persecution from pulpits in pampered American Christianity.

Jesus emphasized that His disciples would

be hated by all on account of My name ...a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master (Mt 10:22,24)

In Acts Paul forewarned the new converts that God had a wonderful plan for their life and it included the truth that

Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)

Hiebert adds that persecution

may vary in degree and take different forms in different countries and in different ages, but the basic hostility of the world to the godly man remains unchanged.

Indeed some persecution may be overt but some persecution is subtle coming in the form of rejection, including being ignored, being patronized, being mocked (by word or a look), condescension, etc. And we can be sure that whatever form it takes the persecution will hurt for as Augustine once said it will be painful...

even when no one molests or vexes their body; for they suffer this persecution, not in their bodies, but in their hearts.

When our will is dedicated to God, Satan's will is to demolish our resolve with persecution.

Webster says that persecution means to oppress or harass persistently implying a relentless and unremitting subjection to annoyance or suffering. Don't get a "persecution complex" when you're persecuted for the sake of Christ, for as the Puritan Thomas Watson wrote "The weight of glory makes persecution light."

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia defines persecution as

"the suffering or pressure, mental, moral, or physical, which authorities, individuals, or crowds inflict on others, especially for opinions or beliefs, with a view to their subjection by recantation, silencing, or, as a last resort, execution."

Gill writes that persecution of the godly

"is the will of God, and the appointment of heaven; Christ has foretold it, that so it shall be; and He the head has suffered it Himself, and it is necessary that His members should, that they may be conformed unto Him; it is the way Christ Himself went to glory, and through many tribulations His people must enter the kingdom; and this is the common lot and certain case of all the saints, in one shape or another; for though all do not suffer confiscation of goods, beating, scourging, imprisonment, or a violent death yet all are more or less afflicted and distressed by wicked men, and are subject to their reproaches and reviling, which are a branch of persecution; and that for professing Christ, and living a godly life in Him and under His influence: and since such suffer as Christians, and not as evildoers; and this is the common condition of the people of God, in this world, it should not be thought strange, but be cheerfully endured; to encourage to which is the apostle's view in this passage."

Hast thou no scar?
by Amy Carmichael

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,
I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star:
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet, I was wounded by the archers, spent.
Leaned me against the tree to die, and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned:
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yes, as the master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole. Can he have followed far
Who has no wound? No scar?

So do you think you've been persecuted for the Lord's sake? Read a few sequential entries from the diary of John Wesley a "vessel for honor" used mightily by God for the "good work" of national spiritual revival (The First Great Awakening). Notice the school that he had to "graduate from" in preparation for his being used mightily! And then commit to...

be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1Cor15:58)

Wesley's diary entries...

Sunday, A.M., May 5 Preached in St. Anne's. Was asked not to come back anymore.

Sunday, P.M., May 5 Preached in St. John's. Deacons said "Get out and stay out."

Sunday, A.M., May 12 Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there, either.

Sunday, A.M., May 19 Preached in St. Somebody Else's. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn't return.

Sunday, P.M., May 19 Preached on street. Kicked off street.

Sunday, A.M., May 26 Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.

Sunday, A.M., June 2 Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.

Sunday, P.M., June 2 Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.

MacArthur adds that

Self-centered Christians who serve the Lord halfheartedly seldom have to pay a price for their faith. They are of little threat to Satan’s work because they are of little benefit to Christ’s.

Clarke (critique) says

So opposite to the spirit and practice of the world is the whole of Christianity, that he who gives himself entirely up to God, making the Holy Scriptures the rule of his words and actions, will be less or more reviled and persecuted.
 

Some practical applications: Don't be surprised and in fact even expect it when the world held fast in the grip of "the evil one" (1Jn 5:19) despises and hates you. We should be prepared for persecution in one form or another and not be surprised by it or fearfully shrink from it to avoid it. Such forewarning allows the thoughtful Christian to be armed with commitment and ready for certain and incessant spiritual warfare. We should consider that persecution may be one evidence that one indeed has the spirit of Christ, and are His true friends. When one is treated as the Master was they must recall that they are in good company with the prophets, apostles, and martyrs who were all likewise persecuted. If we are persecuted, we should carefully inquire, before we avail ourselves of this consolation that our Master was also persecuted, whether we are persecuted because we “live godly in Christ Jesus,” or for some other reason. If we have never experienced persecution for the sake of righteousness, we have cause to examine whether we are truly His disciples or at the very least we should question the depth of our commitment. 

As John Wesley said

Either the truth of scripture fails, or those that think they are religious, and are not persecuted, in some shape or other, on that very account, deceive themselves.

Peter also encourages us to live godly in Christ Jesus for

"even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED." (see note