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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him," not absolutely, we shall reign, but "if we suffer," showing that it is not enough to die once, (the blessed man himself died daily,) but there was need of much patient endurance; and especially Timothy had need of it. For tell me not, he says, of your first sufferings, but that you continue to suffer. Then on the other side he exhorts him, not from the good, but from the evil. For if wicked men were to partake of the same things, this would be no consolation. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
It is not enough to give oneself over to some death once, but forever. "I die daily," says the apostle (1 Cor. 15:31). So, one must endure much in order that we may be deemed worthy of reigning with Christ as well. The Apostle confirms his word also from the opposite side. For the recompense will be not only for good relations with the Lord, but also for the opposite of that. "Whoever denies Me," He says, "I will also deny him" (Matt. 10:33). Think about what the one who has denied Christ will have to endure!
Oecumenius
If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. For if we have died with Christ, (by which I mean death both through baptism and through sufferings, this indeed being the sensible one,) we shall also reign with him." For no one, Paul says, who has shared in sorrows with others can be deprived of good things and prosperity: let alone Christ, who is goodness and kindness itself. If we deny him, he also will deny us. Then also fear them who are evil. …
Western Saints
Leo the Great
In Him therefore we find our Model of patience, in Whom we have our Hope of life eternal; for "if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him," since, as the Apostle says, "he that saith he abideth in Christ ought himself also to walk as He walked." Otherwise we make a vain presence and show, if we follow not His steps, Whose name we glory in, and assuredly they would not be irksome to us, but would free us from all dangers, if we loved nothing but what He commanded us to love.
Thomas Aquinas
Then he treats of the glory the saints merit by an ignominious death: ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so to enter into his glory (Luke 24:26); hence he says, if we suffer, i.e., patiently, our afflictions and reproaches, we shall also reign with him, i.e., we shall enter the kingdom along with him: blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:10). If we deny him, he will also deny us: he shows what will follow as punishment. …
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