a) Subject and Purpose of Epistle This second epistle which was written several years after the first draws a totally different picture before our eyes. Paul goes on to other qualities of an apostle. He knew what care God had taken of him: Notwithstanding out of them all the Lord delivered me; as he never failed his cause, so his God never failed him. These twin qualities of the braggart and the arrogant man inevitably result in love of insult (blasphemia, G988) . The emphasis of so many people is just on being beautiful, lovers of themselves. Men would become lovers of money (philarguros, G5366) . THE QUALITIES OF GODLESSNESS ( 2 Timothy 3:2-5 ). What am I to believe about angels or the future? 2. Let me remark, that there are comparatively few indeed that receive truth without help of others directly from God. And they were able to imitate the workings of God up to a point and then they came to the place where they were backed down by Moses, but "men of corrupt minds, they are reprobate concerning the faith. "He read on, forgetful of time, through the hours of the night, and just as the dawn was breaking, he stood up and declared, 'I believe'.". Here we find the perilous times fairly brought before us. Now this is not given to us in the Scriptures but there are other, what are known as apocryphal books, in which these two fellows are named. And he was probably in the company of those that were standing around, sort of crying, as they saw Paul's limp body on the ground. 2 Timothy 3 - Sermon Bible Commentary - StudyLight.org This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. They choose to lay, again and again, the early foundations of their Christian faith i.e. It follows from this: (1) that they who make a profession of religion, should come prepared to be persecuted. There is just a certain natural love that would keep people from doing a lot of the things they are doing today. ( 2 Timothy 3:1) Perilous times in the last days . We have already seen how secluded the life of the respectable Greek woman was, how she was brought up under the strictest supervision, how she was not allowed "to see anything, to hear anything, or to ask any questions," how she never appeared, even on a shopping expedition, alone on the streets, how she was never allowed even to appear at a public meeting. 4. Finally, we have his assertion of the blessed Lord's care, and his confidence in Him that He would preserve him from all evil to His heavenly kingdom; closing this solemn and touching epistle (it would seem the last words he wrote) with salutations to various saints. And the word perfect of course is always that of completeness. And then Jesus will come and establish God's righteous kingdom, but by then, those that will remain will be saying, Oh, God help us. You're in an alien world. Have you ever seen an age when people were more conscious of their own selves? The difference between the braggart and the man who is arrogant is this. "The cloke," then says he, "that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books," not only the clothing, but even that which he is to read, "especially the parchments;" what he was going to write on, probably. Confirmed that Noah was a real person and it was a real event. These were the names given to the court magicians of Pharaoh who opposed Moses and Aaron, when Moses was leading the children of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. A man may embrace some absurd opinion, and call it religion; he may adopt some mode of dress irresistibly ludicrous, from the mere love of singularity, and may call it "conscience;" or he may be boorish in his manners, and uncivil in his deportment, outraging all the laws of social life, and may call this "deadness to the world;" and for these, and similar things, he may be contemned, ridiculed, and despised. They should remember that, in this respect, they are treated as the Master was, and are in the goodly company of the prophets, apostles, and martyrs; for they were all persecuted. Why cannot a man be as simple now as in apostolic times? For "all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Word Studies in the New Testament. Confrontation and conflict become inevitable (cf. If the Lord doesn't come soon, we're going to destroy ourselves as we just sink in the filth. It's instructing us in righteousness. The Gnostic heretics taught, either that, since matter is altogether evil, a rigid asceticism must be practiced and all the things of the body as far as possible eliminated, or that it does not matter what we do with the body and its desires can be indulged in to the limit because they do not matter. It can sometimes have the meaning of loyalty, or true religion. It can never cease to be a Christian's duty to maintain the unity of the Spirit; but it is not maintaining the unity of the Spirit to couple with the name of the Lord that which is fleshly and sinful. for instruction in righteousness ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ): And righteousness is just actually the act of being right or doing right or living right. The Jehovah Witnesses seeking to develop their doctrine concerning hell and that it is a place of oblivion, no consciousness, no awareness. There is a sense in which slander is the most cruel of all sins. It is not "the commandment," as of authority, but "according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus." The apostle well knew that the God who had brought these glorious truths to man, the God that had manifested His grace, had given a witness of their reality in the man from whom he had learned them; and this was meant to have an enduring effect on the conscience and heart of Timothy. Christianity was cradled in Judaism and very naturally thought largely in Jewish terms and pictures. It is not enough to be satisfied when a church is humming like a dynamo and every night in the week has its own crowded organization. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: they are men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith ( 2 Timothy 3:8 ). He had fought the good fight of faith. The essence of persecution consists in subjecting a person to injury or disadvantage on account of his opinions. It is something more than meeting his opinions by argument, which is always right and proper; it is inflicting some injury on him; depriving him of some privilege, or right; subjecting him to some disadvantage, or placing him in less favorable circumstances, on account of his sentiments. The volume of the book, the Old Testament, it's all about Jesus Christ. Ephesus was called "The Treasure-house of the ancient world," "The Vanity Fair of Asia Minor." You have no authority.So if I tell you that some scriptures are not really inspired of God, then I become the authority, not the Bible anymore, because you can't just read the whole Bible and trust it because not all of it is inspired. And why read them anyhow if they're not inspired? Verse 4. They must not lie by us neglected, seldom or never looked into. But, says the apostle, "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." He said, "A wicked and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign; but no sign will be given it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" ( Matthew 12:38-40 ). It is of use to all, for we all need to be instructed, corrected, and reproved: it is of special use to ministers, who are to give instruction, correction, and reproof; and whence can they fetch it better than from the scripture? 2. menin the professing Church. (1) it teaches the only way to the Father is through Jesus; (2) it teaches a morality (a way of life) unpopular with the world; (3) it teaches a miraculous creation, a miraculous end; and a miraculous Savior who was resurrected; (4), Why does the world hate Christians? The scriptures are able to make us truly wise, wise for our souls and another world. Plutarch uses the word to describe a quack doctor. 3:10-13 But you have been my disciple in my teaching, my training, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance, my persecutions, my sufferings, in what happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, in the persecutions which I underwent; and the Lord rescued me from them all. Proud member "I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. It denotes a savagery which has neither sensitiveness nor sympathy. It is the ability not to lose patience when people are foolish, not to grow irritable when they seem unteachable. THE QUALITIES OF GODLESSNESS ( 2 Timothy 3:2-5 continued). On account of his opinions, he may be held up to ridicule, or treated with neglect, or excluded from society to which his attainments and manners would otherwise introduce him, or shunned by those who might otherwise value his friendship. Observe, Timothy must continue in the things which he had learned and had been assured of. He is sure that the ungodly man will go from bad to worse and that there is literally no future for the man who refuses to accept the way of God. turned unto fables. His answer was: "That which will be most useful to them when they are men." shall suffer persecution; it 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 revilings, 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. Includes questions, verse by verse commentary, and applications on 2 Timothy 1 for life transformation. 1:15; 4:9-12, 16) and facing imminent execution, Paul wrote to Timothy, urging him to hasten to Rome for one last visit with the apostle ( 4:9, 21 ). "Every scripture" for this is the proper force of the passage "Every scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.". Though his life was a life of great usefulness, yet it was a life of great sufferings; and none, I believe, came nearer to their great Master for eminent services and great sufferings than Paul: he suffered almost in every place; the Holy Ghost witnessed that bonds and afflictions did abide him, Acts 20:23. Verse 1. Jannes and Jambres were the names of the two magicians that withstood Moses. There was a certain heretic called Marcus who dealt in magic. Such offence can and does happen yet. He did so to help him realize that he faced no unknown situation in Ephesus and to enable him to combat it intelligently. It was the common lot of all who endeavored to serve their Redeemer faithfully; and Timothy himself, therefore, must not hope to escape from it. The cause of the perilous times are found in the things that people will be doing, and at the top of the list. "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace." To love men is to forgive them and care for them as God forgave and cares--and it is only he who can enable us to do that. These were graces that Paul was eminent for, and Timothy knew it. (12) Yea, and all that will live godly.--But St. Paul would not allow it to be thought for a moment that in the fact of his enduring persecution and suffering there was anything remarkable or singular; so he adds the words of this verse, which repeat in a peculiarly solemn way the great Christian truth that eternal glory was only to be reached by man through an avenue of sufferings. 2 Timothy 3:2 Commentaries: For men will be lovers of self, lovers of The Christian emancipation of women inevitably brought its problems. Anosios does not so much mean that men will break the written laws; it means that they will offend against the unwritten laws which are part and parcel of the essence of life. Amidst all the stories one fact stands out--Jannes and Jambres became legendary figures typifying all those who opposed the purposes of God and the work of his true leaders. Be assured, that if you do not bring the Spirit of God into these matters, perhaps your cloak, perhaps a book, will become a snare to you. Paul's life contrasted with the world. VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. We should not be any more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive,Ephesians 4:14. We live in a fallen world, and there are many challenges that face the believer who has not only trusted Christ for salvation, but is also ready and willing to deny self, take up his cross, follow Christs example, and say without compromise Thy will, not mine, be done.The newbornbaby Christian has to grow in grace and mature in the faith over an unspecified periodof time, to reach this level of maturity in his faith, while other who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ may slip in and out of carnality and worldliness for many years, stunting their growth and even regressing in their faith back to spiritual infancy.Many, if not all believers, are called to become mature in the faith by walking in spirit and truth and living godly, Christ-centred lives, but few are willing to exchange the cosy blessings of early Christian infancy, for the difficulties that inevitably follow the mature believer. It is profitable to us for all the purposes of the Christian life, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Nor do I at all see that any Christians should be above learning, if others can teach. He opened out the pages to make it burn more easily. Or life, or death, or life after death? And a hundred and fifty men can board it and they can submerge and go under the North Pole under the arctic ice. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God.". (ii) The Scriptures are of use in teaching. He was one that needed to lean on an arm stronger than his own. In these terrible days men will be slanderers. 5. There are persons who think that the approach of death is intended to blot out everything here. my doctrine, and my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, my longsuffering, my love, and my patience, [you know the] persecutions, and the afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, and Iconium, and Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me ( 2 Timothy 3:10-11 ). thoroughly furnished unto all good works ( 2 Timothy 3:17 ). Their falsity would be demonstrated and they would receive their appropriate reward. The closing chapter (2 Timothy 4:1-22) then gives his solemn charge, and at the same time his own expression of what was before him. 2 Timothy 3:12 (NASB) Verse Thoughts We live in a fallen world, and there are many challenges that face the believer who has not only trusted Christ for salvation, but is also ready and willing to deny self, take up his cross, follow Christ's example, and say without compromise - Thy will, not mine, be done. In the end not a book was burned; the brigand left the colporteur and went off into the darkness with the books. If anyone proposes to introduce into his life a loyalty which surpasses all earthly loyalties, there are bound to be clashes. At the same time he shows also his sense of the kindness of a particular individual and his family. "Reprobate concerning the faith.". And many shall be stirred up in anger to injure many; And they shall rouse up armies in order to shed blood. The true leader gives training in living. We find a precisely similar kind of combination in Paul. That persecution which will properly furnish any evidence that we are the friends of Christ, must be only that which is "for righteousness sake" Matthew 5:10, and must be brought upon us in an honest effort to obey the commands of God. Let us look at them one by one. This is God's attitude to men. For after all, I'm worth it. And that is precisely what Christianity demands that a man should do. His mind was caught; he took it back. Men would be headlong in words and action. We have the practice and treatment of true Christians: they live godly in Jesus Christ--this is their practice; and they shall suffer persecution--this is the usage they must expect in this world. 2 Timothy Greeting. The Kingdom had its price. Copyright Statement These files are public domain. Who is talking all these words without knowledge? One of my most unfavorite promises in the Bible. It may well be that the greatest handicap to Christianity is not the scarlet sinner but the sleek devotee of an unimpeachable orthodoxy and a dignified convention, who is horrified when it is suggested that real religion is a dynamic power which changes a man's personal life. The Christian life does not consist only in knowing something; it consists even more in being something. More and more the Christian is a marked person because the more corrupt the world becomes, the more the Christian stands out. II. It is often a very great safeguard for the saint of God; for, after all, it makes no small difference who says this or that. The New Testament had not yet been canonized. Real teaching is always born of real experience. Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man" ( Luke 17:26 ). Xenophon tells us how Cyrus, the Persian king, defined the alazon ( G213) : "The name alazon ( G213) seems to apply to those who pretend that they are richer than they are or braver than they are, and to those who promise to do what they cannot do, and that, too, when it is evident that they do this only for the sake of getting something or making some gain" (Xenophon: Cyropoedia, 2, 2, 12). He who feeds his mind on cheap literature can in the end find nothing in the great masterpieces. (1) that they who make a profession of religion, should come prepared to be persecuted. It opened at the Sermon on the Mount. "My God shall supply all of your needs" ( Philippians 4:19 ). It was the glory of the Jews that their children from their earliest days were trained in the law. But they will not get much further, for their folly will be as clear to all as that of those ancient impostors. If there is no human affection, the family cannot exist. "It shone and glowed with truth," she said, "and my whole being responded to it. If they had been more faithful, and more like their Master, would they have always escaped? No amount of intellectual curiosity can ever take the place of moral earnestness. When we know the afflictions of believers only in part, they tempt us to decline the cause for which they suffer. Paul cites three instances when he had to suffer for Christ. There was the road from north Asia Minor and from Galatia which came in via Sardis. They were never meant to be anything else but visions; we do violence to Jewish and to early Christian thought if we take them with a crude literalness. When a man's language becomes filthy, obscene and crude, it shows that there's something wrong with him. Barnes' Notes. A whole collection of stories gathered round their names. And the reason why he makes it so urgent not to be turned aside was, that the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they should heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they should turn away their ears from the truth, and should be. Edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, this new commentary series, projected to be 48 volumes, takes a Christ-centered approach to expositing each book of the Bible. The numbers of people who flocked to the various athletic contests, loving pleasure. 2 Timothy 3:12 NIV - In fact, everyone who wants to live a - Bible Gateway It answers all the ends of divine revelation. In the days between the Old and the New Testaments many Jewish books were written which expanded the Old Testament stories. I've never found that in one of those little Bible promise books, I mean, promise things yet. What Paul is thinking of here is more than faithlessness in friendship--although that in all truth is wounding enough--he is thinking of those who to pay back an old score would inform against the Christians to the Roman government. "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. He had not said a word about them before. That will = Who will live ( ) to desire, to want to, to wish. All you can say is that they are "without natural affection".God has put in our heart a certain natural love as a parent for a child. Their minds become corrupted and they ultimately become reprobate concerning the faith. 2 Timothy 3:12 - Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch That persecution which will properly furnish any evidence that we are the friends of Christ, must be only that which is for righteousness sake Matthew 5:10, and must be brought upon us in an honest effort to obey the commands of God. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL Having a form of godliness ( 2 Timothy 3:5 ). Thank You that Your grace is sufficient for any attack that the evil enemy of my soul can throw at me, and that nothing can ever separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Many and many a time we would be saved from hurting ourselves and from wounding other people, if we would only stop to think. They were said to be the two servants who accompanied Balaam when he was disobedient to God ( Numbers 22:22); they were said to have been part of the great mixed multitude who accompanied the children of Israel out of Egypt ( Exodus 12:38); some said that they perished at the crossing of the Red Sea; other stories said that it was Jannes and Jambres who were behind the making of the golden calf and that they perished among those who were killed for that sin ( Exodus 32:28); still other stories said that in the end they became proselytes to Judaism. But thou hast fully known ( 2 Timothy 3:10 ), Now in contrast to this, boy, and what a contrast the Christian is to the world around him, and more and more, you know, more and more your lifestyle is different from the world. It is the whole spiritual experience, so to speak, of the apostle. (2.) I believe that God intended you to have pleasure, but when it comes before God, it means that it has become your God and it makes a very poor God to worship or serve. It describes, not the spirit which accepts life, but the spirit which masters it. Paul suffered as he taught: a single eye to Christ and His grace made him consistent. Difficult is the Greek word chalepos ( G5467) . 2 Timothy 3:12. And my full doctrinal concepts are premised upon the scriptures. And leaving guilelessness, will draw near to malice; And forsaking the commandments of the Lord. How appropriate that "trucebreakers" is for this day. It is easy for a professed Christian to avoid persecution, if he yields every point in which religion is opposed to the world. What use it will be of to us. Braggart has an interesting derivation. This was always the becoming tone; but now it is imperiously necessary, as well as wise and good. At that time Timothy was just a very young boy, probably in his mid-teens and yet he was attracted to Paul the apostle because of the message that Paul bore. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The moment a man makes his own will the centre of life, divine and human relationships are destroyed, obedience to God and charity to men both become impossible. Here is one of the most terrible pictures in the New Testament of what a godless world would be like, with the terrible qualities of godlessness set out in a ghastly series. Now these seem to many very difficult indeed to combine. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known The crumbling away of everything here was before the apostle; and accordingly it is one of the peculiar features of this second epistle, that he brings out that which never can decay which was before there was a world to dissolve namely, that life which was in Christ Jesus before the world began. Possibly he did appoint them; but there is no scriptural proof of it. Storge is the word used especially of family love, the love of child for parent and parent for child. It follows from this: (1) That they who make a profession of religion, should come prepared to be persecuted. Timothy, again, winced under trials, too sensitive to slights, disappointments, and the manifold griefs that came upon him. Look at our attitudes towards morality. A. Characteristics of the last days 3:1-13. "And God prepared a great fish and it swallowed Jonah" ( Jonah 1:17 ). It seems to me, I confess, that if there were simplicity of faith, the Lord would give one eyes to see some at least that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. No matter what the reasons or excuses for joining with them, "turn away.". Rather he must "labour before he partake of the fruits." The thing that amazes me is that he can attract people who will support him. There is nothing that more shows God than His ability to combine that which is eternal with care for the smallest things of this life. Here he mentions his persecutions and afflictions at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, besides what he suffered elsewhere. Their own word would eat as a canker, and do harm to others as well as to themselves, "who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some." "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life" (he must be unencumbered, and undivided in his object); "that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. The Greek for slanderer is diabolos ( G1228) which is precisely the English word devil. Perilous Times 2 Timothy 3:1. (2 Timothy 1:1.) They will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers, with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears." Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. The Jewish Rabbis ranked high in the list of sins what they called the sin of insult.
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