2 TIMOTHY 3:1-9
But realize this, that in the last
days difficult times will come. For men would be lovers of self, lovers of
money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful,
unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control,
brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have
denied its power; 'Avoid such men as these.'
For among them are those who enter
into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by
various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of
the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose
the truth, 'men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they
would not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just
as Jannes and Jambres' folly was also (NASB).
INTRODUCTION
In view
of the events of our postmodern world, the Lord has impressed it upon my heart
to share this message with you as we begin the New Year. I pray that this
message would help you to draw closer to Christ as He enables you to discern
the times in which we live today.
I.
TERRIBLE TIMES VV. 1-5
V.
1. The phrase, “But mark this” is an
attention getter. The word mark means,
“know.” The conjunction but in
this context serves as jolting reminder to Timothy of a reality with which he
must come to grips: “Terrible times” are coming. In the last paragraph of
chapter two, Paul has stated how Timothy is to deal with those who would rise
against him in his ministry. Having exhorted him, he then in a prophetic manner
states the conditions of the “last days.”
Verse
two, states the social decadence that will characterize the “last days.” What
are the “last days?” The “last days” refer to the period preceding the consummation
of the present age.[1] The
adjective translated “terrible’ also
means, “violent, fierce, or hard to deal with.” “There will be” would normally
describe a coming state of affairs. Apostle Paul provides a catalog of moral
declension. The first pair is, “love of
self and love of money.” Love of self is idolatry and love of money is
greed. Paul is not speaking to or about people who are lost; he is speaking
about believers. Do you notice how Christianity or churches have become
person-centered instead of Christ-centered? Greed is all around us today. Some Pastors
scheme or arrange with the "so-called anointed prophets" to dupe
their church members. There are Pastors who come up with investment schemes and
have depleted the pensions and savings of some of their members. Look at Enron
and many other corporate executives who claimed to be Christians but have
embezzled the funds of their employees. Moral
corruption stems from love falsely directed. Self-centeredness and
materialism when they become the chief objects of affection destroy all moral
values, and the subsequent list of vices is their natural fruit. Therefore,
whenever you find the first pair in the life of a believer or any person for
that matter, the other vices will be there.
The two others "boastful
and proud" overlap semantically
and can be translated “arrogant pride” (Rom. 1:30). The word translated "abusive" also means “blasphemers,
scoffers at God,” and the defamation of other humans. This is the result of the
absence of moral virtues. The word boastful
also means “empty pretender.” The next is disobedience
to parents. The present day characterizes children and young people who are
disobedient to their parents (1 Tim. 1:9). The disobedience of children to
their parents causes them to forfeit the promise and blessing of God.
“Ungrateful
and unholy” To withhold thanks from
God is a refusal to acknowledge that He exists, or at least, to refuse to
acknowledge that our life and all that we have come from Him. It is the denial
of divine providence—utterly forgetting the Source of all blessings, both
temporal and spiritual. When you go to a restaurant and the food is served how
do you distinguish a Christian from an unbeliever? The Christians gives thanks
to God, while the non-Christian does not. “Unholy,” when you separate yourself
from the evil things of the world people begin to call you names. We are not to
keep our distance from unbelievers, but we are not to practice their ways of
life nor condone them.
“Without love
and unforgiving” can be paired
together. Jesus says in Matthew 24 that in the last days, “people’s love will
grow cold.” These days you can see the destruction of the foundations of family
life—the absence of love. You see mothers taking their children to court. You
see husbands suing their wives. You see children fighting with their parents,
etc. You see the increase of the divorce rate among Christians today. Why? It
is because of the absence of love and forgiveness. Today the least mistake you
make someone is going to sue you whether the person is a Christian or not. Some
doctors have stopped practicing medicine because of frivolous lawsuits. When
Christians cannot forgive one another and even people outside the church, then
we don’t understand the love of Christ. Then, we have to look deep into our
hearts whether our profession of faith in Christ is even genuine. This conveys
the attitude of a person who does not respond to a proposal for a truce; such a
person refuses to be reconciled or placated.
Slanderous is the
Greek word, diabolos from which we
get the word “devil.” It also means
“malicious talkers” in 1 Tim. 3:11. When this word is used for God it means blasphemy, however, when it is used for
a person or persons it means Slander.
It conveys the idea of a person or persons who make statements or spread rumors
about another that are untrue. When you slander, you become just like the
devil, because the devil is “the accuser of the brethren.” Some who claim to be
Christians major on slander, but a practicing slanderer will not inherit the
kingdom of God.
“Without
self-control” refers to matters of moral failure. We have seen and even
heard of Christians and pastors who have gone to jail, because of some moral
failures such as drug use, fraud, sexual immorality, misappropriation of money,
and many others. It is an attitude of mind dominated by outside influences. Brutal means “untamed” or “savage.” The
twentieth and twenty-first centuries can be characterized by brutality and
savagery in many places. For example, the tribal war in Rwanda, Uganda, Bosnia
and Kosovo, Religious wars in Iraq, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, random
and drive by shootings in the United States, persecution of Christians in
China, Sudan, Nigeria, and many other places. Individual senseless killings and
ritual murders are all forms of brutality that characterize the last days. Not lovers of the good can mean “haters
of good,” it describes people who hate what is good because they have a warped
mind. People who are not lovers of the good oppose anything that is good in the
sense that the good makes them guilty and uncomfortable (the Pharisees and Sadducees)
and their opposition to Jesus Christ.
In verse 4, treacherous
connotes the idea of betrayal. It describes someone who joins the Church so
that he/she can betray the church to the enemies of Christ (i.e. Judas
Iscariot). It conveys the idea of a person who cannot keep things in
confidence. Rash describes the
attitude of a crowd that is out of control (cf. Acts 19:36); Conceit carries the idea of a person or
persons who are self-deceived (1 Tim. 3:6), this has to do with the danger of a
character flaw. Lovers of pleasure rather
than lovers of God. This is what is going on in many churches today. The
Church of God has gone into the entertainment business. People attend church in
order to be amused. I am not talking about a pastor using humor in his
messages, but churches that are entertainment oriented. Such churches make
people feel good about themselves while they have not been saved. Many churches
pander the gospel to the wants of people, not what the people need. When we
come to God, we do not dictate the terms; He dictates the terms; He is in
charge and we are to respond to His demands on our lives. The statement that
has become a modern fashion is the church is not meeting my needs. Who is the
church? What is the church? What are you contributing to the church? Do you go
to church to hear from God or do you go to church to be entertained?
The amazing thing is that these people, consumed by their
own vices have "a form of godliness” (v.
5). These people fake conversion to Christ. On the outside, they seem solid
without any suspicion, but inwardly, they have not been regenerated. While they
claim to be Christians, they maintain that Jesus Christ is not the only way to
salvation. Paul tells Timothy and us that we are to have nothing to do with them. In other words, we are not to admit a
person into membership of the church if he/she has not accepted Jesus Christ as
Savior and Lord.
II.
VICTIMIZATION OF WOMEN AND OTHERS (3:6-9)
Verses 6-9 continue the warning against the evil people so
graphically described in verses 2-4. Since these evil hypocrites have a “form
of godliness,” they are able to seduce some people into believing their
heresies.
A note of caution in verse 6 is appropriate. It is
important to understand the word women
as a particular class of women and not as a description of women in general,
any more than the words in verses 2-4 describe men in general. These women may
have been converted from a life of paganism or loose living. Not every woman is
“weak-willed, silly, gullible, or vulnerable.” However, for the most part women
are prone to jump from church to church or from prophet to prophet or to any
new church on the block.
The fact that some women were being deceived by evil,
hypocritical false teachers may help to explain why Paul earlier restricted
women as he did (1 Tim. 2:11-15). It is reasonable to suppose that this was
also taking place in churches beyond Ephesus, requiring a blanket restriction
on Paul’s part.
Verse 8, these
false prophets oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. Who
were Jannes and Jambres? (Exod. 7:11-12; 8:18; 9:11). These were the magicians,
who opposed Moses in Egypt when God sent him to deliver the Hebrew people from
captivity.
Evil people and impostors will grow from bad to worse (v.
13).
What Are We to Do As
Believers?
1. Follow the
apostolic teachings of the NT.
2. We are to
persevere for Jesus Christ in spite of the moral erosion of society.
3. We are to
stay true to Christ and live exclusively for Him.
4. The Bible
provides wisdom for daily living.
This
is God’s picture of the last days. May God help us to be genuine, to be real,
that eternal things may grip our souls that we will live, and do the work and
be real witnesses for Him in the coming year.
I
intentionally condensed my exegesis and application of this biblical text to
encourage you to include your own application. We will continue the study of
the Parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke next week. Meanwhile, I wish all of
my followers and readers a blessed New Year.
