In 2Baruch we get an even more vivid picture of the moral chaos of these last times: And envy shall rise in those who had not thought ought of. You know, I mean, talk about lovers of selves, look at the advertising. Possibly he did appoint them; but there is no scriptural proof of it. Bishop Pearson proves the divine origination of Christianity from its success being inexplicable on the supposition of its being of human origin. He forbad his going on in association with those that dishonour the Lord with vessels to dishonour; but he tells him to follow these things "with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." She had never tried the Bible, for a friend had convinced her by subtle arguments that it could not be true. I am reminded of the prophet of God who spoke concerning Israel, and he said, "They have sown the wind, and now they must reap the whirlwind" ( Hosea 8:7 ). 2 Timothy 3:12 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Noah escaped? Let us look at them one by one. The same tone of mercy is equally promised in this #epistle as in the last. Persons sometimes say it does not matter who taught; but God does not treat the matter so lightly. "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace." So the Greek word that is used here to describe these that are going around, leading captive the silly women, is the same Greek word that was used to describe quackery, and that's probably they're quacks, Paul is saying. The scripture is a perfect rule of faith and practice, and was designed for the man of God, the minister as well as the Christian who is devoted to God, for it is profitable for doctrine, &c. SEDUCTION IN THE NAME OF RELIGION ( 2 Timothy 3:6-7 ). God is right. 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. And so Paul is warning Timothy of certain things that will be transpiring in the last days. Men will be lovers of their own selves ( 2 Timothy 3:2 ). 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 ). Socrates skid that they were to be found in every walk of life but were worst of all in politics. The Holy Spirit would make it to be most practical and precious. Accordingly, there is a depth of feeling that one may safely say far exceeds the first epistle, although it had shown so much tenderness and care both for Timothy and the faithful of those days. Judaism had its divine institutions and hopes, but the truth is found in Christendom only: nevertheless in Christendom, who fails to discern Jewish elements and heathenish enormities? And a less confession than this God never permitted the church to accept; nor in fact in Jerusalem itself was less ever accepted than the naming the name of the Lord. There was the road from the south which centred the trade of the Maeander valley in Ephesus. The Christian life does not consist only in knowing something; it consists even more in being something. Men will refuse to recognize even the ultimate decencies of life. No man is saved unless he is on fire to save his fellow-men. 2. menin the professing Church. In other words, there is within the Old Testament so much concerning Jesus Christ that through the understanding and the study of the Old Testament you should logically be led to Jesus Christ. The age of children is the learning age; and those who would get true learning must get it out of the scriptures. Instead of hiding either from Timothy, he points all out to him. The apostle mentions the Lord's delivering him out of them all, for Timothy's and our encouragement under sufferings. They're profitable. It is used in Matthew 8:28 to describe the two Gergesene demoniacs who met Jesus among the tombs. In the Jewish pictures of these last terrible times we get exactly the same kind of picture as we get here. Let me remark, that there are comparatively few indeed that receive truth without help of others directly from God. At any rate the apostle presses this very strongly on Timothy. As individuals, we should sometimes ask ourselves: what is our aim in life? Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. Jannes and Jambres were the names of the two magicians that withstood Moses. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:2, "But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God." It is the normal Greek word for difficult, but it has certain usage's which explain its meaning here. He read them and never rested until he obtained the rest of the Bible. [3.] But the sin of the man who is arrogant is in his heart. "Men of corrupt minds. Don't start trying to cut out certain stories because they don't fit your scheme because you have a little hard, you have a hard time sort of believing that. Aspondos ( G786) can mean two things. And so Paul said to Timothy, "You have fully known". There is training. This chapter has a vivid description of the great apostasy (2 Timothy 3:1-9), signs of which were already present, an appeal to Paul's own inspiring and inspired example (2 Timothy 3:10-15), and one of the most impressive paragraphs in all the Bible with reference to the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16,17).For more extensive discussion of the apostasy, the man of . In that large heart which weighed so justly and with single eye, there was a deepening feeling as to all that he saw around him; there was a realizing of the importance of things of which he had said not a word before. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" (there must, I suppose, have been some ground for the exhortation), "nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." And may not their freedom from it prove that they have surrendered the principles of their religion, where they should have stood firm, though the world were arrayed against them? Negative and positive illustrations 3:8-13. The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement but the obliteration of self. What Does It Really Mean That Your Body Is a Temple? THE QUALITIES OF GODLESSNESS ( 2 Timothy 3:2-5 continued). In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God. He was driven from Antioch in Pisidia ( Acts 13:50); he had to flee from Iconium to avoid lynching ( Acts 14:5-6); in Lystra he was stoned and left for dead ( Acts 14:19). 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 a duty in the present state of confusion to use scriptural means; and here we have our warrant, as in the epistles we find more. Yet. ". Note, Those are wise indeed who are wise to salvation. The kind of guys that went around selling snake oil or cure-alls, deceiving, defrauding people. Perverse Men 2 Timothy 3:2-4 . In the last days This often means the days of the Messiah, and is sometimes extended in its signification to the destruction of Jerusalem, as this was properly the last days of the Jewish state. Traitors . It is derived from two Greek words which mean to show oneself above. live godly in Christ(Ga 2:20; Php 1:21). It begets disregard of God, thinking that it does not need him and that it knows better than he. No matter what the reasons or excuses for joining with them, "turn away.". Let us then see what Paul says of the usefulness of scripture. And my full doctrinal concepts are premised upon the scriptures. Now I'm not about to say God was wrong. "I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. (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? He warns Timothy of the fatal end of seducers, as a reason why he should stick closely to the truth as it is in Jesus: But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, c., 2 Timothy 3:13; 2 Timothy 3:13. Paul completes the story of the things in which Timothy has shared, and must share, with him, by speaking of the experiences of an apostle; and he prefaces that list of experiences by setting down the quality of endurance. "That thou hast had good teachers. The adjective used is philautos, which means self-loving. Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics, 7: 2) defined the alazon ( G213) as "the man who pretends to creditable qualities that he does not possess, or possesses in a lesser degree than he makes out." This he had known most extensively, but it was closed; no longer had he before him any prospect of having to fight the battles of the church of God. There is patience. (iv) The Scriptures are of use for correction. Copyright Statement These files are public domain. Plutarch uses the word to describe a quack doctor. Again and again Scripture has opened for men and women the way to God. 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. (This book is used for definition of Greek words. Still the man has become crude, blasphemous, ranting and raving, a disgrace to Jesus Christ who said, "By this sign shall men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another" ( John 13:34 ). So the same Greek is used of the same thing, Lu 14:28, 33, "intending (Greek, 'wishing') to build a tower counteth the cost.". Therefore, isolation is never desirable, though it may be sometimes necessary. Paul goes on to other qualities of an apostle. 3. The apostle had a particular reference, doubtless, to his own times; but he has put his remark into the most general form, as applicable to all periods. The adjective used is philautos ( G5367) , which means self-loving. Now we see that when Paul was touching the confines of that difficult and most perilous moment when John was to be left alone, he brings out as his last note that very truth which John was to develop with special care and fulness. Look at the lack, lackness. 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. It can mean that a man is so bitter in his hatred that he will never come to terms with the man with whom he has quarrelled. Observe, As good men, by the grace of God, grow better and better, so bad men, through the subtlety of Satan and the power of their own corruptions, grow worse and worse. (3) if we are persecuted, we should carefully inquire, before we avail ourselves of this consolation, whether we are persecuted because we "live godly in Christ Jesus," or for some other reason. And the word of God comes and it brings a balance, it brings a correction, it brings a correct perspective.It's profitable. When we know the afflictions of good people but in part, they are a temptation to us to decline that cause which they suffer for; when we know only the hardships they undergo for Christ, we may be ready to say, "We will renounce that cause that is likely to cost us so dear in the owning of it;" but when we fully know the afflictions, not only how they suffer, but how they are supported and comforted under their sufferings, then, instead of being discouraged, we shall be animated by them, especially considering that we are told before that we must count upon such things (2 Timothy 3:12; 2 Timothy 3:12): All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution: not always alike; at that time those who professed the faith of Christ were more exposed to persecution than at other times; but at all times, more or less, those who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. In 2 Timothy 3:9, he says that that apostasy would not always continue; but would be at some time arrested, and so arrested as to show to all men the . 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. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1975. She doesn't have the time to prepare the meal on Friday evening and we'll go out on Friday night. When we know the afflictions of believers only in part, they tempt us to decline the cause for which they suffer. All that will live godly 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. Lipscomb's Commentary on Selected NT Books, Verse 12. In the former epistle, Timothy was told how to behave in the house of God, as yet in order; but now we are told how to behave in such a state of things as the present disorder. Then the apostle puts before them a blessed model of that which he had before his own soul. That which finishes a man of God in this world is the scripture. Others must do that kind of work in future. But the apostle remembered it all, felt deeply for if not with him, and greatly desiring to see him once more. 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. thoroughly furnished unto all good works ( 2 Timothy 3:17 ). You're in an alien world. (2) They who are persecuted for their opinions, should consider that this may be one evidence that they have the spirit of Christ, and are his true friends. III. (8) Using the boldness God gives, don't be ashamed of the imprisoned apostle. A book with a record such as it has cannot be disregarded. Boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy ( 2 Timothy 3:2 ). Things will get worse as people turn away from those who teach the Scriptures, and listen to those who teach their own theories. It means to follow a person mentally, to attend diligently to his teaching and fully to understand the meaning of what he says. But we have also been supplied with many precious promises which reassure us that His grace is sufficient, His strength is perfected in our weakness, that suffering for Christ's sake is a privilege for the child of God, and that no amount of trials, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or the sword, is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.May we grasp this truth in His strength, and remember that in this world we will have tribulation but that if we fellowship in the suffering of Christ, we will also be glorified with Him Who loved us so much that He died for us, that we might live for Him forever. (2Baruch 27). He is the man who is guilty of the "sin of the high heart." And the word perfect of course is always that of completeness. The Platonic Definitions defined the corresponding noun (alazoneia, G212) as: "The claim to good things which a man does not really possess." They claimed that their children learned the law even from their swaddling clothes and drank it in with their mother's milk. The way of sin is down-hill; for such proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Paul contrasts the conduct of Timothy, his loyal disciple, with the conduct of the heretics who were doing their utmost to wreck the Church. It is undoubtedly true at all times, and will ever be, that they who are devoted Christians - who live as the Saviour did - and who carry out his principles always, will experience some form of persecution. repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Friday evenings, you know, everybody out looking for their weekend companion, incontinent, no sexual restraints. "Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And yet, it is becoming in this hedonistic society commonplace, all too commonplace, tragically commonplace. Accordingly, although they are not exposed to the same assaults, and do not engage in the same battles, yet they have a warfare in common, and shall never be wholly at peace and exempt from persecutions. 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. Paul cites three instances when he had to suffer for Christ. The Gnostics had their own fanciful books; the heretics all produced their own literature to support their claims. Paul said to Timothy. C. Description of His Present Resource 2 Timothy 3:13-17. For, if we do not believe their truth and goodness, they will do us no good. 9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. He was ordered to light a bonfire and burn his books. It is not a question here about elders, but what would abide all the same when elders could not be duly appointed. It is in terms of these last days that Paul is thinking in this passage. Timothy fully knew Paul's good character, which he might gather from his doctrine, manner of life, and purpose; for he gave proofs of his faith (that is, of his integrity and fidelity, or his faith in Christ, his faith concerning another world, by which Paul lived), his long-suffering towards the churches to which he preached and over which he presided, his charity towards all men, and his patience. 3:14-17 But as for you, remain loyal to the things which you have learned, and in which your belief has been confirmed, for you know from whom you learned them, and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that will bring you salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. And suddenly, of course, their tears were changed because Paul began to breathe and move and he stood up and he said, Let's go back in and preach some more. Our God is much too small. He is sure that God will rescue the man who puts his faith in him. There is peril when men assess prosperity by material things. Whether Timothy made it to Rome before Paul's execution is not known. If your God is big enough to create the heavens and the earth, no problem, but you see, we stumble on the very first verse. Timothy had a great advantage in being trained up under such a tutor, and being apprised of the doctrine he preached. (187) And he says this, partly that believers may prepare themselves for submitting to this condition, and partly that good men may not view him with suspicion on account of the persecutions which he endures from wicked persons; as it frequently happens that the distresses to which men are subjected lead to unfavorable opinions concerning them; for he whom men regard with aversion is immediately declared by the common people to be hated by God. 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. And he embraced Christianity, but he was probably standing there in Lystra when the people in the city stoned Paul until they thought he was dead and dragged him out of the city. And why read them anyhow if they're not inspired? For after all, I'm worth it. This I cannot but consider as a proof of want of faith. There is a type of person who is eager to discuss every new theory, who is always to be found deeply involved in the latest fashionable religious movement, but who is quite unwilling to accept the day-to-day discipline--even drudgery--of living the Christian life. He is sure that in the long run it is better to suffer with God and the right than to prosper with men and the wrong. That is to say, they go through all the correct movements and maintain all the external forms of religion; but they know nothing of Christianity as a dynamic power which changes the lives of men. It opened at the Sermon on the Mount. Now you get out your, you know, your green and blue pens and for the inspired ones, we'll underline those with blue and we'll use red, maybe, to underline those that are not inspired, you know and, and so here I am, I'm the authority.Well, the next liberal comes along and he says, Well, no, no, no, he was wrong on that one. They claimed that the law was so imprinted on the heart and mind of a Jewish child that he would sooner forget his own name than he would forget it.