2 Timothy 2:16-18-The Apostasy of Hymenaeus

In Second Timothy 2:16-18, the apostle Paul informs Timothy that certain pastors in the Christian community had committed apostasy with regards to the truth by communicating the resurrection or rapture had already taken place. Consequently, they were regularly overturning that which some believe.

Second Timothy 2:16 But for your own benefit, continue to make it your habit of avoiding the words lacking content which are worldly because they will, as a certainty, promote a greater depth of involvement with ungodliness. 17 Furthermore, their teaching will, as a certainty possess the characteristic of spreading like a cancerous disease, among whom are Hymenaeus as well as Philetus. 18 Those of such character who have committed apostasy with regards to the truth by communicating the resurrection has already taken place. Consequently, they are existing in the state of regularly overturning that which some believe. (My translation)

2 Timothy 2:18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. (NASB95)

“Have gone astray” is the verb astocheō (ἀστοχέω), and as was the case in First Timothy 1:6 and 6:21, the verb astocheō here in Second Timothy 2:18 means “to deviate, to commit apostasy” since it pertains to going astray as a result of departing from the truth.

It speaks of abandoning a previous loyalty and renouncing a particular teaching.

The word refers to the failure of Hymenaeus and Philetus to exercise faith in the apostle Paul’s Spirit’s teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Specifically, they failed to exercise faith in Paul’s apostolic teaching with regards to timing of the rapture or resurrection of the church.

Consequently, they committed apostasy in the sense that they abandoned the apostle Paul’s teaching with regards to the timing of the resurrection or rapture of the church.

They renounced Paul’s teaching with regards to the resurrection or rapture of the church.

In Second Timothy 2:18, the noun alētheia means “truth” and refers to Paul’s apostolic teaching and specifically it refers to his apostolic teaching with regards to the rapture or resurrection of the church.

Therefore, the word refers to the truth of God in an objective sense as a body of knowledge containing the revelation regarding the rapture or resurrection of the church.

The apostle Paul continues to describe Hymenaeus and Philetus and what they were teaching which led him to categorize these two men with the false teachers in Ephesus who were adhering to the teaching of the Judaizers.

Paul asserts that these two pastors committed apostasy by teaching that the resurrection of the church had already taken place.

So Paul is not saying that Hymenaeus and Philetus did not believe in the resurrection of the Christian’s body at the rapture of the church but rather they taught that it had already taken place.

So the problem with these two pastors is that they were not teaching correctly the timing of the resurrection or rapture of the church.

Therefore, these two could have been teaching that the resurrection had already taken place at the moment of the Christian’s conversion when they were identified with Jesus Christ in His resurrection through the baptism of the Spirit.

However, Paul taught that the Christian will be raised bodily from the dead just like Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:1-11; 1 Cor. 15; Phil. 3:20-21).

Couple this with the fact that both the Sadducees and Essene branches of Judaism both rejected a bodily resurrection of the human body.

First Timothy and Second Timothy make clear that the nature of the heresies troubling the Ephesian Christian community were Jewish in nature.

So therefore, Hymenaeus and Philetus were more than likely influenced by this false teaching since the nature of the heresies in Ephesus were Jewish in nature.

Thus, the Judaizing influence caused these two pastors to believe that there was no bodily resurrection but only the identification with Christ in His resurrection at conversion through the baptism of the Spirit.

Furthermore, Graeco-Roman culture rejected the idea of a bodily resurrection from death, which undoubtedly influenced Hymenaeus and Philetus to reject Paul’s apostolic teaching concerning the bodily resurrection of the church.

By denying the resurrection of the church, Hymenaeus and Philetus were rejecting the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is the implication of their false teaching if one reads Romans 6:1-11, 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, and Ephesians 2:1-6.

In Second Timothy 2:8, Paul affirmed the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. No doubt he was thinking of Hymenaeus and Philetus.

The implication of rejecting Jesus Christ’s resurrection is that one denies the deity of Jesus Christ since Paul taught in Romans 1:1-4 and 10:9 that the resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrates that He is the Son of God.

If Jesus is not God, then the Christian is not saved from their sins and in danger of eternal condemnation since Jesus Christ’s death on the cross was accepted as the payment of sins by the Father because He is the Father’s Son.

If He isn’t God, then there can be no payment of sins since the Father can only accept a perfect sacrifice for sin which could only be accomplished by God becoming human being and dying for the sins of the world.

The Christian must be raised bodily from the dead because the human body is infected by the sin nature.

When Adam fell, a curse was put on his body and those of his progeny.

Back to the dust of the ground his human body would go.

This has taken place in the human race up to the present moment and until the creation of the new heavens and new earth.

So Christ had to die physically so that He could be raised bodily as the new humanity so to give those who trust in Him as Savior the guarantee of a resurrection body like His.

Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus Christ solved the problem of physical death which is the direct result of the sin nature infecting the human body.

Hymenaeus and Philetus departed from obeying and teaching Paul’s apostolic teaching concerning the resurrection of the church.

They abandoned Paul’s apostolic teaching.

Their apostasy was due to their failure to exercise faith in the apostle Paul’s Spirit’s teaching concerning the resurrection of the church.

Specifically, they failed to exercise faith in Paul’s apostolic teaching with regards to timing of the rapture or resurrection of the church.

Consequently, they committed apostasy in the sense that abandoned the apostle Paul’s teaching with regards to the timing of the resurrection or rapture of the church.

They renounced Paul’s teaching with regards to the resurrection or rapture of the church.

The tragic result of this false teaching was that it caused certain members of the body of Christ to no longer believe in the orthodox teaching of the resurrection of the church.

Hymenaeus and Philetus were existing in the state of regularly or habitually overturning in certain Christians the belief in the apostolic teaching concerning the resurrection of the church by teaching the resurrection of the church had already taken place.