Untitled Sermon (2)

2 Timothy 3:1–5 NASB95

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Times Will Come”

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.

9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

“Difficult 3:1–9

3 But understand this, that in (the) last days grievous seasons will set in; 2 for the people will be self-loving, money-loving, boasters, overbearing, blasphemers, disobedient to (their) parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unfeeling, unforgiving, slanderers, unrestrained, untamed, unloving toward the good, 4 traitors, reckless, blinded with conceit, pleasure-loving rather than God-loving, 5 having a form of piety but denying its power; and from such people turn away.

6 For out of these circles come those who are infiltrating the homes and are taking captive weak-minded women loaded down with sins, swayed by various impulses, 7 ever learning and never able to arrive at the acknowledgment of (the) truth. 8 And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do also these men oppose the truth, men corrupt in mind and reprobate with respect to the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be obvious to everyone, as also that of those (two men) got to be.

1. To be gentle, patient, and mild (see 2 Tim. 2:24–26) will not be easy, as the apostle now proceeds to show: But understand this, that in (the) last days grievous seasons will set in.

There are two things which Paul wants Timothy to do, according to the lengthy sentence which extends all the way from 1:1 to the end of verse 5. He tells his dearly-beloved representative that he:

a. must constantly realize that in the last days grievous seasons will set in; and

b. must constantly turn away from the kind of people who will make these seasons so grievous.

These two commands are connected by the conjunction “and.” Hence, when most of the explanatory material that intervenes between the commands is omitted, there remains this: “But understand this, that in (the) last days grievous seasons will set in; for the people will be self-loving … and from such people turn away.”

Once this connection is understood, it also becomes clear that the expression “in the last days,” as here used, cannot be limited to the days which will immediately precede Christ’s second coming. It would have been senseless to tell Timothy to avoid people who would never bother him at all! And it is not warranted to “solve” the difficulty by saying: “The writer expected Christ’s return any moment!” (See N.T.C. on II Thess., chapter 2).—The key to the correct interpretation is the contextual explanation of the expression “in the last days.”

3:1. Paul declared, Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. The “last days” is not some future event to which we look. It is now, Jesus Christ initiated this epoch, and it will continue uninterrupted until his return. Paul defined this expansive time period as “terrible.” God’s extravagant grace also characterizes this era, establishing salvation and the church. But these days unleash Satan’s wild attempts to destroy and undermine God’s redemptive intentions.

In giving us this information, Paul desired that believers maintain a readiness of spirit and life. The battle will rage. What each believer must decide is whether he will prepare for the promised difficulties or given to personal safety and comfort.

3:2–5. The terribleness of the last days results from the continual decay of man’s spiritual nature. As people neglect the spiritual dimension of life, they turn in upon themselves to find meaning and consolation in the face of life’s absurdity. Paul penned a list of characteristics of false teachers and all those who turn from truth.

In 2 Corinthians 5:15, Paul wrote: “Those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” In this era, people refuse the love of God. choosing instead to be lovers of themselves.

This sentence offers the key to unlocking the rest of Paul’s list of vices. When we fall in love with ourselves, our own appetites consume our souls. We become our own lover, pandering to that solitary “i” which must, of necessity, dismiss all threats and counterclaims to our affections. Everything from thoughts to possessions must be lavished upon the one we love—ourselves.

This leads quite naturally to becoming lovers of money. Paul dealt with this rather extensively in 1 Timothy 6. Loving money and all it buys opens the soul to Satan’s traps, ensnaring the person in desires which cannot be met and enslaving him to a continual lusting for more money, possessions, or power.

Selfish people are typically boastful and proud. In stubbornly holding to the view that they are the center of the universe, such people have an exaggerated view of themselves. They actually believe in their own superiority. With this delusion, bragging falls naturally from their lips and pride wraps them in a haughty demeanor. These are the props which support their fantasy.

Pride can then lead to abusive speech and behavior. In order for arrogance to survive, it must view others as lesser individuals, as unworthy or unfit. This degraded view dehumanizes others, stripping away all respect and allowing the proud to slash with words or hurt by actions. When someone fails to see another person as wholly human, it becomes easy to destroy them. This is the antithesis of Christian teaching. Christ left us an example of servanthood, submission, and sacrifice (Phil. 2:6–11). Paul wrote: “Consider others better than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3).

Children disobedient to their parents also characterize the last days. In the Jewish mind, this equaled rebellion. Rebellion against authority always implies revolt against God. The stability of the home and society, and even the church, rested upon the harmonious functioning of family members. Disobedience represented a destructive force in all three spheres, and it struck at the heart of God’s authority over mankind.

The next few words—ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving—need little analysis except to highlight that these terms describe people totally given to selfishness. Unthankful people refuse to acknowledge their need or appreciation of anyone but themselves. Such persons are unloving. They see no need to offer the grace of forgiveness to others.

Slanderous refers to an unbridled tongue, a mouth that spreads rumors, gossip, or lies to the harm of others. The ungodly, who proliferate during the last days, also evidence a lack of self-discipline or self-control. They are brutal, or savage. They degenerate to wildness and are not lovers of the good. These people possess an appetite for evil, for all that opposes good. As such, they are treacherous, or traitorous, lacking in faithfulness. The ungodly are rash, thoughtless in their actions and speech.

Paul closed his list much as he began it, calling such people conceited. Pride surrounds all these sins and vices. He then concluded with the statement: lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Those who elevate themselves above others will eventually elevate themselves above God. Their own appetites and desires become their passion.

Paul’s words pile up into a negative portrait. Yet we need only look around us, or within our own hearts, to discover the seeds of selfishness. These phrases describe the unbelieving world as well as those within the church. The last days in which we live feature a mixed church, with wheat and weeds growing together.

Paul summarizes these days: having a form of godliness but denying its power. The essence of ungodliness comes from within, and then it comes out in behavior. Those who profess God, who claim spiritual or religious knowledge, do not necessarily possess a relationship with God or his righteousness. True spirituality issues from right thinking in concert with God’s power within the spirit of a person which transforms outward behavior. True Christianity cannot be hidden, nor is it a private religion without public effect. This was the erroneous view of the false teachers of Paul’s day. This theory still finds acceptance in modern thinking.

In these last days in which we live, there exists a decreasing belief in the Holy Spirit’s regenerating power for forgiveness and eternal life. People go through the motions of religion, refusing to depend upon Christ. Self-focus then supersedes everything else, and the spiral of immorality sweeps people into its vortex.

As we seek God’s power for patience and godly character, Colossians 1:9–14 is a wonderful prayer for believers. We often think of God’s might as applying only to momentous occasions. But his strength finds expression as he supplies power for daily endurance, courage to choose what is right, the ability to love and forgive, and the commitment to follow Christ.

Accordingly, Paul’s words here in 2 Tim. 3:1 are best interpreted as meaning, “Timothy, constantly realize that in these last days—this lengthy dispensation—in which we are now living there will be grievous seasons.” These seasons will come and go, and the last will be worse than the first. They will be seasons of ever-increasing wickedness (Matt. 24:12; Luke 18:8), which will culminate in the climax of wickedness, the revelation of “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:1–12; cf. Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21).

“There will set in (approaching like a thunder-storm, until fully present) seasons grievous.” Thus the passage reads literally, with some emphasis on the adjective grievous, hard or painful (to endure). These seasons, then, are eras of duress for the true church, difficult time-periods of the new dispensation, definitely marked out in God’s eternal decree.

As was true with respect to the closely related “later seasons” prophecy (1 Tim. 4:1–5), so also the present prediction has “multiple fulfilment.” But while 1 Tim. 4:1–5 warned against the coming of Ascetic Gnostics and their followers throughout the course of history, the present prophecy deals more emphatically with the coming of Antinomian or Licentious Gnostics and with those throughout the centuries who, although dropping some of their weird basic theories, copy their worldly example.

2–5. Grievous seasons will set in, for the people will be.… It is the people (the members of the human race; the men generically, not the “men” as distinguished from the “women”) living during these grievous seasons who will cause all the grief. A catalogue of their sinful characteristics follows. It should be compared with the list in Rom. 1:29–31. Note in both lists: a. boasters, overbearing (or haughty); b. unsubmissive or disobedient to parents; and c. unfeeling (or without natural affection). Note also synonyms: Romans has whisperers and defamers (“backbiters”); 2 Timothy, slanderers; Romans, haters of God; 2 Timothy, pleasure-loving rather than God-loving; Romans unmerciful; 2 Timothy, unforgiving (or implacable; literally; admitting of no truce); etc.

Here in 2 Tim. the list has nineteen items (if the modifiers “pleasure-loving rather than God-loving,” and “having a form of piety but denying its power” each be regarded as one item). Whether Paul had any division in mind, so that the nineteen can be divided into groups, each group emphasizing one central idea, cannot be determined. It is true, however, that items 6–10 form an unbroken series, in the sense that all of these begin with the prefix un- or dis- (ἀ -privative in the original). This would divide the entire catalogue into three groups (items 1–5; 6–10; 11–19), structurally considered. Note, however, that three of the items in the last group also begin with the negative prefix.

The list, then, is as follows:

self-loving, money-loving, boasters, overbearing, blasphemers, disobedient to (their) parents, unthankful, unholy, unfeeling, unforgiving,

slanderers, unrestrained, untamed, unloving toward the good, traitors, reckless, blinded with conceit, pleasure-loving rather than God-loving, having a form of piety but denying its power.

These people, then, are, first of all self-loving. Cf. Titus 1:7: “self-pleasing.” Trench (par. xciii) borrows the illustration of the hedgehog which a. rolls itself up in a ball, keeping the soft, warm wool for itself (φίλαυτος, self-loving, selfish); and b. presents the sharp spines to those without (αὐθάδης, self-pleasing, arrogant).

Since they are self-loving, they are naturally also money-loving (lovers of silver). Think of the Pharisees as described in Luke 16:14.

They are boastful or boasters (cf. Rom. 1:30). This word originally referred to a person who wanders about the country. He may be peddling medicine, boasting about its healing virtue; hence, a “quack.” But in the present passage boasting in general is meant.

While boasting about themselves and their “wares,” accomplishments, or talents, these people are overbearing (cf. Rom. 1:30; then Luke 1:51; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5) in their attitude to others. They are the haughty type, “uppish.”

It is not surprising that such people are also described as being blasphemers. When they speak, they hurt or injure. They use scornful language, insulting God and man (see on 1 Tim. 6:4). The group of words formed around this stem has many examples in the New Testament. For the adjective blasphemous (here in 2 Tim. used as a substantive, blasphemers) see also Acts 6:11; 2 Peter 2:11 (cf. Jude 9). For the related verb (to blaspheme) see on 1 Tim. 1:20; for the related noun (blasphemy), see on 1 Tim. 6:4.

These people are lacking in such excellent qualities as submissiveness, thankfulness, holiness, affection for their own families, and the forgiving attitude. It is implied that in each case they possess the very opposite attitude; that is, they are not only disobedient but definitely rebellious; not only untamed but fierce; not only unholy but wicked, etc. Taking these five characteristics one by one, these people are described as being, first of all, disobedient toward their parents (cf. Rom. 1:30; then Luke 1:17; Acts 26:9; Titus 1:16; 3:3).

This shows that they are unthankful (cf. Luke 6:35), not appreciative of the many acts of kindness which their parents have bestowed upon them, and not appreciative toward other people either, nor toward God (cf. Rom. 1:21, “neither gave thanks”). Though blessings are common enough, there is in this world no “common gratitude.” “Common grace” (God’s kindness toward all his creatures, Ps. 145:9, 17; Jonah 4:10, 11; Matt. 5:43–45; Luke 6:35), yes; “common gratitude,” no!

With respect to things which have divine sanction, they are unholy or impious (cf. 1 Tim. 1:9). They do not reverence the established sanctities. This implies that they are unfeeling, or unsympathetic, heartless, lacking even in natural affection such as parents have for their children, and children for their parents (cf. Rom. 1:31).

They show that same callousness all around, also in their relation to their fellowmen. Their feuds never end. In their camp no libation is ever poured out to signify that those who had been at variance with each other have consented to a truce. They are implacable, irreconcilable.

The final group shows how these inner attitudes or deficiencies express themselves outwardly in words of hatred and deeds of cruelty.

These people, then, hurl false and/or hostile epithets and charges at each other. They are slanderers, false accusers, imitators of the great Diabolos (1 Tim. 3:6, 7; Eph. 4:27; 6:11; etc., a word of frequent occurrence in the New Testament). They have never learned to control themselves; hence, are unrestrained, “uninhibited,” thoroughly lacking in self-control, devoid of power to check their own drives and impulses. Having never “settled down,” they are untamed, savage, fierce. They despise virtue, are unloving toward the good. By them their associates, even before the latters’ ruin is evident, have been given over to the enemy. They are traitors, therefore, receiving their pay beforehand, just like Judas (cf. Luke 6:16; Acts 7:52). Nothing stops them. Rashly they plunge ahead in their wickedness, being reckless or precipitate in their deeds of violence (cf. Acts 19:36). No one can tell them anything, for they “know it all,” so blinded with conceit (see on 1 Tim. 3:6; 6:4) are they. This blindness, moreover, has a moral, spiritual cause. Its root is in the heart and in the will, for these people are utterly selfish (note how the description in reaching a climax returns to its starting-point: “self-loving”). They are pleasure-loving rather than (or more than) God-loving. This definitely does not mean that they also love God to some extent. It means that they do not love God at all (for “rather than” or “more than” in this sense see also John 3:19; 12:43; Acts 4:19; 17:11; 1 Tim. 1:4; cf. somewhat similar idioms in Luke 15:7; 18:14). Not only does one find these people outside of the church. They have infiltrated the church (and not only the church, see verse 6). And even should they be excommunicated, they will still pretend to be eminent Christians. They are described as having a form, a mere semblance or appearance (cf. Rom. 2:20) of piety (see on 1 Tim. 2:2; 3:16; 4:7, 8; 6:3, 5, 6, 11), but denying (literally, “having once for all denied”) its power.

These people lack spiritual dynamite. They have no love for God, nor for his revelation in Jesus Christ, nor for his people. Hence, since they are not Spirit-filled men, it is not surprising that they lack power.

And from such people turn away, says Paul (for explanation see pp. 281, 282). Cf. 2 John 10.