2 Timothy 3.8-Paul Compares the Unrepentant Apostate Pastors in the Roman Province of Asia with Jannes and Jambres who Opposed Moses
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday July 15, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 3:8-Paul Compares the Unrepentant Apostate Pastors in the Roman Province of Asia with Jannes and Jambres who Opposed Moses
Lesson # 71
2 Timothy 3:1 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. (NASB95)
“Just as” is composed of the following: (1) accusative masculine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς), “just as” (2) accusative masculine singular form of the noun tropos (τρόπος), “just as.”
These two words mark a comparison between Jannes and Jambres who opposed Moses and the unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia who opposed Paul’s apostolic teaching.
“Opposed” is the third person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb anthistēmi (ἀνθίστημι), which means “to rebel” in the sense of these two refusing to submit to the authority of Moses by disobeying him.
“Oppose the truth” is composed of the following: (1) third person plural aorist middle indicative form of the verb anthistēmi (ἀνθίστημι), “opposed” (5) articular dative feminine singular form of the noun alētheia (ἀλήθεια), “the truth.”
Once again, we have the anthistēmi which means “to rebel” but this time it is used of the unrepentant apostate pastors in the Roman province of Asia and refers to these men “rebelling” against the truth in the sense of disobeying Paul’s apostolic teaching.
The present tense is also a progressive or descriptive present used to describe a scene in progress and here it indicates that these unrepentant apostate pastors in the Roman province of Asia were at the time of writing rebelling against the truth.
The middle voice of the verb is an indirect middle which indicates that these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia “in their own selfish interests” rebelled against the truth.
In Second Timothy 3:8, the noun alētheia means “truth” and refers Paul’s apostolic teaching which Timothy and these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia were to make it their habit of accurately teaching to the Christian community and non-Christian members of the community.
The noun alētheia is also functioning as a dative of opposition or dative of disadvantage indicating that these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia were rebelling “against” the truth, i.e. Paul’s apostolic teaching which is the gospel.
“Men of depraved mind” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine plural form of the noun anthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος), “men” (2) nominative masculine plural perfect passive participle form of the verb kataphtheirō (καταφθείρω), “depraved” (3) articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun nous (νοῦς) (noose), “mind.”
The noun anthrōpos refers to these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia who were insinuating themselves into homes and captivating foolish Christian women with their false doctrine.
The verb kataphtheirō means “to be corrupted” since it pertains to degrading with unsound principles or moral values and is used of the minds of these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia.
It indicates that the minds of these men were “corrupted” in the sense that their minds were degraded and thus their moral values as well because of adhering to false doctrine and rejecting the truth which is communicated in the gospel.
The perfect tense of this verb is an intensive perfect which is used to emphasize the present state of the minds of these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers being corrupted which is the result of the past action of adhering to false doctrine and rejecting the truth of the gospel.
The passive voice is a causative or permissive passive which implies consent of the action of the verb on the part of the subject and this would indicate that these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia “allowed themselves” or “permitted” their minds to be corrupted.
The noun nous means “mind” and specifically refers to the particular manner or way of thinking and denotes an attitude, practical reasoning or intellect that enables a person to arrive at a conclusion regarding a matter.
“Rejected in regard to the faith” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine plural form of the adjective adokimos (ἀδόκιμος), “rejected” (2) preposition peri (περί), “in regard to” (3) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun pistis (πίστις), “the faith.”
The adjective adokimos means “worthless” in the sense of being of no use to God and here it asserts that these unrepentant apostate pastors in the Roman province of Asia were worthless to God in the sense that they are of no use to God as a result of their actions to reject the truth of the gospel.
The noun pistis is used in an objective sense for the Christian faith referring to the content of what Paul taught the Gentile churches.
Second Timothy 3:1 Indeed continue making it your habit of taking note of this, namely that dangerous circumstances interacting will exist during the last days. 2 For out of selfishness, people will be characterized as self-centered, lovers of money, braggarts, arrogant, slanderous, disobedient to the detriment of their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 devoid of natural affection, implacable, malicious gossips, self-indulgent, brutal, opposed to what is good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, hedonists rather than lovers of God. 5 They exhibit that which resembles godliness. However, they reject for themselves its power. Consequently, for your own benefit, continue making it your habit of disassociating yourself from these types of people 6 because out from these individuals are those who make it their habit of insinuating themselves into households. In fact, they make it their habit of captivating foolish women because these are overwhelmed with guilt because of sins because they are driven by means of various kinds of lusts. 7 They repeatedly receive instruction. However, they are never at any time able for their own benefit to enter into knowing experientially the truth. 8 Now, just as Jannes and Jambres rebelled against Moses so in the same way these individuals previously mentioned are in their own selfish interests presently in a state of rebelling against the truth, men who permitted their minds to be corrupted, worthless ones with regards to the Christian faith. (My translation)
The apostle Paul in Second Timothy 3:8 resumes his description of the unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia which he broke off in Second Timothy 3:6.
Paul presents a comparison between these unrepentant apostate pastors in the Roman province of Asia and Jannes and Jambres who opposed Moses.
He asserts that in the same way that Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses so also these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia opposed the truth.
Jannes and Jambres were not believers in the God of Moses whereas these unrepentant apostate pastors were in fact Christians who were declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ.
However, they did not continue to obey the Christian faith but were deceived into rejecting the truth and obeying the false doctrine of the Judaizers.
Jannes and Jambres are never mentioned in the book of Exodus or anywhere in the Old Testament as opposing Moses.
However, both are discussed in detail in non-canonical Jewish literature or pseudepigraphical literature which describes them as magicians who sought to duplicate the miracles of Moses in Pharaoh’s presence (cf. Exodus 7:11).
In fact, there is a pseudepigraphic book entitled “Jannes and Jambres.”
Paul asserts that in the same way Jannes and Jambres rebelled against Moses and the truth he communicated to Pharaoh, so also the unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers rebelled against the truth which Paul communicated to the Christian community in his gospel.
These apostate pastors rebelled against the truth in the sense that they disobeyed and no longer communicated Paul’s apostolic teaching to the Christian community but instead communicated the false doctrine of the Judaizers.
They did this out of their own selfish-interests in that they taught false doctrine for money and to gain adherents (cf. 1 Timothy 6:5).
Paul continues his description of these unrepentant apostate pastors in the Roman province of Asia by describing these men as those who permitted their minds to be corrupted in the sense that their minds were degraded.
When Paul speaks of “their minds,” he is speaking with reference to their manner of thinking.
He is speaking of their attitude, practical reasoning or intellect that enables a person to arrive at a conclusion regarding a matter.
As a consequence of rejecting Paul’s apostolic teaching, i.e. the gospel the intellects of these apostate pastors in the Roman province of Asia were not functioning according to God’s standards.
By adhering to false doctrine and rejecting the truth, these apostate pastors were corrupting their intellect or in other words, they were destroying their ability to arrive at a conclusion regarding the will of God.
They were corrupting their ability to think according to God’s standards and possess divine viewpoint.
The last description Paul presents of these unrepentant apostate pastors in Second Timothy 3:8 is that they were worthless ones with regards to the Christian faith in the sense that they were of no use to God as a result of their actions to reject the truth of the gospel.
By adhering to the lies of Satan’s cosmic system, these men were of no use to the God of truth in that they no longer were representing God who gave them their spiritual gifts to communicate truth to the church.
Their rejection of the truth made them of absolutely no use to God who as to His nature is truth.