2 Timothy 3.13-Apostasy Among Christians and Pastors Will Become Worse as the Latter Deceive and are Deceived
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday July 29, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 3:13-Apostasy Among Christians and Pastors Will Become Worse as the Latter Deceive and are Deceived
Lesson # 77
2 Timothy 3:13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (NASB95)
“But” is the conjunction de (δέ), which is a marker of contrast meaning it is introducing an assertion which stands in contrast to the previous assertion in Second Timothy 3:12.
“Evil men and imposters” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine plural form of the adjective ponēros (πονηρός), “evil” (2) nominative masculine plural form of the noun anthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος), “men” (4) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (5) nominative masculine plural form of the noun goēs (γόης), “imposters.”
The noun anthrōpos is in the plural means “people” since it is a generic term denoting a “person, a human being” without any indication of the race or gender of that person which must be determined by the context.
The noun anthrōpos is modified by the adjective ponēros which describes these people as evil in character or living their lives contrary to the character and nature of God and His will.
The noun goēs means “charlatan” since it pertains to one who is a swindler or a cheat and speaks of a person who makes unusually showy pretenses to knowledge and ability.
“Will proceed from bad to worse” is composed of the following: (1) third person plural future active indicative form of the verb prokoptō (προκόπτω), “ will proceed” (7) preposition epi (ἐπί), “to” (8) articular accusative neuter singular form of the adjective cheirōn (χείρων), “worse.”
The verb prokoptō means “to progress” in the sense of changing one’s state for the worse by going from bad to worse and is employed with the prepositional phrase ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον.
Together they form an idiom which means “to go from bad to worse” or “to become progressively worse.”
Here they are used with reference to the noun goes, “charlatans” which indicates that these charlatans will become progressively worse or go from bad to worse.
The future tense of the verb prokoptō is a predictive future indicating that it will come to pass or will happen in the future that these charlatans will become progressively worse or go from bad to worse.
The adjective of comparison cheirōn means “worse, more severe” since it is a comparative word describing something or someone progressing from a bad to an even worse state.
Here in Second Timothy 3:13, the word means “worse, more severe” and is used to describe the severity of these charlatans rejection of the gospel.
This word is also the object of the preposition epi which marks the degree to which these charlatans or unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers will fall away from the gospel or the degree to which they will experience apostasy.
“Deceiving and being deceived” is composed of the following: (1) nominative masculine plural present active participle form of the verb planaō (πλανάω), “deceived” (2) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (3) nominative masculine plural present passive participle form of the verb planaō (πλανάω), “being deceived.”
The first time planaō occurs in the active voice and the second time it appears in the passive voice.
When the word appears for the first time in the active voice it is used with reference to the charlatans indicating that these men deceive others.
When the verb planaō appears the second time in the passive voice it is also used with reference to the charlatans indicating that these men were deceived by others.
Second Timothy 3:13 However, evil people as well as charlatans will certainly become progressively worse while regularly deceiving as well as regularly being deceived. (My translation)
Paul’s statement in Second Timothy 3:13 stands in contrast to his previous assertion in Second Timothy 3:12 which states that each and every person who does at any time desire to live a godly life by means of fellowship with Jesus Christ will certainly be persecuted.
This statement is related to Paul’s affirmation that Timothy remained a faithful disciple of his throughout all his persecutions and undeserved suffering which he experienced for faithfully communicating the gospel.
This is indicated by the fact that Paul’s assertion in verse 12 is directly connected to his statements in Second Timothy 3:10-11.
In these verses, Paul reminded Timothy that in contrast to the apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia, whom he discusses in Second Timothy 3:1-9, he remained faithful to Paul.
Timothy faithfully followed as a disciple Paul’s teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, divine-love, perseverance, all of his persecutions, sufferings which he experienced at Antioch, Iconium and Lystra and he then declares that the Lord delivered him out of all these persecutions.
So in verses 11 and 12, Paul is asserting that he and Timothy have been faithful to the Lord which is why they have suffered persecution.
Now, here in verse 13, he asserts that evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves.
Therefore, the contrast is between Paul and Timothy faithfully communicating and obeying the gospel and thus living godly lives and those unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia who did not remain faithful to the gospel and thus did not live godly lives.
“Evil people” refers to apostate Christians living during the last days and in particular living during the church age which appears during the last days which began with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and end with His Second Advent.
This is indicated by the fact that the word appears in Second Timothy 3:2 in relation to these individuals.
That the word in Second Timothy 3:2 is used in relation to apostate Christians living during the last days during the church age is indicated by the command Paul issues Timothy in Second Timothy 3:5.
Paul would never command Timothy or any Christian to avoid the non-Christian but only the unrepentant apostate Christian which is indicated by his teaching in First Corinthians 5:9-12.
Paul describes these people as “evil” in the sense that they are living their lives contrary to the character and nature of God and His will.
“Charlatans” is referring to the unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia.
These individuals habitually fool or deceive people in the church through pretense and made unusually showy pretenses to knowledge and ability with regards to the Mosaic Law and the Old Testament as a whole.
That these “charlatans” in Second Timothy 3:13 are unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers is indicated by Paul’s statements in Second Timothy 3:5-9.
These charlatans must be unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers in the Roman province of Asia because Paul would never tell Timothy to disassociate himself from a non-Christian.
He would never command Timothy to avoid the non-Christian but only the unrepentant apostate Christian which is indicated by his teaching in First Corinthians 5:9-12.
These Christians are unrepentant since Paul would never command Timothy to avoid a Christian in apostasy unless they were unrepentant.
Timothy was to follow the procedure taught by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 18:15-17 for administering church discipline.
Secondly, these individuals were said to be entering homes and teaching women.
So they were obviously teachers and these women were Christian.
Also only a Christian can come to an experiential knowledge of the truth and never a non-Christian.
Lastly, only an apostate Christian can be worthless with regards to the Christian faith.
The Christian faith is a reference to the various doctrines which Christians believe in and non-Christians are not interested in being instructed with regards to these doctrines because they do not have the indwelling Spirit.
Paul asserts that these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers living during the church age will become progressively worse or go from bad to worse.
He is being prophetic in that he is emphasizing the certainty that these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers living during the church age who he describes as “charlatans” will become progressively worse or go from bad to worse.
In this prophecy he is describing the severity of these unrepentant apostate pastor-teachers rejection of the gospel and is describing the degree to which they will experience apostasy.
The apostle then describes these charlatans as regularly deceiving others and that they will be regularly deceived themselves.
They will become progressively worse in their apostasy while deceiving other Christians into adhering to false doctrine.
They will also be regularly deceived by the Judaizers because the nature of the heresy in the Roman province of Asia and Ephesus which Timothy was dealing with was Jewish which is indicated by Paul’s statements throughout First Timothy.
Ultimately, they are deceived by Satan and his fallen angels who are the authors of this false doctrine and misuse of the Mosaic Law.
They will become progressively worse in their apostasy while being regularly deceived by the Judaizers and Satan and his kingdom into adhering to false doctrine.