2 Timothy 4.3a-Timothy Must Obey Paul’s Commands Because the Time Will Come When Christians Will No Longer Tolerate Sound Doctrine
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday August 20, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 4:3a-Timothy Must Obey Paul’s Commands Because the Time Will Come When Christians Will No Longer Tolerate Sound Doctrine
Lesson # 87
2 Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. (NASB95)
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine” presents the reason for the five commands Paul issues Timothy in Second Timothy 4:2.
“The time” is the nominative masculine singular form of the noun kairos (καιρός), which means “the time” and refers to an indefinite period of time which is identified by the context.
“They will not endure” is composed of the following: (1) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “not” (2) third person plural future middle indicative form of the verb antechomai (ἀνέχομαι), “they will endure.”
The verb antechomai means “to accept as true or valid, to receive as true or valid, to tolerate” and the word’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which means “no longer, by no means.”
Therefore, the word indicates that these unidentified individuals “will by no means or no longer accept” sound doctrine or “will no longer or by no means tolerate” sound doctrine.
“Sound doctrine” is composed of the following: (1) articular genitive feminine singular present active participle form of the verb hugiainō (ὑγιαίνω), “sound” (2) didaskalia (διδασκαλία), “doctrine.”
The noun didaskalia is used in an objective sense and means “doctrine, teaching” and is referring to the content of Paul’s apostolic teaching.
The verb hugiainō is modifying the noun didaskalia and means “to be sound” in the sense of being free from error or falsehood.
This word appears often in the Pastorals to describe the soundness of the content of the apostle Paul’s teaching in contrast to those who taught false doctrine (1 Timothy 6:3; 2 Timothy 1:13; 4:3; Titus 1:9, 13; 2:1, 2).
These two words refer to apostolic teaching or the Christian gospel, which is the accepted and authoritative teaching of the church that is free from error or falsehood since it is inspired by the Holy Spirit and originates from the Lord Jesus Christ.
This teaching promotes spiritual growth in the body of Christ as well as godliness.
This is in contrast to the false doctrine taught by these unidentified pastors in Ephesus and the Judaizers, which produced ungodly conduct in those who adhered to it.
Second Timothy 4:1 I solemnly charge in the presence of God (the Father) as well as the Christ who is Jesus, who is inevitably going to judge the living as well as the dead and in addition by His appearing as well as by His kingdom: 2 to make it your top priority of publically proclaiming with authority as a herald the message. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority of always being prepared to perform this task whether the circumstance is favorable or unfavorable. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority to convict. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority to rebuke. I solemnly charge you to make it your top priority to exhort with a patience which is absolute as well as by means of instruction. 3 The reason is that the time will come when they will no longer tolerate sound doctrine. (My translation)
In our study of Second Timothy 4:1-2, we noted Paul issues Timothy five commands and now here in Second Timothy 4:3, he presents the reason for these commands.
Second Timothy 4:3-4 is a prophecy regarding apostasy during the church age among Christians.
The apostle asserts that the time will come when Christians will no longer tolerate sound doctrine.
Therefore, Timothy was to obey the five commands in verse 2 because the time will come when Christians will not tolerate sound doctrine.
“The time” is a reference to the church age which is indicated by Paul’s statements in Second Timothy 4:1-4.
In Second Timothy 4:2 Paul issued Timothy five commands which are directly related to the latter’s function toward the Christian community.
Timothy was to make it his top priority to publically proclaim with authority as a herald the message from God contained in the Old Testament and the gospel to the Christian community whether the circumstance was favorable or unfavorable.
He was also to make it his top priority to convict, rebuke and exhort the Christian community with great patience and by means of instruction.
Paul would not tell Timothy to do these things in regards to the non-Christian community but only the Christian community since in relation to the former the apostle would instruct Timothy to communicate the gospel for their salvation and justification.
He would not rebuke or exhort the non-Christian but only the Christian since the former needs to first hear the gospel.
Once they trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, they receive the Spirit who gives them the ability or capacity to understand and apply instruction in the Word of God with regards to the Christian way of life.
Furthermore, Paul says in Second Timothy 4:3 that these unidentified individuals will not tolerate sound doctrine.
This is only applicable to the Christian and not the non-Christian since sound doctrine is the teaching of the church regarding the Christian way of life and only a Christian has the capacity to understand such because they have the indwelling of the Spirit and the non-Christian again does not.
Lastly, in Second Timothy 4:4, Paul says that these individuals will turn away from the truth.
The non-Christian can’t fulfill this because they never accepted the truth who is Jesus Christ in the first place.
Here in Second Timothy 4:3, Paul is emphasizing with Timothy the certainty that there will come a time when the majority of Christians will no longer tolerate sound doctrine.
Paul’s statement here in Second Timothy 4:3-4 would at first glance appear to indicate that this apostasy among Christians was still yet future to the time of writing this epistle to Timothy or had not taken place when Paul wrote to Timothy.
However, Paul is simply emphasizing with Timothy that the situation of apostasy in the church will continue to occur in the future during the church age.
Also, the context indicates that this rejection of sound doctrine was already present in the days of Paul and Timothy.
Paul in Second Timothy 4:5 commands Timothy to be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist and fulfill his ministry in contrast to those who he describes as no longer tolerating sound doctrine.
Thus, these individuals he describes in Second Timothy 4:3-4 were living in Timothy’s day.
Secondly, the same group of people Paul describes in Second Timothy 4:3-4 are described by him in First Timothy 3:1-9 who were living in Timothy and Paul’s day.
So there is the same implication of time.
In fact, Paul orders Timothy in Second Timothy 3:5 to continue to make it his habit of disassociating himself from the people he describes in Second Timothy 3:2-5.
He would never say this in relation to a non-Christian but only a Christian according to his teaching in First Corinthians 5:9-13 where he orders the Corinthians to disassociate themselves from a fellow Christian living an ungodly immoral lifestyle.
Though this apostasy was prevalent in Paul’s day, it is possible that Paul might be speaking of a time during the church age which will be future to the time in which he lived when the apostasy in the church will be more distinct than at any time during the church age.
He could be referencing the great apostasy he mentions in Second Thessalonians 2:3 which will occur prior the day of the Lord and the appearance of Antichrist during the seventieth week of Daniel.
The apostasy in this passage is distinguishable from the apostasy that has always been prevalent during the church age among Christians.
In Second Timothy 4:3, “they” is a reference to Christians and not the non-Christian community which is indicated by the immediate context.
First of all, Paul states that these unidentified individuals will not tolerate sound doctrine, which is only applicable to the Christian and not the non-Christian.
Sound doctrine is the teaching of the church regarding the Christian way of life and only a Christian has the capacity to understand because they have the indwelling of the Spirit and the non-Christian again does not.
Secondly, in Second Timothy 4:4, Paul says that these individuals will turn away from the truth.
The non-Christian can’t fulfill this because they never accepted the truth who is Jesus Christ in the first place.