2 Timothy 3

2Ti 3:1-17.

COMING

EVIL

DAYS:

SIGNS OF

EVIL

ALREADY:

CONTRAST IN THE

DOCTRINE AND

LIFE OF

PAUL,

WHICH

TIMOTHY

SHOULD

FOLLOW IN

ACCORDANCE WITH

HIS

EARLY

TRAINING IN

SCRIPTURE.

1. also--Greek, "but."

last days--preceding Christ's second coming

(2Pe 3:3;

Jude 18).

"The latter times,"

1Ti 4:1,

refer to a period not so remote as "the last days," namely, the

long days of papal and Greek anti-Christianity.

perilous--literally, "difficult times," in which it is

difficult to know what is to be done: "grievous times."

shall come--Greek, "shall be imminent"; "shall come

unexpectedly" [BENGEL].

2. men--in the professing Church. Compare the catalogue,

Ro 1:29,

&c., where much the same sins are attributed to heathen men; it shall

be a relapse into virtual heathendom, with all its beast-like

propensities, whence the symbol of it is "a beast"

(Re 13:1, 11, 12,

&c.; 17:3, 8, 11).

covetous--Translate, "money-loving," a distinct Greek

word from that for "covetous" (see on

Col 3:5).

The cognate Greek substantive

(1Ti 6:10)

is so translated, "the love of money is a (Greek, not

'the') root of all evil."

boasters--empty boasters

[ALFORD]; boasting of having what they have not.

proud--overweening: literally, showing themselves

above their fellows.

blasphemous--rather, "evil-speakers," revilers.

disobedient to parents--The character of the times is even to be

gathered especially from the manners of the young

[BENGEL].

unthankful--The obligation to gratitude is next to that of

obedience to parents.

unholy--irreligious [ALFORD];

inobservant of the offices of piety.

3. truce-breakers--rather as the Greek is translated in

Ro 1:31,

"implacable."

false accusers--slanderers

(1Ti 3:11;

Tit 2:3).

incontinent, fierce--at once both soft and hard: incontinently

indulging themselves, and inhuman to others.

despisers, &c.--"no lovers of good"

[ALFORD]; the opposite of "a lover of good"

(Tit 1:8).

4. heady--precipitate in action and in passion.

high-minded--literally, "puffed up" with pride, as with smoke

blinding them.

lovers of pleasure . . . God--Love of pleasure

destroys the love and sense of God.

5. form--outward semblance.

godliness--piety.

denying--rather as Greek, "having denied," that

is, renounced.

the power--the living, regenerating, sanctifying influence of

it.

turn away--implying that some of such characters, forerunners of

the last days, were already in the Church.

6. of this sort--Greek, "of these," such as were described

(2Ti 3:5).

creep into--stealthily.

laden with sins--

(Isa 1:4);

applying to the "silly women" whose consciences are burdened with sins,

and so are a ready prey to the false teachers who promise ease of

conscience if they will follow them. A bad conscience leads easily to

shipwreck of faith

(1Ti 1:19).

divers lusts--not only animal lusts, but passion for change in

doctrine and manner of teaching; the running after fashionable men and

fashionable tenets, drawing them in the most opposite directions

[ALFORD].

7. Ever learning--some new point, for mere curiosity, to the

disparagement of what they seemed to know before.

the knowledge--Greek, "the perfect knowledge"; the

only safeguard against further novelties. Gnosticism laid hold

especially of the female sex [ESTIUS, 1.13.3]: so

Roman Jesuitism.

8. Now--Greek, "But"; it is no wonder there should be now

such opponents to the truth, for their prototypes existed in ancient

times [ALFORD].

Jannes . . . Jambres--traditional names of the

Egyptian magicians who resisted Moses

(Ex 7:11, 22),

derived from "the unwritten teaching of the Jews"

[THEODORET]. In a point so immaterial as the

names, where Scripture had not recorded them, Paul takes the names

which general opinion had assigned the magicians.

EUSEBIUS [Preparation of the Gospel],

quotes from NUMENIUS, "Jannes and Jambres were

sacred scribes (a lower order of priests in Egypt) skilled in

magic." HILLER interprets "Jannes" from the

Abyssinian language a trickster, and "Jambres" a juggler"

(Ac 13:8).

resist--"withstand," as before. They did so by trying to rival

Moses' miracles. So the false teachers shall exhibit lying wonders in

the last days

(Mt 24:24;

2Th 2:9;

Re 13:14, 15).

reprobate--incapable of testing the truth

(Ro 1:28)

[BENGEL]. ALFORD takes

passively, "not abiding the test"; rejected on being tested

(Jer 6:30).

9. they shall proceed no further--Though for a time

(2Ti 2:16)

"they shall advance or proceed (English Version,

'increase') unto more ungodliness," yet there is a final limit

beyond which they shall not be able to "proceed further"

(Job 38:11;

Re 11:7, 11).

They themselves shall "wax worse and worse"

(2Ti 3:13),

but they shall at last be for ever prevented from seducing others.

"Often malice proceeds deeper down, when it cannot extend itself"

[BENGEL].

their folly--literally, "dementation": wise though they

think themselves.

shall be manifest--Greek, "shall be brought forth from

concealment into open day" [BENGEL],

(1Co 4:5).

as theirs . . . was--as that of those magicians was,

when not only could they no longer try to rival Moses in sending boils,

but the boils fell upon themselves: so as to the lice

(Ex 8:18; 9:11).

10. fully known--literally, "fully followed up" and traced;

namely, with a view to following me as thy pattern, so far as I follow

Christ; the same Greek as in

Lu 1:3,

"having had perfect understanding of all things." His pious

mother Eunice and grandmother Lois would recommend him to study

fully Paul's Christian course as a pattern. He had not been yet the

companion of Paul at the time of the apostle's persecutions in Antioch,

Iconium, and Lystra

(Ac 13:50; 14:5, 19),

but is first mentioned as such

Ac 16:1-3.

However, he was "a disciple" already, when introduced to us in

Ac 16:1-3;

and as Paul calls him "my own son in the faith," he must have been

converted by the apostle previously; perhaps in the visit to those

parts three years before. Hence arose Timothy's knowledge of Paul's

persecutions, which were the common talk of the churches in those

regions about the time of his conversion. The incidental

allusion to them here forms an undesigned coincidence between

the history and the Epistle, indicating genuineness [PALEY, Horæ Paulinæ]. A forger of

Epistles from the Acts would never allude to Timothy's knowledge

of persecutions, when that knowledge is not expressly mentioned in the

history, but is only arrived at by indirect inference; also the

omission of Derbe here, in the Epistle, is in minute accordance

with the fact that in Derbe no persecution is mentioned in the

history, though Derbe and Lystra are commonly mentioned

together. The reason why he mentions his persecutions before Timothy

became his companion, and not those subsequent, was because Timothy was

familiar with the latter as an eye-witness and Paul needed not to

remind him of them, but the former Timothy had traced up by

seeking the information from others, especially as the date and scene

of them was the date and scene of his own conversion.

doctrine--"teaching."

manner of life--"conduct," "behavior."

purpose--The Greek is elsewhere usually used of

God's "purpose." But here, as in

Ac 11:23,

of Paul's determined "purpose of heart in cleaving unto the Lord." My

set aim, or resolution, in my apostolic function, and in

every action is, not my selfish gain, but the glory of God in Christ.

long-suffering--towards my adversaries, and the false teachers;

towards brethren in bearing their infirmities; towards the unconverted,

and the lapsed when penitent

(2Ti 4:2;

2Co 6:6;

Ga 5:22;

Eph 4:2;

Col 3:12).

charity--love to all men.

patience--"endurance"; patient continuance in well-doing

amidst adversities

(2Ti 3:11;

Ro 2:7).

11. afflictions--"sufferings."

which--Greek, "such as."

in Antioch--of Pisidia

(Ac 13:14, 50, 51).

Iconium--

(Ac 14:1-5).

Lystra--

(Ac 14:6, 19).

what--How grievous.

out of . . . all . . . Lord delivered me--

(2Ti 4:17;

Ps 34:17;

2Co 1:10).

An encouragement to Timothy not to fear persecutions.

12. Yea, and--an additional consideration for Timothy: if he

wishes to live godly in Christ, he must make up his mind to

encounter persecution.

that will, &c.--Greek, "all whose will is to

live," &c. So far should persecution be from being a stumbling-block to

Timothy, he should consider it a mark of the pious. So the same

Greek is used of the same thing,

Lu 14:28, 33,

"intending (Greek, 'wishing') to build a tower

. . . counteth the cost."

live godly in Christ--

(Ga 2:20;

Php 1:21).

There is no godliness (Greek, "piously") or piety out of

Christ. The world easily puts up with the mask of a religion which

depends on itself, but the piety which derives its vigor directly from

Christ is as odious to modern Christians as it was to the ancient Jews

[BENGEL].

shall suffer persecution--and will not decline it

(Ga 5:11).

BISHOP PEARSON proves the

divine origination of Christianity from its success being inexplicable

on the supposition of its being of human origin. The nature of its

doctrine was no way likely to command success: (1) it condemns all

other religions, some established for ages; (2) it enjoins precepts

ungrateful to flesh and blood, the mortifying of the flesh, the love of

enemies, and the bearing of the cross; (3) it enforces these seemingly

unreasonable precepts by promises seemingly incredible; not good things

such as afford complacency to our senses, but such as cannot be

obtained till after this life, and presuppose what then seemed

impossible, the resurrection; (4) it predicts to its followers what

would seem sure to keep most of the world from embracing it,

persecutions.

13. Reason why persecutions must be expected, and these becoming

worse and worse as the end approaches. The breach between light and

darkness, so far from being healed, shall be widened

[ALFORD].

evil men--in contrast to the "godly"

(2Ti 3:12).

seducers--literally, "conjurers." Magical arts prevailed at

Ephesus

(Ac 19:19),

and had been renounced by many Ephesians on embracing Christianity: but

now when Paul was writing to Ephesus, symptoms of a return to

conjuring tricks appeared: an undesigned coincidence

[BURTON].

Probably sorcery will characterize the final apostasy

(Re 13:15; 18:23; 22:15).

wax worse--literally, "advance in the direction of worse"

(see on

2Ti 3:9).

Not contradictory to that verse: there the diffusion of the evil

was spoken of; here its intensity [ALFORD].

deceiving, and being deceived--He who has once begun to deceive

others, is the less easily able to recover himself from error, and the

more easily embraces in turn the errors of others

[BENGEL].

14. But . . . thou--Whatever they may do. Resuming the

thread begun at

2Ti 3:10.

learned--from me and thy mother and grandmother

(2Ti 1:5; 2:2).

assured of--from Scripture

(2Ti 3:15).

of whom--plural, not singular, in the oldest manuscripts, "from

what teachers." Not only from me, but from Lois and Eunice.

15. from a child--literally, "from an infant." The tender age of

the first dawn of reason is that wherein the most lasting impressions

of faith may be made.

holy scriptures--The Old Testament taught by his Jewish

mother. An undesigned coincidence with

2Ti 1:5;

Ac 16:1-3.

able--in themselves: though through men's own fault they often do

not in fact make men savingly alive.

wise unto salvation--that is, wise unto the attainment of

salvation. Contrast "folly"

(2Ti 3:9).

Wise also in extending it to others.

through faith--as the instrument of this wisdom. Each

knows divine things only as far as his own experience in

himself extends. He who has not faith, has not wisdom or

salvation.

which is in--that is, rests on Christ Jesus.

16. All scripture--Greek, "Every Scripture," that is,

Scripture in its every part. However, English Version is

sustained, though the Greek article be wanting, by the technical

use of the term "Scripture" being so well known as not to need the

article (compare Greek,

Eph 3:15; 2:21).

The Greek is never used of writings in general, but only

of the sacred Scriptures. The position of the two Greek

adjectives closely united by "and," forbids our taking the one as an

epithet, the other as predicated and translated as ALFORD and ELLICOTT. "Every

Scripture given by inspiration of God is also profitable."

Vulgate and the best manuscripts, favor English Version.

Clearly the adjectives are so closely connected that as surely as one

is a predicate, the other must be so too. ALFORD

admits his translation to be harsh, though legitimate. It is better

with English Version to take it in a construction legitimate,

and at the same time not harsh. The Greek,

"God-inspired," is found nowhere else. Most of the New Testament books

were written when Paul wrote this his latest Epistle: so he includes in

the clause "All Scripture is God-inspired," not only the Old

Testament, in which alone Timothy was taught when a child

(2Ti 3:15),

but the New Testament books according as they were recognized in the

churches which had men gifted with "discerning of spirits," and so able

to distinguish really inspired utterances, persons, and so their

writings from spurious. Paul means, "All Scripture is God-inspired

and therefore useful"; because we see no utility in any

words or portion of it, it does not follow it is not God-inspired. It

is useful, because God-inspired; not God-inspired,

because useful. One reason for the article not being before the

Greek, "Scripture," may be that, if it had, it might be

supposed that it limited the sense to the hiera grammata, "Holy

Scriptures"

(2Ti 3:15)

of the Old Testament, whereas here the assertion is more

general: "all Scripture" (compare Greek,

2Pe 1:20).

The translation, "all Scripture that is God-inspired is also useful,"

would imply that there is some Scripture which is not

God-inspired. But this would exclude the appropriated sense of the word

"Scripture"; and who would need to be told that "all divine Scripture

is useful ('profitable')?"

Heb 4:13

would, in ALFORD'S view, have to be rendered, "All

naked things are also open to the eyes of Him," &c.: so also

1Ti 4:4,

which would be absurd [TREGELLES, Remarks on

the Prophetic Visions of the Book of Daniel]. Knapp well defines

inspiration, "An extraordinary divine agency upon teachers while giving

instruction, whether oral or written, by which they were taught how and

what they should speak or write" (compare

2Sa 23:1;

Ac 4:25;

2Pe 1:21).

The inspiration gives the divine sanction to all the

words of Scripture, though those words be the utterances of the

individual writer, and only in special cases revealed directly

(1Co 2:13).

Inspiration is here predicated of the writings, "all

Scripture," not of the persons. The question is not how God has

done it; it is as to the word, not the men who wrote it.

What we must believe is that He has done it, and that all the

sacred writings are every where inspired, though not all alike matter

of special revelation: and that even the very words are

stamped with divine sanction, as Jesus used them (for example in the

temptation and

Joh 10:34, 35),

for deciding all questions of doctrine and practice. There are degrees

of revelation in Scripture, but not of inspiration. The

sacred writers did not even always know the full significancy of their

own God-inspired words

(1Pe 1:10, 11, 12).

Verbal inspiration does not mean mechanical dictation, but all

"Scripture is (so) inspired by God," that everything in it, its

narratives, prophecies, citations, the whole--ideas, phrases, and

words--are such as He saw fit to be there. The present condition

of the text is no ground for concluding against the original

text being inspired, but is a reason why we should use all critical

diligence to restore the original inspired text. Again, inspiration may

be accompanied by revelation or not, but it is as much needed for

writing known doctrines or facts authoritatively, as for

communicating new truths [TREGELLES]. The

omission here of the substantive verb is,' I think, designed to mark

that, not only the Scripture then existing, but what was

still to be written till the canon should be completed, is

included as God-inspired. The Old Testament law was the

schoolmaster to bring us to Christ; so it is appropriately said to be

"able to make wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus

Christ": the term wisdom being appropriated to a knowledge of

the relations between the Old and New Testaments, and opposed to the

pretended wisdom of the false teachers

(1Ti 1:7, 8).

doctrine--Greek, "teaching," that is,

teaching the ignorant dogmatic truths which they cannot otherwise

know. He so uses the Old Testament,

Ro 1:17.

reproof--"refutation," convicting the erring of their

error. Including polemical divinity. As an example of this use

of the Old Testament, compare

Ga 3:6, 13, 16.

"Doctrine and reproof" comprehend the speculative parts of

divinity. Next follow the practical: Scripture is profitable

for: (1) correction (Greek, "setting one right"; compare

an example,

1Co 10:1-10)

and instruction (Greek, "disciplining," as a father does

his child, see on

2Ti 2:25;

Eph 6:4;

Heb 12:5, 11,

or "training" by instruction, warning, example, kindnesses, promises,

and chastisements; compare an example,

1Co 5:13).

Thus the whole science of theology is complete in Scripture. Since Paul

is speaking of Scripture in general and in the notion of it, the only

general reason why, in order to perfecting the godly

(2Ti 3:17),

it should extend to every department of revealed truth, must be

that it was intended to be the complete and sufficient rule in

all things touching perfection. See Article VI, Common Prayer

Book.

in--Greek, "instruction which is in

righteousness," as contrasted with the "instruction" in worldly

rudiments

(Col 2:20, 22).

17. man of God--(See on

1Ti 6:11).

perfect, throughly furnished--Greek, "thoroughly

perfected," and so "perfect." The man of God is perfectly accoutred out

of Scripture for his work, whether he be a minister (compare

2Ti 4:2

with 2Ti 3:16)

or a spiritual layman. No oral tradition is needed to be added.