Introductory remarks:
In this chapter Paul will teach the coming apostasy of the church and the inspiration and authority of the Scripture. "Paul says the end times will be perilous. Men will pursue all kinds of evil and will be religious but deny God and capture foolish minds with their trickery, but they will be exposed. Paul says Timothy knows his character and how God delivered him from all his enemies. Paul says those who follow Christ will be persecuted and the evil of men will increase. He urges Timothy to continue in what he was taught and rely on the Scriptures he has known from childhood, which are able to perfect the man of God" (a Survey of 2 Timothy - By Brenda). This chapter may be outlined as follows: The character of men in the last days vv. 1-9: Last charge to Timothy vv 10-17.
The Character of Men in the Last Days
Verse 1, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come."
LGT "But know this, that in the last days difficult times will be present."
But know this: I want you to know what I am about to tell you. That in the last days: the days prior to the rapture of the body of Christ, the church. Difficult times will be present: this certainly will be hard times for the organized church. We know that we will be spared from these evils because we have put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and no matter what happens to the organized church, we will not be part of it, for we are not part of the great organization known as denominationalism. The coming apostasy will be from within the organized church, for the true body of Christ cannot apostatize. This doesn't sound like the world will be evangelized, now, does it? If any of us are martyred for the sake of the gospel, the enemy of the gospel will be doing us a service, for we will be home with our Lord and family all the sooner. We have seen signs of the coming of the day of the Lord throughout history, but never as we are seeing them develop today; everything Paul describes in the next few verses 2-5 is happening today in a concentrated development of rebellion against the gospel of grace. The turmoil that we are witnessing is the result of man running things apart from any knowledge of God. The Bible teachers that believe the world will be evangelized are totally ignorant of dispensations. They take the Scriptures that teach the thousand-year reign of Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom, and apply it to our age of grace. By this confusion they teach that the world is getting better and better. We who believe in dispensations, that is, ages in which God dealt with man under various spiritual economies, believe the world is become more and more decadent, and the organized church is becoming more and more liberal, that is, it has almost reach the apostate stage taught in the Revelation as the Laodicean age. We must be encouraged by the signs all around us and never become despondent, for we are to "Look up! For our Redemption is drawing near."
Verse 2, "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,"
LGT "For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy:"
Paul begins here to describe the condition of the organized church prior to the day of the Lord. For men will lovers of self: there is a healthy self-love and a self-love that is love of self excessively. I must point out that Paul is not describing the world per se, because the unbeliever has always been in this state of practicing sin, but he is describing the organized church. The organized church stinks in the nostrils of the true body of Christ. Lovers of money: if you watch the so-called church programs on TV at all, or read about these apostate churches in the daily newspaper, it will become obvious in a moment that money is at the center of their preaching. Greedy: Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:10, "The love of money is the root of all evil." This goes hand in hand with excessively loving oneself. Boasters: walking around with disgraceful arrogance, like a peacock pluming its feathers. I see this whenever one religious preacher grovels over another preacher of how much good they are doing for God. Billy Graham is fawned over by the news media as the greatest evangelists that ever lived, and he sits there and allows them to brag about him; this is shameful to say the least. It certainly doesn't show that these men had the soul of a John the Baptist who said, "I must decrease, in order that Christ may increase." Proud: this means these men are arrogant, conceited, self-important, swollen with pride, pompous, self-righteous, overconfident, bigheaded, and egotistical. This describes to my mind the one and only Rick-the-slick-Warren, as well as the Pope and his disgraceful hierarchy of religious boobs. Actually all the pastors of the organized church fit into this category just described, in one degree or another. The difference in the body of Christ is that we move in and out of being proud, because the Holy Spirit convicts us of these things and we confess them and move on. Blasphemers: In this context blaspheme is not so much as an insult directed at God, but proud and arrogant use of the Word of God to accomplish evil purposes. The pastor today of the organized church uses the Word of God to their own purpose of making the world a better place to live, instead of giving the Word out as God intended, and allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish His will. The liberal establishment has taken over the pulpits today, and it will be easy for the antichrist to take over. Disobedient to Parents: when marriage is maligned and disregarded by the youth, and boys and girls live together out of wedlock, it is the result of the children being spoiled by the parents, and the children disrespecting their parents; there is no more inner soul searching, because the church is not even standing firm against fornication. The organized church has become tolerant of everyone and everything, claiming that God loves everyone, and therefore, everything will turn out just fine. Unthankful: this attitude of thanklessness has permeated the religious society; everyone believes that God owes them; they do not believe in grace, the unmerited favor of God, because it is not taught in churches today; what is taught is the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and that we are heading to one grand utopia. Unholy: the Greek word for "unholy" is anosioi, meaning profane; everyone does that which is right in his own eyes. There are no restraints as children, and the result is that there are no restraints among the adults.
Verse 3, "Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good."
LGT "Without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, incontinent, savage, not lovers of the good:"
Without natural affection: the church has reached its lowest level when it accepts into its fellowship homosexual behavior. Some of the denominations today even allow homos to become preachers. We are not to tolerate homos, for Paul taught in Romans 1:24, "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves." Implacable: these are people who are impossible to please. They are so set in their ways that they cannot accept any other viewpoint but their own. I am not talking about Bible Doctrine, for there are no other viewpoints than God's viewpoint. They are irreconcilable. Slander: these are those who spread gossip in order to malign another person. Incontinent: these are the ones without self-control; these are the ones who are spineless and will accept every wind of false doctrine. Savage: these are those who are rigid and stern, and have an unforgiving spirit. Not lovers of the good: these are the ones who despise righteousness, because they are convicted. They want to be able to live however they please with out being reprimanded or corrected, for they despise criticism of any sort.
Verse 4, "Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God."
LGT "Betrayers, headlong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God:"
Betrayer: These are the rebellious ones that cannot be trusted. Headlong: these are the ones who are hasty in making decisions without thinking things through; they are very impulsive and reckless. Puffed up: these are the ones who are infatuated with themselves and completely blinded with self-confidence fuelled by pride. Lovers of pleasure: this is so manifest today in the entertainment industry, which includes sporting events. People by the millions either attend or watch on TV sporting events that has made millionaires out of most of the actual participants. People will pay almost anything to be entertained. Of course this is not the only type of pleasure Paul is referring to. Anything that satisfies the flesh is what Paul is writing about. Rather than lovers of God: these men would rather be amused than to study the Word of God. The organized church has fallen into this trap with their worldly clatter they call music, and their message has come down to tickling the ears of the hearers by amusing them rather than teaching the gospel of the grace of God. The message today must be interesting to the masses, without a care about Bible exposition.
Verse 5, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
LGT "Having a form of godliness, but having denied the power of it: and these turn thyself away from."
Having a form of godliness: a "form" is a type or mere appearance of being a God lover rather than a pleasure seeker. The message coming forth from these organized religions is a watered down gospel, that seeks to encourage men to be good citizens, rather teaching believers to have fellowship with God and submit to the Holy Spirit, by studying grace doctrine and putting these grace principles into every day experience. But having denied the power of it: these religious zealots have no concern over the truth that imposes restraints on their passion for pleasing men, rather than pleasing God; they are only concerned with large congregations and large salaries, and large egos. And these turn thyself away from: don't participate in an assembly that is out for glory; study in a small group that is concerned with God's divine viewpoint. I know of people who have remained faithful to an assembly, even when it turned sour, and the church adopted the world's viewpoint of satisfying the flesh and ego, rather than teaching grace doctrine, for the simple reason they believe they are pleasing God by remaining, because they believe they must go to church on the Sabbath.
Verse 6, "For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts."
LGT "For of these are those who creep into the houses and leading captive silly women laden with sins, led away by various lusts."
For of these: of the ones who have a form of godliness but deny God's power and authority. Are those who creep into the houses: these are those who enter houses with cunning methods. And leading captive silly women laden with sins: Paul speaks of "silly women" because they are more easily mislead when they are under conviction of sins. These false teachers prey on these women because they are so easily mislead. Led away by various lusts: these "silly women" are ruled by their desire to look religious, but are not willing to study the truth, because the truth hurts, as the expression goes. The false cults aim at the women, for they believe if they get the women, they will be able to get the whole family. My experience is that women are also the first to respond to the Word of God, and they are so important in raising a family in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The cults go around in the daytime in order to speak to silly women, because they know the man is away at work. Today, however, it is probably a 50-50 proposition to find a woman or Mr. Mom at home. The next verse helps us in knowing the context.
Verse 7, "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
LGT "Always learning, but never able to come to [the] knowledge of [the] truth."
Always learning: these pathetic women give themselves over to the false teachers in order to put up a front of being religious. But never able to come to the knowledge of the truth: because they have the wrong motive, they are unable to distinguish truth, and so they submit themselves over to the false teachers, assuming that they will be reckoned among the intelligentsia. The false cults today parallel the truth with their man-made religion, and this is to stupefy the unwary into thinking they are correct. What really happens is that these false teachers have a hypnotic spell over these women, by flattery and smooth talking.
Calvin notes:
"That fluctuation between various desires, of which Paul know speaks, is when, having nothing solid in themselves, they are tossed about in all directions. They 'learn', he says, as people do who are under the influence of curiosity, and with a restless mind, but in such a manner as never to arrive at any certainty or truth. It is ill-conducted study, and widely different from knowledge. And yet such persons think themselves prodigiously [exceptionally] wise; but what they know is nothing, so long as they do not hold the truth, which is the foundation of all knowledge."
Verse 8, "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith."
LGT "Now in the way Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, thus also these withstand the truth, men utterly corrupted in mind, found worthless concerning the faith."
Now in the way Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses: Jannes and Jambres were the names of the magicians that withstood Moses before Pharaoh as they imitated the Moses miracles recorded in Exodus chapter seven. Their names are not mentioned in the OT account, only here by Paul; the Holy Spirit had to reveal the names to Paul; there is no other significance to their names, just their act of standing against Moses, which meant that they withstood God. Thus also these withstand the truth: just as the magicians withstood God, these false teachers withstand God. Men utterly corrupted in mind: this means that these men have rejected the gospel of grace completely, and they have degenerate, decadent, and immoral minds. Found worthless concerning the faith: these false teachers did not have an ounce of truth in their minds; they were complete castaways. These men renounced Christ in every possible way.
Verse 9, "But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall manifest unto all men, as theirs also was."
LGT "But they shall not advance farther, for their folly shall be fully manifest to all, as also that of those became."
But they shall not advance farther: just as Jannes and Jambres went only as far as God allowed. Paul consoles Timothy with the fact that these false teachers will only be allowed to advance as far as God allows. For their folly: the senselessness of their immoral teaching. Shall be fully manifest to all: it is manifest to all who believe, and in the last day it will be manifest to the world. As also that of those became: just as Jannes and Jambres were revealed to be worthless soothsayers and magicians in not being able to compete with the creative actions of God through Moses.
Last Charge to Timothy
Verse 10, "But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience."
LGT "But you have closely followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance:"
Timothy not only learned grace doctrine at the feet of Paul, he witnessed Paul's conduct in prison and out of prison, and in every circumstance possible, and he knew that Paul lived what he preached; this is something I for one am unable to say with a clear conscience; and if you are honest, you probably cannot say it either.
Verse 11, "Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me."
LGT "The Persecutions, the sufferings, what things befell me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra; what manner of persecutions I endured; and out of all [these things] God delivered me."
Paul now lists some of the tribulations and persecutions he faced on his missionary journeys. Paul mentions the specific areas that Timothy was with him. And out of all these things God delivered me: this is the most consoling thing Paul could have given young Timothy; he tells him to be strong for God is here to deliver him too. "Having spoken of the troubles which were to befall the church, and having exhorted Timothy to be firm, so as not to shrink from them, the Apostle adds, that now, for a long time, he must have been prepared for all this, because he had been taught in a good school. 'Thou hast known intimately,' like one who had followed him step by step; for such is the import of the word which Paul uses: 'Thou hast known well the course which I pursued'." (William Pringle)
Verse 12, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
LGT "And all indeed who wish to live spiritually in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
With all the turmoil in the middle East, and the attitude of America against anything called Christian, I believe we are heading into the last days; and along with this complete reversal of our founding fathers in the White House, of completely ignoring anything righteous, we may be heading for a period of great persecution if we simply admit that we believe in Christ; our president, at the moment at least, is guiding the U.S. into being a Muslim nation, and it would not surprise me in the least if he tries and circumvent the constitution and substitute it with the Koran.
Verse 13, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."
LGT "But wicked men and imposters shall advance to worse, leading astray and being led astray."
But wicked men and imposters shall advance to worse: Paul is telling Timothy that he was to expect persecution because men without God do not get netter and better, but just the opposite, they are on a slide downward; they become more and more depraved. Leading astray and being led astray: there is no such thing as honor among thieves; the wicked men seek to destroy without discrimination, that is, they do not care who their victim might be. These con men are such wicked deceivers they are easy prey to being deceived, for they have no idea concerning the truth. They lie because it is the natural thing for a child of the original liar himself, their father, Satan.
Verse 14, "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them:"
LGT "But thou remain in the things thou didst learn, and was assured of, having known from what [persons] thou didst learn [them]."
But thou remain in the things thou didst learn: Timothy learned the OT Scriptures from his mother and grandmother, and he learned grace doctrine from Paul. The only resource we have against apostasy is the Word of God. And was assured of: Timothy was assured of the truth he had learned, and he knew it was the Word of God. Having known from what persons thou didst learn them: Paul says that Timothy was taught first by his mother and grandmother, and then by him personally; he was assured by them of the truth, and he could know that these three would never deceive him.
Verse 15, "And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make the wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
LGT "And that from a babe thou hast known the Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which [is] in Christ Jesus."
And that from a babe thou hast known the Scriptures: Timothy was under strict Jewish teaching of the Scriptures from the age of five years. He was brought up in a Christian home. Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith: Timothy was brought up to be wise unto salvation through his instruction in the home, but he had to exercise his faith to be saved. Which is in Christ Jesus: Timothy had to place his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ the same as every Christian from Adam on. The blood of Christ ran like a scarlet thread through the OT pointing to the cross, and Timothy had been taught the grace doctrines of salvation by Paul. Daily Bible study is the only thing that can make us wise in our salvation.
Verse 16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
LGT "Every Scripture [is] God- inspired, and [is] profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for discipline which [is] in righteousness:"
Every Scripture: this means every passage of Scripture. [Is] God inspired: the word inspiration means "God breathed." God, by the Holy Spirit, superintended the writing of the entire Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. God used men He had chosen to write the Scriptures, and then see to it that it became complete in the 66 books we now possess. God revealed everything He desired us to know completely in the Word, and not one thing would be added today. The Word of God is the only way God communicates to us today, so it is very necessary that we study the Word daily, that is, if we want to fellowship with Him, and desire that He has His will in our lives. And [is] profitable for teaching: All divinely inspired Scripture is also profitable for teaching to make you wise. We cannot get true wisdom any other way than by the study of the Word of God. For conviction: it is impossible, if you are a child of God, to study the Word without being convicted. The Holy Spirit is working through the Word in our lives in order to keep us in line so that we are useable to Him. For correction: this is how the Holy Spirit perfects us in righteousness. He not only keeps us in line, He improves us through the Word to help us put into every day practice God's grace doctrines; this is wisdom. For discipline which is in righteousness: this is self discipline designed to adjust our lives to the Word of God, which is God's divine viewpoint. The more we study God's Word, the more we think and act in accordance with it; this is so important today as there are so may distractions on the TV and on PC's that lead children and adults away from the Word of righteousness. David, the Psalmist wrote, "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee" (Ps.119:11). In regards to the distractions of this life on TV and the computers all I can say is, "garbage in, garbage out."
Verse 17, "That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
LGT "In order that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work."
In order that the man of God may be complete: This verse is conclusive as to the inspiration of the Scriptures. Any Word that is able to produce this righteous effect can only be God's Word. The word "complete" means maturity. The Word of God and the Word of God alone is able to bring about spiritual maturity, according to God's standard of righteousness of course. Fully fitted to every good work: apart from the Word of God, and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible for any man to produce one good work. Of course "good work" must be understood as Divine good, not human good. In order to understand Divine good one must study Bible doctrine, for this is the only place God has revealed grace doctrine. If we try and produce Divine good by our own will-power, and by making resolutions to be a better Christian, we will fail; the Holy Spirit is the only one who is able to produce Divine good in us; we must submit to Him, and allow Him to work in and through us; and this can only take place as we fellowship with the Father in His Word.
Paul continues this theme of his last charge to Timothy in the next chapter, which is his final to this second letter to Timothy.
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