Why then yield to the enemy? As Timothy was about to enter upon a new phase of his ministry, without the apostle's presence or living counsel, the latter charges him with great emphasis, "before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." Assuredly he would rejoice to scare Timothy from the field of serving Christ, and would shrink from no means to secure it. Let us look at them one by one. When children are disobedient to their parents, and break through the obligations which they lie under to them both in duty and gratitude, and frequently in interest, having their dependence upon them and their expectation from them, they make the times perilous; for what wickedness will those stick at who will be abusive to their own parents and Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands: Many men and women, who would never dream of stealing, think nothing--even find pleasure--in passing on a story which ruins someone else's good name, without even trying to find out whether or not it is true. By it we are thoroughly furnished for every good work. Living here almost in a Sodom-Gomorrah atmosphere and environment. "Because ye are not of the world therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19; Matthew 10:22,38,39). This may be either an injury done to his feelings, his family, his reputation, his property, his liberty, his influence; it may be by depriving him of an office which he held, or preventing him from obtaining one to which he is eligible; it may be by subjecting him to fine or imprisonment, to banishment, torture, or death. He blames the Jews who searched them, because they failed to learn the lesson which they were intended to convey. Persons sometimes say it does not matter who taught; but God does not treat the matter so lightly. One only meets Satan when traveling in an opposite direction! The world just exists, no real goal, no real meaning; you're just existing. So from his earliest childhood Timothy had known the sacred writings. 2 Timothy 3:12, CSB: In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Then in 2 Timothy 3:1-17 he proceeds to show us not merely a picture of the condition that Christianity will fall into, but, besides, a state of things that would be produced by this confusion. The reason is obvious. If anyone proposes to introduce into his life a loyalty which surpasses all earthly loyalties, there are bound to be clashes. This is a further reason why Timothy should endure hardship and not turn aside from the work God has given him (3-5). Certain of the temporary persecution, he is equally certain of the ultimate glory. But, if one confesses the name of the Lord, the word is imperative: "let him depart from iniquity." The history of the Christian Church teaches us that falsity cannot live. . And many shall be stirred up in anger to injure many; And they shall rouse up armies in order to shed blood. The apostle mentions the Lord's delivering him out of them all, for Timothy's and our encouragement under sufferings. Oh God, I want you to use my life. 4. But the sin of the man who is arrogant is in his heart. They still, you know, pay their respects. God had made Jesus to be Lord and Christ, preached Peter on that day of power, when as yet much lay hid, and the great instrument of the revelation of the mystery was still shrouded in the darkness of midnight. But no man ought to separate himself from the children of God, unless it be a dire necessity for the Lord; it is clearly not according to Christ. They will be inflated with a sense of their own importance. If the Lord doesn't come soon, we're going to destroy ourselves as we just sink in the filth. Men will be ungovernable in their desires (akrates, G193) . You're a pilgrim. And then Jesus will come and establish God's righteous kingdom, but by then, those that will remain will be saying, Oh, God help us. Avoid such people. 3. It denotes a savagery which has neither sensitiveness nor sympathy. The adjective used is philautos, which means self-loving. But let him not infer, therefore, that he is to be enrolled among the martyrs, and that he is certainly a real Christian. Negative and positive illustrations 3:8-13. It is given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 3:16), and therefore is his word. 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]. One day a visitor came to the ward and left a supply of gospels. In Brazil Signor Antonio of Minas bought a New Testament which he took home to burn. "He devotes himself specially to women, and those such as are well-bred, and elegantly attired, and of great wealth." It would not burn. The woman protests that she has never done so and cannot do so. He was wrong on that you know. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977. Didn't you know that's just a myth? 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; How many people who have stood before God and have pledged for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part; and yet again, the high divorce rate. It was the common lot of all who endeavored to serve their Redeemer faithfully; and Timothy himself, therefore, must not hope to escape from it. The doctrine that he preached. Now hatred is attended by cruelty, and hence arise persecutions. It is well to be exclusive of sin, but of nothing else. Some of you here are victims of broken covenants. He warns Timothy of the fatal end of seducers, as a reason why he should stick closely to the truth as it is in Jesus: But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, c., 2 Timothy 3:13; 2 Timothy 3:13. At the same time there is not the smallest slight of the only and abiding standard. Who is talking all these words without knowledge? The disorder might be so great that we might make mistakes in our anxiety; but "The Lord knoweth them that are his." Paul kept back nothing from his hearers, but declared to them the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), so that if it were not their own fault they might fully know it. The crumbling away of everything here was before the apostle; and accordingly it is one of the peculiar features of this second epistle, that he brings out that which never can decay which was before there was a world to dissolve namely, that life which was in Christ Jesus before the world began. Note, It is not enough to learn that which is good, but we must continue in it, and persevere in it unto the end. human nature began to show itself out in indifference. The New Testament had not yet been canonized. This sort of atmosphere will mark the last days . Now they're right out where little kids can go in and pick them up and leaf through them. Those ministers are likely to do good, and leave lasting fruits of their labours, whose manner of life agrees with their doctrine; as, on the contrary, those cannot expect to profit the people at all that preach well and live ill. 3. Quite a promise, isn't it? Resurrection is the form and character of the lowest blessings of which Jesus is the dispenser; much more is He risen to exalt God in the highest. The great thing is to do the will of God, let others say what they please; and so the apostle Paul exhorts Timothy. As members of the Church, we should sometimes ask ourselves, what are we trying to do in it? He tells such women that by his spells and incantations he can enable them to prophesy. You're in an alien world. Timothy was from Lystra. (iii) The Scriptures are valuable for reproof. "Reprobate concerning the faith.". Besides that, persecutions today are manifested much more indirectly. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life" (he must be unencumbered, and undivided in his object); "that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 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. The Christian emancipation of women inevitably brought its problems. Verse 1. There would be two ways in which these heretics in the days of Timothy could exert an evil influence. "He kicked the world about," said one, "as if it had been a football." A man can reach a stage when, so far from controlling it, he can become a slave to some habit or desire. Therefore, isolation is never desirable, though it may be sometimes necessary. They said, Wait a minute, this is the hand of God, we can't, we can't touch this. It is able to make us wise to salvation; that is, it is a sure guide in our way to eternal life. But they will not get much further, for their folly will be as clear to all as that of those ancient impostors. The Greek word is that men will become anosios ( G462) . You know the persecutions that I experienced, but the Lord delivered me out of them all. Do you have a hard time accepting that man can build a great fish that can swallow men and keep them under water for several days and deposit them later at a port?Hey, hey, wait a minute then. Observe, Timothy must continue in the things which he had learned and had been assured of. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL Next he comes to a more personal need. Now here observe. He read the twenty-third psalm from one; the story of the Good Samaritan from another; from another the Sermon on the Mount; from another 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. It is not meant that the Scriptures are valuable for finding fault; what is meant is that they are valuable for convincing a man of the error of his ways and for pointing him on the right path. Men would become lovers of money (philarguros, G5366) . 10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 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. And they shall be dispersed among the Gentiles. It is a great happiness to know the holy scriptures from our childhood; and children should betimes get the knowledge of the scriptures. Men will be without human affection (astorgos, G794) . 3:14-17 But as for you, remain loyal to the things which you have learned, and in which your belief has been confirmed, for you know from whom you learned them, and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that will bring you salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary. He is now looking at the state of disorder in the house of God, instead of contemplating it in its public integrity, as in the first epistle. It can never cease to be a Christian's duty to maintain the unity of the Spirit; but it is not maintaining the unity of the Spirit to couple with the name of the Lord that which is fleshly and sinful. (2Baruch 27). Help me totake this verse seriously, that I will suffer persecution if I live godly in Jesus Christ. Turning to the SECOND EPISTLE, we find that, although there is the same grand truth of the Saviour God maintained, the state of things had become sensibly worse, and the hour for the apostle's departure from the world was drawing near. He is sure that God will rescue the man who puts his faith in him. "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. The Jewish Rabbis ranked high in the list of sins what they called the sin of insult. It describes the man who is swept on by passion and impulse to such an extent that he is totally unable to think sensibly. He must study the Scriptures to make himself useful to God and to his fellow-men. But then another thing. The Gnostic heretics taught, either that, since matter is altogether evil, a rigid asceticism must be practiced and all the things of the body as far as possible eliminated, or that it does not matter what we do with the body and its desires can be indulged in to the limit because they do not matter. Godly = adv. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. They love pleasure more than they love God; that's the indictment. "Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. There is teaching. She had never tried the Bible, for a friend had convinced her by subtle arguments that it could not be true. But now there were other reasons for it, namely, that Christians were neglecting godliness and order. Anosios does not so much mean that men will break the written laws; it means that they will offend against the unwritten laws which are part and parcel of the essence of life. Closely allied with the braggart, but--as we shall see--even worse, is the man who is arrogant. In English we usually associate it with insult against God, but in Greek it means insult against man and God alike. The wickedness of evil people, particularly charlatans, will increase as time passes. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." The scriptures are able to make us truly wise, wise for our souls and another world. All you can say is that they are "without natural affection".God has put in our heart a certain natural love as a parent for a child. 9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. In the Testament of Issachar, one of the books written between the Old and the New Testaments, we get a picture like this: "Know ye, therefore, my children, that in the last times. When we are tempted to do so, we should hear again the voice of our blessed Lord saying on the Cross: "Father, forgive them.". For all scripture is given by inspiration of God ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ), Not as some would lead you to believe, some scriptures are given by inspiration of God. Those who would acquaint themselves with the things of God, and be assured of them, must know the holy scriptures, for these are the summary of divine revelation. my doctrine, and my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, my longsuffering, my love, and my patience, [you know the] persecutions, and the afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, and Iconium, and Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me ( 2 Timothy 3:10-11 ). The page number in Thayer is given, and the column on the page follows the hyphens. At the same time He will have them undividedly for Himself; and He is also jealous of the way in which they seek even the ends of God. You may be able to deceive people for a while, but ultimately, it's going to catch up, even as it did with Jannes. To many a man and woman has a little bit of dress done no small injury, just because they think it is too little for the Spirit of God to direct them in. There is nothing that more shows God than His ability to combine that which is eternal with care for the smallest things of this life. Accordingly, there is a depth of feeling that one may safely say far exceeds the first epistle, although it had shown so much tenderness and care both for Timothy and the faithful of those days. The same Spirit that breathed reason into us breathes revelation among us: For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men spoke as they were moved or carried forth by the Holy Ghost,2 Peter 1:21. On the other hand, if a soul confesses the name of the Lord, he must have done with iniquity. The most amazing things may happen if he does, for there is a saving wisdom here that is in no other book. Such offence can and does happen yet. Men will be lovers of their own selves ( 2 Timothy 3:2 ). See also 1 Timothy 4:7; 1 Timothy 6:11, and on godliness, 1 Timothy 2:2. Here we have him recurring to that which was entirely outside nature, and before its very platform existed. There is no occasion for the writings of the philosopher, nor for rabbinical fables, nor popish legends, nor unwritten traditions, to make us perfect men of God, since the scripture answers all these ends and purposes. Let me remark, that there are comparatively few indeed that receive truth without help of others directly from God. If they contradict the teaching of the Bible, they are to be refused. In other words, the word of God is that which thoroughly prepares me for any work that God might have for me to do. (2) They who are persecuted for their opinions, should consider that this may be one evidence that they have the spirit of Christ, and are his true friends. In the last days This often means the days of the Messiah, and is sometimes extended in its signification to the destruction of Jerusalem, as this was properly the last days of the Jewish state. It is easy for a professed Christian to avoid persecution, if he yields every point in which religion is opposed to the world. Well, Jesus has and He told us what to, what it's about in Luke, the sixteenth chapter. Verse of the Day , 2 Timothy 3:12 Treasury of Scripture Knowing, God, My Praise (Study In God - All I Need-19). So you have to be careful when you start chipping it away at one side because the whole thing will come down on you. One of my most unfavorite promises in the Bible. As Shakespeare had it: "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord. The world is full of these braggarts to this day; the clever know-all's who deceive people into thinking that they are wise, the politicians who claim that their parties have a program which will bring in the Utopia and that they alone are born to be leaders of men, the people who crowd the advertisement columns with claims to give beauty, knowledge or health by their system, the people in the Church who have a kind of ostentatious goodness. 2 Timothy 3 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. Oh I know it costs more but . The more the person who lives godly and righteous in Christ stands out. But of one thing Paul was sure--the days of the deceivers were numbered. The apostle well knew that the God who had brought these glorious truths to man, the God that had manifested His grace, had given a witness of their reality in the man from whom he had learned them; and this was meant to have an enduring effect on the conscience and heart of Timothy. The same tone of mercy is equally promised in this #epistle as in the last. No amount of intellectual curiosity can ever take the place of moral earnestness. Paul's life: one of longsuffering, one of love and one of patience. Paul refers to his own experiences to illustrate the truth that the person who whole-heartedly follows God must expect persecution. 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). A man may embrace some absurd opinion, and call it religion; he may adopt some mode of dress irresistibly ludicrous, from the mere love of singularity, and may call it "conscience;" or he may be boorish in his manners, and uncivil in his deportment, outraging all the laws of social life, and may call this "deadness to the world;" and for these, and similar things, he may be contemned, ridiculed, and despised. And so there comes that point where they will proceed no further: "their folly becomes manifest to all men", as Jannes and Jambres also was. "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. III. Abandoned by virtually all of those close to him for fear of persecution (cf. If what be claims for scripture is true of the Old Testament, how much truer it is of the still more precious words of the New. Activity of service was no longer before him. There was a certain heretic called Marcus who dealt in magic. He was to communicate the things he had learnt of Paul, that they might be able to teach others also. First and foremost he has an aim in life. ( 2 Timothy 3:1) Perilous times in the last days . What is the excellency of the scripture. If, in any manner, or in any way, he is subjected to disadvantage on account of his religious opinions, and deprived of any immunities and rights to which he would be otherwise entitled, this is persecution. It would not be accordant with the mind of God. [ See verse text ] Persecution against godly people is to be expected in this world; it's one of the few constants in life (2 Timothy 3:12). In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. On account of his opinions, he may be held up to ridicule, or treated with neglect, or excluded from society to which his attainments and manners would otherwise introduce him, or shunned by those who might otherwise value his friendship. The moment a man makes his own will the centre of life, divine and human relationships are destroyed, obedience to God and charity to men both become impossible. It may flourish for a time, but when it is exposed to the light of truth it is bound to shrivel and die. And they use the book of Job as their proof text. Socrates skid that they were to be found in every walk of life but were worst of all in politics. They had been long accustomed to the truth, and alas! So he's referring to the Old Testament Scriptures, those which Timothy knew from the child and he called them the "holy scriptures," which they are, "and they are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus." It appears it was not merely in Rome. That persecution which will properly furnish any evidence that we are the friends of Christ, must be only that which is for righteousness sake Matthew 5:10, and must be brought upon us in an honest effort to obey the commands of God. It imagines "the faith" as something to be guarded (see 2 Timothy 1:14), lest it become corrupted or . And indeed the world easily wears that mask of religion which depends on itself; but the piety which flourishes directly from, is very hateful, as it was to the old Jews, so to the modern Christians, who are without any token of good, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. Christian life is a life of purpose. The volume of the book, the Old Testament, it's all about Jesus Christ. We are not meant to titillate our minds with the latest intellectual crazes; we are meant to purify and strengthen ourselves in the moral battle to live the Christian life. God help us. Proud member 3:10-13 But you have been my disciple in my teaching, my training, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance, my persecutions, my sufferings, in what happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, in the persecutions which I underwent; and the Lord rescued me from them all. At the end of each reading, the brigand said: "That's a good book; we won't burn that one; give it to me." Seeking the Gospel in Malachi, the Last Book of the Old Testament. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived ( 2 Timothy 3:13 ). How appropriate that "trucebreakers" is for this day. That is the inevitable way to ruin, for no man can master anything unless he first masters himself. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" (there must, I suppose, have been some ground for the exhortation), "nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

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