Paul's life contrasted with the world. It is true that these things happened before the young Timothy had definitely entered on the Christian way, but they all happened in the district of which he was a native; and he may well have been an eyewitness of them. It means to follow a person mentally, to attend diligently to his teaching and fully to understand the meaning of what he says. C. Description of His Present Resource 2 Timothy 3:13-17. It is not merely what had been preached, but what is in a permanent shape for the good of the saints of God here below, which elicits the remarkable assertion of its peculiar worth. You've made a covenant and there are so many broken covenants. 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. Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. The age of children is the age to learn; and those who would get true learning, must get it out of the Scriptures. He must maintain this confidence, knowing that the Scriptures are divinely given and that they are Gods means of instructing people in right belief and right living. 2 To Timothy, d my beloved child:. To take pains and to endure are requisite even in what pertains to this life. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. "In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 2 Timothy 3 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. (4.) Ephesus was called "The Treasure-house of the ancient world," "The Vanity Fair of Asia Minor." It is well to maintain the largest heart for everything that is really of Christ. First and foremost he has an aim in life. Such is the meaning of purging himself. These things may be expected in the best times, and under the most favorable circumstances; and it is known that a large part of the history of the world, in its relation to the church, is nothing more than a history of persecution. but they deny the power thereof: [Paul said to Timothy] from such turn away. The man who is huperephanos ( G5244) , said Theophrastus, has a kind of contempt for everyone except himself. 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. Timothy was well aware of this, even before he joined Paul in his work. A great many certainly flatter themselves that they are thus favoured; but the cases are uncommon where it is more than pretence. The word of God is the foundation for doctrine. 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. Now I'm not about to say God was wrong. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:2, "But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God." THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL With this prospect he comforts Timothy no less than his own spirit; but at the same time he speaks as to joining him, with a glance at one that had forsaken him. It should be considered as one of the proper qualifications for membership in the church, to be willing to bear persecution, and to resolve not to shrink from any duty in order to avoid it. No amount of intellectual curiosity can ever take the place of moral earnestness. They will follow after their own wicked devices. They had been long accustomed to the truth, and alas! Amidst all the stories one fact stands out--Jannes and Jambres became legendary figures typifying all those who opposed the purposes of God and the work of his true leaders. (ii) The Scriptures are of use in teaching. In these last terrible days men will come to have no love for good things or good persons (aphilagathos, G865) . These things may be expected in the best times, and under the most favorable circumstances; and it is known that a large part of the history of the world, in its relation to the church, is nothing more than a history of persecution. Synonyms of the New Testament. This the apostle guards Timothy against, and indeed ourselves, he warns him how seduction would go on more and more, but "from such turn away." But, says the apostle, "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." for it is evident that there have been many godly persons who have never suffered banishment, or imprisonment, or flight, or any kind of persecution. Or are you going to develop a doctrine that is diametrically opposed to what Jesus said? It would not burn. 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 ). McLean, Virginia: MacDonald Publishing Company, n.d. Wuest, Kenneth S. Wuests Word Studies From the Greek New Testament. And my full doctrinal concepts are premised upon the scriptures. I think the next major event, Revelation 4:1 . Things are very much taking this direction of late, and at the present moment. There was no longer the freshness of a new thing; and where the heart was not kept up in communion with the Lord, the value of divine things was less felt, if it did not quite fade away. One of my most unfavorite promises in the Bible. Pride always begets insult. The task of the apostle is not only to tell men the truth; it is also to help them do it. Look at the rapid deterioration of our society. It is Paul's charge that such people are "willing to learn from anyone, and yet never able to come to a knowledge of the truth." "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.". Now these seem to many very difficult indeed to combine. It's twelve thousand miles a second, but that's pretty fast, too. We don't have the time to devote to it this evening but I would suggest that you get a good Greek lexicon and do a word study on these particular Greek words that Paul uses to describe the attitudes and the actions of people in the last days. A. M. Chirgwin in The Bible in World Evangelism tells the story of a ward sister in a children's hospital in England. In the Old Testament they are not named, but they are referred to in Exodus 7:11; Exodus 8:7; Exodus 9:11. He says that in them difficult times would set in. There were false teachers who were quick to take advantage of that. If Timothy would adhere to the truth as he had been taught it, this would arm him against the snares and insinuations of seducers. "He kicked the world about," said one, "as if it had been a football." It follows from this: (1) that they who make a profession of religion, should come prepared to be persecuted. The final condemnation of these people is that they retain the outward form of religion but deny its power. Don't start messing with it. Even an unbeliever is acting unfairly unless he tries to read it. Now when Moses appeared before Pharaoh and he threw down his rod and it turned into a snake, you'll remember that Pharaoh's magicians threw down their rods and they also became snakes, but Moses' snake swallowed theirs. The first is the moral character of the source or channel whence Timothy had derived what he knew. 2 Timothy Greeting. Observe, As good men, by the grace of God, grow better and better, so bad men, through the subtlety of Satan and the power of their own corruptions, grow worse and worse. THE QUALITIES OF GODLESSNESS ( 2 Timothy 3:2-5 continued). We must note that Paul here makes a distinction. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.' And so Paul said to Timothy, "You have fully known". Look at the lack, lackness. We have the practice and treatment of true Christians: they live godly in Jesus Christ--this is their practice; and they shall suffer persecution--this is the usage they must expect in this world. It is perfectly true--as we have so often said--that Christianity is not founded on a printed book but on a living person. The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement but the obliteration of self. Help me totake this verse seriously, that I will suffer persecution if I live godly in Jesus Christ. And as we pointed out, the danger always of saying some scriptures, not all scriptures, is the loss of authority. It is easy for a professed Christian to avoid persecution, if he yields every point in which religion is opposed to the world. There is a type of person who is eager to discuss every new theory, who is always to be found deeply involved in the latest fashionable religious movement, but who is quite unwilling to accept the day-to-day discipline--even drudgery--of living the Christian life. Their falsity would be demonstrated and they would receive their appropriate reward. They just are irritated by your love and by your patience and by your goodness because they feel guilty. In the days between the Old and the New Testaments many Jewish books were written which expanded the Old Testament stories. It is of use to all, for we all need to be instructed, corrected, and reproved: it is of special use to ministers, who are to give instruction, correction, and reproof; and whence can they fetch it better than from the scripture? On the whole we here see, [1.] I am not at liberty of course to leave Christendom, I dare not get out of the great house at all; indeed I cannot (at any rate without becoming an apostate) leave the house of God, however bad its state may be. The Greek word is that men will become anosios ( G462) . It means to follow a person physically, to stick by him through thick and thin. Men would be headlong in words and action. He did so to help him realize that he faced no unknown situation in Ephesus and to enable him to combat it intelligently. Robertson, Archibald Thomas. It is well to be exclusive of sin, but of nothing else. It may well be that the greatest handicap to Christianity is not the scarlet sinner but the sleek devotee of an unimpeachable orthodoxy and a dignified convention, who is horrified when it is suggested that real religion is a dynamic power which changes a man's personal life. There was a certain heretic called Marcus who dealt in magic. It is interesting that the Scriptures in many places speak of the last days and in every case where the Scriptures speak of the last days, you find that it is an apt description of the day and the age in which we live. But shun profane and vain babblings.". Don't expect the world to applaud when you speak out against evil. 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 difference between the braggart and the man who is arrogant is this. ", The Bible tells about God giving people over to reprobate minds, men who resist God and the truth of God. First, there are the duties of an apostle. Xenophon in the Memorabilia tells how Socrates utterly condemned such impostors. Things were so bad that Tacitus could say: "He who had no foe was betrayed by his friend." Though his life was a life of great usefulness, yet it was a life of great sufferings; and none, I believe, came nearer to their great Master for eminent services and great sufferings than Paul: he suffered almost in every place; the Holy Ghost witnessed that bonds and afflictions did abide him, Acts 20:23. 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. If Timothy wishes to live godly in Christ, he must make up his mind to encounter. If you can read and buy the first verse of the Bible, you should have no problem with the rest of the Bible. In the first part of this chapter 2 Timothy 3:1-8, Paul reminds Timothy of the great apostasy which was to be expected in the church, and states some of the characteristics of it. 4. 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." It is a great happiness to know the certainty of the things wherein we have been instructed (Luke 1:4); not only to know what the truths are, but to know that they are of undoubted certainty. Closely allied with the braggart, but--as we shall see--even worse, is the man who is arrogant. Then the word went on to widen its meaning until it meant any braggart. 2 Timothy 3:12, NASB: Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 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. Here we find the perilous times fairly brought before us. In the end not a book was burned; the brigand left the colporteur and went off into the darkness with the books. We live in a fallen world with a spiritual enemy who prowls around as a roaring lion or appears to us as an angel of light seeking to devour, destroy, or deceive us.Jesus clearly told us that in this world, those who believe in Him would suffer persecution and pain, and Paul expands that truth by adding that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 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. Besides that, persecutions today are manifested much more indirectly. Edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, this new commentary series, projected to be 48 volumes, takes a Christ-centered approach to expositing each book of the Bible. Aspondos ( G786) can mean two things. He was driven from Antioch in Pisidia ( Acts 13:50); he had to flee from Iconium to avoid lynching ( Acts 14:5-6); in Lystra he was stoned and left for dead ( Acts 14:19). Certain of the temporary persecution, he is equally certain of the ultimate glory. They were never meant to be anything else but visions; we do violence to Jewish and to early Christian thought if we take them with a crude literalness. I believe God intended that you should enjoy life.There is nothing wrong with having pleasure. This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. The latter gains a following only by turning away from the truth of God (13). ii. Given the right conditions, such oppositions would be just as deadly as the great Roman persecutions. When the Lord was entering on His ministry He says, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" The scriptures we are to know are the holy scriptures; they come from the holy God, were delivered by holy men, contain holy precepts, treat of holy things, and were designed to make us holy and to lead us in the way of holiness to happiness; being called the holy scriptures, they are by this distinguished from profane writings of all sorts, and from those that only treat morality, and common justice and honesty, but do not meddle with holiness. In his own neighbourhood he had seen Paul suffer because of his devotion to Christ (10-12; cf. 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. The way of sin is down-hill; for such proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. When trouble fell on the Thessalonians, Paul wrote to them: "When we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction; just as it has come to pass, and as you know" ( 1 Thessalonians 3:4). The man who is anosios ( G462) offends against the fundamental decencies of life. He tells him further to "hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Let us look at them one by one. Men will be lovers of their own selves ( 2 Timothy 3:2 ). There is a sense in which slander is the most cruel of all sins. But we have also been supplied with many precious promises which reassure us that His grace is sufficient, His strength is perfected in our weakness, that suffering for Christ's sake is a privilege for the child of God, and that no amount of trials, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or the sword, is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.May we grasp this truth in His strength, and remember that in this world we will have tribulation but that if we fellowship in the suffering of Christ, we will also be glorified with Him Who loved us so much that He died for us, that we might live for Him forever. We must remember that the scripture of which Paul is writing is the Old Testament; as yet the New Testament had not come into being. "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. (12) Yea, and all that will live godly.--But St. Paul would not allow it to be thought for a moment that in the fact of his enduring persecution and suffering there was anything remarkable or singular; so he adds the words of this verse, which repeat in a peculiarly solemn way the great Christian truth that eternal glory was only to be reached by man through an avenue of sufferings. In contrast, the sins of "evil people and impostors" can be expected to get worse and worse. It should be considered as one of the proper qualifications for membership in the church, to be willing to bear persecution, and to resolve not to shrink from any duty in order to avoid it. Barnes' Notes. And may not their freedom from it prove that they have surrendered the principles of their religion, where they should have stood firm, though the world were arrayed against them? There is no godliness (Greek, "piously") or piety out of Christ. The page number in Thayer is given, and the column on the page follows the hyphens. She had waded through book after book and laboured with philosophy after philosophy in an attempt to find satisfaction. It is Paul's conviction that the real follower of Christ cannot escape persecution. This statement does not contradict what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:9. "Knowing especially the firm foundation upon which thou hast built, namely, that of the scripture (2 Timothy 3:15; 2 Timothy 3:15): That from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures.". If we would know the holy scriptures, we must read and search them daily, as the noble Bereans did, Acts 17:11. As individuals, we should sometimes ask ourselves: what is our aim in life? Paul suffered as he taught: a single eye to Christ and His grace made him consistent. Paul goes on to other qualities of an apostle. THE DUTIES AND THE QUALITIES OF AN APOSTLE ( 2 Timothy 3:10-13 ). Oh, yeah, I like that one. My wife and I eat out quite a bit. They said, Wait a minute, this is the hand of God, we can't, we can't touch this. As far as appointment went, Titus had a commission to establish elders in each city of Crete; but not so Timothy, as far as the inspired records speak. In the second chapter he turns to another theme, he instructs and exhorts Timothy as to communicating (not authority, or status, or gift, but) truth to others. "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." They still, you know, pay their respects. We must remember that this was written just at the beginning of the years of persecution, when it was becoming a crime to be a Christian. Wow, watch out now because Jesus bought it. The one was suited to upset the young, the other to beguile the old. The word here is makrothumia ( G3115) ; and makrothumia, as the Greeks used it, usually meant patience with people. 2. menin the professing Church. They will refuse to recognize the debt they owe both to God and to men. 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. We must remember that Timothy's work lay in Ephesus, perhaps the greatest market in the ancient world. 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. Regardless of the persecution, it is our duty to live in such a way that the world will know that we are Christians. "Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." And for this reason we should continue in the things we have learned from the holy scriptures; not that we ought to continue in any errors and mistakes which we may have been led into, in the time of our childhood and youth (for these, upon an impartial enquiry and full conviction, we should forsake); but this makes nothing against our continuing in those things which the holy scriptures plainly assert, and which he that runs may read. Moreover, as soon as zeal for God is manifested by a believer, it kindles the rage of all ungodly men; and, although they have not a drawn sword, yet they vomit out their venom, either by murmuring, or by slander, or by raising a disturbance, or by other methods. Paul cites three instances when he had to suffer for Christ. Timothy needed to realize, as all Christians do, especially those to whom "prosperity theology" appeals, that when a person determines to live a godly life he or she will suffer persecution. (1) To exhort Timothy in his ministry at Ephesus; (2) To warn Timothy of trouble both inside and outside the church; (3) To request Timothy to come to Rome to visit him in prison and bring certain personal effects to him (4:5-13; 21); and (4) To instruct all the churches in Timothy's territory. 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.