2 timothy 3:12 explained
One day a visitor came to the ward and left a supply of gospels. No one can possibly mistake him. Now they're right out where little kids can go in and pick them up and leaf through them. 4. We live in a fallen world, and there are many challenges that face the believer who has not only trusted Christ for salvation, but is also ready and willing to deny self, take up his cross, follow Christs example, and say without compromise Thy will, not mine, be done.The newbornbaby Christian has to grow in grace and mature in the faith over an unspecified periodof time, to reach this level of maturity in his faith, while other who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ may slip in and out of carnality and worldliness for many years, stunting their growth and even regressing in their faith back to spiritual infancy.Many, if not all believers, are called to become mature in the faith by walking in spirit and truth and living godly, Christ-centred lives, but few are willing to exchange the cosy blessings of early Christian infancy, for the difficulties that inevitably follow the mature believer. Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man" ( Luke 17:26 ). (4) let those who have never been persecuted in any way, inquire whether it is not an evidence that they have no religion. 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. All that live according to the will of God revealed in his word; and to the glory of God, as the end of all their actions; and which the grace of God in the Gospel, and in their own hearts, teaches them; and who have the principles of a godly life from Christ, and derive the fresh supplies of grace and life from him, to maintain it; in whom their It's instructing us in righteousness. And passion shall seize him that is peaceful. ", The Lord said it's "what comes out of the mouth of a man, that defiles a man" ( Matthew 15:11 ). God said it.They are profitable. There was the great trade route from the Euphrates valley which came by way of Colosse and Laodicea and poured the wealth of the east into the lap of Ephesus. And how profitable is the word of God to us today! There might be a mixture of timid shrinking from pain and shame. Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics, 7: 2) defined the alazon ( G213) as "the man who pretends to creditable qualities that he does not possess, or possesses in a lesser degree than he makes out." There are those who shrink from helping on others in order to the work and doctrine of the Lord. Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. For "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" ( Matthew 12:34 ). He did not pull down by his living what he built up by his preaching. Again he said, "Lo, I have come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God" ( Hebrews 10:7 ). 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. The man who is huperephanos ( G5244) , said Theophrastus, has a kind of contempt for everyone except himself. [3.] In either case the word describes a certain harshness of mind which separates a man from his fellow-men in unrelenting bitterness. Lipscomb's Commentary on Selected NT Books, Verse 12. Nothing can sanction this. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men." At any rate the apostle presses this very strongly on Timothy. 2 Timothy 3 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 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. There is a sense in which slander is the most cruel of all sins. Xenophon tells us how Cyrus, the Persian king, defined the alazon ( G213) : "The name alazon ( G213) seems to apply to those who pretend that they are richer than they are or braver than they are, and to those who promise to do what they cannot do, and that, too, when it is evident that they do this only for the sake of getting something or making some gain" (Xenophon: Cyropoedia, 2, 2, 12). There was the road from north Asia Minor and from Galatia which came in via Sardis. He is the man whom God resists, for it is repeatedly said in scripture, that God receives the humble but resists the man who is proud, huperephanos ( G5244) ( James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Proverbs 3:24). It is well to be exclusive of sin, but of nothing else. The Gnostic insinuators would teach these doctrines to impressionable women. [ 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). And this, I believe, is much to be considered. Regardless of the persecution, it is our duty to live in such a way that the world will know that we are Christians. But God prepares the instruments through which He works and the most important preparation is through the Word of God. And man has prepared a great fish and they powered it with atomic engines. Why cannot a man be as simple now as in apostolic times? One day they said to Jesus, Show us a sign. Irenaeus draws a vivid picture of the methods of just such a teacher in his day. The technique would be the same in the days of Timothy as it was in the later days of Irenaeus. The reason is obvious. You know the persecutions that I experienced, but the Lord delivered me out of them all. For him the light of eternity already shone strongly on present things, instead of taking him completely out of them. Look at the lack, lackness. 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. At Ephesus some of the greatest roads in the world met. The ancient world set duty to parents very high. 2 Timothy 3:12, NLT: Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Jambres. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution - Paul takes occasion from the reference to his own persecutions, to say that his case was not unique. That which finishes a man of God in this world is the scripture. Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. My wife and I eat out quite a bit. But we must exclude that which is contrary to His name; and the very same desire to prove one's love, one's faith, one's appreciation of Christ, will make one anxious not to be dragged into that which is not for His glory. Men will be savage. I am reminded of the prophet of God who spoke concerning Israel, and he said, "They have sown the wind, and now they must reap the whirlwind" ( Hosea 8:7 ). And there's such a complete, total absence of love. Comp. She doesn't have the time to prepare the meal on Friday evening and we'll go out on Friday night. Second Timothy 3:12-13 "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being. (2.) Whether Timothy made it to Rome before Paul's execution is not known. 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. But let not a man who will do this, suppose that he has any claim to be numbered among the martyrs, or even entitled to the Christian name. This is God's attitude to men. It will be getting better a little further down the road, but evil days are going to wax worse and worse, until the Lord takes His church out and then God judges the world for its unrighteousness and ungodliness. Those who would learn the things of God, and be assured of them, must know the Holy Scriptures, for they are the Divine revelation. They must not lie by us neglected, and seldom or never looked into. 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. Word Pictures in the New Testament. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. ". Things are very much taking this direction of late, and at the present moment. They choose to lay, again and again, the early foundations of their Christian faith i.e. This present age was altogether evil; and the age to come would be the golden age of God. It is not simply now to follow these, as urged in the first epistle (1 Timothy 6:11); but he adds a most characteristic word in the second epistle. As Shakespeare had it: "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord. It opened at the Sermon on the Mount. Paul met him on his first missionary journey. I reply, it is not always in one way that Satan persecutes the servants of Christ. Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. And that quality of conquering endurance is necessary, because persecution is an essential part of the experience of an apostle. It can mean that a man is so bitter in his hatred that he will never come to terms with the man with whom he has quarrelled. It is said that, after hearing an evangelical sermon, Lord Melbourne once remarked: "Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade the sphere of private life." They appear to think that if you hold life in Christ to be the one thing that is most precious, to be the prize that your heart reverts to, all owning of anything short of this would be out of place; but it is exactly the contrary. They had been long accustomed to the truth, and alas! "[21] See also under 1Thessalonians 3:3. He says that in them difficult times would set in. In the Jewish pictures of these last terrible times we get exactly the same kind of picture as we get here. Otherwise this might have seemed to be (what unbelief taunts and stigmatizes it, spite of His sanction) pride of heart and presumption. God wants us each to take His power, His love, and His calm thinking and overcome fear, to be used of Him with all the gifts He gives. Get out your pen and take out the red, put the blue one. Socrates skid that they were to be found in every walk of life but were worst of all in politics. 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. 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. and then shall we find the benefit and advantage designed thereby, and shall at last attain the happiness therein promised and assured to us. The Greek for slanderer is diabolos ( G1228) which is precisely the English word devil. "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. She had never tried the Bible, for a friend had convinced her by subtle arguments that it could not be true. Now this is in particular a difficulty for saints, when they have revived before the soul the blessedness of maintaining the unity of the Spirit. How comes it so? The braggart is a swaggering creature, who tries to bluster his way into power and eminence. "It denotes living in the right attitude to God and to things divine. Didn't you know that's just a myth? Men will be thankless (acharistos, G884) . (2 Timothy 1:1.) One must try disorders and prove profession. Years later that same brigand turned up again. Word Studies in the New Testament. In other words, there is within the Old Testament so much concerning Jesus Christ that through the understanding and the study of the Old Testament you should logically be led to Jesus Christ. It is undoubtedly true at all times, and will ever be, that they who are devoted Christians - who live as the Saviour did - and who carry out his principles always, will experience some form of persecution. His mind was caught; he took it back. From , before, and , to deliver up.Those who deliver up to an enemy the person who has put his life in their hands; such as the Scots of 1648, who delivered up into the hands of his enemies their unfortunate countryman and king, Charles the First; a stain which no lapse of ages can wipe out. It is needful to exercise judgment now. "The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day." There was infirmity in the character of Timothy. 3. It is the whole spiritual experience, so to speak, of the apostle. No amount of intellectual curiosity can ever take the place of moral earnestness. And I will tell you what scriptures are inspired and which ones aren't. "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." There would be two ways in which these heretics in the days of Timothy could exert an evil influence. 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? On the other hand, if a soul confesses the name of the Lord, he must have done with iniquity. Yet. 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. And yet, it is becoming in this hedonistic society commonplace, all too commonplace, tragically commonplace. There is teaching. And Paul said, You've known the Holy Scriptures, able to bring you to a faith in Jesus Christ, salvation through the faith in Jesus Christ. 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). Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Each of the chapters are done individually. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1975. Men will be lovers of their own selves ( 2 Timothy 3:2 ). They must expect to be despised, and that their religion will stand in the way of their preferment; those who will live godly must expect it, especially those who will live godly in Christ Jesus, that is, according to the strict rules of the Christian religion, those who will wear the livery and bear the name of the crucified Redeemer. 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 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. We should not be any more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive,Ephesians 4:14. When we are tempted to do so, we should hear again the voice of our blessed Lord saying on the Cross: "Father, forgive them.". By it we are thoroughly furnished for every good work. The adjective used is philautos ( G5367) , which means self-loving. It is not enough to be satisfied when a church is humming like a dynamo and every night in the week has its own crowded organization. And, let every one that nameth the name" not of "Christ," but "of the Lord depart from iniquity." 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. ", The Bible tells about God giving people over to reprobate minds, men who resist God and the truth of God. Love of self is the basic sin, from with all others flow. We have already seen how secluded the life of the respectable Greek woman was, how she was brought up under the strictest supervision, how she was not allowed "to see anything, to hear anything, or to ask any questions," how she never appeared, even on a shopping expedition, alone on the streets, how she was never allowed even to appear at a public meeting. 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. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise." 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. It is often a very great safeguard for the saint of God; for, after all, it makes no small difference who says this or that. Thus he looks not to the coming of the Lord to receive him to Himself, but to the "appearing of the Lord," which is the usual side of the truth taken in these epistles. And so Paul said to Timothy, "You have fully known". So don't expect the world to speak well of you or to applaud you for your living a godly life and taking a righteous stand. The persecutions today may not be the same Paul had to withstand, but persecutions of some type will confront us from time to time. 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. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. They were said to be the two servants who accompanied Balaam when he was disobedient to God ( Numbers 22:22); they were said to have been part of the great mixed multitude who accompanied the children of Israel out of Egypt ( Exodus 12:38); some said that they perished at the crossing of the Red Sea; other stories said that it was Jannes and Jambres who were behind the making of the golden calf and that they perished among those who were killed for that sin ( Exodus 32:28); still other stories said that in the end they became proselytes to Judaism. Or life, or death, or life after death? Now, there's nothing wrong with enjoying life. In the last days there would come times which would menace the very existence of the Christian Church and of goodness itself, a kind of last tremendous assault of evil before its final defeat. Paul said, you know, what kind of a life I've lived. "And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.". That is, without any sexual restraints. They will be inflated with a sense of their own importance. That's not the kind of promises we really enjoy, is it? "All scripture is given by inspiration of God. He knew what care God had taken of him: Notwithstanding out of them all the Lord delivered me; as he never failed his cause, so his God never failed him. What a blessing. ii. All that will live godly So opposite to the spirit and practice of the world is the whole of Christianity, that he who gives himself entirely up to God, making the Holy Scriptures the rule of his words and actions, will be less or more reviled and persecuted. This was to touch the right chord in his heart. 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. B. The Greek word literally is fully matured or of full age, fully matured, that the man of God might be fully matured. It is easy for a professed Christian to avoid persecution, if he yields every point in which religion is opposed to the world. Now, it is doubtless as true as it ever was, that a man who will live as the Saviour did, will, like him, be subjected to some such injury or disadvantage. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 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. There is little likelihood that Timothy will be easily led astray by false teaching. They claimed that their children learned the law even from their swaddling clothes and drank it in with their mother's milk. A man has sunk far when he finds even the presence of good people something which he would only wish to avoid. We can still see this kind of man in fairs and market-places shouting the virtues of a patent medicine which will act like magic. Here he mentions his persecutions and afflictions at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, besides what he suffered elsewhere. 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. Men would be headlong in words and action. The Greek moralists wrote much about this word. The qualities he lists are not qualifications in the sense that anyone who fulfils these requirements is an elder (for such a person may not have the elder-shepherd qualities outlined above). But you see, if you start whacking away at the story of Jonah, and say, oh, I can't really buy that. (See notes Matthew 5:10, 11, 12) "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.". There is instinctively, I think, within persons that love of a parent for a child or an adult for the child because we realize the helplessness of a child, the dependency that they have. (2Baruch 27). It is well to maintain the largest heart for everything that is really of Christ. It's twelve thousand miles a second, but that's pretty fast, too. shall suffer persecutionand will not decline it (Ga 5:11). 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." These were graces that Paul was eminent for, and Timothy knew it. After considering his own life, Paul speaks of others desiring to live godly lives as he has done, a life of piety toward God that will always be opposed by the world. And a less confession than this God never permitted the church to accept; nor in fact in Jerusalem itself was less ever accepted than the naming the name of the Lord. They will refuse to recognize the debt they owe both to God and to men. 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. 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. 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. The defeat of error depends not on skill in controversy but in the demonstration in life of the more excellent way. In English we usually associate it with insult against God, but in Greek it means insult against man and God alike. It is not the question of discipline dealing With evil ways; but here we are in a state of things where we are in danger of being mixed up with vessels unto the Lord's dishonour. They should remember that, in this respect, they are treated as the Master was, and are in the goodly company of the prophets, apostles, and martyrs; for they were all persecuted. 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. Confirmed that Noah was a real person and it was a real event. Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Second Timothy chapter three? 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. It is to be supposed that the younger labourer cowered somewhat, unwilling to incur the odious charge, so easily made but hard to refute, of setting himself up and taking the place of some great one. What am I to believe about God? The wickedness of evil people, particularly charlatans, will increase as time passes. III. If you can read and buy the first verse of the Bible, you should have no problem with the rest of the Bible. Surely if it is an urgent call to convey what we know of Christ and the truth to those that know nothing, it is a great privilege to help to contribute a greater knowledge of the truth to those that know little. Sets before him his own example, which Timothy had been an eye-witness of, having long attended Paul (2 Timothy 3:10; 2 Timothy 3:10): Thou hast fully known my doctrine. The Greek is hupomone ( G5281) , which means not a passive sitting down and bearing things but a triumphant facing of them so that even out of evil there can come good. Men will be inflated with conceit (tetuphomenos, G5187) . 2 Timothy Greeting. Paul regarded these as man-made things; but the great books for a man's soul were the God-inspired ones which tradition and the experience of men had sanctified. It is no accident that the first of these qualities will be a life that is centred in self. Don't expect the world to applaud when you speak out against evil. 2 Timothy 3:12 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. 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. And my full doctrinal concepts are premised upon the scriptures. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." Take what is called physical Christianity a stupid, gross, and heathenish phrase, but just enough to show where people are drifting to. 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. They said, Wait a minute, this is the hand of God, we can't, we can't touch this. And you will find as God's word becomes a very part of your life and you begin to be guided by the word of God, that God will begin to use you in very exciting ways. 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." The most amazing things may happen if he does, for there is a saving wisdom here that is in no other book. II. We must note that Paul here makes a distinction. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel." [1.] But we, so often, make the mistake of going out ill-equipped or running without a message. I must do so, if I own Him only in the indispensable truth of His Lordship if I own Him simply as the One that has authority over my soul. 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. It would not burn. "Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. And there came that place where, hey, Moses performed a miracle of God and they backed away. What Paul is thinking of here is more than faithlessness in friendship--although that in all truth is wounding enough--he is thinking of those who to pay back an old score would inform against the Christians to the Roman government. So you see, I'm not inerrant in all, but the scriptures are.
