2Ti 3:2-8, 13 | JFB | STEP | 2. men-- in the professing Church. Compare the catalogue, , &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" ( , , &c.; 17:3, 8, 11). covetous-- Translate, "money-loving," a distinct Greek word from that for "covetous" (see on ). The cognate Greek substantive ( ) is so translated, "the love of money is a (Greek, not 'the') root of all evil." boasters-- empty boasters [Alford]; boasting of having what they have not. proud-- overweening: literally, showing themselves above their fellows. blasphemous-- rather, "evil-speakers," revilers. disobedient to parents-- The character of the times is even to be gathered especially from the manners of the young [Bengel]. unthankful-- The obligation to gratitude is next to that of obedience to parents. unholy-- irreligious [Alford]; inobservant of the offices of piety.

‏ 2 Timothy 3:2-8

2. men--in the professing Church. Compare the catalogue, Ro 1:29, &c., where much the same sins are attributed to heathen men; it shall be a relapse into virtual heathendom, with all its beast-like propensities, whence the symbol of it is "a beast" (Re 13:1, 11, 12, &c.; 17:3, 8, 11).

covetous--Translate, "money-loving," a distinct Greek word from that for "covetous" (see on Col 3:5). The cognate Greek substantive (1Ti 6:10) is so translated, "the love of money is a (Greek, not 'the') root of all evil."

boasters--empty boasters [Alford]; boasting of having what they have not.

proud--overweening: literally, showing themselves above their fellows.

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

disobedient to parents--The character of the times is even to be gathered especially from the manners of the young [Bengel].

unthankful--The obligation to gratitude is next to that of obedience to parents.

unholy--irreligious [Alford]; inobservant of the offices of piety.

3. truce-breakers--rather as the Greek is translated in Ro 1:31, "implacable."

false accusers--slanderers (1Ti 3:11; Tit 2:3).

incontinent, fierce--at once both soft and hard: incontinently indulging themselves, and inhuman to others.

despisers, &c.--"no lovers of good" [Alford]; the opposite of "a lover of good" (Tit 1:8).

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

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

lovers of pleasure ... God--Love of pleasure destroys the love and sense of God.

5. form--outward semblance.

godliness--piety.

denying--rather as Greek, "having denied," that is, renounced.

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

turn away--implying that some of such characters, forerunners of the last days, were already in the Church.

6. of this sort--Greek, "of these," such as were described (2Ti 3:5).

creep into--stealthily.

laden with sins--(Is 1:4); applying to the "silly women" whose consciences are burdened with sins, and so are a ready prey to the false teachers who promise ease of conscience if they will follow them. A bad conscience leads easily to shipwreck of faith (1Ti 1:19).

divers lusts--not only animal lusts, but passion for change in doctrine and manner of teaching; the running after fashionable men and fashionable tenets, drawing them in the most opposite directions [Alford].

7. Ever learning--some new point, for mere curiosity, to the disparagement of what they seemed to know before.

the knowledge--Greek, "the perfect knowledge"; the only safeguard against further novelties. Gnosticism laid hold especially of the female sex [Estius, 1.13.3]: so Roman Jesuitism.

8. Now--Greek, "But"; it is no wonder there should be now such opponents to the truth, for their prototypes existed in ancient times [Alford].

Jannes ... Jambres--traditional names of the Egyptian magicians who resisted Moses (Ex 7:11, 22), derived from "the unwritten teaching of the Jews" [Theodoret]. In a point so immaterial as the names, where Scripture had not recorded them, Paul takes the names which general opinion had assigned the magicians. Eusebius [Preparation of the Gospel], quotes from Numenius, "Jannes and Jambres were sacred scribes (a lower order of priests in Egypt) skilled in magic." Hiller interprets "Jannes" from the Abyssinian language a trickster, and "Jambres" a juggler" (Ac 13:8).

resist--"withstand," as before. They did so by trying to rival Moses' miracles. So the false teachers shall exhibit lying wonders in the last days (Mt 24:24; 2Th 2:9; Re 13:14, 15).

reprobate--incapable of testing the truth (Ro 1:28) [Bengel]. Alford takes passively, "not abiding the test"; rejected on being tested (Jr 6:30).

‏ 2 Timothy 3:13

13. Reason why persecutions must be expected, and these becoming worse and worse as the end approaches. The breach between light and darkness, so far from being healed, shall be widened [Alford].

evil men--in contrast to the "godly" (2Ti 3:12).

seducers--literally, "conjurers." Magical arts prevailed at Ephesus (Ac 19:19), and had been renounced by many Ephesians on embracing Christianity: but now when Paul was writing to Ephesus, symptoms of a return to conjuring tricks appeared: an undesigned coincidence [Burton]. Probably sorcery will characterize the final apostasy (Re 13:15; 18:23; 22:15).

wax worse--literally, "advance in the direction of worse" (see on 2Ti 3:9). Not contradictory to that verse: there the diffusion of the evil was spoken of; here its intensity [Alford].

deceiving, and being deceived--He who has once begun to deceive others, is the less easily able to recover himself from error, and the more easily embraces in turn the errors of others [Bengel].