Luk 18:8, 2Ti 3:1-9 | JFB | STEP | 8. speedily —as if pained at the long delay, impatient for the destined moment to interpose. (Compare .) Nevertheless, &c.—that is, Yet ere the Son of man comes to redress the wrongs of His Church, so low will the hope of relief sink, through the length of the delay, that one will be fain to ask, Will He find any faith of a coming avenger left on the earth? From this we learn: (1) That the primary and historical reference of this parable is to the Church in its widowed, desolate, oppressed, defenseless condition during the present absence of her Lord in the heavens; (2) That in these circumstances importunate, persevering prayer for deliverance is the Church's fitting exercise; (3) That notwithstanding every encouragement to this, so long will the answer be delayed, while the need of relief continues the same, and all hope of deliverance will have nearly died out, and "faith" of Christ's coming scarcely to be found. But the application of the parable to prayer in general is so obvious as to have nearly hidden its more direct reference, and so precious that one cannot allow it to disappear in any public and historical interpretation. . PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.

Luke 18:8

8. speedily—as if pained at the long delay, impatient for the destined moment to interpose. (Compare Pr 29:1.)

Nevertheless, &c.—that is, Yet ere the Son of man comes to redress the wrongs of His Church, so low will the hope of relief sink, through the length of the delay, that one will be fain to ask, Will He find any faith of a coming avenger left on the earth? From this we learn: (1) That the primary and historical reference of this parable is to the Church in its widowed, desolate, oppressed, defenseless condition during the present absence of her Lord in the heavens; (2) That in these circumstances importunate, persevering prayer for deliverance is the Church's fitting exercise; (3) That notwithstanding every encouragement to this, so long will the answer be delayed, while the need of relief continues the same, and all hope of deliverance will have nearly died out, and "faith" of Christ's coming scarcely to be found. But the application of the parable to prayer in general is so obvious as to have nearly hidden its more direct reference, and so precious that one cannot allow it to disappear in any public and historical interpretation.

Lu 18:9-14. PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.

2 Timothy 3:1-9

1. also—Greek, "but."

last days—preceding Christ's second coming (2Pe 3:3; Jude 18). "The latter times," 1Ti 4:1, refer to a period not so remote as "the last days," namely, the long days of papal and Greek anti-Christianity.

perilous—literally, "difficult times," in which it is difficult to know what is to be done: "grievous times."

shall come—Greek, "shall be imminent"; "shall come unexpectedly" [BENGEL].

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— (Isa 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 (Jer 6:30).

9. they shall proceed no further—Though for a time (2Ti 2:16) "they shall advance or proceed (English Version, 'increase') unto more ungodliness," yet there is a final limit beyond which they shall not be able to "proceed further" (Job 38:11; Re 11:7, 11). They themselves shall "wax worse and worse" (2Ti 3:13), but they shall at last be for ever prevented from seducing others. "Often malice proceeds deeper down, when it cannot extend itself" [BENGEL].

their folly—literally, "dementation": wise though they think themselves.

shall be manifest—Greek, "shall be brought forth from concealment into open day" [BENGEL], (1Co 4:5).

as theirs . . . was—as that of those magicians was, when not only could they no longer try to rival Moses in sending boils, but the boils fell upon themselves: so as to the lice (Ex 8:18; 9:11).