"[21] See also under 1Thessalonians 3:3. 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. 2 Timothy 3:12 (KJV) - Forerunner Commentary - Bible Tools If they had been more faithful, and more like their Master, would they have always escaped? Oh I know it costs more but . 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. The cause of this is the present confusion, and accordingly the apostle brings a picture of it before Timothy's mind. That will = Who will live ( ) to desire, to want to, to wish. (3.) shall suffer persecution; it is the will of God, and the appointment of heaven; Christ has foretold it, that so it shall be; and he the head has suffered it himself, and it is necessary that his members should, that they may be conformed unto him; it is the way Christ himself went to glory, and through many tribulations his people must enter the kingdom; and this is the common lot and certain case of all the saints, in one shape or another; for though all do not suffer confiscation of goods, beating, scourging, imprisonment, or a violent death; yet all are more or less afflicted and distressed by wicked men, and are subject to their reproaches and revilings, which are a branch of persecution; and that for professing Christ, and living a godly life in him and under his influence: and since such suffer as Christians, and not as evildoers; and this is the common condition of the people of God, in this world, it should not be thought strange, but be cheerfully endured; to encourage to which is the apostle's view in this passage. 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. The Greek for slanderer is diabolos ( G1228) which is precisely the English word devil. 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. It may flourish for a time, but when it is exposed to the light of truth it is bound to shrivel and die. Had the Lord Jesus not sent him? It begets disregard of God, thinking that it does not need him and that it knows better than he. One must try disorders and prove profession. "He devotes himself specially to women, and those such as are well-bred, and elegantly attired, and of great wealth." The woman protests that she has never done so and cannot do so. 2. (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. III. No one can possibly mistake him. Paul suffered as he taught: a single eye to Christ and His grace made him consistent. Finally, we have his assertion of the blessed Lord's care, and his confidence in Him that He would preserve him from all evil to His heavenly kingdom; closing this solemn and touching epistle (it would seem the last words he wrote) with salutations to various saints. The Greek moralists wrote much about this word. Aspondos ( G786) can mean two things. 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. [2.] It is able to make us wise to salvation; that is, it is a sure guide in our way to eternal life. 1. 1 Timothy 3:12 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary - StudyLight.org 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 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." The age of children is the learning age; and those who would get true learning must get it out of the scriptures. When we are tempted to do so, we should hear again the voice of our blessed Lord saying on the Cross: "Father, forgive them.". 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. It would all be over, where, you know, the miseries would all be gone.What's the first thing God said to Job? 2 Timothy 3:12, NLT: Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Love of self is the basic sin, from which all others flow. And suddenly, of course, their tears were changed because Paul began to breathe and move and he stood up and he said, Let's go back in and preach some more. It is one thing to start an evil and untrue report on its malicious way; it is entirely another thing to stop it. All who will show their religion in their conversation, who will not only be godly, but live godly, let them expect persecution, especially when they are resolute in it. His own desire after going to the Lord did not prevent this, but the reverse: "that I may be filled with joy: when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also." "Beloved, consider it not strange concerning the fiery trials which are to try you, as though some strange thing has happened to you" ( 1 Peter 4:12 ). Having a form of godliness ( 2 Timothy 3:5 ). 3:1 You must realize this--that in the last days difficult times will set in. There was to be a final show-down with the forces of evil. (1) it teaches the only way to the Father is through Jesus; (2) it teaches a morality (a way of life) unpopular with the world; (3) it teaches a miraculous creation, a miraculous end; and a miraculous Savior who was resurrected; (4), Why does the world hate Christians? 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. And that's what creates the problem all the way through. (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. First, there are the duties of an apostle. for reproof, for correction ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ), And how often the word of God has brought correction to my course of life. "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." 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. godly, Godfearingly. Timothy had a great advantage in being trained up under such a tutor, and being apprised of the doctrine he preached. He had not said a word about them before. That is, it is not enough that I should walk with the Lord individually, but I must clear myself of association with that which is contrary to His name. 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. One day a visitor came to the ward and left a supply of gospels. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. No man can teach what he does not know, and therefore before a man can teach Christ to others he must know him himself. THE VALUE OF SCRIPTURE ( 2 Timothy 3:14-17 ). They love pleasure more than they love God; that's the indictment. In 2 Timothy 3:9, he says that that apostasy would not always continue; but would be at some time arrested, and so arrested as to show to all men the . I don't know exactly yet what He said but when I find out I know He's going to be right. The man who has exhausted the normal pleasures of life and still unsated, will seek his thrill in pleasures which are abnormal. So you see, I'm not inerrant in all, but the scriptures are. They're profitable for doctrine. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. Observe, (1.) True, he is telling of something which happened later than this, but the wretched story would be the same (Irenaeus: Against Heresies, 1, 13, 3). Every man doing his own thing or every man believing as he wants. 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. That desire for more. A form of godliness, a profession of Christian faith without a godly life . Accordingly, although they are not exposed to the same assaults, and do not engage in the same battles, yet they have a warfare in common, and shall never be wholly at peace and exempt from persecutions. In living in such a manner, persecution will come; but the Lord will deliver the faithful. 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. But yet it is absolutely unavoidable that all of them shall have the world for their enemy in some form or other, that their faith may be tried and their steadfastness proved; for Satan, who is the continual enemy of Christ, will never suffer any one to be at peace during his whole life; and there will always be wicked men that are thorns in our sides. One only meets Satan when traveling in an opposite direction! The doctrine that he preached. Men can be savage in rebuke and savage in pitiless action. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. 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. Men will be implacable in their hatreds (aspondos, G786) . . The strange characteristic of ingratitude is that it is the most hurting of all sins because it is the blindest. There are persons who think that the approach of death is intended to blot out everything here. "Put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit but to the subverting of the hearers. 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. 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. There are those who shrink from helping on others in order to the work and doctrine of the Lord. What is a man well taught in the truth for, if not to communicate his knowledge to others that are faithful, but not equally instructed in the word of God? Here we come back to where we started; such men place their own wishes in the centre of life. Accordingly, in much grief of heart, the apostle writes to his tried and trembling child in the faith, and seeks to strengthen him, above all things not to be discouraged, and to make up his mind to endure hard things. 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. They thought that eternal life lay in the letter, not in Him of whom the letter testified. (2 Timothy 2:1.) 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. Men will be inflated with conceit (tetuphomenos, G5187) . The thing that amazes me is that he can attract people who will support him. I've never found that in one of those little Bible promise books, I mean, promise things yet. How Daniels Prophecy of 70 Weeks Connects to the End Times. Some of you here are victims of broken covenants. It is the ability not to lose patience when people are foolish, not to grow irritable when they seem unteachable. If we consult the scripture, which was given by inspiration of God, and follow its directions, we shall be made men of God, perfect, and thoroughly furnished to every good work. He was to communicate the things he had learnt of Paul, that they might be able to teach others also. (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. Note, Those are wise indeed who are wise to salvation. 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. The most amazing things may happen if he does, for there is a saving wisdom here that is in no other book. 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. 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. 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. 2 Timothy 1 Bible Study Commentary And Questions But thou hast fully known ( 2 Timothy 3:10 ), Now in contrast to this, boy, and what a contrast the Christian is to the world around him, and more and more, you know, more and more your lifestyle is different from the world. God wants you to be complete. Paul completes the story of the things in which Timothy has shared, and must share, with him, by speaking of the experiences of an apostle; and he prefaces that list of experiences by setting down the quality of endurance. The woman, thrilled to the heart, does so and is deluded into thinking that she can prophesy. 2 Timothy 3 Barnes' Notes - Bible Hub The Christian life does not consist only in knowing something; it consists even more in being something. At Ephesus some of the greatest roads in the world met. The result would often be either that the woman broke off married relationships with her husband in order to live the ascetic life, or that she gave the lower instincts full play and abandoned herself to promiscuous relationships. 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. 2 To Timothy, d my beloved child:. Copyright Statement These files are public domain. But continue thou in the things which you have learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus ( 2 Timothy 3:14-15 ). Many and many a time we would be saved from hurting ourselves and from wounding other people, if we would only stop to think. Paul was a prisoner again and awaited death. 4. There was the road from north Asia Minor and from Galatia which came in via Sardis. Truth and holiness and endurance are wanted, not authority or outward order. He read them and never rested until he obtained the rest of the Bible. The kind of guys that went around selling snake oil or cure-alls, deceiving, defrauding people. "Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.". 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. Otherwise this might have seemed to be (what unbelief taunts and stigmatizes it, spite of His sanction) pride of heart and presumption. 5. She had never tried the Bible, for a friend had convinced her by subtle arguments that it could not be true. I refer to this just to remark that such links as these, which are connected with nature, all come before the apostle's mind, at the very moment when a spurious feeling would have judged it precisely the time to banish and forget them. Paul said to Timothy. THE DUTIES AND THE QUALITIES OF AN APOSTLE ( 2 Timothy 3:10-13 ). Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. and then shall we find the benefit and advantage designed thereby, and shall at last attain the happiness therein promised and assured to us. And this, I apprehend, is the reason. At this particular time in the ordinary matters of politics one of the curses of Rome was the existence of informers (delatores, compare G1213) . It is a divine revelation, which we may depend upon as infallibly true. So I listened to that voice, and heard the truth, and found my Saviour.". [2.] The scriptures are profitable to establish the foundation of my beliefs. Therefore, isolation is never desirable, though it may be sometimes necessary. Those who would learn the things of God, and be assured of them, must know the Holy Scriptures, for they are the Divine revelation. This he had known most extensively, but it was closed; no longer had he before him any prospect of having to fight the battles of the church of God. It can sometimes have the meaning of loyalty, or true religion. 442.]. "It denotes living in the right attitude to God and to things divine. 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. He blames the Jews who searched them, because they failed to learn the lesson which they were intended to convey. Don't expect the world to admire your godly stance. God said it.They are profitable. But of one thing Paul was sure--the days of the deceivers were numbered. 2 Timothy 3 - Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible - StudyLight.org There might be a mixture of timid shrinking from pain and shame. 2 Timothy 3:2 Commentaries: For men will be lovers of self, lovers of This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. "Because ye are not of the world therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19; Matthew 10:22,38,39). He speaks of "all God-inspired scripture." This might deter a sensitive saint from his duty. (2Baruch 27). 2 Timothy 3 - NIV Bible - But mark this: There will be terrible times If he does not hide the sorrowful view of an old fellow-labourer's cooling in zeal, with all its dangers, the consolation is also before Timothy both of those that go on in faithful labour, and of one at least restored. Enduring Word Bible Commentary 2 Timothy Chapter 1 It follows from this: (1) that they who make a profession of religion, should come prepared to be persecuted. They will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. If there is no human affection, the family cannot exist. He said that one isn't inspired; obviously inspired. 2 Timothy 3:12-17 - Bible Gateway It is no accident that the first of these qualities will be a life that is centred in self.
Microsoft Next Dividend,
Plymouth Herald Family Announcements,
Cable Tv Ratings This Week,
Articles OTHER