2 timothy 3:12 explained

In these terrible days men would be braggarts and arrogant. The Greek moralists wrote much about this word. In it we find the duties, the qualities and the experiences of an apostle. It answers all the ends of divine revelation. It's going to get worse before it gets better. 2 Timothy - Discover Books of The Bible - bible-studys.org "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.". The wickedness of evil people, particularly charlatans, will increase as time passes. 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. Luke recorded the very words spoken on the mission field long ago, "Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22); and, in the words of White, "Consistency in the life of Christ must necessarily be always opposed by the world. In the Jewish pictures of these last terrible times we get exactly the same kind of picture as we get here. 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. "Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.". Avoid such people. In either case the word describes a certain harshness of mind which separates a man from his fellow-men in unrelenting bitterness. You're a pilgrim. That's proper and you should have that desire. Don't start trying to cut out certain stories because they don't fit your scheme because you have a little hard, you have a hard time sort of believing that. Now hatred is attended by cruelty, and hence arise persecutions. "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. It is easy for a professed Christian to avoid persecution, if he yields every point in which religion is opposed to the world. This was to reverse the lesson of a risen Christ, and to open the way for all laxity. Timothy had been schooled in the Scriptures from his early youth by his mother and grandmother, and so as Paul began to, with the Scriptures, prove that Jesus was the Messiah, with Timothy's background, he could see the truth of it. 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. Even an unbeliever is acting unfairly unless he tries to read it. "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." There is patience. As Shakespeare had it: "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord. 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. The prophets and apostles did not speak from themselves, but what they received of the Lord that they delivered unto us. Noah escaped? "True," said the other, "but he kicked it to a goal." 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. 1. 2 Timothy 3:12 - Commentary, explanation and study verse by verse "Men of corrupt minds. 2. Men will be without human affection (astorgos, G794) . Is it knowledge, or is it life, that we are trying to transmit? 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. In other words, the word of God is that which thoroughly prepares me for any work that God might have for me to do. It's twelve thousand miles a second, but that's pretty fast, too. As I read the things that are happening in our modern-cultured Orange County, as I read the reports from the social department on the child abuse, I just shake my head in disbelief because a person could not possibly do these things unless they were without natural affection. It means to follow a person mentally, to attend diligently to his teaching and fully to understand the meaning of what he says. He directs him to keep close to a good education, and particularly to what he had learned out of the holy scriptures (2 Timothy 3:14; 2 Timothy 3:15): Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned. The word is almost exactly the English swelled-headed. "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. The history of the Christian Church teaches us that falsity cannot live. Real teaching is always born of real experience. Confrontation and conflict become inevitable (cf. "She then makes the effort to reward Marcus, not only by the gift of her possessions (in which way he has collected a very large fortune), but also by yielding up to him her person, desiring in every way to be united to him, that she may become altogether one with him." 2 Timothy 3:12 New International Version 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, Read full chapter 2 Timothy 3:12 in all English translations 2 Timothy 2 2 Timothy 4 New International Version (NIV) There was no despising natural links or spiritual here, far from it. I watch very little, but with horror and dismay, the deterioration of a man who probably at one time had a legitimate ministry, but I've seen the gradual erosion of this person on television just right before my eyes. 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. Friday evenings, you know, everybody out looking for their weekend companion, incontinent, no sexual restraints. Those ministers are likely to do good, and leave lasting fruits of their labours, whose manner of life agrees with their doctrine; as, on the contrary, those cannot expect to profit the people at all that preach well and live ill. 3. 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. When children are disobedient to their parents, and break through the obligations which they lie under to them both in duty and gratitude, and frequently in interest, having their dependence upon them and their expectation from them, they make the times perilous; for what wickedness will those stick at who will be abusive to their own parents and No amount of intellectual curiosity can ever take the place of moral earnestness. There were false teachers who were quick to take advantage of that. (8) Using the boldness God gives, don't be ashamed of the imprisoned apostle. No matter what the reasons or excuses for joining with them, "turn away.". "Reprobate concerning the faith.". He forbad his going on in association with those that dishonour the Lord with vessels to dishonour; but he tells him to follow these things "with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." [ 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). 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. It is easy for a professed Christian to avoid persecution, if he yields every point in which religion is opposed to the world. The braggart is a swaggering creature, who tries to bluster his way into power and eminence. For, if we do not believe their truth and goodness, they will do us no good. And there's such a complete, total absence of love. Paul was a prisoner again and awaited death. Yet most people today have never heard of John Gill. Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. Without natural affection ( 2 Timothy 3:3 ). That the man of God may be perfect ( 2 Timothy 3:17 ). So we find that God knows how to temper the bitter with the sweet, always doing the right thing in the right place and time. 1:15; 4:9-12, 16) and facing imminent execution, Paul wrote to Timothy, urging him to hasten to Rome for one last visit with the apostle ( 4:9, 21 ). Every man going his own way. One day a visitor came to the ward and left a supply of gospels. 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. For "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" ( Matthew 12:34 ). God said it.They are profitable. And he embraced Christianity, but he was probably standing there in Lystra when the people in the city stoned Paul until they thought he was dead and dragged him out of the city. "He read on, forgetful of time, through the hours of the night, and just as the dawn was breaking, he stood up and declared, 'I believe'.". Only Luke is with me." In these last terrible days men will come to have no love for good things or good persons (aphilagathos, G865) . 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. When Job was talking to his friends and they were talking to him about the future, and Job said, Oh, I wish I were dead. His answer was: "That which will be most useful to them when they are men." Men will be inflated with conceit (tetuphomenos, G5187) . 2 Timothy 3:12 (NASB) Verse Thoughts 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 Christ's example, and say without compromise - Thy will, not mine, be done. Copyright Statement These files are public domain. . It is needful to exercise judgment now. Not only did he become a Christian; he devoted the rest of his life to the distribution of the Scriptures in the forgotten villages of northern Chile. "Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 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. Boy, I'll tell you, I don't know. Let us then see what Paul says of the usefulness of scripture. Whatever duty we have to do, whatever service is required from us, we may find enough in the scriptures to furnish us for it. "It denotes living in the right attitude to God and to things divine. "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." So God's word, scripture given for inspiration, by the inspiration of God and is profitable.Of course, this morning we pointed out that the inspiration of the Bible is proved by internal evidences, such as its total accuracy with known facts of science, when it happened to cover scientific subjects. There is no part of John's doctrine more strikingly characteristic than life in Christ. Even a dog may be sorry when he has hurt his master, but there are people who, in their treatment of others, can be lost to human sympathy and feeling. And as we pointed out, the danger always of saying some scriptures, not all scriptures, is the loss of authority. Paul goes on to list the things in which Timothy has been his disciple; and the interest of that list is that it consists of the strands out of which the life and work of an apostle are woven. We've just experienced a tremendous demonstration of that in the Los Angeles basin in the last couple of weeks. The more fully we know the doctrine of Christ and the apostles, the more closely we shall cleave to it; the reason why many sit loose to it is because they do not fully know it. Perilous Times 2 Timothy 3:1. 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. The Platonic Definitions defined the corresponding noun (alazoneia, G212) as: "The claim to good things which a man does not really possess." 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. Word Studies in the New Testament. By this general statement, therefore, Paul classes himself with the children of God, and, at the same time, exhorts all the children of God to prepare for enduring persecutions; for, if this condition is laid down for all who wish to live a godly life in Christ, they who wish to be exempt from persecutions must necessarily renounce Christ. Given the right conditions, such oppositions would be just as deadly as the great Roman persecutions. And as we go down the list, it's like reading the afternoon newspaper. Godly = adv. The essence of persecution consists in subjecting a person to injury or disadvantage on account of his opinions. It is something more than meeting his opinions by argument, which is always right and proper; it is inflicting some injury on him; depriving him of some privilege, or right; subjecting him to some disadvantage, or placing him in less favorable circumstances, on account of his sentiments. Thus it was that God had made him: there was no use denying it. They must not lie by us neglected, and seldom or never looked into. That the scripture has various uses, and answers divers ends and purposes: It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction of all errors in judgment and practice, and for instruction in righteousness. 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. The promise of the Messiah, the details of the Messiah, they are all there. Thayer, Joseph H. Thayers Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. 2 Timothy Greeting. For it is not dogma pure and simple, it is not mere instruction; and we may thank God for it. 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). The scripture is a perfect rule of faith and practice, and was designed for the man of God, the minister as well as the Christian who is devoted to God, for it is profitable for doctrine, &c. 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. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come ( 2 Timothy 3:1 ). 3:10-13 The more fully we know the doctrine of Christ, as taught by the apostles, the more closely we shall cleave to it. If we would know the holy scriptures, we must read and search them daily, as the noble Bereans did, Acts 17:11. And if you align your life with God, you're going to find yourself out of alignment with the world and persecution will come. This I cannot but consider as a proof of want of faith. 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. Paul kept back nothing from his hearers, but declared to them the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), so that if it were not their own fault they might fully know it. When we know the afflictions of believers only in part, they tempt us to decline the cause for which they suffer. For "all scripture is given by inspiration of God. 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. In his own neighbourhood he had seen Paul suffer because of his devotion to Christ (10-12; cf. 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. 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. But the apostle at the same time owns, and loves to own, that which another might perhaps despise. human nature began to show itself out in indifference. (2.) In the terrible times men will be so set on self that even the closest ties will be nothing to them. Such is the perversity of sin. 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. 2 Timothy 3:12 - Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch It follows from this: (1) That they who make a profession of religion, should come prepared to be persecuted. 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 . But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived ( 2 Timothy 3:13 ). Jambres. Well soon your Bible will be so messed up you wouldn't be able to read it. This might deter a sensitive saint from his duty. 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. 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. One of my most unfavorite promises in the Bible. It seems to me, I confess, that if there were simplicity of faith, the Lord would give one eyes to see some at least that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1930. He blames the Jews who searched them, because they failed to learn the lesson which they were intended to convey. But when dying upon the cross, He calls to John to behold His mother. Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Et tous ceux aussi qui veulent vivre en la crainte de Dieu, Que rien ne luy est advenu que tous fideles ne doyvent aussi attendre. The kind of guys that went around selling snake oil or cure-alls, deceiving, defrauding people. All you can say is that they are "without natural affection".God has put in our heart a certain natural love as a parent for a child. They will refuse to recognize the debt they owe both to God and to men. 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. And I will tell you what scriptures are inspired and which ones aren't. At the same time there is the carrying on his full notice of everything found here below that would be a source of comfort to one who anticipated the ruin of Christendom. 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). Not so the apostle Paul. He was to continue in the things which he had learned, and had been assured of, knowing of whom he had learned them a very important point. Perverse Men 2 Timothy 3:2-4 . Now are you going to, you know, take the word of Jesus? Sponde is the word for a truce or an agreement. Timothy, again, winced under trials, too sensitive to slights, disappointments, and the manifold griefs that came upon him. He returned after the first missionary journey to visit the Churches he had founded, "strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" ( Acts 14:22). In the Testament of Issachar, one of the books written between the Old and the New Testaments, we get a picture like this: "Know ye, therefore, my children, that in the last times. 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. " Rejoice ( present imperative) and be glad ( present imperative ), for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. He was ordered to light a bonfire and burn his books. Seeking the Gospel in Malachi, the Last Book of the Old Testament. 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. Men will be ungovernable in their desires (akrates, G193) . It was not merely now that they had made their consciences bad and slipped away from faith. 1 Timothy 3:12 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary - StudyLight.org 3. Originally the alazon ( G213) was a wandering quack. This chapter has a vivid description of the great apostasy (2 Timothy 3:1-9), signs of which were already present, an appeal to Paul's own inspiring and inspired example (2 Timothy 3:10-15), and one of the most impressive paragraphs in all the Bible with reference to the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16,17).For more extensive discussion of the apostasy, the man of . Then the word went on to widen its meaning until it meant any braggart. 2 Timothy 3:12 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Resurrection is the form and character of the lowest blessings of which Jesus is the dispenser; much more is He risen to exalt God in the highest. We find a precisely similar kind of combination in Paul. Synonyms of the New Testament. What am I to believe about man? 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. 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). Verse 4. 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.