Robertson, Archibald Thomas. It appears it was not merely in Rome. We should be asking: what, if any, is the unifying purpose which binds all this activity together? (3) If we are persecuted, we should carefully inquire, before we avail ourselves of this consolation, whether we are persecuted because we live godly in Christ Jesus, or for some other reason. Avoid such people. And how profitable is the word of God to us today! See also 1 Timothy 4:7; 1 Timothy 6:11, and on godliness, 1 Timothy 2:2. The world really doesn't admire true Christian traits. 2 Timothy 3 Commentary - Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible The difference between the braggart and the man who is arrogant is this. Lear's words remain true: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is. 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. And so Paul, you know, how I've lived; my faith, my longsuffering, my love, my patience, and the persecutions and afflictions that came to me. The same tone of mercy is equally promised in this #epistle as in the last. (186) Et tous ceux aussi qui veulent vivre en la crainte de Dieu. And all those also who wish to live in the fear of God., (187) Que rien ne luy est advenu que tous fideles ne doyvent aussi attendre. That nothing has happened to him which all believers must not also look for.. No matter what the reasons or excuses for joining with them, "turn away.". He speaks of "all God-inspired scripture." (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. I mean, people will have had it with the unrighteousness of the world. They still, you know, pay their respects. The ancient world set duty to parents very high. Their falsity would be demonstrated and they would receive their appropriate reward. This world is in rebellion against God. 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. In 2 Timothy 3:13 he meant that evil becomes more intensive as time goes on. ", and [as such they are] profitable ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ). He is sure that the ungodly man will go from bad to worse and that there is literally no future for the man who refuses to accept the way of God. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 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. It is Paul's conviction that the real follower of Christ cannot escape persecution. Let me remark, that there are comparatively few indeed that receive truth without help of others directly from God. Barnes' Notes. And that quality of conquering endurance is necessary, because persecution is an essential part of the experience of an apostle. 1. For he does not say Jesus Christ simply in. They love pleasure more than they love God; that's the indictment. He who feeds his mind on cheap literature can in the end find nothing in the great masterpieces. We must remember that this was written just at the beginning of the years of persecution, when it was becoming a crime to be a Christian. 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. All God-inspired scripture is useful for teaching, for the conviction of error, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work. 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. 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. 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. We find a precisely similar kind of combination in Paul. When God came on the scene and entered the conversation with his friends? Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Oh, yeah, I like that one. Pride always begets insult. Socrates skid that they were to be found in every walk of life but were worst of all in politics. A great many certainly flatter themselves that they are thus favoured; but the cases are uncommon where it is more than pretence. The word we have translated to be a disciple includes so much that is beyond translation in any single English word. Assuredly he would rejoice to scare Timothy from the field of serving Christ, and would shrink from no means to secure it. The Gnostic insinuators would teach these doctrines to impressionable women. And the reason why he makes it so urgent not to be turned aside was, that the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they should heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they should turn away their ears from the truth, and should be. And I will tell you what scriptures are inspired and which ones aren't. So you have to be careful when you start chipping it away at one side because the whole thing will come down on you. It is not meant that the Scriptures are valuable for finding fault; what is meant is that they are valuable for convincing a man of the error of his ways and for pointing him on the right path. 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. 3. The alazon ( G213) was a mountebank who wandered the country with medicines and spells and methods of exorcism which, he claimed, were panaceas for all diseases. They were never meant to be anything else but visions; we do violence to Jewish and to early Christian thought if we take them with a crude literalness. Here we come back to where we started; such men place their own wishes in the centre of life. SEDUCTION IN THE NAME OF RELIGION ( 2 Timothy 3:6-7 ). Truth and holiness and endurance are wanted, not authority or outward order. 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. Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 10 million Ukrainians without power because of Russia. 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. If they had been more faithful, and more like their Master, would they have always escaped? It is a duty in the present state of confusion to use scriptural means; and here we have our warrant, as in the epistles we find more. (4) let those who have never been persecuted in any way, inquire whether it is not an evidence that they have no religion. 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). Now I'm not about to say God was wrong. This is God's attitude to men. "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'.". If Timothy would adhere to the truth as he had been taught it, this would arm him against the snares and insinuations of seducers. The final condemnation of these people is that they retain the outward form of religion but deny its power. Oh I know it costs more but . I. You've made a covenant and there are so many broken covenants. It's instructing us in righteousness. Job, tell me, have you been beyond the gates of death, do you know what it's about? E. F. Brown has pointed out the danger of what he calls "intellectual curiosity without moral earnestness." And then again "the husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits." There might be a mixture of timid shrinking from pain and shame. But [Paul said] they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as [Jannes and Jambres] also were ( 2 Timothy 3:9 ). Every man doing his own thing or every man believing as he wants. There is slander enough in many a church to make the recording angel weep as he records it. Salem Media Group. 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 . The prophets and apostles did not speak from themselves, but what they received of the Lord that they delivered unto us. Afterwards he also speaks of his own work and of that which he was suffering. Well, Jesus has and He told us what to, what it's about in Luke, the sixteenth chapter. Now many people have a legitimate and proper desire to be used 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. . The doctrine of the necessity of persecution was no new thing to Paul. Man can do it but not God. Therefore it is incumbent for the Christian to look to this gravely, never to be dragged by the fear of breaking unity into accrediting what dishonours the Lord. Paul's life contrasted with the world. 2 Timothy 3:12, NLT: Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. And when you lose authority you have anarchy. 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.