(2:14-19)

Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless, and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and thus they upset the faith of some. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness.” (2:14–19)

     Scripture clearly affirms that God is truth and that He speaks only truth and cannot lie. Jesus testified of His Father, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17); of Himself, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6); and of the Holy Spirit, He “is the Spirit of truth” (v. 17).

Scripture also affirms that Satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). His very nature is to lie and deceive. Since he fell from his exalted position in heaven, he and the angels who rebelled with him against God and became demons have been at complete, unredeemable enmity with God and separation from Him. That enmity has brought uninterrupted conflict between God and Satan. His evil angels have been in continual conflict with the holy angels of God, and on earth there has been relentless conflict between the truth of God and the lies of Satan.

God’s own people have not escaped the plague of falsehood. False prophets were the bane of ancient Israel. Likewise, false teachers, preachers, and even false Christs have been the bane of the church, and will continue to be until the Lord returns. Jesus predicted that, in the last days, “false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24).

Satan attempts to obliterate God’s truth with his own falsehood. He attempts to keep the fallen world in spiritual darkness and to confuse and discourage God’s people. It was Satan’s deceit that lured Eve and then Adam to distrust God, which brought sin and death into His perfect creation and separated now-sinful mankind from the holy God. Since that time, humanity has existed in the muck and morass of sin and deceit. Through the centuries, the steady stream of falsehood has become a deeper, wider, and increasingly more destructive sea of ungodliness. False teaching about God, about Christ, about the Bible, and about spiritual reality is pandemic. The father of lies is working relentlessly to pervert and corrupt the saving and sanctifying truth of God’s written Word, the Bible, and of the living Word, His Son, Jesus Christ.

“Christian” cults abound today as never before, as does every type of false religion. Many Protestant denominations that once championed God’s inerrant Word and the saving gospel of Jesus Christ have turned to human philosophy and secular wisdom. In doing so, they have abandoned the central truths of biblical Christianity—including the Trinity, the deity of Christ, His substitutionary atonement, and salvation by grace alone. In rejecting God’s truth, they have come to condone and embrace countless evils—universalism, hedonism, psychology, self-salvation, fornication and adultery, homosexuality, abortion, and a host of other sins. The effects of ungodly teaching have been devastating and damning, not only for the members of those churches but for a countless number of the unsaved who have been confirmed in their ungodliness by false religion.

Peter reminded believers of his day that “false prophets also arose among the people [of Israel], just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned” (2 Peter 2:1–2).

Paul warned the Ephesian elders, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:28–30). It was this threat of deception that caused the Holy Spirit to inspire Paul to write, “Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5:21–22).

As a young man probably past his mid-thirties, Timothy had been assigned by Paul to minister to the church in Ephesus and to correct some of the problems mentioned in the previous reference. The “savage wolves” had already begun their disruptive and destructive work, and the congregation was suffering serious spiritual and moral decline. As it always does, ungodly teaching led to ungodly living.

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul said,

He continued to inform the young pastor that “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron…. In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following” (4:1–2, 6; cf. 6:3–4, 20–21).

Already in the second letter, Paul has admonished Timothy, “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you” (2 Tim. 1:13–14). In a later passage he cautions:

WARN THEM ABOUT FALSE TEACHING

Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless, (2:14a)

     Paul’s purpose was to motivate and encourage Timothy to keep a firm grasp on that truth himself and to pass it on to others who would do likewise (2:2). It is only with a thorough knowledge of God’s truth that falsehood and deceit can be recognized, resisted, and opposed.

For that reason Paul introduces this passage about false teaching with Remind them of these things. As mentioned in the previous commentary chapter, remind translates an imperative, as do many other verbs in 2 Timothy 2, e.g., “be strong” (v. 1), “entrust” (v. 2), and “consider” (v. 7), “be diligent” (v. 15), “avoid” (v. 16), and “abstain” (v. 19). Because of the present tense in the Greek, remind carries the further idea of persistence.

Them refers to the whole congregation at Ephesus as well as to the “faithful men” mentioned in 2:2. Things refers to that about which he has just been speaking in this chapter, namely, the positive responsibility to pass on God’s truth to others, who will, in turn, pass it on to still others; to work diligently in the Lord’s work like a soldier, athlete, and farmer; to remember that Jesus is alive, risen from the dead; and to remind them of Christ’s preeminence, the power of God’s Word, and the purpose of His work. The call is to continually preach the truth, sound doctrine, so that it cannot be forgotten (cf. Titus 2:1, 15).

Peter was committed to this very duty, as he expresses in his second letter:

Beginning with verse 14, the apostle focuses on Timothy’s negative responsibility to oppose and correct false teaching in the church. Timothy was to solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless.

Diamarturomai (solemnly charge) is a strong verb, here used as an imperative participle, which carries the idea of stern warning. The seriousness of the admonition is made clear first of all because it intensifies still further Paul’s forceful command at the beginning of this verse to remember and, second, because the warning is to be given in the presence of God. God is always present, of course, and He is never unaware of what His children are doing. But because of the profound danger of false teaching, Paul wanted to make sure that Timothy and those he admonished were consciously and continually aware of the presence of God. Being specially aware of God’s presence adds a measure of healthy fear of the Lord and therefore of increased determination to serve Him faithfully.

Paul used the phrase “in the presence of God” twice in his first letter to Timothy (5:21; 6:13). He uses it again in this letter, saying, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God,” and then strengthens the charge by adding, “and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:1).

Sometimes in Scripture the phrase “the presence of God” is used to comfort believers. Nearing death, Isaac implored Esau, “Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death” (Gen. 27:7). In his grand psalm of victory, David rejoiced, “0 God, when Thou didst go forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march through the wilderness, the earth quaked; the heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel” (Ps. 68:7–8). Reassuring Zacharias about the birth of John the Baptist, the angel said, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I have been sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news” (Luke 1:19). To a crowd of Jews outside the Temple shortly after Pentecost, Peter implored, “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). The writer of Hebrews assures us of Christ’s appearing in heaven on our behalf “in the presence of God” (Heb. 9:24).

But in most cases, “the presence of the Lord” has to do with God’s severity, often in judgment. Near the beginning of the psalm quoted above, David exclaims, “As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before God” (Ps. 68:2; cf. 97:5; 114:7). When Christ returns in judgment, unbelievers “will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess. 1:9).

In view of the presence of the eternal God, Paul solemnly charges the church at Ephesus not to wrangle about words, which is useless. As becomes clear in the following verses, Paul was not speaking about immature wrangling over secondary matters, disruptive as that can be. Logomacheō (wrangle about words) carries the idea of waging a war of words, in this instance with false teachers, who are later described as “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Such deceivers use human wisdom and reason to undermine God’s Word, and believers are not to debate with them, especially within the church.

Even from a human perspective, it is obvious that no debate can be carried on effectively when the two sides argue from completely opposite and contradictory presuppositions. Unbelievers put no stock in the divine authority of God’s Word, and believers should put no stock in the presumed authority of men’s words. No matter how biblically sound their arguments may be in themselves, Christians who debate with unbelievers inadvertently allow Scripture to be considered on the same level as human wisdom.

To discuss interpretations of Scripture and doctrine with other believers who recognize the Bible as God’s inerrant and authoritative Word is important when it is done in a spirit of humility and civility and is an honest attempt to grasp the truth. In the early days of the church, the Jerusalem Council was called to settle a dispute about the circumcision of believers (see Acts 15). Throughout church history, equally godly believers have differed on certain points of doctrine, as they still do today. But to argue doctrine with someone who disdains Scripture is both futile and foolish.

In his fictional but spiritually insightful The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis has an older demon give a junior demon named Wormwood the following advice about tempting a certain human being who has been assigned to him: “Your man has been accustomed, ever since he was a boy, to have a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing about together inside his head. He doesn’t think of doctrines as primarily ‘true’ or ‘false,’ but as ‘academic’ or ‘practical.’… Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church” ([New York: Macmillan, 1961], 8).

Satan does indeed know that most people, including many who are intelligent and well-educated, are more apt to be persuaded by popular jargon than by biblical argument or actual proof—despite what they may claim to the contrary. In the last several centuries, the most unbiblical, humanistic, and destructive philosophies have come through channels of higher education, including many colleges, universities, and seminaries that claim to be Christian, and once were. Human intelligence has never been a match for the wiles of Satan. The sinful pride of man is nowhere more clearly seen than in exalting his own intellect over Scripture and in considering such utter foolishness to be scholarship. Many undiscerning students line up to learn from these pseudo-scholars and have the strength of any remaining convictions turned into weakness.

The barrage of ungodly ideas and verbiage that today is assaulting society in general, and even the evangelical church, is frightening. More frightening than the false ideas themselves, however, is the indifference to them, and often acceptance of them, by those who name the name of Christ and claim to be born again. Abortion, theistic evolution, homosexuality, no-fault divorce, feminism, and many other unbiblical concepts and attitudes have invaded the church at an alarming rate and to an alarming degree. One of the most popular and seductive false teachings is the promotion of high self-esteem as a Christian virtue, when, in reality, it is the very foundation of sin. Such destructive notions are inevitable when Christians listen to the world above the Word, and are more persuaded by men’s wisdom than by God’s. Far too few leaders in the church today can say honestly with Paul that their “exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit” (1 Thess. 2:3).

As Christians become less and less familiar with Scripture and sound doctrine on a firsthand, regular basis, they become easy prey for jargon that sounds Christian but strongly mitigates against God’s truth. Such unbiblical and arbitrary ideas as being “slain in the Spirit” and “binding Satan” frequently replace or are valued above the clear teaching of and submission to Scripture.

Whatever the specific doctrinal errors were that threatened the church at Ephesus, they obviously were serious. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul warned that “the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). Doubtless some of those demonic doctrines already were corrupting the church there.

In any case, Paul gives six specific reasons for avoiding and opposing all false teaching: it ruins the hearers (2:14b), it brings shame on the teacher (v. 15), it leads to ungodliness (v. 16), it spreads rapidly (v. 17a), it upsets the faith of some (vv. 17b–18), and it characterizes those who do not belong to the Lord (v. 19).

FALSE TEACHING RUINS THE HEARERS

and leads to the ruin of the hearers. (2:14b)

     The first and most obvious harm of false teaching is the damage it does to those who hear it. It puts an obstacle in the way of unbelievers, who may be turned away from the true way of salvation. It also does harm to believers, by causing confusion, doubt, discouragement, and disobedience.

As one might guess, katastrophē (ruin) is the word from which we get catastrophe. False teaching has a catastrophic effect. The Greek word has the basic idea of being overturned or overthrown, and in this context it carries the more explicit connotation of being spiritually ruined. Paul is talking about teaching that intentionally subverts the truth by replacing it with falsehood. Consequently, instead of building up the hearers, it tears them down; instead of bringing enrichment, it brings disaster.

The only other use of that Greek word in the New Testament is found in Peter’s second epistle, where its extreme seriousness is even clearer. “[God] condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction [katastrophē] by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter” (2 Peter 2:6). In that epistle Peter confronts false teaching which, by that time, was perverting God’s truth and ruining its hearers throughout the world. Those “untaught and unstable” men distorted Paul’s teaching, just as they did “the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15–16). Even more dangerous, however, were the “false teachers among [them in the church], who [would] secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them” (2 Peter 2:1).

FALSE TEACHING BRINGS SHAME ON THE TEACHERS

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. (2:15)

     Paul’s second warning about false teaching is by means of contrast. Contrary to such perverters of God’s truth as those mentioned by Peter, Timothy was to be diligent to present [himself] approved to God.

Spoudazō (to be diligent) carries the idea of having zealous persistence to accomplish a particular objective. The diligent believer—in this context, the diligent teacher—gives maximum effort to impart God’s truth as completely, as clearly, and as unambiguously as possible. He gives unreserved commitment to excellence in examining, interpreting, explaining, and applying God’s Word. It is for that reason that “elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching” (1 Tim. 5:17).

The purpose of that diligence is not to please others, and certainly not to please oneself, but to present yourself approved to God. Paristēmi (to present yourself) literally means to stand alongside of. The idea in this passage is that of standing alongside of or before God, of presenting oneself for inspection, as it were, in order to be approved by Him. Dokimos (approved) refers to favorably passing careful scrutiny and thereby being counted worthy.

The supreme purpose of the diligent and selfless teacher is to please God. “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God?” Paul asked Galatian believers. “Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). Every Christian teacher and preacher should be able to say, “Just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts” (1 Thess. 2:4). His greatest desire is to hear his Master say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21). Such a teacher or preacher is a workman who does not need to be ashamed.

The clear implication, especially in light of the following three verses, is that false teachers, on the other hand, have great reason to be ashamed. One dictionary defines shame as “a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety.” Another states that it is “the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of having done something dishonorable.” Therefore, unlike a teacher who stands as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, a teacher who propagates falsehood, especially in the name of God and under the guise of Christianity, ought to be ashamed (cf. 1 John 2:28).

It is obvious, though, that those who have the most reason to be ashamed are the most shameless. They are among those Paul speaks of in his letter to the Philippian church: “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” (Phil. 3:18–19, emphasis added). Those who persist in perverting the gospel are no less than “enemies of Christ.” The most damning indictment of them is from the pen of Jude, who calls them “hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever” (Jude 12–13).

It is clear from both the Old and New Testaments, as well as from church history and our own time, that many of the worst false teachers claim to be servants of God. The majority of scribes, Pharisees, and other Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day considered themselves to be the godliest of the godly, as well as the only reliable interpreters of Scripture. Yet Jesus said of them, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

Even apart from those extremes, anyone who ignores, misrepresents, misinterprets, or detracts from God’s truth by adding to it or taking away from it (Rev. 22:18–19) has reason to be ashamed as well as fearful. Whether consciously or not, those who corrupt and denigrate God’s truth are the spiritual children of Satan. They are purveyors of his abominable lies and are under God’s sovereign and certain judgment.

The mark of a faithful teacher or preacher is his handling accurately the word of truth. Handling accurately translates a participle of orthotomeō, which means literally to cut straight. It was used of a craftsman cutting a straight line, of a farmer plowing a straight furrow, of a mason setting a straight line of bricks, or of workmen building a straight road. Metaphorically, it was used of carefully performing any task. Because Paul was a tentmaker by trade (Acts 18:3), he may have had in mind the careful, straight cutting and sewing of the many pieces of leather or cloth necessary to make a tent.

Sometimes in the New Testament, the phrase word of truth, or message of truth, refers specifically to the gospel. Paul reminded believers in Ephesus, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5). James speaks of the Father’s exercising His will in bringing “us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures” (James 1:18). Many other references to God’s truth refer to the full revelation of His Word in Scripture. Jesus doubtless had this broad meaning in mind when He prayed to His Father on our behalf, “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). In any case, Paul’s point here is the same. Every aspect of God’s truth is to be handled accurately, as a sacred trust by those who teach it and by those who hear it.

The careful exegete and expositor of God’s word of truth must be meticulous in the way he interprets and pieces together the many individual truths found in Scripture. The first and most important principle is that of basing doctrine and standards of living on Scripture alone (sola scriptura), a key watchword of the Protestant Reformation.

Because the Bible is God’s inerrant, authoritative, sufficient, and sole source of His divine word of truth, every other truth rests on that truth. It is not that the inerrancy of Scripture is a more important truth than, say, the deity of Christ or the Trinity. But it is only from the truth of Scripture that we can know all other truths. God’s word of truth in Scripture is the source and measure not only of all spiritual and moral truth but of all truth of any sort on which it speaks.

In explaining, and evidently trying to justify, the conception of his first child out of wedlock, a prominent evangelical leader maintained that true marriage with his wife began at that time, rather than at the time of their wedding. That claim, of course, utterly contradicts what Scripture teaches about the unconditional sinfulness of fornication. When the man’s wife was asked how she felt about that “indiscretion” being made public, she added to her husband’s twisting of Scripture by responding, “Well, now I understand the meaning of John 8:23, ‘the truth shall make you free.’” The most cursory look at that passage reveals that Jesus was not speaking about the feeling of relief that often comes with having a sin justified. He was speaking about the truth of His divinity and messiahship. He was speaking “to those Jews who had believed Him,” explaining that their knowing and being made free by that truth was conditioned on their abiding in His Word, which would mark them as “truly [His] disciples” (v. 31).

Equally blasphemous was a young woman who posed nude for a pornographic magazine and said the experience had drawn her closer to God. She even claimed the scriptural promise “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). The arrogant folly of her statement is made clear in the next half of that verse, which commands: “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

It is one thing to genuinely repent of a sin and to have the assurance of God’s forgiveness. It is a different thing entirely to twist God’s Word in an effort to justify the sin. It is one thing for an unbeliever, who makes no claim of godliness, to be unashamed of a sin. It is quite another thing, and immeasurably worse, for a person who claims salvation to be unashamed of a sin, especially when God’s Word is used to defend it.

FALSE TEACHING LEADS TO UNGODLINESS

But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, (2:16)

     A third danger of false teaching is its leading to ungodliness. But indicates the contrast of “handling accurately the word of truth” with the warning to avoid worldly and empty chatter. Such talk should not be “handled” at all.

Paul gave similar advice to Titus: “Shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law; for they are unprofitable and worthless” (Titus 3:9). The apostle had given Timothy such advice earlier, adding the warning to also avoid “the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’” (1 Tim. 6:20). That sort of talk is time-wasting and confusing at best and spiritually harmful at worst, which obviously is what Paul has in mind here. Words of worldly human opinion are no more than evil chatter.

Paul is not talking of idle chitchat or gossip, which can do considerable damage in a church. He is speaking of destructive heresy that perverts divine truth and will lead to further ungodliness. The chatter itself is evil enough, but when it infects the hearers, the evil is compounded.

This danger is not restricted to unbelievers or even immature believers. Paul is speaking directly to Timothy, who, despite his timidity and temporary discouragement, was nevertheless a gifted spiritual leader in whom the apostle had much confidence. He had been appointed leader as the official representative of Paul in the church at Ephesus. No one is exempt from the corruptive influence of falsehood. Just as a doctor cannot help being exposed to a dangerous disease he is treating, a godly preacher or teacher cannot help being exposed to dangerous ideas. But just as a doctor keeps exposure to the minimum and concentrates on destroying the disease, so the godly preacher or teacher must keep exposure to falsehood at a minimum, while opposing and seeking to exterminate it with the truth.

When false teachers are unopposed or unexposed, “many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned” (2 Peter 2:2). The spiritual plight of many denominations and Christian institutions that once were solidly biblical is abundant proof of the pernicious and pervasive destructiveness of false doctrine. The legacy of false doctrine is the further ungodliness of false living. Error cannot restrain the flesh, cannot halt the devil, and cannot protect from the world. False teaching provides no defense against iniquity and no strength for doing what is right and God-honoring.

FALSE TEACHING SPREADS RAPIDLY

and their talk will spread like gangrene. (2:17a)

     Not only that, but false doctrine propagated by the talk of false teachers will spread its infection like gangrene. Gangrene transliterates gangraina, the Greek word from which it is derived. In the ancient world, the term was used of cancer as well as gangrene, both of which diseases spread rapidly and are deadly. Even in modern warfare, gangrene is one of the worst dangers in battlefield injuries. If not treated promptly and carefully, it can quickly lead to amputation or death. False religion and satanic lies spread faster than the truth, because the sinful human heart is more receptive to them.

Religious deceptions are so infectious, malicious, and insidious that they are to be handled only with protective mask and gloves, as it were. Using another figure, Jude says that those who are in grave spiritual danger should be snatched “out of the fire” (Jude 23) like a hot ember. It was in a similar figurative way that the high priest Joshua, who had become corrupted like the rest of the priesthood, was divinely retrieved and spared, like “a brand plucked from the fire” (Zech. 3:2).

“The whole world lies in the power of the evil one,” John says in his first letter (1 John 5:19). Earlier in that epistle he says we are not to “love the world, nor the things in the world,” because “if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” (2:15–16). James likewise warns, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). The world is the partner with demons in developing and spreading the epidemic of deadly spiritual gangrene.

It is because false teachers are of the world and serve the prince of this world that they are so dangerous. And rapidly growing technology has helped worldliness and every other form of ungodliness to also grow more rapidly, exposing more people to more evil teaching than those who lived even a few generations ago could have imagined. Consequently, Christians today have more reason than ever to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). “They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them” (v. 5). Christians therefore have no excuse even for listening to them, much less buying into their ungodly beliefs and ways.

FALSE TEACHING UPSETS THE FAITH OF SOME

Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and thus they upset the faith of some. (2:17b–18)

     Paul identifies one of the false teachers as Hymenaeus, who, because he was denounced in the previous letter, obviously had been a threat to the Ephesian church for some time. Although Paul had put him out of the church when he himself was still in Ephesus, having “delivered [him] over to Satan,” Hymenaeus obviously persisted in his efforts to mislead believers there, and Philetus had replaced Alexander as his co-conspirator (see 1 Tim. 1:20).

Those men were apostates, like those of whom the writer of Hebrews wrote: “In the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame” (Heb. 6:4–6). They have “trampled under foot the Son of God, and [have] regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which [they were] sanctified, and [have] insulted the Spirit of grace” (Heb. 10:29). As Jesus said of Judas (Matt. 26:24), it would have been better if those men had not been born.

The particular heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus was their claiming that the resurrection [had] already taken place (cf. 1 Cor. 15:12). Paul does not explain what resurrection they had in mind. Neither Jesus’ resurrection (which had occurred) nor the physical resurrection of believers (which had not yet occurred) makes sense in this context. It seems probable, therefore, that these men propounded some form of spiritual resurrection as the only resurrection. Perhaps they taught that the only resurrection was the spiritual union with Christ in His death and resurrection (cf. Rom. 6:1–11). Such a view would have been based on pagan Greek philosophy, perhaps incipient gnosticism, whose adherents believed that the body and all other material things are intrinsically evil. Some of the Greeks of Athens who sneered “when they heard [Paul speak] of the resurrection of the dead” (Acts 17:32) were doubtless into such philosophical dualism and were horrified at the idea of the body’s being restored in the afterlife. Hymenaeus and Philetus possibly held the belief of many pagans that the only immortality is in life carried on through one’s progeny. By denying bodily resurrection, they were destroying the very foundation of the Christian faith—denying both the reality and the implications of Christ’s resurrection.

In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul makes clear the monumental importance of both Christ’s and the believer’s resurrection and of a right understanding of those truths. “If there is no resurrection of the dead,” Paul says, “not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised, … and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:13–15, 17).

To deny or distort the truth about the resurrection is to deny and distort the heart of the gospel. It is therefore a tragic and damnable thing to teach falsehood about that doctrine. Not only does it blaspheme God and denigrate His Word but inevitably it will upset the faith of some.

Anatrepō (to upset) carries the idea of overturning or overthrowing, indicating that the faith held by some of those who listened to false teachers was not saving faith, which cannot be overthrown or destroyed. Those hearers apparently had heard the gospel and been attracted to Christianity as a possible answer to their religious quest. But because they had not placed their faith in Christ as Savior and Lord and were exposed to deception, they fell prey to corrupt teaching and remained lost.

Again, that sad truth reveals one of the greatest perils of a false gospel: It keeps some souls—over the centuries, countless millions of them—out of the kingdom.

FALSE TEACHING CHARACTERIZES THOSE WHO DO NOT BELONG TO THE LORD

Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness.” (2:19)

     The last danger of false teaching mentioned here is that it fits those who are unsaved and ungodly.

Paul again makes his point by contrast. Nevertheless, he continues, the firm foundation of God stands. Unlike those who trust in a satanic scheme of religion, those who are truly saved, who are God’s spiritual children and genuine disciples of Jesus Christ, are part of the firm foundation of God.

In this context, the firm foundation of God seems most likely to refer to the church. In the previous letter to Timothy, Paul speaks of “the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15, emphasis added). The foundation of Christ’s church stands on the truth, “and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Matt. 16:18).

On that promise, we have God’s seal. A sphragis (seal) was a sign of ownership, and God has placed His divine seal of ownership on the church. In the end times, those “who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads” will be tormented by the locusts (Rev. 9:4). It is also doubtless that God’s seal on their foreheads will protect believers from taking the mark of the beast (see Rev. 13:16).

God’s seal of ownership is on the church in two ways. First, every member of the body of Christ, the church, has God’s divine assurance of election, in that “the Lord knows those who are His.” The source of this quotation is not certain, but is possibly from the book of Numbers. When some Israelites were about to rebel against the Lord and His appointed leaders Moses and Aaron, Moses declared to Korah and the other rebels, “The Lord will show who is His, and who is holy, and will bring him near to Himself; even the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself” (Num. 16:5).

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me,” Jesus assures us; “and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27–28). Like Satan, false teachers can cause great confusion and apprehension among God’s people, but they cannot corrupt or destroy His people, because “God has chosen [us] from the beginning for salvation” (2 Thess. 2:13a).

The New Testament is replete with such guarantees. “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me,” Jesus promises, “and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:37–40). God chose us for salvation in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), and those “whom He [God] foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:29–30).

The second way in which God has placed His seal on the church is through personal sanctification, personal holiness. Paul therefore says, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness.” This quotation may be adapted from the same passage in the book of Numbers, in which Moses later warned the godly: “Depart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, lest you be swept away in all their sin” (Num. 16:26). Those who did not separate themselves from the wicked rebels were destroyed with them when “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up” (v. 32).

This second aspect of sanctification is both an exhortation and an affirmation. The exhortation is: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19–20). Peter likewise admonishes, “Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior” (1 Peter 1:15).

But our sanctification is also divinely affirmed. In the verse in 2 Thessalonians cited above, in which Paul assures believers that God has chosen them for salvation, he adds, “through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth” (2:13b). Despite our many failures and our frequent unfaithfulness, God will graciously complete our sanctification. “For I am confident of this very thing,” Paul testified, “that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).