Original Meaning
Terrible Times (3:1–5)
THE VERB “MARK” is the simple word “know,” but in this context it serves as a jolting reminder to Timothy of a reality with which he must come to grips: “Terrible times” are coming. The adjective translated “terrible” can, in various contexts, mean violent (Matt. 8:28), fierce, or hard to deal with. “There will be” would normally describe a coming state of affairs, but it becomes clear in verse 5 that the future is now. Some have argued that a later pseudonymous author attributed this to Paul, using the future tense to make it appear as if Paul had correctly predicted what would take place.1 However, Paul could certainly draw on writings and sayings that spoke of future dangers and cast this in futuristic language, although he knew—and will soon make clear— that these things are already taking place.
The expression “last days” originated in the Old Testament (see Isa. 2:2). Note how Peter, quoting Joel 2:28 in his speech at Pentecost (or Luke, quoting Peter in Acts 2:17), recasts the prophet’s “and afterward” as “in the last days.” The section that follows (Joel 2:28–32; Acts 2:19–20) describes events both at the beginning of the church age and those that must take place “before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord” (Acts 2:20).2 Isaiah too follows his reference in Isaiah 2:2 to the “last days” with a description of a “day” that the Lord Almighty has “in store” (2:12).3 Such terminology occurs also in the Minor Prophets (e.g., Zeph. 1:14–18), in Jesus’ teachings (Matt. 24:29), and in 2 Peter 3:10. The battle of Armageddon will take place on “the great day of God Almighty” (Rev. 16:14, 16).
While some chronological prophetic detailing is possible, the day/days terminology in Scripture seems flexible, directing attention to major events that characterize different phases of history. Unlike the present passage, 1 Timothy 4:1–3 (which describes “later times”) has to do with doctrinal defection rather than with the moral depravity described here in 2 Timothy 3. All teaching about the last days is consistent with the idea of the present age as evil (Gal. 1:4) and with Paul’s exhortation to make “the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).
The reasons why the last days are so terrible are cited in verses 2–9, introduced by the word gar (“for,” omitted in NIV). The list in verses 2–5 calls to mind the vice catalogues found in Greco-Roman literature.4 Sometimes, as in the present passage, the perpetrators are listed rather than the evil deeds. Hanson vividly refers to those in this chapter as “vicious characters.”5 The descriptions in verses 2–4 have sometimes been grouped according to their verbal similarities in Greek. For example, the two words translated “lovers of themselves” and “lovers of money” begin with the Greek prefix phil (related to love). The last three Greek words in verse 2 and all those in verse 3 (except “slanderous”) begin with the so-called alpha privative (the use of an initial Greek alpha, which transforms a positive into a negative [similar to the English “un”]). The first two words in verse 4 begin with pro; more significantly, the two nouns in the last phrase of verse 4 have the same phil prefix as in verse 2 (“lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”), which, it might be said, summarize the whole section.
This drawing together of the first and last pairs of words by means of identical prefixes also brings “lovers of money” into contrast with “lovers of God,” calling to mind Colossians 3:5, “greed…is idolatry” (cf. also 1 Tim. 6:10). “Boastful, proud” (2 Tim. 3:2) are two words that overlap semantically and can be translated “arrogant pride” (cf. Rom. 1:30). The word translated “abusive” (“blasphemers” in kjv and nkjv) is usually understood now as having a broad sense. It certainly can include “scoffing at God” (nlt) but its inclusion with other vices (as in Mark 7:22; Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8) demonstrates that it can refer to the defamation of other human beings also.6 A bad attitude to parents (2 Tim. 3:2) is seen in the extreme in 1 Timothy 1:9 and is disallowed among the children of elders in Titus 1:6 (see also Rom. 1:30).
“Ungrateful” and “unholy” (v. 2) may not seem to belong together until we realize that prior to the vice list in Romans 1:29–31 (referred to above), Paul had written, “for although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him” (v. 21). To withhold thanks from God is a refusal to acknowledge that he exists or, at the least, to refuse to acknowledge that our life and all we have come from him. The NIV “without love” fails to bring out the specific kind of love that is missing: that which normally exists between family members (such as between parents and children). The NRSV‘s “inhuman” may be too strong. This missing element of love is expressed in Ellicott’s use of a quaint but accurate definition, “destitute of love towards those for whom nature herself claims it.”7
The meaning of the word “unforgiving” (v. 3) is helped by reference to its etymology. It conveys the attitude of a person who does not respond to a proposal for a truce; such a person refuses to be reconciled or placated. The Greek word for “slanderous” is translated by the NIV as “malicious talkers” in 1 Timothy 3:11. “Without self-control,” when used in a vice list like this, refers not to relatively harmless matters such as diet, but to matters of moral failure. “Brutal” is a good translation for the next word, which means also “untamed” or “savage.” “Not lovers of the good” (occurring only here in Greek literature) can, in a vice list, be interpreted more forcibly as “haters of good” (nrsv). “Treacherous” conveys the idea of betrayal. “Rash” describes the attitude of a crowd out of control (cf. Acts 19:36). On “conceited” see 1 Timothy 3:6 and comments.
The amazing thing is that these people, consumed by their own vices, have “a form of godliness.” This does not necessarily mean that they are in the church, but the fact that Paul counsels Timothy to “have nothing to do with them” may indicate that they are. Note how Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 5:9–11 that believers are not to dissociate themselves from immoral people in the world, but from those in the church. The word for godliness (eusebeia) was commonly used to mean piety or religion. It appears frequently in the Pastoral Letters as a word for Christian piety (see 1 Tim. 2:2; 3:16; 4:7–8; 6:3, 5–6, 11; Titus 1:1). Whatever their “form of godliness” is, these people deny its power and thus reject the true God.
Bridging Contexts
A DEGENERATING SOCIETY. An article containing a sobering description of contemporary youth made the rounds several years ago. It portrayed the disobedience of young people toward their parents, their failure to observe traditional norms of politeness, and so on. It was a bleak picture, and the reader was compelled to join in this lament over the direction of today’s youth culture. It was only at the end of the article that one learned the author was an ancient Greek philosopher. Probably many generations have felt that it was their particular fate to live during a period when society (and not only the youth culture!) was rapidly degenerating. Verses 1–5 can compete for one of the most pessimistic descriptions in print. No doubt the files of many preachers contain clippings illustrative of the various categories of degeneracy in this paragraph.
It is easy in a Bible commentary, which is read mainly by people with high spiritual aspirations, to moralize piously about the evil world “out there.” But while trying to avoid banal moralization, some comment is necessary. We cannot bridge contexts without identifying trends. It is not only the firstcentury heretics or our contemporary narcissistic culture that have lovingly stared at their own reflection. “Lovers of themselves” have strutted through many cultures and many levels of society. “Bad as I wanna be” and “having it my way” are now acceptable as public declarations, but they are not new. Even though we may evaluate self-esteem as a valid and healthy Christian attitude, we can easily find perversions in any religion or philosophy.
Greed and arrogance. Nor do we need to look far to find “lovers of money.” Having ministered in wealthy communities in both eastern and central United States, I know that rich people can be either generous or greedy. The possession of wealth itself does not determine this. The same can be said for people below the poverty line. One of the most wealthy families I knew was not only generous but sacrificially generous. But the literature of any age or country has its stock figures of sheer greed.
Arrogance—whether fed by wealth or poverty or neither—takes many forms. In this passage “boastful,” “proud,” “abusive,” “ungrateful,” “unforgiving,” “brutal,” and “conceited” are some of its faces. Anyone who goes to the altar for worship without proper reconciliation with others, or who acts out the equivalence of a Corinthian Christian using the Lord’s Supper as a means of partying with friends, shows that he or she is an arrogant lover of self rather than a lover of God and one’s neighbor. We would probably not find partying at the Lord’s Supper in most cultures, but there are other ways to disregard the rights of disadvantaged people. No doubt from first-century slaves to medieval serfs and to contemporary minorities there have been many ways in which this has been done, both subtle and openly outrageous.
It may come as a surprise that occasionally missionaries have in effect enslaved defenseless people, but it is, sadly, no longer a surprise that some ministers abuse women in their churches. The people in this passage have “depraved minds” and are not true lovers of God; they are opponents of the faith and people of “folly.” Whenever such attitudes erupt in the church there should be discernment and discipline. The church must purify itself. Verses 10–17 will provide a contrast in the pure life of the Lord’s servants, such as Paul and Timothy.
The experience of the women described in verses 6–7 was not unique in Ephesus. During the first centuries of our era the Roman empire was crisscrossed by itinerant merchants, entertainers, philosophers, cult leaders, and others seeking to propagate or to peddle their wares and ideas. Some of the methods of the wandering preachers were aboveboard. However, others had motives that were mercenary or worse. The actions of greedy itinerant preachers, from whom Paul sought to disassociate himself, provide a useful background to the actions of the false teachers described in this chapter. The vulnerability of some women in the Ephesian church may have a bearing on Paul’s restriction of women’s ministry in 1 Timothy 2:12.
A form of godliness. The amazing thing about 3:1–9 is not that people are boastful, proud, and conceited or that they are unforgiving or without self-control, but that these words can describe people who have “a form of godliness but [are] denying its power.” Paul is not describing pagans engaged in crime or biological warfare but false teachers penetrating the Christian church. Non-Christians often level the charge that the church is full of hypocrites. Actually that charge is mild compared to the insidious character of these protean false teachers. They could adopt a “form of godliness,” but in their “depraved minds” they were preying on vulnerable women. Unlike Paul (1 Thess. 2:5) they used a mask of piety to cover up greed.
There seemed to be two ways of looking at such people. They are clearly hypocritical with their “form of godliness,” so to some degree they may for a while be undetectable. At the same time their rebellion is often overt, as has been the case as far back as Jannes and Jambres. Paul says that “their folly will be clear to everyone.” It will therefore take some discernment on the part of believers to detect these opponents of the gospel even before their cover is blown.
Contemporary Significance
SOCIAL DEGENERATION. We have already cited some contemporary examples of social degeneration. If it were not that Paul has tied all this with the “last days,” we could easily assume that he is referring to terrible people who were a threat to the church at Ephesus and leave it there. However, assuming that the downward spiral will not reverse itself, the final “last” days will become increasingly intense in their horror, right on to the end of history.
It was probably the story of the death of Kitty Genovese in New York City several decades ago that woke people up to the extent that self-love and disregard for others had come to characterize modern urban dwellers. The story, disseminated widely, is that one night this woman was attacked in the street right in front of an apartment building. Residents in the surrounding buildings heard her screams for help, could see the savagery from their windows, but did nothing to come to her aid. She died a horrible death.
Our quest for the contemporary significance of this passage in 2 Timothy is not difficult, once we recognize that every murderer and every disinterested, dispassionate observer like those in that New York scene contribute to the “last days.” Supporting evidence from the media is hardly necessary to prove the point that contemporary society is in bad shape. It could be asked, of course, whether Western culture at the turn of the millennium is demonstrably worse than, say, the calculated frightfulness of Tiglath-Pileser III in Old Testament times or than the times of the worst Roman emperors. We could proceed through history, pausing to look at such horrors as medieval torture chambers, the gulags of Siberia, and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia Herzogovena. Along the way we could take note of the days of Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Lucky Luciano, and other gangsters with their disregard for innocent life. But then would have to acknowledge as well the sad victims of abuse in its various forms in our own day: the terrors of street gangs, drive-by shootings, and the tragic results of road rage on the highways. And according to the Bible’s descriptions of “the last days,” the darkest hours of social degeneration may be yet ahead.
Terrible as such things are (and “brutal” in verse 3 serves as a good contemporary description of them), the common thread through all of this is selfishness. “People will be lovers of themselves,” and the expressions of that— pride, ungratefulness, lack of love for others, ingratitude, and sensuous pleasure—are descriptive of contemporary moral malaise.
Victims of abuse. The abuse of women is another example of our social malaise and of the relevance of our passage. It is true that there have been societies in many ages of history where women were abused in one way or another. One would hope that with an increased sensitivity to the position and self-respect of women in our day, there would be less abuse. While the specifics of the first century (e.g., temple prostitutes) are a thing of the past, male aggressiveness and sinful passions drive some men to abuse their wives and daughters (sometimes under the guise of “male headship”).15 Further, as is now widely realized, access to the Internet can yield vivid and sordid sexual information. The so-called “vice catalogs” in the New Testament can perform a salutary service as checklists for Christians to avoid today.
It is possible for pastors, day-care employees, youth leaders, and others in contemporary churches to play on the weaknesses of people who depend on them for religious guidance, even if not to the horrific extent of the objects of Paul’s condemnation in this passage. We do not have the same circumstance of wandering preachers (although evangelists do travel, as do entertainers, sports figures, and business people, and such people have been known to prey on women). Yet in today’s society privacy is easily gained, and the very people who come to a minister for help may develop an attraction for, and dependence on, the helpful pastor. Reciprocally, pastors can feel attraction to and sympathy for a seeker; such situations can lead to problems.
More than that, unscrupulous clergy can exploit people both sexually and in other less obvious ways rather than care for the very persons whose needs lead them to the church for help. If such individuals then leave the church, they may well tell others how the “church” or “Christians” prostituted them, and the reputation of God, which the Pastoral Letters are seeking to uphold, is sullied.
The evils described in this passage are relatively easy to identify. It is possible, however, for Christians to become so occupied with such evils outside the church that they are oblivious to the vulnerability of people to sinful “operators” within the church. Those who do home schooling or send their children to Christian schools and Sunday schools and who encourage their young people to attend church youth groups may have a false sense of security. Sex maniacs can invade youth groups, just as financial predators can have neat haircuts and run for church office. The greed of a naive Christian can give opportunity to such a crook, and a natural hunger for sex can make young people vulnerable to a leader they trust.
1. This is a variety of the old vaticinium ex eventur (“prophecy after the event”) explanation of biblical predictions.
2. See also the use of this and similar terms in John 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 11:24; 12:48; Heb. 1:2; James 5:3; 1 Peter 1:5, 20; 2 Peter 3:3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 18.
3. See also such passages as Isa. 10:20, 27; 13:6, 9, 13; 14:3.
4. Romans 1:29–31 contains such a list: “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (see also 1 Cor. 6:9–10; Gal. 5:19–22; 1 Tim. 1:9–10; 6:3–10).
5. Hanson, Pastoral Epistles, 144. For references to some Greco-Roman and secondary literature on such lists see Dibelius/Conzelmann, Pastoral Epistles, 115–16.
6. BAGD, 143.
7. Ellicott, Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, 152.
8. Peterson's The Message paraphrases it “unstable and needy women.”
9. This is similar to the misuse of 1 Tim. 2:14 about Eve's deception to support the allegation that cults are typically started by women. This is true of some cults, but ignores the heresies from the time of the early church to the present that have been started by men.
10. Lock, Pastoral Epistles, 107.
11. “That their consciences are burdened by past sins and their lives controlled by such desires puts them in a weakened condition and makes them vulnerable to false teachers who 'capture' them as followers” (Knight, Pastoral Epistles, 434).
12. See 2:25, where the Greek expression translated “knowledge of the truth” is identical to that used in a verbal phrase here in verse 7.
13. Their names are found in Jewish rabbinical writings and some other literature in the early Christian centuries; see Carl E. Armerding, “Jannes and Jambres,” ISBE, 2:966.
14. Lock, Pastoral Epistles, 107.
15. At this point I am drawing on personal knowledge that is confidential.
Original Meaning
Victimization of Women and Others (3:6 – 9)
VERSES 6–9 CONTINUE the warning against the evil people so graphically described in verses 2–4. Since these evil hypocrites have a “form of godliness,” they are able to seduce some people into believing their heresies. Those described in verse 6 are women, specifically described as gynaikaria—a diminutive, demeaning form of the word for woman. Since “little” may fail to convey the disparaging pathos of the word, translators have tended to expand its connotation with words such as “weak-willed” (NIV), “silly” (nrsv), “gullible” (NKJV), and “vulnerable” (NLT).8
It is important exegetically to understand this word as a particular class of women and not as a description of women in general, any more than the words in verses 2–4 describe men in general. These women may have been recent converts, possibly from lives of religious perversion or prostitution. Kelly forsakes objectivity when he says “it remains a fact that women, with their more intuitive and receptive approach, are in all ages particularly susceptible to proselytism, bad as well as good.”9 Lock’s comment is more appropriate here: “They have become caricatures of true womanhood.”10 The fact that some women are being deceived by evil, hypocritical false teachers may help to explain why Paul earlier restricted women as he did (1 Tim. 2:11–15). It is reasonable to suppose that this was also taking place in churches beyond Ephesus, requiring a blanket restriction on his part.
Paul’s main point in verses 6–7 is not to malign women but to show the treachery of the false teachers. One of the ways in which these people carried on their skullduggery is underhandedly to “worm their way into homes” and victimize women. What these men do when they get into the homes is to “gain control over” the kind of women who will respond to them. This verb means literally “to take captive,” but is, of course, not used in a literal sense here. If the word “captivate” (NRSV) were a little stronger—it usually conveys the idea of charming someone—it would be a clever choice.
The women who are taken advantage of in this way are “loaded down with sins.” The same verb occurs in 4:3 about accumulating teachers and, with the prefix epi, appears in the postapostolic Epistle of Barnabas 4:6, in the phrase “compounding your sins.” As Knight points out, this verb is in the perfect tense, indicating a condition they are in as a result of past sins, while the next verb (“are swayed”; lit., “are led”) is a present participle.11 While the word for “desires” is not in itself negative, it generally has a negative sense in the New Testament. These women are sadly “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (v. 7). The point is that they are susceptible to further encounters of this nature and, ironically, cannot even gain the awareness of truth that Timothy’s opponents might have through repentance.12
Verse 8 contains another description of the false teachers, this time by reference to “Jannes and Jambres,” two figures known from extrabiblical literature. These are the names Jewish tradition gave to the Egyptian magicians who tried to imitate the signs performed before Pharaoh by Moses and Aaron (Ex. 7:11; 9:11).13 What they had in common with the false teachers at Ephesus was that they also stood against the truth, had “depraved minds,” and were rejected “as far as the faith is concerned” (cf. also Titus 1:16, where “unfit” is the same word translated “rejected” in the NIV here). Lock calls the reference to Jannes and Jambres an” ad hominem illustration,” remarking that the false teachers are “fond of their Jewish myths and genealogies: well, the nearest analogy to themselves to be found there is that of magicians whose folly was exposed.”14 The “just as…so also” construction makes the comparison clear.
This section with its dismal pictures concludes with some encouragement to Timothy. These heretics “will not get very far” (v. 9). Paul is being somewhat sarcastic here, as the heretics’ only advance is toward ungodliness. Once more the comparison is made clear by the words “as in the case of those men.” In a situation where the very nature of false teaching was that it fooled some people, such as the “weak-willed women,” it would have been a great encouragement to Timothy to know that “their folly will be clear to everyone.”
Bridging Contexts
A DEGENERATING SOCIETY. An article containing a sobering description of contemporary youth made the rounds several years ago. It portrayed the disobedience of young people toward their parents, their failure to observe traditional norms of politeness, and so on. It was a bleak picture, and the reader was compelled to join in this lament over the direction of today’s youth culture. It was only at the end of the article that one learned the author was an ancient Greek philosopher. Probably many generations have felt that it was their particular fate to live during a period when society (and not only the youth culture!) was rapidly degenerating. Verses 1–5 can compete for one of the most pessimistic descriptions in print. No doubt the files of many preachers contain clippings illustrative of the various categories of degeneracy in this paragraph.
It is easy in a Bible commentary, which is read mainly by people with high spiritual aspirations, to moralize piously about the evil world “out there.” But while trying to avoid banal moralization, some comment is necessary. We cannot bridge contexts without identifying trends. It is not only the firstcentury heretics or our contemporary narcissistic culture that have lovingly stared at their own reflection. “Lovers of themselves” have strutted through many cultures and many levels of society. “Bad as I wanna be” and “having it my way” are now acceptable as public declarations, but they are not new. Even though we may evaluate self-esteem as a valid and healthy Christian attitude, we can easily find perversions in any religion or philosophy.
Greed and arrogance. Nor do we need to look far to find “lovers of money.” Having ministered in wealthy communities in both eastern and central United States, I know that rich people can be either generous or greedy. The possession of wealth itself does not determine this. The same can be said for people below the poverty line. One of the most wealthy families I knew was not only generous but sacrificially generous. But the literature of any age or country has its stock figures of sheer greed.
Arrogance—whether fed by wealth or poverty or neither—takes many forms. In this passage “boastful,” “proud,” “abusive,” “ungrateful,” “unforgiving,” “brutal,” and “conceited” are some of its faces. Anyone who goes to the altar for worship without proper reconciliation with others, or who acts out the equivalence of a Corinthian Christian using the Lord’s Supper as a means of partying with friends, shows that he or she is an arrogant lover of self rather than a lover of God and one’s neighbor. We would probably not find partying at the Lord’s Supper in most cultures, but there are other ways to disregard the rights of disadvantaged people. No doubt from first-century slaves to medieval serfs and to contemporary minorities there have been many ways in which this has been done, both subtle and openly outrageous.
It may come as a surprise that occasionally missionaries have in effect enslaved defenseless people, but it is, sadly, no longer a surprise that some ministers abuse women in their churches. The people in this passage have “depraved minds” and are not true lovers of God; they are opponents of the faith and people of “folly.” Whenever such attitudes erupt in the church there should be discernment and discipline. The church must purify itself. Verses 10–17 will provide a contrast in the pure life of the Lord’s servants, such as Paul and Timothy.
The experience of the women described in verses 6–7 was not unique in Ephesus. During the first centuries of our era the Roman empire was crisscrossed by itinerant merchants, entertainers, philosophers, cult leaders, and others seeking to propagate or to peddle their wares and ideas. Some of the methods of the wandering preachers were aboveboard. However, others had motives that were mercenary or worse. The actions of greedy itinerant preachers, from whom Paul sought to disassociate himself, provide a useful background to the actions of the false teachers described in this chapter. The vulnerability of some women in the Ephesian church may have a bearing on Paul’s restriction of women’s ministry in 1 Timothy 2:12.
A form of godliness. The amazing thing about 3:1–9 is not that people are boastful, proud, and conceited or that they are unforgiving or without self-control, but that these words can describe people who have “a form of godliness but [are] denying its power.” Paul is not describing pagans engaged in crime or biological warfare but false teachers penetrating the Christian church. Non-Christians often level the charge that the church is full of hypocrites. Actually that charge is mild compared to the insidious character of these protean false teachers. They could adopt a “form of godliness,” but in their “depraved minds” they were preying on vulnerable women. Unlike Paul (1 Thess. 2:5) they used a mask of piety to cover up greed.
There seemed to be two ways of looking at such people. They are clearly hypocritical with their “form of godliness,” so to some degree they may for a while be undetectable. At the same time their rebellion is often overt, as has been the case as far back as Jannes and Jambres. Paul says that “their folly will be clear to everyone.” It will therefore take some discernment on the part of believers to detect these opponents of the gospel even before their cover is blown.
Contemporary Significance
SOCIAL DEGENERATION. We have already cited some contemporary examples of social degeneration. If it were not that Paul has tied all this with the “last days,” we could easily assume that he is referring to terrible people who were a threat to the church at Ephesus and leave it there. However, assuming that the downward spiral will not reverse itself, the final “last” days will become increasingly intense in their horror, right on to the end of history.
It was probably the story of the death of Kitty Genovese in New York City several decades ago that woke people up to the extent that self-love and disregard for others had come to characterize modern urban dwellers. The story, disseminated widely, is that one night this woman was attacked in the street right in front of an apartment building. Residents in the surrounding buildings heard her screams for help, could see the savagery from their windows, but did nothing to come to her aid. She died a horrible death.
Our quest for the contemporary significance of this passage in 2 Timothy is not difficult, once we recognize that every murderer and every disinterested, dispassionate observer like those in that New York scene contribute to the “last days.” Supporting evidence from the media is hardly necessary to prove the point that contemporary society is in bad shape. It could be asked, of course, whether Western culture at the turn of the millennium is demonstrably worse than, say, the calculated frightfulness of Tiglath-Pileser III in Old Testament times or than the times of the worst Roman emperors. We could proceed through history, pausing to look at such horrors as medieval torture chambers, the gulags of Siberia, and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia Herzogovena. Along the way we could take note of the days of Al Capone, Bugs Moran, Lucky Luciano, and other gangsters with their disregard for innocent life. But then would have to acknowledge as well the sad victims of abuse in its various forms in our own day: the terrors of street gangs, drive-by shootings, and the tragic results of road rage on the highways. And according to the Bible’s descriptions of “the last days,” the darkest hours of social degeneration may be yet ahead.
Terrible as such things are (and “brutal” in verse 3 serves as a good contemporary description of them), the common thread through all of this is selfishness. “People will be lovers of themselves,” and the expressions of that— pride, ungratefulness, lack of love for others, ingratitude, and sensuous pleasure—are descriptive of contemporary moral malaise.
Victims of abuse. The abuse of women is another example of our social malaise and of the relevance of our passage. It is true that there have been societies in many ages of history where women were abused in one way or another. One would hope that with an increased sensitivity to the position and self-respect of women in our day, there would be less abuse. While the specifics of the first century (e.g., temple prostitutes) are a thing of the past, male aggressiveness and sinful passions drive some men to abuse their wives and daughters (sometimes under the guise of “male headship”).15 Further, as is now widely realized, access to the Internet can yield vivid and sordid sexual information. The so-called “vice catalogs” in the New Testament can perform a salutary service as checklists for Christians to avoid today.
It is possible for pastors, day-care employees, youth leaders, and others in contemporary churches to play on the weaknesses of people who depend on them for religious guidance, even if not to the horrific extent of the objects of Paul’s condemnation in this passage. We do not have the same circumstance of wandering preachers (although evangelists do travel, as do entertainers, sports figures, and business people, and such people have been known to prey on women). Yet in today’s society privacy is easily gained, and the very people who come to a minister for help may develop an attraction for, and dependence on, the helpful pastor. Reciprocally, pastors can feel attraction to and sympathy for a seeker; such situations can lead to problems.
More than that, unscrupulous clergy can exploit people both sexually and in other less obvious ways rather than care for the very persons whose needs lead them to the church for help. If such individuals then leave the church, they may well tell others how the “church” or “Christians” prostituted them, and the reputation of God, which the Pastoral Letters are seeking to uphold, is sullied.
The evils described in this passage are relatively easy to identify. It is possible, however, for Christians to become so occupied with such evils outside the church that they are oblivious to the vulnerability of people to sinful “operators” within the church. Those who do home schooling or send their children to Christian schools and Sunday schools and who encourage their young people to attend church youth groups may have a false sense of security. Sex maniacs can invade youth groups, just as financial predators can have neat haircuts and run for church office. The greed of a naive Christian can give opportunity to such a crook, and a natural hunger for sex can make young people vulnerable to a leader they trust.
1. This is a variety of the old vaticinium ex eventur (“prophecy after the event”) explanation of biblical predictions.
2. See also the use of this and similar terms in John 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 11:24; 12:48; Heb. 1:2; James 5:3; 1 Peter 1:5, 20; 2 Peter 3:3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 18.
3. See also such passages as Isa. 10:20, 27; 13:6, 9, 13; 14:3.
4. Romans 1:29–31 contains such a list: “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (see also 1 Cor. 6:9–10; Gal. 5:19–22; 1 Tim. 1:9–10; 6:3–10).
5. Hanson, Pastoral Epistles, 144. For references to some Greco-Roman and secondary literature on such lists see Dibelius/Conzelmann, Pastoral Epistles, 115–16.
6. BAGD, 143.
7. Ellicott, Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, 152.
8. Peterson's The Message paraphrases it “unstable and needy women.”
9. This is similar to the misuse of 1 Tim. 2:14 about Eve's deception to support the allegation that cults are typically started by women. This is true of some cults, but ignores the heresies from the time of the early church to the present that have been started by men.
10. Lock, Pastoral Epistles, 107.
11. “That their consciences are burdened by past sins and their lives controlled by such desires puts them in a weakened condition and makes them vulnerable to false teachers who 'capture' them as followers” (Knight, Pastoral Epistles, 434).
12. See 2:25, where the Greek expression translated “knowledge of the truth” is identical to that used in a verbal phrase here in verse 7.
13. Their names are found in Jewish rabbinical writings and some other literature in the early Christian centuries; see Carl E. Armerding, “Jannes and Jambres,” ISBE, 2:966.
14. Lock, Pastoral Epistles, 107.
15. At this point I am drawing on personal knowledge that is confidential.