Homily 8 — Second Timothy 3, verses 5 to 15

“Know this also, that in the last days dangerous times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, greedy, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, without self-control, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” [a]

If anyone is troubled now that there are heretics, let him remember that it has been so from the beginning. The devil has always set up error beside the truth. From the beginning God promised good things, and the devil came along with a promise too. God planted Paradise; the devil deceived, saying, “You will be like gods” (Genesis 3, verse 5). Since he could show nothing in actions, he made all the more promises in words. That is what deceivers are like.

After this came Cain and Abel; then the sons of Seth and the daughters of men; afterward Ham and Japheth, Abraham and Pharaoh, Jacob and Esau. And so it goes right to the end: Moses and the magicians, the prophets and the false prophets, the apostles and the false apostles, Christ and the Antichrist. That is how it was then, both before that time and at that time. Then there was Theudas, then Simon; then there were the apostles; then too this party of Hermogenes and Philetus. In short, there was never a time when falsehood was not set up against the truth.

So let us not be distressed. It was foretold from the beginning that it would be so. That is why he says, “Know that in the last days dangerous times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, greedy, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without natural affection.” The ungrateful man, then, is unholy, and that is only natural. For what will a man be to others when he is not grateful to his own benefactor? The ungrateful man is a truce-breaker; he is without natural affection.

“False accusers”: that is, slanderers. For those who know they have nothing good in themselves, while they commit many sins and offenses, find comfort in tearing down the good name of others. [c]

“Without self-control”: with their tongue, with their appetite, and with everything else.

“Fierce”: that is where their inhumanity and cruelty come from, when someone is greedy, selfish, ungrateful, and given to loose living.

“Despisers of those who are good, traitors, reckless.” “Traitors”: betrayers of friendship. “Reckless”: having no steadiness. “Conceited”: filled with arrogance. “Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

Verse 5: “Having a form of godliness, but denying its power.”

In the Letter to the Romans he says something like this: “Having the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law” (Romans 2, verse 20). There he speaks of it with approval, but here he treats this sin as an evil worse than every other failing. Why is that? Because he does not use the words in the same sense. An image is often taken to mean a likeness, but sometimes a thing without life, and worthless. So he says himself in his Letter to the Corinthians, “A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God” (First Corinthians 11, verse 7).

But the prophet says, “Man walks about in an image” (Psalm 39, verse 6, in the Greek Old Testament). And Scripture sometimes takes a lion to stand for royalty, as in, “He crouched as a lion, and as a lion’s cub; who will rouse him up?” (Genesis 49, verse 9, in the Greek Old Testament). And sometimes it stands for greed for prey, as in, “a ravening and a roaring lion” (Psalm 22, verse 13). [d]

We do the same thing ourselves. Since things are complex and many-sided in themselves, they are rightly brought in to serve as different images and examples. When we want to express our admiration for a beautiful woman, we say she is like a picture; and when we admire a painting, we say that it speaks, that it breathes. But we do not mean the same thing by both: in the one case we point to a likeness, in the other to beauty.

So it is here with “form.” In the one passage it means a model or representation, a teaching, a pattern of godliness; in the other, something lifeless, a mere appearance without the power. For just as a handsome, glowing body that has no strength is like a painted figure, so is right faith apart from works.

Suppose someone is “greedy, a traitor, reckless,” and yet believes rightly. What good does it do him, if he lacks all the qualities that become a Christian? If he does not do the works that mark out godliness, but outdoes the Greeks in ungodliness? If he is a plague to those he spends his time with, causes God to be blasphemed, and by his evil deeds brings slander on the teaching?

“From such people turn away,” he says. But how can this be, if people are to be like this “in the last days”? Probably there were such people even then, to some degree at least, though not to the same excess. But in fact, through Timothy he is warning everyone to turn away from people of this kind.

Verse 6: “For of this sort are those who creep into houses and take captive silly women loaded down with sins, led away by various cravings,”

Verse 7: “always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Do you see them using the trick of that old deceiver, the very weapons the devil used against Adam? “Entering into houses,” he says.

Notice how by this expression he shows their shamelessness, their dishonorable ways, their deceit. “Taking captive silly women”: so the one who is easily deceived is a “silly woman,” and nothing like a man, for being deceived belongs to silly women. “Loaded down with sins.” See where their power to persuade comes from: from their sins, from knowing in themselves that there is nothing good in them! And he was quite right to say “loaded down.” The expression marks how many their sins are, and the disorder and confusion they live in. “Led away by various cravings.”

He is not accusing nature. It is not women as such, but women of this kind, that he blames. And why “various cravings”? That points to their many faults: their luxury, their disorderly behavior, their loose living. “Various cravings,” he says: for glory, for wealth, for pleasure, for having their own way, for honor. And perhaps other vile desires are meant as well.

“Always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” He does not say this to excuse them, but to threaten them severely. Their understanding had grown callous, because they had weighed themselves down with cravings and sins. [f]

Verse 8: “Now as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also resist the truth.”

Who are these? The magicians in the time of Moses. But how is it that their names are not given anywhere else? Either they were handed down by tradition, or, it is likely, Paul knew them by inspiration.

“People corrupted in mind,” he says, “worthless where the faith is concerned.”

Verse 9: “But they will advance no further; for their folly will be made plain to everyone, as theirs also was.”

“They will advance no further.” Then how does he say elsewhere, “They will advance to more ungodliness” (Second Timothy 2, verse 16)? There he means that once they have begun to bring in novelties and to deceive, they will not stop in their error, but will keep inventing new deceptions and corrupt teachings, for error never stands still. But here he says that they will not be able to deceive or carry people off with them. However much they may seem to take people in at first, they will soon and easily be found out.

That this is what he means is clear from what follows: “For their folly will be made plain to everyone.” How? In every way, “as theirs also was.” Errors may flourish at first, but they do not last to the end. That is how it is with things that are not beautiful by nature but only beautiful in appearance: they flourish for a while, and then they are found out and come to nothing. But our teachings are not like that, and you are a witness of them. In our teachings there is no deceit. For who would choose to die for a deceit?

Verse 10: “But you have fully known my teaching.” [g]

So be strong. You were not merely there; you followed closely. Here he seems to suggest that the time had been long, when he says, “You have followed my teaching closely.” This refers to his words.

“Way of life”: this refers to his conduct. “Purpose”: this to his zeal and the firmness of his soul. I did not say these things and then fail to do them, he says; I was not a philosopher in words only. “Faith, patience”: he means that none of these things troubled him. “Love,” which those men did not have; “endurance,” and they did not have that either. Toward the heretics, he means, I show great patience; “endurance” refers to persecution.

Verse 11: “Persecutions, sufferings.”

There are two things that unsettle a teacher: the number of the heretics, and people lacking the courage to endure suffering. Yet he has already said a great deal about these: that such people always have existed and always will, that no age will be free of them, that they will not be able to harm us, and that in the world there are vessels of gold and of silver. You see how he goes on to speak of his sufferings, “which came upon me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra.”

Why has he picked out these few from so many? Because the rest were known to Timothy, and these were perhaps recent events. He does not mention the earlier ones, because he is not listing them one by one. He is not driven by love of show or by empty glory; he tells them to comfort his disciple, not to display himself. Here he means Antioch in Pisidia, and Lystra, where Timothy himself came from. [i]

“What persecutions I endured.” There was a double comfort in this: that I showed a noble zeal, and that I was not abandoned. No one can say that God abandoned me; rather, he made my crown more radiant.

“What persecutions I endured! And out of them all the Lord rescued me.”

Verse 12: “Indeed, all who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

But why, he says, should I speak only of myself? Everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted. Here he calls troubles and sorrows “persecutions.” For it is impossible for someone pursuing the course of virtue not to be exposed to grief, distress, and trials. How can a man escape it who is walking the narrow and hard way, and who has heard, “In the world you will have distress” (John 16, verse 33)?

If Job in his day said, “Human life on earth is a time of trial” (Job 7, verse 1, in the Greek Old Testament), how much more was it so in those days? [k]

Verse 13: “But evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

Do not let any of these things disturb you, he says, if they are prospering and you are in trials. That is the nature of the case. From my own example you can learn that a man at war with the wicked cannot avoid being exposed to distress. No one can be in combat and live in luxury; no one can be wrestling and feasting at once. So let none of those who are in the contest look for ease or a life of enjoyment.

Again, the present life is a contest, a war, distress, hardship, and trials; it is the very arena of struggle. Now is not the season for rest; now is the time for toil and labor. No one who has just stripped and oiled himself is thinking about taking it easy. If you are thinking about ease, why did you strip? Why did you get ready to fight?

“But I am keeping up the fight, am I not?” you say. How so, when you do not master your desires, and do not resist the evil bent of nature?

Verses 14 and 15: “But as for you, continue in the things you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you learned them, and that from childhood you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.” [l]

What does this mean? Just as the prophet David urged, saying, “Do not envy those who do wrong” (Psalm 37, verse 1), so Paul urges, “Continue in the things you have learned,” and not simply learned, but “have been assured of,” that is, have believed. And what have I believed? That this is the Life. And if you see things happening that run against what you believe, do not be troubled. The same happened to Abraham. He had been told, “Through Isaac your offspring will be named” (Genesis 21, verse 12), and he was commanded to sacrifice Isaac; yet he was not troubled or dismayed. Let no one stumble because of the wicked. Scripture taught this from the beginning.

What, then, if the good were to prosper and the wicked to be punished? The one is likely to happen, the other is not. The wicked may well be punished, but the good cannot always be rejoicing. No one was equal to Paul, yet he spent his whole life in sufferings, in tears and groaning night and day. “For three years,” he says, “I did not stop warning everyone night and day with tears” (Acts 20, verse 31). And again: “That which comes upon me daily” (Second Corinthians 11, verse 28). He was not rejoicing today and grieving tomorrow; he never stopped grieving, day after day.

Then how does he say, “Evil people will go on from bad to worse”? He has not said that they will find rest, but that “they will go on from bad to worse.” Their progress is toward the worse. He has not said that they will prosper. And if they are punished, they are punished so that you will not suppose their sins go unavenged. Since the fear of hell does not hold us back from wickedness, he rouses us from our numbness and wakes us up, out of sheer tenderness.

If no wicked man were ever punished, no one would believe that God watches over human affairs. If all were punished, no one would expect a resurrection to come, since everyone would have received what they deserved here. That is why he both punishes and holds back from punishing. That is why the righteous suffer distress here: because they are sojourners and strangers, living in a foreign country. So the righteous endure these things in order to be tested. Listen to what God said to Job: “Do you think that I have warned you for any other reason than that you might be shown to be righteous?” (Job 40, verse 8, in the Greek Old Testament) … The wicked suffer no affliction but the punishment of their sins.

So in every circumstance, whether painful or not, let us give thanks to God. Both are good for us. He does nothing out of hatred or hostility toward us, but everything out of care and concern for us.

“Knowing that from childhood you have known the sacred writings.” He calls the holy Scriptures “sacred writings.” You were brought up on them, he means, so through them your faith ought to be firm and unshaken. The root was laid deep, and nourished over a long time; nothing will overturn it. [p]

And speaking of the holy Scriptures, he has added, “which are able to make you wise.” That is, they will not let you have any foolish feeling, such as most people have. For the one who knows the Scriptures as he ought is not made to stumble by anything that happens. He bears everything courageously. Some things he puts down to faith and to the incomprehensible nature of God’s arrangement; for others he knows the reasons, and finds examples in the Scriptures. For it is a great sign of knowledge not to be curious about everything, and not to want to know all things.

If you will allow me, I will explain myself with an example. Suppose a river, or rather rivers. (I am not asking you to grant me anything; I am only describing what rivers really are.) Not all are of the same depth. Some have a shallow bed; others one deep enough to drown someone who does not know it. In one place there are whirlpools, and in another there are none. So it is good to hold back from trying all of them, and it is no small proof of knowledge not to want to sound every depth. The man who would venture into every part of the river is in fact the one most ignorant of what rivers are like, and he will often be in danger of dying, because he goes into the deeper parts with the same boldness with which he crossed the shallows.

So it is with the things of God. The one who wants to know everything, and dares to push his way into everything, is the very one most ignorant of what God is. And with rivers, the greater part is safe and the depths and whirlpools are few. But with the things of God, the greater part is hidden, and his works cannot be traced out.

Why, then, are you so set on drowning yourself in those depths? [q]

Know this, however. God arranges all things. He provides for all. We are free to act. Some things he does, and some he permits. He wills nothing evil to be done. Not everything is done by his will; some things are done by ours as well. All evil things are done by our will alone; all good things by our will together with his working. And nothing happens without his knowledge. So he works all things.

Knowing this, you can work out which things are good, which are evil, and which are neutral. Virtue is good, vice is evil; but wealth and poverty, life and death, are neutral. If you know this, you will know from it that the righteous are afflicted so that they may be crowned, and the wicked so that they may receive the punishment of their sins. But not all sinners are punished here, so that most people will not disbelieve the resurrection; and not all the righteous are afflicted, so that people will not think that vice, and not virtue, is what wins approval.

These are the rules and the boundaries. Test whatever you like against them, and you will not be perplexed with doubt. Among those who reckon accounts there is the number six thousand, to which everything can be brought back, and by which everything can be divided and multiplied, and all who know arithmetic know it. In the same way, the one who knows these rules, which I will briefly go over again, will never stumble.

And what are they? That virtue is good and vice evil. That sickness, poverty, ill treatment, false accusations, and the like are neutral. That the righteous are afflicted here, or, if they ever prosper, it is so that virtue will not seem hateful. That the wicked enjoy pleasure now so that they may be punished hereafter, or, if they are sometimes struck down, it is so that vice will not seem to be approved, nor their deeds to go unpunished. That not all are punished, so that people will not stop believing in the time of the resurrection. That even among the good, some who have done bad things are rid of them here; and among the wicked, some have done good things and are rewarded for them here, so that their wickedness may be punished hereafter (Matthew 6, verse 5). That the works of God are for the most part beyond our understanding, and that the distance between us and him is greater than words can say.

If we reason from these grounds, nothing will be able to trouble or perplex us. If we listen to the Scriptures continually, we will find many such examples.

“Which are able,” he says, “to make you wise for salvation.” [t]

For the Scriptures tell us what is to be done and what is not to be done. Listen to this blessed man saying elsewhere, “You are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants” (Romans 2, verses 19 and 20). You see that the law is a light to those in darkness. And if what shows us the letter, the letter that kills, is light, what is the Spirit who gives life? If the old covenant is light, what is the new, which holds so many and such great revelations? The difference is as great as if someone opened heaven to people who knew only the earth, and made everything there visible. There we learn about hell, about heaven, and about judgment.

Let us not believe in irrational things. They are nothing but fraud.

“What? Even when what they foretell comes true?” you say. If it comes true, it is because you believe it. The impostor has taken you captive. Your life is in his power; he handles you as he pleases.

Suppose the captain of a band of robbers had in his power, at his disposal, the son of a king, who had run away to him because he preferred the wilderness and that lawless company. Would he be able to declare whether the young man would live or die? Certainly he would. Not because he knows the future, but because he has the young man’s life and death in his hands, since the youth has put himself in his power. As he pleases, he can kill him or spare his life, because the youth has made himself his subject. And in the same way it is in his power to say whether you will be rich or poor. Most of the world has handed itself over into the hands of the devil.

Besides this, it does much to support the pretenses of these deceivers that a man has got into the habit of believing in them. No one notices their failures; only their lucky guesses are remembered. [u]

But if these men have any power to foretell, bring them to me, a believer. I do not say this to make much of myself. It is no great honor to be above these things, and in fact I am heavily loaded with sins. But on this subject I will not be humble: by the grace of God I despise them all. Bring me this pretender to magic. If he has any power to foretell, let him tell me what will happen to me tomorrow. But he will not tell me. For I am under the authority of the King, and he has no claim on my loyalty or my obedience. I am far from his holes and caves. I serve as a soldier under the King.

“But someone committed a theft, and this man found it out,” you say. That is certainly not always true; for the most part it is nonsense and lies. They know nothing. If they really knew anything, they ought rather to speak about their own affairs: how the many offerings to their idols were stolen, how so much of their gold was melted down. Why did they not warn their priests? Even for the sake of money they were not able to give warning when their idol temples were burned and many died along with them. Why do they not look after their own safety? No, if they have ever predicted anything, it was pure chance. With us there are prophets, and they do not fail. They do not tell the truth in one case and a lie in another; they always declare the truth. For this is what it means to have foreknowledge.

So stop this madness, I beg you, if at least you believe in Christ. And if you do not believe, why do you leave yourselves exposed? Why do you deceive? “How long will you limp on both your hips?” (First Kings 18, verse 21, in the Greek Old Testament). Why do you go to them? Why do you consult them? The instant you go to them, the instant you consult them, you have made yourself their slave. For you consult them as though you believed. [v]

“No,” you say, “I do not consult them because I believe them, but to put them to the test.” But putting them to the test, to see whether they tell the truth, is not what someone does who believes they are false. It is what someone does who is still in doubt. Why, then, do you ask what will happen? If they answered, “This will happen, but do such and such and you will escape it,” even then you ought on no account to be an idolater; still, your madness would not be so great. But if they foretell what is to come, the one who listens to them gains nothing more than useless grief. The thing has not happened, yet he suffers the anxiety and torments himself.

If it were for our good, God would not have begrudged us this foreknowledge. He who revealed to us the things in heaven would not have grudged us this. For he says, “All things that I have heard from the Father I have made known to you”; and, “I do not call you servants, but friends. You are my friends” (John 15, verse 15). Why, then, did he not make these things known to us? Because he did not want us to be taken up with them. [w]

And here is proof that he does not begrudge us this knowledge: such things were revealed to people of old, because they were children, even about a donkey and things of that kind. But to us, because he did not want us to be taken up with such things, he has not cared to reveal them.

Then what do we learn? Things they never knew; for all those things of old were small indeed. What we are taught is this: that we will rise again; that we will be immortal and incorruptible; that our life will have no end; that all things will pass away; that we will be caught up in the clouds; that the wicked will suffer punishment; and countless other things, and in all of them there is no falsehood. Is it not better to know these things than to hear that the donkey that was lost has been found? There, you have your donkey! There, you have found him!

What have you gained? Will he not soon be lost again some other way? Even if he does not leave you, at the very least you will lose him at your death. But the things I have spoken of, if only we hold on to them, we will keep forever. So let us pursue these. Let us fasten ourselves to these lasting, enduring goods. Let us pay no attention to soothsayers, fortune-tellers, and conjurers, but to God, who knows all things for certain, whose knowledge takes in everything. In this way we will know all that it is fitting for us to know, and we will obtain all good things, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and forever. Amen. [x]