Second Timothy 3:1-17

II Timothy 3:1-9:

^3:1But this you must know: that in (the) last days fierce times will stand-in, ^.2for men will be lovers-of-self, lovers-of-silver, imposters, arrogant-people, blasphemers, people-un-persuaded by parents, unthankful-people, unholy-people, ^.3people-without-affection, people-not-entering-into-treaty, devilish-people, incontinent-people, untamed-people, not-lovers-of-good, ^.4betrayers, precipitous-people, having been conceited², lovers-of-delight rather than lovers-of-God, ^.5having a formulation of reverence but having denied² its ability – and from these-people you must turn-yourself-away – ^.6for out-from these-people are the (people) entering-in into the houses and taking-captive little-womanish-people having been heaped² with sins, being led by variegated intense-yearnings, ^.7always learning and never being able to come into full-knowledge of truth; ^.8but (according to) which manner Jannes and Jambres stood-against Moses thus also these-people stand-themselves-against the truth, men having been corrupted-down² (with respect to) the mind, unapproved-people concerning the belief, ^.9but they will not advance on more for their un-mindfulness will be clear-out to all-people as also the (un-mindfulness) of those-people became (clear-out to all-people).

Paul continues teaching Timothy: but this you must know (personally with a truly active and relative knowing): that during the last days (the final or extreme days, the more remote, uttermost span of time while we await Christ coming to gather all holy-people together with him in the air) fierce times will stand-in (extremely hard precise occasions, difficult specific seasons, hostile opportune periods of limited-time will stand in effect, in force).

In truth, men (mankind, whether male or female) will be…

lovers-of-self (people who love themselves with the brotherly or friendly kind of love, as opposed to loving others, selfish, self-centered),
lovers-of-silver (people who love silver coins, money, with the brotherly or friendly kind of love, money-lovers),
imposters (people who wander-about pretending to be someone or something other-than what they truly are),
arrogant-people (people who are haughty, giving the impression of superiority or being-over others evidenced by them in an overbearing manner),
blasphemers (people who speak evilly, treat others with lack of Godly reverential respect, calumniate),
people-un-persuaded by parents (people who are unwilling to be persuaded or convinced by the Godly instruction given to them by their fathers and mothers, not behaving in a Godly manner towards their parents as God asks children to behave no matter what age they are)
unthankful-people (this word could also be translated as “ungracious-people”- ungraceful, people who do not freely bestow anything to others when there is no merit on the recipient's part to receive it, and also when they are the recipients of grace they do not express any gratitude to the giver of the grace, ungrateful),
unholy-people (those who do not practice holiness which is pure-Godliness free from all crime, those who are not in the condition of religiously observing all God says, who do not practice every duty and function and thereby do not fulfill every obligation which God has given to be believed and carried-out),
people-without-affection (people without the natural-family tender affection normally between parents and their children, which is also the natural instinct of most animals, birds, etc),
people-not-entering-into-treaty (literally: people without libation, they do not pour a drink at the end of negotiations to seal the treaty; referring to people who refuse to enter into an agreement or league about some issue and they remain in a state of combat ultimately against the only true God),
devilish-people (people who behave in a manner that is on a par with the devil throwing, casting things through people, like stabbing a person from outside through the person and out the other side with an accusation, slander, etc)
incontinent-people (people who lack self-restraint, not having power or command over themselves, they are without self-control),
untamed-people (people who are savage, brutal),
not-lovers-of-good (people who do not love good with the brotherly or friendly kind of love, who do not love what issues from God Who is good and sets the standard for what is good, who do not love what is perfectly admirable from God's viewpoint and according to His words and intention because He is the source of all true goodness),
betrayers (traitors, people who give others to the enemy),
precipitous-people (people who are headlong, rash, as though falling-forward and then unable to stop themselves),
having been conceited and continuing conceited (people who have already been beclouded, wrapped-up in their own importance, etc, as being engulfed in smoke in their minds and activities refusing to see, etc, what is outside of themselves, and they are staying this way),
lovers-of-delight rather than lovers-of-God (people who love sweetness, the feeling of relish of taste, who love the pleasurable sensation with the brotherly or friendly kind of love, more-so than people who love the only true God with the brotherly or friendly kind of love),
having a formulation of reverence (holding the embodiment of well/good service, reverential respect of/towards God) but having denied and continuing denying its ability (but having already disowned, negated and rejected the able-power of reverence, and still denying the capability pertaining to reverence)…

… – with emphasis, from these people you must turn yourself away (move yourself away from these people without even going close to them).

In truth, out-from (from among) these people are the people who are presently and actively…

entering in into (going inside of) the houses and
taking captive little-womanish people (making prisoners-of-war, taking by the spear during the battle the people, both male and female [the word is in the neuter case to include people in general], who are adjectively described regarding their behavior literally as a diminutive woman, but figuratively referring to their living in extreme subjection or submission to many things, instead of thinking and behaving correctly, because of the following)
- having been heaped and continuing heaped with sins (these little-womanish people have already been heaped with/by sins, aberrations from God's Word, missing the mark of what God says to/for them, and they still have these sins one on-top of the other on top of them pushing them down underneath them),
- being led by variegated intense-yearnings (they are being directed, conducted, conveyed by manifold strong-desires attached or fixed upon certain objects other-than God and the things of God, various lusts),
- always learning (they are constantly intellectually learning as students) and never being able to come into full-knowledge of truth (but not ever, not at any time being capable, having the able-power to come into the full, clear, and exact personal knowledge of God’s essential reality, His inherent verity).

But according to which manner (in the method) that Jannes and Jambres actively stood against (resisted) Moses – in this manner also these people, who enter in into houses and take the little-womanish people captive, stand themselves against the truth….

These two names are not in the Bible writings that we usually have today, but they are recorded in the Targum of Jonathan and many other writings. This reference to Jannes and Jambres who stood against Moses is referring to the occurrences recorded in the Book of Exodus chapter 7 when the evil magicians by the power of the devil copied what Moses and Aaron were doing by the power of the only true God. However, God’s power overcame the devil’s power which is limited in its strength, effectiveness, and limited in the duration of time that it can last – this became evident for all to see and know. Let us read this (King James Version):

Exodus 7:8-12:

And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.

And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

The full account is recorded in Exodus chapters 7-12.

Returning to what Paul is writing in Second Timothy, let us continue.

But according to which manner Jannes and Jambres stood against Moses – thus also these people stand themselves against the truth,…

men having been corrupted-down and continuing corrupted-down (decayed in a downward direction, going into a worse state) with respect to the mind (their mind-set, mentality, the organ of mental perception; the singular word "mind" emphasizes that all of them have the same mind-set – corrupted down),
unapproved-people concerning the belief (people who are not approved by God or by the Lord Jesus Christ because they have not passed the test, the examination about, with reference to the belief/faith that God has given all to believe, and thus they are disapproved),

…but contrary to these people presently standing themselves against God’s truth, they will not advance on more (they will NOT beat or drive forward cutting down everything out of their way so that nothing could impede their progress, their advancement, they will not advance comparatively more, not any further) – why not? – in truth their un-mindfulness will be clear-out to all-people (their lack of applying their minds, unlearned mind-set, unintelligent mentality will be plain to see, evident to all) as also the un-mindfulness of those people, Jannes and Jambres, became clear-out to all people.

[Reference: Exodus chapters 7-12; Matthew 8:28, 23:25; Luke 6:11, 16 and 35, 16:14; Acts 2:17, 3:12, 7:52, 13:8, 19:36; Romans 1:30 and 31, 2:20, 12:20, 13:2; I Corinthians 7:5; II Corinthians 10:5, 11:19 and 12:9 and 15, 13:3-8; Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20; I Timothy 1:9, 2:2 and 4, 3:6, 11, and 16, 4:7 and 8, 6:3-6, 10 and 11; II Timothy 2:15, 25 and 26; Titus 1:1; Hebrews 1:2, 10:26; II Peter 1:3, 3:3; I John 2:18.]

[For details about Christ’s coming to gather all holy-people with him in the air, the time of wrath against unholy people and spirits, the time when Christ comes on earth to gather all who will believe from Israel and from the Gentiles during that time and his reign on earth, and the complete final end of the devil and his power and those who work for him, etc – you may read my studies on I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, chapter 15 of I Corinthians, the Book of Revelation, and many other scriptures too numerous to mention here.]

Verses 10-17:

^.10But you followed-beside my teaching, leading, purpose, belief, patience, love¹, patient-endurance; ^.11persecutions, sufferings, the-kind-which became to me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra, the-kind-of persecutions I bore-up, and out-from all-things the Lord rescued me. ^.12But also all-people, the (people) intending to live reverentially in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. ^.13But evil men and enchanters will advance on the worse (state) wandering and being caused-to-wander. ^.14But you must remain in which-things you learned and were given-to-believe having known² from whom you learned (them), ^.15even because from a baby you knew² sacred writings, the (writings) being able to make you wise into salvation by means of belief, the (belief) in Christ Jesus – ^.16all writing (is) God-breathed and profitable towards teaching, towards refutation, towards uprightness, towards training, the (training) in righteousness, ^.17in order that the man of God may be equipped, having been fully-equipped² towards all good work.

Emphatically you followed-beside (you yourself closely followed, you went in the same way/road after) my…

teaching (my instruction, doctrine; this word ‘teaching’ includes the teaching itself and the action of teaching it),
leading (my direction, how I conduct or convey myself during the everyday living of my life),
purpose (my proposal, plan, what I put before myself to do),
belief (my faith, trust, what I believe, the information that God made known to me to have confidence-in with assured certainty and surety),
patience (long-suffering, long-forbearance toward/with others, long-temperedness),
love¹ (this word comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love - the way I manifest God’s love, my evidencing of God’s kind of love),
patient-endurance (bearing-up, holding, enduring, remaining upwards or upright relative to God and the things of God under any obstacles);
persecutions (times of being pursued with hostility as though I was an enemy),
sufferings (the experiences of things which affect me),
- specifically the sort of sufferings that came to pass to me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra,
- specifically the sort of persecutions I bore-up (I carried the effects being underneath these persecutions pushing down on me),

…and out-from all-things the Lord rescued me (he delivered, snatched or drew me to himself out from all those sufferings and persecutions).

Also all-people, emphatically and specifically the ones intending to live reverentially in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. All who will, with active volition and desire, to live their everyday lives in a manner/mode of good/well service being respectfully reverential of/towards God, within the sphere of action, character and attributes of Christ Jesus, will be pursued with hostility as enemies by those who do not intend to live reverentially in Christ Jesus.

But…

evil men (those of mankind who behave being active with malignancy, who exercise badness during the everyday living of their lives) and
enchanters (those who endeavor to exercise control over other people and things, charmers, people who howl or wail chants of spells, etc, sorcerers, witches, wizards, those who work for the devil and carry out his will)

…will advance on the worse state (they will beat or drive forward cutting down everything out of their way so that nothing can impede their progress, they will advance – where? – downwards in direction and motion to a condition and quality that is more bad than previously attained by them) wandering and being caused-to-wander. They are presently and actively erring, not-staying in their rightful place, leading astray from the truth, and they are allowing themselves to be caused to err, to not-stay in their rightful place, they are being led-astray from the truth of God's Word, like a planet is constantly moving around when viewed from the earth unlike the stars which retain their position relative-to each other. They do it themselves and they allow others to do it to them.

But emphatically you (Timothy) must remain in which things you learned (stay, continue within the sphere of action of the things which you learned intellectually as a student) and were given-to-believe (to have faith in, to trust, you were firmly persuaded by others and so you are believing, faithful, trusting, trustworthy regarding these things)….

Why should you remain in these things? You previously knew and you still know from whom you learned them. You are perceiving, whereby what is known by you is known because it has come within your sphere of perception or circle of vision. You know who taught you and from whom you learned – it was not some unknown force or person, not some weird feeling, not because you ate too much ice-cream or something else!

You knew and continue to know from whom you learned them,…

with emphasis, because from a baby (the cause being that since the moment that you were born, came away from the womb) you knew and continue to know sacred writings (sacred individual letters or characters written making-up one writing and then all the writings together, you know scriptures that are consecrated and devoted to the only true God; the word “sacred” comes from the same root word that gives us the words: temple, priest, Jerusalem, temple utensils and services and areas and all belonging to God; - you know sacred writings),
- emphatically and specifically the writings being able to make you wise into salvation by means of belief (the scriptures presently being capable, having the able-power to cause you to be skillful, expert in your application of personal knowledge with a view to, directed to salvation, safety, the standing and state of being made-safe to God through belief, faith, trust; - the writings being able to make you wise into salvation by means of belief),
  - emphatically and specifically the belief in Christ Jesus (the faith/trust within the sphere of action, character and attributes of the resurrected Christ Jesus) – ….

What are the sacred writings? The sacred writings are the writings that are able to make you wise into salvation by means of belief, the belief in Christ Jesus. (Any other writings which are not able to do this are not sacred.) The writings written during the Old Covenant times and the New Covenant times which are able to make you wise into salvation by means of belief, the belief in Christ Jesus, are the sacred writings.

We should notice that:

1) Timothy was already saved when Paul first met him being a young man (Acts 16:1-3, II Timothy 1:5) and he remained saved the same as all holy-people remain saved; therefore he did not need to know something else in order to become saved. He had a certain amount of knowledge of the sacred writings, which included what Paul wrote in his letters very often quoting the Old Covenant scriptures in them, because Timothy’s believing grandmother and mother taught them to him, and then shortly after Paul met him they traveled together quite often. However, during the everyday living of his life Timothy also needed to apply and do what is involved regarding his salvation including its full completeness which will come to pass when Christ gathers all of us holy-people together with him.

2) These sacred writings are what were able to make Timothy wise into salvation – how? – by means of belief, the belief in Christ Jesus. The resurrected Christ Jesus would communicate information to Timothy via his holy spirit-life, the spirit of Christ within him, so that Timothy could accept (receive, take) it and become wise into salvation, behaving appropriately during the everyday living of his life (refer to also I Corinthians 12:7, 9, 11-13; II Corinthians 3:12-18, Colossians 1:4 and 27, I Timothy 1:14, 3:13, and II Timothy 1:13, and 2:7).

Verses 14 and 15 again: ^.14But you must remain in which-things you learned and were given-to-believe having known² from whom you learned (them), ^.15even because from a baby you knew² sacred writings, the (writings) being able to make you wise into salvation by means of belief, the (belief) in Christ Jesus – ….

Paul explains in detail about the sacred writings:

all/every writing is (the content of what is written in these sacred writings is adjectively described as)…
- God-breathed (blown by God, spirited from God. The root of “breathed” also gives us the words “wind” and “spirit.” God is Spirit and those who write God’s words, receiving them from Him, have received spirit from God within them. God breathes, blows, moves the stream of information as the wind moves from one place to the other. He spirits His words to the person’s holy spirit-life which then communicates them to the person’s physical mind and he/she can speak them and/or write them down. Therefore – all writing is God-breathed)
and
- profitable (beneficial, advantageous)…
  - towards teaching (in motion for the purpose of doctrine, instruction, this includes the teaching itself and the action of teaching it),
  - towards refutation (in motion for the purpose of proving another to be wrong, convicting and convincing of error, this includes the content of the refutation itself and the action of refuting),
  - towards uprightness (in motion for the purpose of restoring straight and level, correction, this includes the uprightness itself and the action of resetting onto an upright position),
  - towards training (in motion for the purpose of what is necessary in bringing-up or rearing children or young servants, this includes the training itself and the action of training) – training in what? – emphatically and specifically the training in righteousness (justness, justice, being and doing what is just/right from God's viewpoint),…
in order that the man of God may be equipped (the word “equipped” is an adjective – for the purpose and result that the member of mankind who belongs to God, God’s man/woman would presently and actively be: prepared, fit, ready to proceed, in the quality and state of preparedness, furnished, provisioned for the specific purpose, goal, task),
- having been fully-equipped and continuing fully-equipped towards all/every good work (having already been completely prepared by God and he/she remains this way, God’s man/woman has been fitted-out by God and stays fitted-out, fully furnished, totally provisioned with all the necessary equipment, nothing else to be done or added to him/her and so being ready to proceed in motion for the purpose of all work that issues from God Who is good and sets the standard for what is good, every good thing wrought, every deed, every effect-produced having acted expending his/her energy in accordance with what is perfectly admirable from God's viewpoint, according to His words and intention because He is the source of all true goodness).

Verses 15b-17 again: … sacred writings, the (writings) being able to make you wise into salvation by means of belief, the (belief) in Christ Jesus – ^.16all writing (is) God-breathed and profitable towards teaching, towards refutation, towards uprightness, towards training, the (training) in righteousness, ^.17in order that the man of God may be equipped, having been fully-equipped² towards all good work.

[Reference: Matthew 18:15; Acts 2:1-4, 7:19, 13:14 – 14:23, 16:1-3, 21:5, 26:24; Romans 15:16; I Corinthians chapter 2, 9:13, 12:4-13; II Corinthians 3:12-18; Galatians 1:12, 6:11; Ephesians 2:8-10, 5:11, 6:4; Colossians 1:4 and 27; I Timothy 1:14, 3:13 and 16, 4:6, 8 and 13, 5:10 and 20, 6:3 and 11; II Timothy 1:5, 13, 2:7, 15 and 21, 4:2; II Peter 1:21. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (²) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]

Paul continues….

II Timothy Chapter 4