Depraved minds

2 Timothy 3:1-17 TNIV

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.


My thoughts -

Paul, along with most first century Christians, believed that he was living in the last days. In an environment in which you and your fellow believers are being persecuted and killed it's easy, and even preferable, to believe that God cannot, will not allow this to continue. Jesus was coming back, and soon.

Look at how Paul describes people "in the last days":

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.

This description is brutal, but has there ever been a generation in human history of which this description is not true? If you thought about it for very long you could probably come up with a number of people this seems to be describing. What does Paul tell Timothy about them? He says to have nothing to do with them. That's good advice for Timothy and good advice for us. It's also pretty compelling evidence that Paul is not forecasting the future and the end of times but is instead describing people who are enemies of the faith. Why else would he assume that Timothy would encounter such people?

I love our obsession about the end times. We try to find clues in all kinds of things about when and how the world will end. We're not alone in this. Most previous generations did this, too. Why would I love this? Am I crazy? Well, yes, but that's not the reason. The world will end in its due time. I'm not eager for it but figure I won't be here to witness it, anyway. My world will end much sooner when my body dies. I love the idea of solving the mystery of "the end" because it helps to point us toward our own mortality and personal end. It is a problem we can't solve. I like anything that shakes us out of our mindless consumerism comfort zone and points to the temporary nature of things here and our dependence upon that which is greater than us.

Another thing I love about this is that, although he paints a dark portrait here of powerful, evil people abusing women and perverting teachings and manipulating people in the end times he does not do this without hope. Look at how he says they will be received:

They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

So how was Timothy to distinguish these false teachers so that he and his church could reject them? First off, he had Paul and Paul's example for him.

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.

We have leaders in our churches and denominations and also leaders in church history who have set examples for us to follow. We have their lives and teachings to guide us.

Second, he had Scripture to guide him.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We have Scripture as well. We need to be reading it together. There may be no better resource for us than Scripture read in the community of believers. If I'm way off base on anything as far as determining meaning from Scripture I have a number of people willing to help guide me. They also serve to check against my own biases. We need to be in the Word, though. We need to be in it every day. And we need to be in it together.

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