Paul instructed Timothy concerning what God had revealed would take place in the last days. He did so to help him realize that he faced no unknown situation in Ephesus and to enable him to combat it intelligently.
3:1 Paul had given Timothy some instruction concerning the apostasy of the last days in his first epistle (4:1-3). Now he gave much more. The "last days"refers to the days preceding the Lord's return for His own (i.e., the Rapture).60They are "last"not because they are few but because they are the final days of the present age. In another sense the entire inter-advent age constitutes the last days (cf. Heb. 1:2).61Timothy was already in the last days, but they would continue and grow worse. These times would be "difficult"for all, especially faithful Christians. A list of 19 specific characteristics of these days follows (cf. Rom. 1:29-31).
3:2 People would be (1) self-centered and narcissistic (Gr. philautoi), (2) lovers of money (philargyroi, cf. 1 Tim. 3:3, 8), (3) boastful of their own importance (alazones), and (4) proud, arrogant in attitude (hyperephanoi). They would be (5) abusive toward others (blasphemoi), (6) unresponsive to parental discipline, (7) ungrateful, unthankful, unappreciative (acharistoi), and (8) impure, unholy (anosioi).
3:3 Furthermore, they would be (9) heartless, callous, hateful (astorgoi), (10) unforgiving (aspondoi) and consequently irreconcilable, and (11) slanderous of others (diaboloi), speaking with malicious gossip. They would be (12) lacking in self-control (akrateis), (13) brutal, brutish, uncivilized (anemeroi), and (14) antagonistic toward whatever is good (aphilagathoi).
3:4 They would also be (15) disposed toward betrayal, treacherous (prodotai), and (16) headstrong, reckless (propeteis). They would be (17) conceited (tetyphomenoi), puffed up with pride, wrapped in a mist of self-delusion, and (18) devoted to personal pleasure (philedonoi) rather than to God (philotheoi).62
Notice that Paul wrote this list of 18 characteristics in a somewhat chiastic arrangement. His list begins and ends with two groups of two words expressing a misdirection of love. Then come two groups with three terms each that focus on pride and hostility toward others. Then come two groups, five words followed by three words, all of which begin with ain the Greek text that negate some good quality that God's common grace affords. These eight words--the first one is in a two-word phrase--depict people who are devoid of the most basic characteristics of human life. The center of the chiasm is the word diaboloi, meaning slanderers, devilish people (cf. 2:26; 1 Tim. 3:11; Titus 2:3).63
3:5 Finally they would (19) make a pretense of being religious but deny the source of true spiritual power (i.e., God's Word). This last characteristic makes clear that those individuals described in verses 2-4 would even claim to be Christians (i.e., false teachers and their followers). Timothy was to avoid association with people who demonstrated these characteristics except, of course, for purposes of evangelism and instruction.
"Self-love is the basic shortcoming mentioned in the list of vices in 3:2-5. This vice leads to action in vv. 6-9 that is deceitful, determined to dominate, stubborn, and rejected by God."64
3:6-7 Paul evidently had the false teachers in Ephesus in view in these verses, though what he wrote here applies to all false teachers. Teachers manifesting some of the characteristics he just enumerated made a practice of gaining entrance into households in which the wives were spiritually weak (lit. little). He described these women further as dominated by various sins, responsive to their sinful desires, and seemingly ever learning but never really able to comprehend the truth of God. They cannot learn the truth because what they are learning is falsehood. The false teachers captivated such women with their teaching. Women were probably more susceptible to the influence of false teachers than men because in Paul's culture women occupied a lower status in society.65They did not usually have as much education as their husbands. Another explanation is that they had more time on their hands with which they could dabble in various theories.
"It is the immaturity and thus the weakness of these childish women' that make them susceptible to the false teachers. Paul does not use the term to derogate women but to describe a situation involving particular women. That he uses a diminutive form shows that he is not intending to describe women in general."66
3:8-9 Paul used the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses in the plagues (Exod. 7:11; 9:11) to illustrate the fate of these false teachers. Jewish oral or written tradition preserved their names even though the Old Testament did not.67As these magicians, the false teachers opposed God's revealed truth, possessed corrupt minds, and were outside the fold of the faithful. They would proceed only so far as their Egyptian predecessors did. Their foolishness would become common knowledge when their power would prove inadequate.
3:10-11 Timothy's past character and conduct stood in stark contrast to that of the false teachers. He had fully followed Paul's ministry (teaching, conduct, and purpose) and his life (faith, patience, love, and perseverance). The fact that God had delivered Paul from all his persecutions would have encouraged Timothy to continue following the apostle's example.
"The Lord everrescues his people, frequently fromdeath, sometimes by means ofdeath. Either way, nothing ever separates them from his love (Rom. 8:38, 39)."68
3:12-13 Timothy needed to realize, as all Christians do, especially those to whom "prosperity theology"appeals, that when a person determines to live a godly life he or she will suffer persecution. With his or her commitment to follow Christ faithfully the Christian sets the course of his or her life directly opposite to the course of the world system. Confrontation and conflict become inevitable (cf. Matt. 10:22-23; Luke 21:12; John 15:20; Acts 14:22; 1 Thess. 3:4).
The wickedness of evil people and charlatans will increase as time passes. They will not only deceive others, but their sins and other deceivers will deceive them increasingly too. Such is the perversity of sin.
This statement does not contradict what Paul said in verse 9. In verse 13 he meant that evil becomes more intensive as time goes on. In verse 9 he meant that the teaching of evil does not necessarily become more extensive and capture a wider audience as evil becomes worse.69
