Biblical Logos Blog

For years I have looked for any passage in the Bible that would speak to a revival occurring before the second coming of Christ for his Church. With the social decline here at the end of the age, I was hoping for one last call to the hearts of unbelievers before the Lord takes us home. In some teaching I was watching the other day, I may have found something. Let’s look carefully at 2 Timothy 3:

2Ti 3:1-9  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. 

Let’s note some facts from the passage above. 

1. This is Paul writing to Timothy for his instruction on leading the Church. So the passage is meant for the Church.
2. This is a characterization of the “last days” we know we live in today. The list of sins seems to match today’s culture which I addressed in my last post “The Politics of Sin“.
3. These appear to be “Church Leaders” Paul is warning about, as the comparison is to Jannes and Jambres from the Old Testament. These were occult leaders for Pharaoh in the time of Moses. They were able to copy several of Moses’ first demonstrations of power when he confronted Pharaoh, but in the end, Moses staff which became a snake, swallowed up Jannes and Jambres snakes showing the power of the Lord over all occult power. Also, note the description of them “having a form of godliness”.
4. These leaders will resist “the truth”, God’s Word.
5. They have corrupt minds (see below)
6. Reprobate concerning the faith. They are useless and dead concerning our true Biblical faith
7. Their folly will be manifest unto all men as it was with Jannes and Jambres

Who are we being warned about?

These leaders who are compared to Jannes and Jambres are “of this sort, ” a reference to the long list of sins in the culture described above. Paul says they have “corrupt minds”. The Greek word for corrupt is “kataphtheiro” which means utterly corrupt to the point of death. This word is only used in one other place in the New Testament which is in 2 Peter 2. In 2 Peter 2, kataphtheiro is part of a very long description of false prophets and teachers that will arise in the Church. It seems Peter also used this same word describing the same people who would rise in the Church to lead people astray. 

The second part of the description of the false leaders in our 2 Timothy 3 passage says they are “reprobate concerning faith”. Adokimos is the Greek word for reprobate in these passages. It means rejected and castaway. Their teaching is useless. In 2 Peter 2, these teachers will receive the same judgment as the angels that left their first estate and were sent to the lowest part of Hell. Paul’s description then warns us. We should be cautious of teachers and pastors in the Church who embrace all of the cultural sins of the day. They commit some of these sins. They teach in a way that blesses these sins. Their teaching is utterly useless. Are some names coming to mind ? Are there pastors and teachers in the Church today that do not have a Biblical view of sins? Even the Pope is now saying the Catholic church can bless gay couples.

Here is the good part!

The very last verse is telling us the misguided way and teaching of these end-time Church leaders will be made obvious to all by God.

Here are a couple different translations of this verse:

• 2Ti 3:9  But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those two men, their stupidity will be plain to everyone.  – ISV
• 2Ti 3:9  But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. – ESV
• 2Ti 3:9  But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres. – NASB

This might be a prophecy from Paul about the days we live in. Jannes and Jambres were able to copy three of the ten miraculous signs that Moses did through God’s power, in the court of Pharaoh. But they could go no further. They even witnessed that what Moses did after the first three signs, was from the “finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). It became clear to everyone in Egypt that their corrupt power was no match for God’s power to the point they even confessed as much in the court of Pharaoh. Here in 2 Timothy 3:9, we are seeing the comparison to this event from the Exodus story. At some point, the false teachers in our day will be humiliated by the truth of God’s Word such that “all” will see their folly! Wow, the last several years have been marked by a truth movement in the political and media spheres. It seems God has a truth movement coming for his word so that all will see these false teacher’s error.

It is exciting to think that God may have one more demonstration of his truth in our generation. So many things come to mind. Will there be an archeological discovery that is irrefutable? Will God intervene supernaturally? Whatever it is, it is the very last thing mentioned by Paul in this last-day prophecy. I believe it tells us there may be one more move of God before the Church goes home!

Maranatha!