2 Timothy 3:1-9

1 Remember that there will be difficult times in the last days.

2 People will be selfish, greedy, boastful, and conceited; they will be insulting, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and irreligious;

3 they will be unkind, merciless, slanderers, violent, and fierce; they will hate the good;

4 they will be treacherous, reckless, and swollen with pride; they will love pleasure rather than God;

5 they will hold to the outward form of our religion, but reject its real power. Keep away from such people.

6 Some of them go into people's houses and gain control over weak women who are burdened by the guilt of their sins and driven by all kinds of desires,

7 women who are always trying to learn but who can never come to know the truth.

8 As Jannes and Jambres were opposed to Moses, so also these people are opposed to the truth - people whose minds do not function and who are failures in the faith. ¹

9 But they will not get very far, because everyone will see how stupid they are. That is just what happened to Jannes and Jambres.

2 Timothy 3:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 TIMOTHY 3

In this chapter the apostle delivers out a prophecy of the last days, showing how perilous the times will be, describing the persons that will live in them, and what will be their end; and in opposition to these men, proposes himself an example in doctrine and sufferings; and encourages Timothy to persevere, and highly commends the sacred writings. The prophecy begins 2Ti 3:1 the description it gives of hypocrites, formal professors, and false teachers, that should rise up in the last days, and perilous times spoken of, is in 2Ti 3:2-7. And these are compared to the magicians of Egypt for the corruption of their minds, the badness of their principles, and their opposition to truth, and for their exit, and the issue of things; they will be stopped in their progress, and their folly exposed, 2Ti 3:8,9 and as the reverse of these men, the apostle gives an account of his own doctrine, conversation, and sufferings; which he proposes to Timothy for imitation, as being well known to him, and as also the common state of all godly persons in this life, being a suffering one, 2Ti 3:10-12 nor can it be expected that it should be otherwise, since false teachers, who are wicked and deceitful men, grow worse and worse, 2Ti 3:13. And then the apostle exhorts Timothy to abide by, and continue in the doctrines of the Gospel, from the assurance he had of the truth of them, from the consideration of his having learned them of the apostle, and especially from their agreement with the holy Scriptures, which he had knowledge of from a child, 2Ti 3:14,15 which Scriptures are commended, partly from the useful effect of them, making men wise unto salvation; and chiefly from the author of them, being by the inspiration of God; and also from the profitableness of them, both for doctrine and manners, and especially to furnish a Gospel minister for the work he is called unto, 2Ti 3:15-17.

Cross References

• 1. 3.8Exodus 7.11.