The apostle Paul outlined for Timothy some traits that would characterize men “in the last days” and warned that, because of such men, those days would be a time of stress and peril. Men would be “lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it” (2 Tim. 3:1–5).
No one can say whether we are living in the last days or not. But this we know: Paul’s description is a graphic picture of men who are making the headlines today.
In light of conditions that existed when Paul wrote to Timothy—conditions that, though they repeat themselves in every generation, seem unusually prevalent today—it is interesting and instructive to see what Paul’s advice to Timothy was. He did not tell Timothy to go and hide. Nor did he tell him to become “involved” with these people. First of all Paul said, “Avoid such people.” This was not to be a sanctimonious separation from needy sinners but a recognition of the fact that there are men who are totally dedicated to evil and that reaching them with the Gospel is a matter of sticking to one’s calling and to the source of one’s message.
Paul told Timothy the going would be rough, involving persecution for Christ’s sake: “Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (v. 12).
He told him things would get worse: “Evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived” (v. 13).
Then, despite the catalogue of evil and the men who devote themselves to its accomplishment, despite the fact that this meant persecution, and despite the fact that things were going to get worse, not better, Paul told Timothy not to be discouraged. Prefacing his counsel with the words “But as for you …,” he reminded Timothy that he had been called to preach and teach the Gospel and had been trained in the Scriptures. The situation was bad, but Timothy had in his hands the one and only solution, and it was his job to proclaim that his own salvation and that of all men, including those perpetrators of evil about whom Paul had warned him, rested solely in the Christ revealed in the Scriptures.
Centuries before, when David was confronted by the seeming triumph of the wicked, he wrote, by the Holy Spirit, Psalm 37. (Let me suggest that you read this psalm in conjunction with Second Timothy 3.) Although evil men seemed to be triumphing, David wrote: “Fret not yourself because of the wicked.” “Trust in the Lord and do good.” “Take delight in the Lord.” “Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act.” “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!” “Depart from evil and do good.” “Wait for the Lord, and keep to his way.”
The overwhelming impression is one of confidence in the omniscience, omnipotence, and sovereignty of God. Nothing can do as much to enable us to see the world of our own time in its proper perspective. The evil all about us has not taken God by surprise, nor can it thwart his holy purposes and ultimate judgment.
What then? Paul’s “But as for you …” applies to us today. As for you and me who name the name of Christ, there is a work to do, a witness to be borne, and an infallible source of reference from which we are to take our directions.
“As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed” (2 Tim. 3:14). There is much experimenting today. There are those who have never believed in the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ or, having once believed, have now departed from it, and as a consequence we find much experimentation in areas where men have no right to experiment. I am not talking about new methods of presenting the Gospel nor of “new forms of worship,” though one must be sure these are firmly rooted in the Gospel itself. The “experimenting” to which so many of us object is actually a tampering with the message (“that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures”—1 Cor. 15:3, 4). It is not “experimenting” when the nature of sin is denied, or when Christ’s atonement for sin on the cross is blurred, or when the fact of his resurrection from the dead is explained away. This is surely not “experimenting” but rank denial.
Paul said to Timothy, “You stick to the Gospel which you have been taught and which you believe.” Then he went on to tell this young man, physically weak and beset by fears, “You have a job to do; it is to preach the Christ found in the Scriptures. Furthermore, all Scripture is inspired by God, and because it is, you stick with it regardless of those who appear to be religious but deny its power, despite the smart ones who, in their earthly wisdom, are constantly learning something new but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.”
Paul had unassailable reasons for his instructions to Timothy. He knew that evil men were like a ship without rudder, compass, or chart. Paul knew that men need teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, and that all these are to be found in the Word of God. He also knew that through this grounding in the Scriptures “men of God become complete, equipped for every good work” (v. 17).
In our day we ignore this counsel at our own peril. If we follow it, God will use us for his glory and for the advancement of his Kingdom.
We are inclined at times to think that our age of space achievement and scientific advance is so far removed from the realities of the first century that we have entirely new problems today, but they are basically the same old problems that have plagued man from the beginning of time. They arise, as Jesus said, from inside the human heart, from which proceed “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man” (Matt. 15:19, 20a).
The dismal picture of unregenerate man painted by Paul remains an accurate description in each succeeding generation. And the results of man’s degradation have never been more in evidence than today. For the individual Christian we hear these words, “And as for you”: Preach the word, and live according to that word. Remember the source and power of the preached word. Reject the arm of flesh and trust in the power of the Holy Spirit, and in prayer!
Individual Christians and the Church must recapture the passion and vision of those who went out against the odds of the first century. They must gather anew a band of men and women who believe in the transcendent power of the crucified and risen Saviour and who take as their chart and compass his Word, being assured in their hearts that he who has promised is able to perform what he promised.
“As for you,” Paul would say today, believe, obey, and leave the rest in God’s hands!
L. NELSON BELL
