Deeper Commentary
CHAPTER 3
3:1 But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come- As noted on 1 Tim.
4:1, Timothy was called to stem what seemed an inevitable tide. Men were
going to fall away from the faith, but his ministry was to stop this
happening. And according to the Lord's view of the Ephesian church in Rev.
2, he succeeded against all odds, despite his own weaknesses. The
Holy Spirit had said that grievous wolves would destroy the flock at
Ephesus (Acts 20:30)- but just as God's word had stated that within 40
days, Nineveh would be destroyed. In the gap between God's statement and
its fulfilment, there can be repentance and the human effort to change.
And as Jeremiah makes clear, in this case, the predicted judgments will
not happen.
3:2 For men shall be lovers of self- These "men" were within the
church, for :5 speaks of them having the form of Godliness. The list of
sins here recalls that in Rom. 1:29, which appears to be about the spirit
of the unbelieving world. The point being that the spirit of the age shall
affect the church. We note that these bad characteristics all arose from
the false teachings which Timothy had been called upon to stamp out in
Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3,4). False teaching without doubt brings forth bad
fruit, and thus a teacher or teaching is to be known by its fruit. Perhaps
Paul is telling Timothy that such things will be found within the church
because Timothy was somehow shocked and disappointed that they were
present. We note that he was not called to isolate the guilty individuals
and cast them out by some formal process of disfellowship; but rather to
always seek to turn things around.
We note the words connected with "love";
lovers of money, lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasure, not lovers of
the good, not lovers of God. Clearly the idea is that humans are wired to
"love" either self, or God. And conversion is all about the fundamental
psychological restructuring of the mind, putting our "love" into God
rather than ourselves.
Lovers of money, boastful, proud,
argumentative, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy-
“Argumentative” is really “blasphemers”.
Paul himself had been one of them (see on 1 Tim.
1:13) but had turned around; likewise the predictions here are not to be
read as an inevitable tide. Timothy was called to fight against them; just
as Nineveh was to be destroyed after 40 days, and yet that prophetic word
was annulled by their repentance. The wonder of it all is that someone as
weak as timid Timothy actually did turn it all around, at least
doctrinally.
It's possible to understand 3:1-3 as specifically talking about our last
days: “In the last days, fierce (Gk.) times shall come. For men (in an
ecclesial context) shall be lovers of their own selves... proud... without
natural affection... despisers of those that are good, traitors (cp. Mt.
24:10)... highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God
(implying they do love God); having a form of Godliness, but
denying the power thereof". The spirit of fierce aggressiveness which is
increasingly seen in the world will enter the ecclesias; brethren will
become proud, argumentative, materialistic, despising the truly righteous,
disregarding the needs of the household. And there are other NT passages
which suggest that this was indeed the ecclesial situation in the prelude
to AD70. The increasing bitterness and subdivision amongst us indicates
this will all be seen in the latter day body. Ultimately, human
relationships within the ecclesia will go crazy; brethren will hate and
betray each other. There will be little real spiritual mindedness; the
power of Godliness, the spirit / mind of Christ, will be denied, and only
the outward form of Godliness remain (cp. Eph. 3:20; 6:10; Col. 1:11). The
abounding wickedness of the world will so permeate the ecclesia that true
agape-love will grow cold amongst us (Mt. 24:12). The antidote to this is
offered in 2 Tim. 3:14 - 4:3: Love the word, hold on to the doctrine you
were taught by faithful brethren, study the word, make it your life,
challenge the apostate majority of the ecclesia with no fear of the
result, preach to the world, look to the blessed day of Christ's coming.
The Old Testament as well as New is written in such a way as to encourage
memorization, although this is often masked by the translation. There are
several devices commonly used to assist in this. Not least is
alliteration, i.e. similarly sounding syllables. In 2 Tim. 3:2,3 nearly
all words end in (-oi), the
masculine plural case termination- when it would surely have been possible
to construct the sentence in another way.
3:3 Without
natural affection, implacable, slanderers - There were such within the church at Ephesus (1
Tim. 3:11 s.w.)
Without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good- AV "despisers of those
that are good". Timothy had been despised by some within the church (1
Tim. 4:12); these people were within the church (see on :2).
3:4 Traitors, headstrong- Both words used about Judas, a member of
the ecclesia (Lk. 6:16; Acts 1:18 "falling headlong"), who typified these
Christians in the church at Ephesus.
Puffed up-
The word is only elsewhere used in 1 Tim. 3:6; 6:4 about the proud within
the church at Ephesus.
Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- "Rather than" is better "more than" (AV). These
people had a love of God, but their love of pleasure was greater. They
were within the ecclesia, having the form of Godliness (:5).
3:5 Holding a form of reverence towards God, but having denied the
power of it- Paul notes
that the opposition to Timothy within the church had a "form of Godliness
[possibly referring to their upholding some kind of statement of faith]
but [were] denying the power [dunamis]" of that form of Godliness,
i.e. the doctrines of the Gospel (2 Tim. 3:5). Paul has spoken of the
"form of sound words" as referring to some kind of corpus of Gospel
teaching in 2 Tim. 1:13. This has unpleasant similarities with those of
our day who loudly profess their Biblicism, their holding of some "form of
Godliness" in the Gospel; but who deny the operation of the power / dunamis which
is associated with it, in that those who accept the Gospel shall be given
the Spirit. They were likely associated with Jewish thinking or mentality-
"having the form [s.w.] of knowledge and of the truth in the law" (Rom.
2:20). "Form" in Greek refers to the formation of an image; Paul writes of
Christ being formed within the Galatians. But the association is also with
the carving and forming of idols. Biblicism without the Spirit, the "power
thereof", is of itself mere idolatry. The outward form of religion becomes
an idol, to be worshipped for its own sake. But it is without spirit. And this element within the church of today deny this,
insisting that the Spirit is not given in response to belief of the
Gospel, and that the days of Spirit operation ceased in the first century.
It is this dunamis, this power from the Lord, which provides us
with all things required for spiritual life and Godliness, and keeps us
unto salvation (1 Pet. 1:5; 2 Pet. 1:3). See on 1 Tim. 1:14 And the
grace... Paul has spoken much to Timothy about the "power" /
dunamis which can strengthen him as it did Paul.
He wishes Timothy to make
use of the same strengthening: "Be strong in the grace [Gk. 'the gift']
that is in [that comes from being in] Christ" (2 Tim. 2:1). And at the end
of his days, Paul could reflect that the Lord Jesus stood with him at his
final trial and strengthened him (2 Tim. 4:17). The same word is used of
how weak believers like us were strengthened out of their weakness to be
strong in faith- again a reference to psychological strengthening (Heb.
11:34), just as Abraham's weak faith was strengthened (Rom. 4:20 s.w.).
The same power strengthens believers [s.w.] unto internal
characteristics such as endurance, patience and joy (Col. 1:11), the
"power" in view being the spirit of Christ. This same power / dunamis is
referred to in Rom. 15:13 as the source of these same internal, mental
attributes: God fills us with "all joy and peace... that you may abound in
hope, through the power / dunamis of the Holy Spirit". To deny the
operation of power is not simply a matter of missing out on so much; it is
a denial of the essence of the transforming Gospel. A related word is
found in Eph. 3:16- we are "strengthened with might [dunamis] by
His spirit in the inner man". This is where the gift of the Spirit
operates; the reference is to "the inner man" and not the public display
of the Spirit in special miracles etc. Paul's whole ministry, like ours,
is a result of "the operation of His power / dunamis" (Eph.
1:19,21; 3:7). On this basis, Paul urges timid Timothy to allow the spirit
/ dunamis of love and a sound mind to work in him [again, internal
attributes, not referring to any ability to perform miracles]; and this
would drive out his "spirit of fear" (2 Tim. 1:7). It was this dunamis which
would enable Timothy to endure "the afflictions of the Gospel" which were
clearly making Timothy balk (2 Tim. 1:8).
It may be that those who have "a [the] form of Godliness" but deny its
power are those who merely accept the propositions as outlined, e.g., in a
statement of faith, but deny their living power in practice. And let us
note that Paul lists this as an especial temptation of the last days. 2
Tim. 3:5-8 has some telling parallels:
|
|
denying [Gk. ‘contradicting’, ‘going against’, the power
thereof |
|
Ever learning [Gk. Studying] |
but never acknowledging the truth [the ‘form of Godliness’] |
|
Resisting the truth |
All this implies that there is a power in the “form of Godliness”, perhaps
the basic “form” of doctrinal teaching delivered to baptism candidates.
This power can be resisted in that lives remain unchanged; yet
acknowledging the true implications of the Gospel will radically transform
life. One can ‘hold the truth’ and study it academically, yet not
acknowledge its power. Thus one can hold to a statement of faith and
regularly study Scripture, and yet live the life outlined in 2 Tim. 3:1-3,
of lying, deceit, boasting, dividing etc.- all because we do not
acknowledge the power of the demands of the doctrines which we study.
Hence, there is an urgent need to discern and accept the practical,
lifestyle demands of each of the doctrines which are fundamental to the
Gospel. If we do not see the connection between doctrine and practice, if
we don't perceive how doctrine and practice are linked, then the life of
thought without action reduces our faith to mere intellectualism and
endless theological debate, with all the resultant division this creates.
In 1 Tim. 4:1, Paul warns of a coming apostasy in the last days. 2 Tim. 3
repeats this theme by saying that in the last days, men will be “lovers of
their own selves, covetous" etc.; these men / brethren will be "holding a
form of godliness but denying the power thereof" (3:5 RV). Their keeping
the faith was meaningless. This "form" of teaching which they held is that
of Rom. 6:17- the form of doctrine which they accepted at baptism. They
will 'hold the truth' but deny its real power. "From such turn away" (3:5)
is the equivalent of the command in 2:21 to separate from those vessels
unto dishonour which exist in the house of God, the ecclesia. So the
problem of 'holding the faith' but denying its practical meaning is going
to be the major apostasy of the last days, Paul reasons. Continuing
in and keeping the Faith is parallel with running the gruelling marathon
of struggle against ourselves, wrestling not with flesh and blood in the
fight for real spirituality (2 Tim. 4:7). There have been theologians at
times who have argued that 'God did not command certain things because
they are right, but certain things are right because God commanded them'.
I sense this attitude at times amongst us too. But the Father doesn't seek
obedience just for the sake of it. There is reason and purpose to His
commands- hence David so praises them for this in Ps. 119. And so it is
with all 'doctrine'.
From such people- turn away-
Timothy as the bishop of the church could not just personally ignore some
church members. His commission at Ephesus had been to stamp out false
teaching and inculcate a culture of good works (1 Tim. 1:3,4). So I would
read this as meaning that he was to turn away such people- from the
platform. The next verse goes on to speak about the same group of [largely
female] false teachers in the church who were the burden of 1 Timothy.
3:6 For of these are they that creep into houses and take captive weak
minded women laden with sins- This entering the house churches which
comprised the larger Ephesian church and creating havoc is exactly the
scene we found in 1 Tim. 5:13. There, according to the reconstruction
offered in our notes there, we encountered a group of young widows, the
same group of gaudily dressed prostitutes within the church who were
slammed in 1 Tim. 2, "going about from house to house". These women were
getting more adherents in the house groups which comprised the church at
Ephesus. Note how Tit. 1:13 speaks of a similar scenario, whereby the
church at Crete suffered whole 'houses' being subverted; i.e. house groups
were taken over by the false teachers. The G.N.B. does well in translating
"weak women who are burdened by the guilt of their sins". Most of the
Gentile converts had come from the Diana cult, and perhaps these women had
been part of the thousands of Ephesian women involved in the cult
prostitution of the Diana cult. The false teaching women kidded these
other women that actually they need not feel bad about it, and could join
them in essentially the same behaviour under a Christian guise. The
'creeping in' to the house churches is very much the language of Jewish
false teachers in Gal. 2:4; Jude 4 and 2 Pet. 2:1. Yet in our
reconstruction, these female false teachers were Gentiles who had once
been involved in the Diana cult. But we have noted repeatedly that there
was a heady mix of Jewish myth and Gentile paganism at Ephesus. The
constant fear that 'Satan', the adversary, would use the situation refers
to the organized Jewish campaign to undermine Christianity. And they would
be eager to use the women who were involved in this false teaching.
Led away by various lusts-
This along with the "sins" earlier in the verse are fairly obviously
sexual in character. The false teaching sisters of 1 Tim. 5, who feature
here too, were therefore offering some kind of justification for sexual
misbehaviour. We note that by the time the Lord wrote His letter to
Ephesus in Rev. 2, the problem had been resolved. But it was not resolved
immediately, for between the first and second letters to Timothy, the
problem was still present.
3:7 Ever learning- I have shown in commentary so far in this
chapter that the persons referred to were within the church. They
continued learning, attending teaching sessions; but could never
acknowledge "the truth". The reference is not to people who hear the
Gospel but fail to come to "the truth" by some intellectual refusal to
accept it. Rather the "learning" must refer to Timothy's teaching of the
church, and the fact that some 'learned' but never came to the repentance
which is signified by "the knowledge of the truth". This would have been
comfort to Timothy lest he get discouraged by the apparent failure of his
teaching ministry with these individuals.
And never able to come to the knowledge of the truth-
Jer. 5:1 says that “if ye can find a man… that
seeketh the truth… I will pardon it”. To seek truth is therefore to
repent. Those moments of realization of our sinfulness, of accurately
perceiving the gap between the personas we act out and the real,
Christ-self within us- in those moments, we have come to truth. And this
is the repentance that leads to true, authentic pardon. There is a moral
link between any falsehood and an unspiritual life. And so repentance is
an acknowledgment of the truth (2 Tim. 2:25). A person can learn the
theory of God’s truth but never come to acknowledge it- i.e. to repent and
life the life of the truth (2 Tim. 3:7), never being transparent before
God and brutally honest with oneself. However, as noted on 1 Tim. 2:4,
"the knowledge of the truth" is a phrase also used there, but referring to
final salvation. God wills "all men" to come to this "knowledge of the
truth". Their inability to "learn" is therefore a wilful rejection of
God's attempts to bring them to His great salvation. Their inability to
convert 'learning' to "the knowledge of the truth" is therefore due to
their own moral failure, and not simply some intellectual barrier, an
honest failure to connect ideas together as they should be.
The parallel is with those having the form of Godliness [cp. "ever
learning"] but denying the power thereof [cp. "never able to came to the
knowledge of the truth"] (3:5). I explained that "the power thereof"
referred to internal strengthening by the Holy Spirit. It could be argued
that the 'true knowledge' here also refers to the knowing of God, in terms
of relationship, which is made possible by correct response to the gift of
the Spirit in human hearts. For this is how "knowledge" is used in Eph.
1:17; 4:13; Phil. 1:9; Col. 1:9,10; 2:2; 3:10).
3:8 Just as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses- Some Jewish fables
claimed that these two magicians of Pharaoh were converted to support
Moses. But Paul makes it clear that they "withstood Moses". Jewish
fables were a major problem at Ephesus, according to several passages in 1
Timothy. Paul is often weaving into his argument inspired corrections of
the Jewish myths.
So do these also withstand the truth-
The same word is used in 4:15 about the false
teacher who "withstood our words". Resisting Moses, "the truth" and "our
words" are thus all paralleled. It was an incredible calling for weak
minded, self doubting, half Jewish Timothy to realize that he was being
put on the level of the revered Moses. But speaking forth God's word does
that.
Men corrupted in mind-
Used in 1 Tim. 6:5 about believers in the Ephesus church.
Reprobate concerning the faith-
GNB "failures in the faith". The idea is that these are not random people
from the world but those who had been "in the faith".
3:9- see on Rev. 16:15.
But they shall proceed no further-
Does Paul refer to his certainty that the Lord's coming will be
experienced by that generation, and declare their folly at the day of
judgment? Or is he certain in faith that the Lord through Timothy is going
to turn around the Ephesian church and expose these people? Or is he
hopeful that they will in fact repent, realizing their folly and
confessing it to others? He may have in view the idea that the false
teaching is not going to proceed- Timothy is going to put it down, which
according to Rev. 2 he succeeded in doing. Paul notes that evil men in the
world will proceed in their evil- for :13 uses the same word: "[they]
shall grow worse and worse [s.w. "proceed"]".
For their folly shall be made evident to all men, as theirs also came to
be- Not least, their folly
will be made evident to themselves at the very end. Parables like that of
the rich fool, the foolish virgins... they will all be
crystal clear to them. Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be likened
to wise and foolish virgins (Mt. 25:1), after the judgment experience. The
materialist "at his end [rejection at the judgment] shall be a fool" (Jer.
17:11). The utter folly of the rejected is a major theme (Prov.
14:8,18; Ps. 5:5; 49:13; Mt. 7:26; 25:8). Rejected Israel were made to
drink the wine of astonishment (Ps. 60:3), and the rejected in like manner
will gape: "When saw we thee...?". They will be turned back from the
Kingdom "in dismay... clothed with shame and confusion" (Ps. 35:5,26).
Confusion will then give way to panic and then to a level of agitated
dementia well beyond the paradigms of present psychiatry.
Often the Spirit points out that the sinner is only harming himself by his
actions- and yet he earnestly pursues his course, in the name of
self-interest and self-benefit (Num. 16:38; Prov. 19:8; 20:2; Hab. 2:20;
Lk. 7:30). Sin is therefore associated by God with utter and derisible
foolishness (e.g. Num. 12:11; 2 Tim. 3:9); but this isn't how man in his
unwisdom perceives it at all. Indeed, to him self-denial is inexplicable
folly and blindness to the essentials of human existence. "This their way
is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah (pause to
meditate)" (Ps. 49:13). The folly of sin is only fully
evident to God.
3:10 But you, follow my teaching- Paul could only write such things
without pride because of his deep sense of what he wrote at the beginning
of 1 Timothy; because of his serious sins and the depth of grace shown to
him, he had been set up as a parade example to other Christians. The idea
could equally be [as in AV] that Timothy had "fully known" Paul's teaching
etc.- by reason of having travelled so much with him.
Conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience-
Paul could say that Timothy had fully known his
“purpose” (2 Tim. 3:10). The Greek prothesis is the same used in
the New Testament about the shewbread- the bread openly on display before
God. Paul is saying that his essential and real self was transparent,
openly shown to both God and man. To say ‘You’ve fully known how open and
transparent I am’ is really quite something. Who Paul showed himself to be
was who he really was.
3:11 Persecutions, sufferings- I suggest the "sufferings" refer to
the mental and spiritual temptations which arise from the literal,
physical persecutions. The same word is translated "sinful passions" (Rom.
7:5; Gal. 5:24). The rest of the verse goes on to talk about the Lord's
spiritual deliverance of Paul from these spiritual temptations (see
commentary).
Think of what things befell me
at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra-
Timothy had been with
Paul and was being asked to model himself on Paul.
What persecutions I endured- Paul uses the same word for "endured" in explaining that we can only
bear or endure our trials because a way of escape is made for us out of
them (1 Cor. 10:13). And so the Lord's deliverance of Paul was through
making ways of escape every time. The comment that the Lord had
'delivered' Paul from those persecutions therefore refers to not suffering
him to spiritually collapse as a result of them. Paul seems to constantly
feel that Timothy is on the verge of spiritual collapse; the fact he
fulfilled his ministry at Ephesus, according to the Lord's judgment of the
church in Rev. 2, shows that despite so much teetering on the edge, the
Spirit finally made Timothy strong out of weakness. Timothy was being
encouraged that despite all the trauma that Paul had endured, the Lord had
delivered him from spiritually stumbling as a result of them; and Paul is
consciously setting himself as Timothy's example.
And out of them all, the Lord delivered me- I noted above that this deliverance was more in
spiritual terms than deliverance from literal hardship. The bad
experiences were not allowed to make Paul stumble. We find the same word
in the Lord's prayer, regarding deliverance from temptation (Mt. 6:13);
and of our deliverance from spiritual temptation (2 Pet. 2:9). Paul's
confidence that he would always be "delivered" (4:18) surely refers to his
confidence that he would be delivered from spiritually falling; for in the
same breath he recognizes that the time of his death is near, and he did
not expect any last minute reprieve from it. This is huge encouragement
for us all; we shall be delivered from spiritual temptation if this is our
true desire. Truly "The sceptre of wickedness won’t remain over the
allotment of the righteous; so that the righteous won’t put forth their
hands to do evil" (Ps. 125:3).
3:12 Yes, and all who would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution-
Paul sees himself as being set up as a model for all believers, not
just for Timothy (1 Tim. 1:13). And we will likewise be delivered from the
spiritual temptations which go along with those persecutions- if that is
our dominant desire.
3:13 But evil men and impostors shall grow worse and worse- As noted on
1 Tim. 4:1, Timothy was called to fight what seemed an inevitable tide of
declension from the faith. As were the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20. And
just as Moses succeeded in changing Israel's destiny, it seems they
succeeded. For the Lord's letter to Ephesus commends the church for
keeping out false teaching and excelling in good works. The problem was
that they lacked agape love.
Deceiving and being deceived-
This is surely a pointer to Jacob. Allusions to Jacob in later
Scripture often comment on his negative side.
3:14 But you, grow in the things which you have learned- The
downward spiral of :13 is matched by this upward spiral language. We can
never stand still in spiritual life; there are forces propelling us either
downwards or upwards. The command is not simply to retain what we learned
before baptism; but to grow in those things, ever seeing new and wondrous
implications in those basic truths.
Knowing from whom you have learned them-
The integrity and manner of life of those who
converted us is what inspires us to carry on. Thus Paul urges Timothy to
“continue” because he knew “of what persons” he had been taught them (2
Tim. 3:14 RVmg.). The reference would be not only to Paul, but to his
mother and grandmother who first taught him the Gospel. Paul is writing
from the psychological viewpoint of Timothy; the integrity of the teacher
was and is associated with the truth of the message taught. This is basic
human psychology. And it explains why there is so much emphasis in
Timothy's ministry upon not allowing immoral people to teach. Because
especially with illiterate audiences, the power of the message will be
compromised by the integrity of the messenger. It is too easy to take the
high ground that people should believe the message despite the messenger,
because it is ultimately from God. That may be true on a theoretical
level, but reality is that people do associate the message with the
messenger. Hence Paul's request that Timothy reflect on the integrity of
those who brought him the message, so that he might continue believing the
message.
3:15 And that from a child- This continues the argument of the
preceding phrase in :14; because Timothy had been taught the scriptures
from childhood by his mother and grandmother who were of integrity (2 Tim.
1:5)- therefore he should continue to reverence the scriptures. See on :14
Knowing from whom.
You have known the sacred writings-
Literally, 'the holy letters' (s.w. 2 Cor. 3:7; Gal. 6:11), as if
referring to how his mother and grandmother taught him to read letter by
letter from the Scriptures. Considering the low literacy rate in the Roman
empire of the first century, we can assume that Timothy's background was
of reasonable wealth. This would explain much of his weakness of character
and personality which we have noted elsewhere; the weaknesses are typical
of a 'rich kid'.
Which are able to make you wise to salvation through the faith which is in
Christ Jesus-
Paul is not saying that
Bible reading will save us. It is faith in Christ which saves us, and we
are made wise to that fact by the content of the entire Scriptures. The
Old Testament scriptures were opened up by faith in Christ; that is what
provided the key to interpretation which made them useful.
3:16- see on 2 Tim. 4:2,3.
Every scripture
is inspired of God, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness-
The Hebrew Bible was split up into small sections,
such as "The Bush", referring to Moses and the burning bush. Each section
was Divinely inspired, and this is probably the reference of
"Every scripture".
A comparison of 2 Tim. 3:16 with 4:2,3 makes it clear that because the
inspired word is profitable:
for doctrine therefore
preach the word; be instant in season, out of season (i.e. whether
you naturally feel in the preaching mood or not)
for reproof therefore
reprove
for correction therefore
rebuke
for instruction in righteousness therefore
exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.
3:17 So
that the man of God may be complete-
Note how Peter says that the prophet was a ‘man of
God’ who was moved by God’s Spirit to write Scripture; whereas Paul says
that the Spirit-inspired Scriptures are what makes a ‘man of God’- us- who
he is (2 Tim. 3:17 cp. 2 Pet. 1:21). There is a mutuality here, in which
even we in this age can have a part.
Completely empowered to every good work- Yet we so often blame our lack of good works on a
lack of resources or abilities. But the Scriptures speak to us, if we let
them and read them in faith, and thus inspire us to good works. The Lord
later commended the Ephesus ecclesia on their "good works", so it would
seem that Timothy really obeyed the spirit of all this. He pursued the
teaching ministry he had been given, even if it was initially against the
grain of his character. And it did indeed empower others to good works.
Sadly, this was all done without agape, and this was the Lord's
serious criticism of the later Ephesian church.
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