<p>3:5 <i>Holding a form of reverence towards God, but having denied the power of it</i>- Paul notes that the opposition to Timothy within the church had a &quot;form of Godliness possibly referring to their upholding some kind of statement of faith but were denying the power <i>dunamis</i>&quot; of that form of Godliness, i.e. the doctrines of the Gospel (2 Tim. 3:5). Paul has spoken of the &quot;form of sound words&quot; 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 &quot;form of Godliness&quot; in the Gospel; but who deny the operation of the power /&nbsp;<i>dunamis</i>&nbsp;which is associated with it, in that those who accept the Gospel shall be given the 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&nbsp;<i>dunamis</i>, 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&nbsp;<i>And the grace... </i>Paul has spoken much to Timothy about the &quot;power&quot; / <i>dunamis</i> which can strengthen him as it did Paul. He wishes Timothy to make use of the same strengthening: &quot;Be strong in the grace Gk. 'the gift' that is in that comes from being in Christ&quot; (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.&nbsp; unto internal characteristics such as endurance, patience and joy (Col. 1:11), the &quot;power&quot; in view being the spirit of Christ. This same power /&nbsp;<i>dunamis&nbsp;</i>is referred to in Rom. 15:13 as the source of these same internal, mental attributes: God fills us with &quot;all joy and peace... that you may abound in hope, through the power /&nbsp;<i>dunamis</i>&nbsp;of the Holy Spirit&quot;. 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 &quot;strengthened with might <i>dunamis</i> by His spirit in the inner man&quot;. This is where the gift of the Spirit operates; the reference is to &quot;the inner man&quot; and not the public display of the Spirit in special miracles etc. Paul's whole ministry, like ours, is a result of &quot;the operation of His power /&nbsp;<i>dunamis</i>&quot; (Eph. 1:19,21; 3:7). On this basis, Paul urges timid Timothy to allow the spirit /&nbsp;<i>dunamis&nbsp;</i>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 &quot;spirit of fear&quot; (2 Tim. 1:7). It was this&nbsp;<i>dunamis</i>&nbsp;which would enable Timothy to endure &quot;the afflictions of the Gospel&quot; which were clearly making Timothy balk (2 Tim. 1:8).</p><p>It may be that those who have &quot;a the form of Godliness&quot; 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:</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=12 cellpadding=0 width=80%>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=347 valign=top>            <p>            Having a form of Godliness</p>            </td>            <td width=347 valign=top>            <p>denying   Gk. &lsquo;contradicting&rsquo;, &lsquo;going against&rsquo;, the power thereof</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=347 valign=top>            <p>Ever   learning Gk. Studying</p>            </td>            <td width=347 valign=top>            <p>but   never acknowledging the truth the &lsquo;form of Godliness&rsquo;</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=347 valign=top>            <p>Resisting   the truth</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p>All this implies that there is a power in the &ldquo;form of Godliness&rdquo;, perhaps the basic &ldquo;form&rdquo; 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 &lsquo;hold the truth&rsquo; 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.</p><p>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 &ldquo;lovers of their own selves, covetous&quot; etc.; these men / brethren will be &quot;holding a form of godliness but denying the power thereof&quot; (3:5 RV). Their keeping the faith was meaningless. This &quot;form&quot; 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. &quot;From such turn away&quot; (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 <i>the</i> 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'.</p><p><i>From such people- turn away</i>- 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.</p>