Bible Commentaries

In the last days; see note to 1 Timothy 4:1.

Truce-breakers; faithless men, who break treaties and refuse to fulfil their engagements.

Incontinent; not restraining their fleshly lusts.

Heady; rash, reckless.

High-minded; puffed up with a high opinion of themselves.

Having a form of godliness; having only its external form. These words mark the men whose character the apostle has drawn in such dark colors, as only outwardly members of the church of Christ.

Denying the power; showing by their lives that they have not the spirit of true religion, and have not experienced its renewing and sanctifying power.

Turn away; do not associate with or acknowledge them as Christians, and do nothing to countenance their errors. The great apostasy from the faith and practice of the gospel which has been and still is witnessed in the world, and which is manifested by its leaders exalting themselves as ecclesiastical and civil rulers, loving and amassing large sums of money, inducing men and women to stifle natural affection, to break away from and not to enter into family connections, falsely accusing men of heresy and putting them to death for reading and obeying the Bible, living in luxury and sinful pleasures, and at the same time abounding in forms and ceremonies of religion and bitterly opposing its spirit-was clearly foretold in the Bible. This is evidence that the Bible was given by the inspiration of God; and thus the wickedness of the wicked is an illustration of his truth. Romans 3:7.

This sort; of false teachers.

Creep into houses; go slyly into families.

Lead captive; get the confidence, and thus control the conscience and the purse of weak and wicked women. Inducing weak and silly women to repose such confidence in their spiritual guide as to reveal to him their secret feelings and conduct, and answer his polluted and polluting questions, is one of the most effectual ways of making them his captives, and leading them unhesitatingly into the most abominable transgressions.

Ever learning; from their false teachers what they would have them believe and do.

Never able; under such teachers, to know the truths of the gospel. Compare Matthew 15:14.

Jannes and Jambres; traditional names of two of the Egyptian magicians.

Withstood Moses; Exodus 7:11.

These; these corrupt teachers.

Resist the truth; by pretending to be Christ’s, and yet opposing his truth.

No further; in their propagation of error and wickedness, than God shall suffer them.

As theirs also was; the folly of Jannes and Jambres, who pretended to work miracles when they did not. In opposing what is good and in promoting what is evil, men will proceed no further than God shall suffer them; and when he sees best, he will make their folly and wickedness manifest to all.

Antioch-Iconium-Lystra; Acts 13:14; Acts 13:45; Acts 13:50; Acts 14:2; Acts 14:5; Acts 14:19.

Men who knowingly seduce others into sin become more and more wicked, and in deceiving others they often deceive themselves, to their own destruction.

Continue thou; to believe, preach, and practise the truths learned from the Scriptures and from the preaching of Paul.

Holy Scriptures; of the Old Testament. All who have the Bible may, and if they rightly treat it will, become wise to salvation; and if they do not, it will be their own fault.

Inspiration of God; God directed the men who wrote it what to write, and how to write it, that as a rule of faith and practice for men it might be perfect.

For doctrine; the communication of instruction.

For reproof; to show men their sins.

For correction; to reclaim them.

For instruction; in what is right, and the presentation of the highest and best motives to induce men to do it. As all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and like its author is perfect, and as it tends to make perfect all who believe and obey it, it should with the least possible delay be put into the hands of all people.

The man of God; especially the religious teacher.

Perfect, thoroughly furnished; prepared and furnished on all sides.

Unto all good works; pertaining to him as a teacher. These include his life as well as his labors. As the Lord said to dead matter, "Let there be light," and there was light, Genesis 1:3; Psalms 33:6, Hebrews 1:2; so he speaks in Scripture to dark, dead souls, and they become light in the Lord. He who breathed into man the breath of life, and made him a living soul, breathed into Scripture a life-giving power. Hence it is called quick or life-giving and powerful, Hebrews 4:12, converting the soul. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63. Hence too the reason why the man of sin, whose domain is like the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision, Ezekiel 37:1-10, is opposed to giving Scripture free course among his people. If he should, it would cause a shaking among those bones, clothe them with sinews and flesh, and the Spirit whose breath it is would breathe into them spiritual life, and they would stand up for God an exceeding great army. Thus would God consume popery with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy it with the brightness of his coming. 2 Thessalonians 2:8.