Editor's note:
Just a minor item but actually in the Barclay's
commentary, Verse 14 is a one-verse section with the
next section being verses 15-18. We went with
the correction in
Verse 17.
This section has four verses:
2 Timothy 2:15-18
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they
will increase unto more ungodliness.
17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom
is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that
the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the
faith of some.
We will begin with the Barclay's commentary:
THE WAY OF TRUTH AND THE WAY OF ERROR
2 Timothy 2:15-18
…paraphrased
15 Put out every effort to present yourself to God
as one who has stood the test, as a workman who has
no need to be ashamed, as one who rightly handles
the word of truth.
16 Avoid these godless chatterings, for the people
who engage in them only progress further and further
into ungodliness.
17 Their talk eats its way into the Church like an
ulcerous gangrene. Among such people are Hymenaeus
and Philetus,
18 Who, as far as the truth is concerned, have lost
the way, when they say that the resurrection has
already happened, and who by such statements are
upsetting the faith of some.
PAUL urges Timothy to present himself, amid the
false teachers, as a real teacher of the truth. The
word he uses for to present is paraste¯sai, which
characteristically means to present oneself for
service. The following words and phrases all develop
this idea of usefulness for service.
The Greek for one who has stood the test is dokimos,
which describes anything which has been tested and
is fit for service. For instance, it describes gold
or silver which has been purified of all alloy in
the fire. It is therefore the word for money which
is genuine, or, as we would say, sterling. It is the
word used for a stone which is fit to be slotted
into its place in a building. A stone with a flaw in
it was marked with a capital A, standing for
adokimastos, which means tested and found wanting.
Timothy was to be tested to be sure that he was
suitable for the work of Christ and was therefore a
worker who had no need to be ashamed.
Further, Timothy is urged in a famous phrase rightly
to divide the word of truth. The Greek word
translated as to divide rightly is interesting. It
is orthotomein, which literally means to cut
rightly. It is a word containing many pictures. The
reformer John Calvin connected it with a father
dividing out the food at a meal and cutting it up so
that each member of the family received the right
portion. The sixteenth-century Calvinist theologian
Theodore Beza connected it with the cutting up of
sacrificial victims so that each part was correctly
apportioned to the altar or to the priest. The
Greeks themselves used the word in three different
contexts. They used it for driving a straight road
across country, for ploughing a straight furrow
across a field, and for the work of a mason in
cutting and squaring a stone so that it fitted into
its correct place in the structure of the building.
So, the person who rightly divides the word of truth
drives a straight road through the truth and refuses
to be lured down pleasant but irrelevant byways;
such a person ploughs a straight furrow across the
field of truth or takes each section of the truth
and fits it into its correct position, as a mason
does a stone, allowing no part to take an
inappropriate place and so knock the whole structure
out of balance.
On the other hand, the false
teacher engages in what Paul would call ‘godless
chatterings’. Then Paul uses a vivid phrase. The
Greeks had a favorite word for making progress (prokoptein).
It literally means to cut down in front; to remove
the obstacles from a road so that straight and
uninterrupted progress is possible. Paul says of
these senseless talkers that they progress further
and further into ungodliness. They progress in
reverse. The more they talk, the further they get
from God. Here then is the test. If at the end of
our talk we are closer to one another and to God,
then all is well; but if we have put up barriers
between one another and have left God more distant,
then all is not well. The aim of all Christian
discussion and of all Christian action is to bring
people nearer to one another and to God.
THE LOST RESURRECTION
AMONG the false teachers, Paul numbers especially
Hymenaeus [Hi may
nay us] and Philetus [Phi-le-tus].
Who these men were, we do not know. But we get a
brief glimpse of their teaching in at least one of
its aspects. They said that the resurrection had
already happened. This of course does not refer to
the resurrection of Jesus; it refers to the
resurrection of Christians after death. We do know
of two false views of the resurrection of Christians
which had some influence in the early Church.
(1) It was claimed that the
real resurrection of Christians took place at
baptism. It is true that, in Romans 6, Paul had
written vividly about how the Christian dies in the
moment of baptism and rises to new life. There were
those who taught that the resurrection happened in
that moment of baptism and that it was resurrection
to new life in Christ here and now, not after death.
(2) There were those who taught
that the meaning of individual resurrection was
nothing more than that people lived on in their
children.
The trouble was that this kind of teaching found an
echo in both the Jewish and the Greek side of the
Church. On the Jewish side, the Pharisees believed
in the resurrection of the body but the Sadducees
did not. Any teaching which did away with the
concept of life after death would appeal to the
Sadducees; the trouble with the Pharisees was that
they were wealthy materialists who had so big a
stake in this world that they were not interested in
any world to come.
On the Greek side, the trouble was much greater. In
the early days of Christianity, the Greeks,
generally speaking, believed in immortality but not
in the resurrection of the body. The highest belief
was that of the Stoics. They believed that God was
what might be called fiery spirit. The life in human
beings was a spark of that spirit, a spark of God
himself, a scintilla – a hint – of deity. But they
believed that, when someone died, that spark went
back to God and was reabsorbed in him. That is a
noble belief, but it clearly does away with personal
survival after death. Further, the Greeks believed
that the body was entirely evil. They had their play
on words as a slogan: ‘So¯ma Se¯ma’, ‘The body is a
tomb.’ The last thing they wanted or believed in
was the resurrection of the body, and therefore
they, too, were open to receive any teaching about
the resurrection which fitted their beliefs.
It is obvious that Christians do not believe in the
resurrection of this body. No one could conceive of
someone smashed in an accident or dying of cancer
reawakening in [The Kingdom] with the same body. But
Christians do believe in the survival of personal
identity; they believe most strenuously that after
death you will still be you and I will still be I.
Any teaching which removes that certainty of the
personal survival of each individual person strikes
at the very root of Christian belief.
When Hymenaeus [Hi
may nay us] and Philetus [Phi-le-tus].
and others like them taught that the resurrection
had already happened, either at the moment of
baptism or in a person’s children, they were
teaching something which Sadducean Jews and
philosophic Greeks would be by no means averse to
accepting, but they were also teaching something
which undermined one of the central beliefs of the
Christian faith. ~Barclay
commentary
Now to the other commentaries. We will begin with
the general and go to the specific.
First the Matthew Henry Main which covers verses
16-18
He must take heed of that which would be a hindrance
to him in his work, 2 Timothy 2:16. He must take
heed of error: Shun profane and vain babblings. The
heretics, who boasted of their notions and their
arguments, thought their performances such as might
recommend them; but the apostle calls them profane
and vain babblings: when once men become fond of
those they will increase unto more ungodliness. The
way of error is down-hill; one absurdity being
granted or contended for, a thousand follow: Their
word will eat as doth a canker, or gangrene; when
errors or heresies come into the church, the
infecting of one often proves the infecting of many,
or the infecting of the same person with one error
often proves the infecting of him with many errors.
Upon this occasion the apostle mentions some who had
lately advanced erroneous doctrines: Hymenaeus [Hi
may nay us] and Philetus [Phi-le-tus].
He names these corrupt teachers, by which he sets a
brand upon them, to their perpetual infamy, and
warns all people against hearkening to them. They
have erred concerning the truth, or concerning one
of the fundamental articles of the Christian
religion, which is truth. The resurrection of the
dead is one of the great doctrines of Christ. Now
see the subtlety of the serpent and the serpent's
seed. They did not deny the resurrection (for
that had been boldly and avowedly to confront the
word of Christ), but they put a corrupt
interpretation upon that true doctrine, saying that
the resurrection was past already, that what Christ
spoke concerning the resurrection was to be
understood mystically and by way of allegory, that
it must be meant of a spiritual resurrection only.
It is true, there is a spiritual resurrection, but
to infer thence that there will not be a true and
real resurrection of the body at the last day is to
dash one truth of Christ in pieces against another.
By this they overthrew the faith of some, took them
off from the belief of the resurrection of the dead;
and if there be no resurrection of the dead, nor
future state, no recompence of our services and
sufferings in another world, we are of men the most
miserable, 1 Corinthians 15:19. Whatever takes away
the doctrine of a future state overthrows the faith
of Christians. The apostle had largely disproved
this error (1 Corinthians 15), and therefore does
not here enter into the arguments against it.
Quoted verse:
1 Corinthians 15:19
If in this life only we have hope in Christ [meaning
no resurrection], we are of all men most
miserable.
Observe,
1. The babblings Timothy was to shun were profane
and vain; they were empty shadows, and led to
profaneness: For they will increase unto more
ungodliness.
2. Error is very productive, and on that account the
more dangerous: it will eat like a gangrene.
3. When men err concerning the truth, they always
endeavour to have some plausible pretence for it.
Hymenaeus [Hi may nay us]
and Philetus [Phi-le-tus]
did not deny a resurrection, but pretended it was
already past.
4. Error, especially that which affects the
foundation, will overthrow the faith of some.
~Matthew Henry Main
Let us now go to the Biblical Illustrator.
Saying that the resurrection is past already.
Error concerning the resurrection
The resurrection of the body, always a difficulty in
ancient modes of thought, was especially so to those
who, with the Essenes amongst the Jews, the Neo-Platonicians,
and most of the early sects which afterwards
expanded into Gnosticism, had adopted the dualism of
the East, and held matter to be evil— sometimes the
Evil Principle or his embodiment. Hence they were
ready to avail themselves of the other sense of
resurrection, the rising of those who were baptized
into Christ to newness of life (Romans 6:3; Romans
6:5; Colossians 2:12); and they denied that any
further revelation was to be believed. This error
had been early taught in the Corinthian Church (1
Corinthians 15:12). (Speaker’s Commentary.)
Quoted verses:
Romans 6:3
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Romans 6:5
For if we have been planted together in the likeness
of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of
his resurrection:
Colossians 2:12
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are
risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:12
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the
dead, how say some among you that there is no
resurrection of the dead?
And overthrow the faith of some. [...notice
the story-like narrative here to make its points]
Overthrowing the faith of others
After an infidel had succeeded in sapping the
foundation of his mother’s faith in the Christian
religion, he received a letter from her one day,
informing him that she was near death. She said that
“she found herself without any support in her
distress; that he had taken away that only resource
of comfort upon which in all cases of affliction she
used to rely, and that she now found her mind
sinking into despair. She did not doubt that her son
would afford her some substitute for her religion;
and she conjured him to hasten to her, or, at least,
to send her a letter containing such consolations as
philosophy could afford to a dying mortal.” He was
overwhelmed with anguish on receiving this letter,
and hastened to Scotland, travelling day and night;
but before he arrived his mother expired.
Unreliable ministers
A misplaced buoy caused the wreck of a steamer worth
[$250,000], the loss of a valuable cargo and peril
to many lives recently. The steamer, which was
called the City of Portland, left Boston on her
voyage to St. Johns, N.B., with seventy passengers
on board and considerable freight. The night was
clear, and as the steamer passed the Owl’s Head just
before daybreak, the captain saw a striped buoy
indicating the presence of a sunken rock. The course
was altered in accordance with the position of the
buoy, but in a few minutes the steamer struck a
ledge. The pumps were started at once, distress
colours set, and the boats cleared. The officers and
crew retained their presence of mind, and despatched
a boat for help. In a short time a steamer arrived,
and took off the terrified passengers, but the
steamer and cargo were a total loss. The captain of
the ship was in no way blameable. The buoy, which
was put there to be a means of safety, was by its
displacement the cause of disaster. It had drifted.
Similarly some preachers drift from orthodox
positions, and their change of position may cause
the wreck of the souls of those who flock to hear
them [See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_(shipwreck)
]. ~ Biblical Illustrator
Now to the specific commentaries.
This verse is primarily in three parts:
1] Who concerning the truth have erred.
2] Saying that the resurrection is past already.
3] And overthrow the faith of some.
1] Who concerning the truth have
erred.
Who concerning the truth have
erred - To what extent they had erred is
unknown. Paul mentions only one point - that
pertaining to the resurrection; but says that this
was like a gangrene. It would certainly, unless
checked, destroy all the other doctrines of
religion. No man can safely hold a single error, any
more than he can safely have one part of his body in
a state of mortification.
~Barnes Notes
Who concerning the truth have
erred. - Their speculation is stated. They
preached, as some do in our own times, that the
resurrection which Christ teaches is only a moral
resurrection, a resurrection of the soul to a better
life. This error was taught also in Corinth (1
Corinthians 15:12), and found some currency in the
second century. ~People's
New Testament
Quoted verse:
1 Corinthians 15:12
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the
dead, how say some among you that there is no
resurrection of the dead?
Who concerning the truth have
erred - They had the truth, but erred or
wandered from it, saying the resurrection was
already past, and thus denying the resurrection of
the body, and, by consequence, future rewards and
punishments; and this necessarily sapped the
foundation of all religion: and thus the gangrene
had, in reference to their unhappy votaries, a rapid
and unchecked operation.
~Adam Clarke
Who concerning the truth have
erred - That is, the two persons just
mentioned; they fell from the truth, wandered and
departed from it; they did not keep to the
Scriptures of truth, but deviated from them; they
missed that mark, and went astray into gross errors
and mistakes; rejected the Gospel, the word of
truth, in general, and particularly in [see
next phrase].
~John Gill
Who concerning the truth have
erred - More exactly, men who concerning the
truth erred by maintaining. For the compound
relative indicating the class see on Titus 1:11; for
the verb 1 Timothy 1:6; 1 Timothy 6:21.
~Cambridge
Quoted verses:
Titus 1:11
Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole
houses, teaching things which they ought not, for
filthy lucre's sake.
1 Timothy 1:6 [See
Lesson]
From which some having swerved have turned aside
unto vain jangling;
1 Timothy 6:21 [See
Lesson]
Which some professing have erred concerning the
faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
2] Saying that the resurrection is
past already.
Saying that the resurrection
is past already - It is not known in what
form they held this opinion. It may have been, as
Augustine supposes, that they taught that there was
no resurrection but that which occurs in the soul
when it is recovered from the death of sin, and made
to live anew. Or it may be that they held that those
who had died had experienced all the resurrection
which they ever would, by passing into another
state, and receiving at death a spiritual body
fitted to their mode of being in the heavenly world.
Whatever was the form of the opinion, the apostle
regarded it as a most dangerous error, for just
views of the resurrection undoubtedly lie at the
foundation of correct apprehensions of the Christian
system. ~Barnes Notes
Saying, that the resurrection
is past already - and no other is to be
expected; or that there was no future resurrection
of the dead: their error was, as some think, that
there is no other resurrection than that of parents
in their children, who, though they die, live in
their posterity; or than the resurrection of Christ,
and of the saints, that rose at the same time; or
rather, that there is no other resurrection than the
spiritual one, or regeneration, which is a
quickening of dead sinners, or the resurrection of
them from the death of sin, to a life of grace;
which seems to be the truest account of their
principle, seeing this is what has been received and
propagated by others since; though some have thought
that they gave into the Palingenesia of the
Pythagoreans, who supposed that when men die, their
souls go into other bodies; and that these men
imagined, that this is all the resurrection that
will be: and others have been of opinion, that their
notion was, that whereas the deliverance of the Jews
out of the Babylonish captivity is signified by a
resurrection of them, in Ezekiel 37:1 that this is
the resurrection they meant was past, and no other
to be looked for; but that which has been fixed upon
seems to be the truest account:
~John Gill
Quoted verse and I will read
the first nine verses:
Ezekiel 37:1-9
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me
out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in
the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and,
behold, there were very many in the open valley;
and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones
live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones,
and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of
the LORD.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold,
I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall
live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up
flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put
breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know
that I am the LORD.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I
prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking,
and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh
came up upon them, and the skin covered them above:
but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind,
prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may
live.
3] And overthrow the faith of
some.
And overthrow the faith of
some - That is, on this point, and as would
appear on all the correlative subjects of Christian
belief. ~Barnes Notes
And overthrow the faith of
some - the Ethiopic version reads, "of many";
that is, of nominal professors of religion; not of
true believers, for true faith cannot be overthrown.
Hence it follows [verse 19].
~John Gill
And overthrow the faith of
some - trying to subvert “the foundation” on
which alone faith can rest secure (2 Timothy 2:19).
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
Quoted verse:
2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure,
having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are
his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of
Christ depart from iniquity.
Recap:
1] Present yourself for service.
2] Firstfruits drive a straight road through the
truth and refuse to be lured down irrelevant byways.
3] False teachers engage in 'godless chatterings'.
4] Firstfruits caught up in false doctrine make
progress in reverse.
5] Firstfruit test: If in fellowship with brethren
we get closer to each other and to God, all is well.
6] Firstfruit test: If one erects barriers between
brethren and gets further from God, all is not well.
7] There are those in the world holding differing
ideas of the resurrection and what that means.
8] The non-converted or acting in a non-converted
way tend to enter into strife.
9] Strifes of words destroy the things of God in the
individual.
10] None can overthrow the faith of a firstfruit
moving forward in the Salvation Process.
11] We must see to it that we are holy vessels.
12] The way of error is downhill.
13] Embrace one false doctrine and a thousand will
follow.
14] Shun profane and vain babblings.
15] Whatever takes away the doctrine of a future
state overthrows the faith of Christians. |