In verse 2 Paul goes on to say, “For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.” The prophetic picture presented in verses 2 through 5 portrays not the evil condition of non-Christian society, but the corrupted situation of the “great house” mentioned in 2:20, degraded Christianity. This is proved by the phrase, “having a form of godliness” (v. 5). Unbelievers do not have even the form of godliness. Those who have such a form are those who are called Christians. Thus, the men in verse 2 are Christians.
The first thing Paul says about these men is that they will be “lovers of self.” Many Christians today are self-lovers. Not only those who indulge in worldly entertainments are selfish; even those who attend the chapels and cathedrals may be selfish.
In the three Epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus seven kinds of lovers are mentioned: lovers of self, lovers of money (2 Tim. 3:2; 1 Tim. 6:10), lovers of pleasure, lovers of God (2 Tim 3:4), lovers of good (Titus 1:8), lovers of husbands, and lovers of children (Titus 2:4). There are also two kinds of nonlovers: nonlovers of good and nonlovers of God (2 Tim. 3:3-4). Of whatever one is a lover, that is what his whole heart, even his entire being, is set on, occupied, and possessed by. This is crucial! Whether there could be a day of glory in the church’s victory or grievous days of the church’s decline depends altogether upon what we set our heart upon, what it is we love. History tells us that the root of the church’s decline was the loss of her first love toward the Lord (Rev. 2:4). To maintain the victorious standard of the church, we must be lovers of God and lovers of the good which pertains to God’s economy.
In verse 2 Paul speaks of those who are boasters, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, and unholy. The Greek word for arrogant also means haughty, and the word rendered revilers is literally blasphemers, as in 1 Timothy 1:13. Here, however, it does not refer to blasphemers of God, but to revilers or railers, those who speak evilly and injuriously of men. How much we have been reviled by those who call themselves Christians!
In a foregoing message I mentioned that some brothers in Taiwan who had been under my training for years became dissenting. Some even reviled God’s government. They were not only rebellious, but they were also unthankful, ungrateful. It is significant that in verse 2 Paul puts together unthankfulness with disobedience to parents. This may indicate that here unthankful mainly refers to being unthankful to one’s parents. We should be thankful to those who have raised us both physically and spiritually, thankful both to our natural parents and to our spiritual parents.
In the 1940s Brother Nee suffered intense opposition and was forced to be out of function for six years. Some of those who were dissenting with him still felt positive toward me because they had received help from me. One day one of them asked me, “Do you believe that Brother Nee has never been wrong?” I answered, “Whether or not Brother Nee has ever been wrong is not my business. I only know that I am indebted to him just as a child to his parents. If it were not for this servant of the Lord, I could not have the life I now have as a Christian. I have learned the lesson of Ham, the son of Noah, and I dare not say anything negative about him. In a real sense, he has been a spiritual father to me. He has raised me up in the Lord. Therefore, I do not dare say anything negative concerning him.” I can testify that throughout the years I have seen the blessing which has come from maintaining such an attitude toward my spiritual father. Both to our parents in the flesh and in the spirit we must learn to be thankful. It is a very serious matter to be ungrateful toward our parents. One aspect of today’s trend is unthankfulness. This trend, this current, has even swept into Christianity.
In verses 3 and 4 Paul continues, “Without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, nonlovers of good, traitors, reckless, blinded with pride, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” To be implacable is to be irreconcilable, to be a traitor is to be a betrayer, and to be reckless is to be headstrong. In the picture presented here there are three kinds of lovers-lovers of self, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure-and two kinds of nonlovers-nonlovers of good and nonlovers of God.
Verse 5 says, “Having a form of godliness, but having denied its power; from these also turn away.” A form of godliness is a mere outward semblance without the essential reality. The power of godliness is the real and practical virtue of a living influence to express God.
In these verses we have a dreadful picture of today’s degraded Christianity. By the Lord’s mercy and grace, we in His recovery must reject the situation portrayed here and be the very opposite of it.
Verses 6 and 7 speak of those who are “always learning and never able to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” This word has been fulfilled among many Christians today. They hear sermon after sermon and study the Bible, but they do not know the reality of the contents of God’s New Testament economy. They do not know Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God or the church as the mystery of Christ.
Verse 8 says, “And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind, disapproved concerning the faith.” According to Jewish tradition, Jannes and Jambres were the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses, as mentioned in Exodus 7:11 and 22.
In the decline among the churches, truth is the target of the enemy’s attack. Hence, truth is also the remedy and rescue from the diseased and ruined situation. In verse 8 disapproved means reprobate, and the faith denotes the contents of our belief.
In verse 9 Paul goes on to say, “They shall not advance farther, for their folly shall be completely manifest to all, as also the folly of those became.” The word folly refers to the lack of intelligence and the senselessness of their doing. The “folly of those” refers to the folly of Jannes and Jambres, who were defeated and brought to nothing (Exo. 8:18; 9:11).
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