Saturday, 14 April 2018
…unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 2 Timothy 3:3
Paul continues his description of the miscreants who bring about the perilous times in the last days. The verse begins with the “unloving.” The word here comes from the concept of a person who lacks natural affection. This again transfers through what is moral to what is political. It points directly to the morally lacking thought process. The “natural affection” Paul is referring to is the bond between a parent and a child. What should be the strongest bond of all is missing when the knowledge of God is rejected. The Bible is replete with passages where children were sacrificed to Molech, and causing them to “pass through the fire,” such as in 1 Kings 17:16, 17 –
“So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.”
The cultures Paul was exposed to left female children out to die, preferring male babies. Some buried the children alive. Albert Barnes notes that during an earlier period, “In most of the Grecian states, infanticide was not merely permitted, but actually enforced by law. The Spartan lawgiver expressly ordained that every child that was born should be examined by the ancient men of the tribe, and that if found weak or deformed, should be thrown into a deep cavern at the foot of Mount Taygetus.”
The modern parallel is of course abortion. The left is rabid in their defense of abortion and any attempt at restricting or eliminating this legalized murder is met with the strongest opposition possible. They have lost any true natural affection and have replaced it with immoral sensuality and licentiousness. This moral depravity fits naturally with the next on the list, those who are “unforgiving.”
The Greek word comes from the thought of “without libation,” or “without truce.” Pouring out a libation to a god was a way of making peace with that god and thus forming a treaty. The idea then is a person who is completely unwilling to make peace; they are implacable. There is no agreement, there is no reconciliation, and there is no felicity. Instead, there is only “us and them,” and we will never cede an inch in our battle of depravity and moral perversity.
Next are the “slanderers.” The word is an adjective that would better be rendered “slanderous.” This signifies a false accuser, or one who unjustly criticizes others in order to hurt them, even to the point of severing relations. When an article is used in front of this Greek word, it speaks of the devil.
He then speaks of those who are “without self-control.” It is translated from a single Greek word found only here in the Bible. It indicates “inclined to excess,” or “powerless.” Such a person is unable to control his inner urges, and plows ahead in whatever unhealthy addiction or perversion he is prone to. Just as a person who wears a diaper is incontinent and cannot control his physical body, such a person lacks the same ability to control himself.
He then next speaks of those who are “brutal.” Again, it is a word found only here in the Bible. It signifies someone who is not tame, but rather fierce or savage. He tears angrily at those around him, and cannot be controlled.
Finally, Paul notes those who are “despisers of good.” Again, it is a unique word in Scripture which indicates one who hates good. He is completely hostile to what is right. The things of God are abhorrent to him. He is an active enemy of his Creator and the work which God performs as is described in Scripture. He is exactly the opposite of the man called to serve the Lord in Titus 1:8. There Paul says an elder should be “a lover of what is good.” The only difference in the words is that a negative particle is added here to form the opposite thought.
Life application: It’s rather easy to find any and all of those described in this verse today. All we need to do is turn on the news and look at the left in our society. They call evil good, and they call good evil. They despise Christ Jesus, and yet they claim to be moral, pious people. Let us use their lives as examples of how not to act, and let us use Christ Jesus as our example of how to act!
Lord God, the news media, and the entertainment world, driven by left-wing ideology, is completely upside down. They exalt that which is evil, and they call out those who are moral and upright as wrongdoers. They support the murder of the unborn, and yet they refuse to hand over criminals for justice. How long will the wicked prosper? Help Your people to stand against them, and to proclaim righteousness until You come for judgment. Strengthen us, O God. Amen.