Wednesday, 2 May 2018
…and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 2 Timothy 4:4
Paul now describes the result of what will come upon those who will not endure sound doctrine, who have itching ears, and who thus heap up teachers for themselves. He says that “they will turn their ears away from the truth.” The Greek literally reads, “the hearing they will turn away.” The word is “used of the inner (spiritual) hearing that goes with receiving faith from God” (HELPS Word Studies). This is the same word used in Romans 10:17 where it notes that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
And so what Paul is saying is that they turn their spiritual ears from the eternal, beautiful, and life-giving truth of Scripture, and they turn “aside to fables.” The Greek word is muthos. In it, one can see where the English word “myth” is thus derived. This then is reflected in Paul’s words of Romans 1:25 where people exchange “the truth of God for the lie.” It is also seen in 1 Timothy 1:4 where he urges Timothy to not “give heed to fables and endless genealogies.”
This is a constant problem, even with saved Christians today. Conspiracy theories are held to as if sound and reliable. Evolution is accepted as truth. People believe that the earth is flat, they accept that one version of the Bible is divinely inspired and all others are of the devil, they accept Jewish tradition over the words of Scripture, and they constantly watch videos which predict (for the ten-jillionth time) the day of the rapture. There is little discernment among a vast swath of the Christian community because of turning from the truth, and turning aside to fables.
Life application: The more Bible you put in your life, the less time you will have to accept fables. Be wise and discerning with your time. Read! Study to show yourself approved! Don’t listen to those who would pull you into their box, and then close it around you. Pursue Christ, fix your eyes on Jesus, and live out the word in a holy, reasonable manner.
Lord God, help us to be kept from fables and conspiracy theories which have no basis in reality. Help us to not assimilate anything which is contrary to Your word, and to even carefully evaluate those things which may not be contrary to it, but which would distract us from a close and personal walk with You. Help us in this, O God. We are so very easily distracted. Guide us always. Amen.