Tuesday, September 13, 2011

2 Timothy 2:17

Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
2 Timothy 2:17

17 And [kai] their [autos] word [logos] will eat [echo] [nome] as [hos] doth a canker: [gaggraina] of whom [hos] is [esti] Hymenaeus [Humenaios] and [kai] Philetus; [Philetos] KJV-Interlinear

17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, NASB

Paul has already mentioned two names, of men who had shipwrecked their own spiritual lives, Hymenaeus and Alexander from 1 Tim. 1:20.

Nothing is known about Hymenaeus or Alexander.  Hymenaeus is mentioned one more time here in our passage, along with another false teacher, Philetus.  And a man named Alexander is mentioned again as an opponent of the Christian faith in 2 Tim 4:14-15, which may or may not be the same man.

However, the purpose of this mentioning of these men has nothing to do with their names, but with the repercussions they will be made to experience as a result of their actions of promoting false ideas.

It is clear from the first time their names were mentioned, that they were in opposition with Pauls teaching regarding the resurrection (by implication from that passage), but more so, they were simply in opposition to Pauls teaching in general.

From the current passage it is clear that they were gossip chatter boxes, and continued their chatter in opposition to correct doctrine.

Canker, ‘gaggraina,’ means gangrene or cancer.  When you experience a wound of some sort and that wound is not treated, then infection increases rapidly and gangrene sets in resulting in the loss of a body part or even in death.

Because the human soul is generally driven by the sin nature, then evil travels (like an infection or cancer) more rapidly that truth.

The world is driven by lies, 1 John. 5:19.

Lies are a sort of cancer or gangrene that putrefies into a deadly wound.

Religion is the devils favored philosophy. That, combined with the lies that form its foundation, then religions deceptions can be so infectious, that unless they are countered with truth, then recovery is difficult at best.

Religion, in its broadest sense, includes all false beliefs, including politics and liberal or conservative idealisms that disregard truth.

The cancer, the gangrene can spread rapidly since there is no doctrine to act as a counter agent to cure them.  That leads to severe loss or even death.  Unless one is plucked out of the fire of this destruction, Jude 23, Zech. 3:2, then recovery is near impossible.

Therefore, is should be very, very clear in the thinking of the individual, that life is a very serious, repeat, a very serious matter, and should never be taken lightly.

Truth should never be disregarded, and indifference or apathy should be challenged in ones own life, lest great loss occurs, and you figure it out too late.

What is at stake is your eternal life.  That is your life that will occur after this life ends.  And lest there be no mistake, you are going to have a next life whether you want to believe it or not. The only question is, are you going to get yourself ready for it, or are you going to play the part of the fool, and not prepare?

What we have learned thus far, is that there is only one way to prepare in your spiritual life, and that is through as daily study of the word.

No amount of wishing, no amount of hoping, no amount of sincerity, no amount of pretense, no amount of spiritual vocabulary or emotional displays, none of these things as well as many other human efforts, will accomplish for you even one inch of advancement in your spiritual life.

Advancement in your spiritual life must be done in the right way.  And as we have studied even recently in Isaiah, all wrong methods leads to kindling and self destruction, and likewise all false approaches are nothing more than ignoring a festering wound that gets more and more infected, spreading rapidly, resulting in major loss if not worse.

Before you were born in to this life, you had no say as to the details of your life or how it would play out.

But now that you are here, you know, that you will have a second chance as yet another life, in the next life, the one that is going to last for all of eternity. 

You now have all of the opportunities available to you, to define and design your next life. 

Why would anyone, why would you, pass up an opportunity like that?

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