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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