Saturday, October 1, 2011

2 Timothy 3:3


Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely
2 Timothy 3:3

3 Without natural affection, [astorgos] trucebreakers, [aspondos] false accusers, [diabolos] incontinent, [akrates] fierce, [anemeros] despisers of those that are good, [aphilagathos] KJV-Interlinear

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, NASB

Without affection, ‘astorgos,’ means to be heartless, without conscience, unpatriotic, without natural affection.

The natural affections of life are generally found in mothers for their children, married couples feelings for each other, dedication to a noble cause like a team, school, or country, and so forth.

And so, when a person is without affection, then they are truly self centered, and cold.

Irreconcilable or trucebreakers, ‘aspondos,’ applies to those who refuse to make changes in their lives.  They do not forgive, they hold grudges, they want revenge far beyond what is reasonable or fair.  They see life only as they want to see it.  They are implacable and unmovable.  They refuse to compromise. They are controlling.

False accusers or gossips, ‘diabolos,’which is a title for Satan, means to indict or lay blame.  They do this in order to promote themselves as the messenger of what they believe to be the justice of accusation, in order to get others to go against their victim.  They do not seek right, but seek only punishment for their victim.  Their motivation is usually out of hate or jealousy or envy.

Incontinent, ‘akrates,’ means without self control.  This person cares nothing for people.  In fact they care nothing for themselves, even though they are full of selfish characteristics.  They throw away their own life while pursuing their life through false concepts.  The lack of self control simply put, means that the wicked person, eventually loses all self control of their life and place it in the hands of the world.  But they fully believe that they have total control over their life.

Brutal, ‘aneneros,’ carries the connotation of wild beasts, hunter and prey activities of violence.  They are insensitive, malicious, and thus brutal.  They have zero concern for others or their circumstances.

Despisers of those who are good, ‘aphilagathos,’ means to hate or reject through conscious choice, that which is good, while at the same time, loving that, and again through conscious choice, that which is bad, fully knowing what is good and what is bad, but making their wrong decisions none the less.

Unlike animals who operate on the principle of instincts that guide them through life, wicked people drift off into self love be means of their conscious decisions to reject truth, which in turns drifts into the realm of brutality, self pity, hate, and so forth.

And remember that Paul is describing not simply the principle of these characteristics, and not just that some people will demonstrate them from time to time, and not just that history will have periods when folks will be good and bad, but Paul is describing the general nature of the entire world as we approach the end of our dispensation.

We will not wake up one morning and suddenly see seven billion selfish people, but this transition will occur over the course of perhaps several generations. 

Look how the swim suit designs have changed over the last century, and it took nearly a century for society to accept those changes.

However, some other changes like the acceptance of alternative life styles, have occurred over much shorter periods.  And as we move forward through the next few years and decades, and as subsequent generations grow up, then changes which will lead society to accept and even make into normal practice, things that the Bible defines as wicked and evil, will occur even more quickly.

Once evil is accepted, then the acceptance of more evil, becomes easier and easier, until that is all there is.

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