I’m going to talk about roots and fruits. I’ll give away the conclusion: bad roots bring bad fruits; good roots bring good fruits. It’s just as true spiritually as it is agriculturally. Unholy roots bring unholy fruit; holy roots bring holy fruit. Paul puts this principle on display in his letter to Timothy.
2:22 Timothy, run away from youthful desires. Instead, direct your passion to chasing after righteousness, faithfulness, love, and peace, along with those who call upon the Lord with pure hearts. 23 Excuse yourself from any conversations that turn into foolish and uninformed debates because you know they only provoke fights. 24 As the Lord’s slave, you shouldn’t exhaust yourself in bickering; instead, be gentle—no matter who you are dealing with—ready and able to teach, tolerant without resentment, 25 gently instructing those who stand up against you.
Besides, the time may come when God grants them a change of heart so that they can arrive at the full knowledge of truth. 26 And if they come to their senses, they can escape the devil’s snare and walk freed from his captivity and evil bidding.
3:1 And know this: in the last days, times will be hard. 2 You see, the world will be filled with narcissistic, money-grubbing, pretentious, arrogant, and abusive people. They will rebel against their parents and will be ungrateful, unholy, 3 uncaring, coldhearted, accusing, without restraint, savage, and haters of anything good.
4 Expect them to be treacherous, reckless, swollen with self-importance, and given to loving pleasure more than they love God. 5 Even though they may look or act like godly people, they’re not. They have the outward form and look of godliness, but by their lives they deny God’ power. I tell you: Stay away from the likes of these. Keep them away from your people.
. 6 They’re snakes slithering[1] into the houses of vulnerable women, women gaudy with sin, to seduce them. These reptiles can capture them because these particular women are weak and easily swayed by their desires, 7 always learning, but never gaining the full measure of the truth.
8 And, just as Jannes and Jambres rose up against Moses, these ungodly people defy the truth. Their minds are corrupt, and their faith is absolutely worthless. 9 But they won’t get too far because their stupidity will be noticed by everyone, just as it was with Jannes and Jambres.
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I’m going to work my way backwards and get some things out of the way so they don’t distract us.
First, Jannes and Jambres are not mentioned in the Old Testament. They are part of Hebrew tradition. Paul mentions them to help his audience make a connection about just how ungodly, corrupt and worthless people have played a role in the history of God’s people.
Second, this passage about silly women can feel offensive if you don’t understand what was happening at that time and in that place. Women in general at that time were more susceptible to believing error simply because they were given less education. No wonder they are hungry to learn – “always learning” – when someone shows up to teach. However, they don’t have the skills to separate truth from a lie, so they “never gain the full measure of truth.”
This is probably why Paul says in his first letter to Timothy and to the church in Corinth that, in opposition to cultural norms, women must be taught – and they must be taught in the church. Men – who got the education in this culture – had a responsibility to teach the women. This was a ground-breaking command for that time and place.[2] Paul is not leveling insults at women as women. He is warning Timothy that there are vulnerable people in his congregation, and false teachers are targeting them.
* * * * *
“And know this: in the last days[3], times will be hard.”
Biblically speaking, we have been in the last days for 2,000 years.
“The Jewish Rabbis of the days of St. Paul were in the habit of speaking of two great periods of the world’s history—“this age,” and “the age to come.” The former…included all periods up to Messiah’s advent; the latter… included all periods subsequent to the appearance of Messiah. We find the same idea embodied later in the Talmud…This last period, “the days of Messiah,” are often alluded to by the Hebrew prophets under the expression, “in the last days.” (See Isaiah 2:2; Hosea 3:5; Micah 4:1.)”[4]
So that’s where Timothy was – it’s why Paul tells Timothy to stay away from them - and that’s where we are. Life has been and will continue to be hard in these last days. In this context, it will be hard because of people in the church who are far from Christ.
“People will be…”
And here is a description of false teachers from the previous chapter, which will be contrasted with Timothy as a true teacher in the next section. Keep in mind this is not about the culture “out there,” even though this is really similar to the list in Romans 1.[5] This is about a danger in the church that will be present from the time Jesus left until Jesus returns. This isn’t just a future thing.[6] Paul says there are false teachers right now sneaking into the homes of people in the church right now. This is basically the list the writer of Romans used to describe those far from Christ and outside the church in
We have to be careful to not get too caught up in looking ‘out there’ to see what it looks like to live far from Christ. It’s the classic line from scary movies: “The call is coming from inside the house.” The line between good and evil doesn’t run cleanly at the perimeter of the church. It runs through the church because it runs through every individual heart.
Now, if you will indulge the literary nerd in me for a moment. There is some skill in this section. Paul was no slouch when it came to writing.
He broadly bookends this section with the power of the gospel: repentance leads to truth, which helps us escape the devil vs. pretending to follow Jesus but believing lies, which means God’s transformative power is not at work .
He then more narrowly wraps it around with the question of love, because we are what we love.These false teachers are lovers of themselves and their money, which at the end he summarizes as lovers of pleasure rather than God.[7]
In the middle, we find the characteristics of those who love themselves more than God, those who pretend to have God at work in them but do not. Details in later weeks. Today is big picture.
“Given to loving pleasure more than they love God. Even though they may look or act like godly people, they’re not. They have the outward form and look of godliness, but by their lives they deny God’ power. I tell you: Stay away from the likes of these.”
“It begins with ‘lovers of self’ - that is the root of all forms of sin. In the center there stands ‘lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God’; and at the end, summing up the whole, are the words of our text, ‘having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.’ But what is the ‘denying the power thereof?’ It does not consist in words, but in deeds.”[8] – MacLaren’s Expositions
I love movies where someone pretends to be really good at fighting. They take a stance and maybe even go through a couple moves that look good, but the minute the fight starts, it is clear they had the form but not the power.
It’s the guy who shows up to the gym in the latest workout gear and then doesn’t know how to use the equipment, and so never gets stronger.
It’s the dude in the last tennis shoes and NBA gear who joins a pick-up game and can’t hit the backboard.
This is the idea. These people look good – they talk a good game – but whatever was supposed to be happening inside the form has had no practical impact on their lives. They have not and will not allow the thing they claim to love change them.
“But denying the power thereof - Opposing the real power of religion; not allowing it to exert any influence in their lives. It imposes no restraint on their passions and carnal propensities, but in all respects, except in the form of religion, they live as if they had none.” – Barne’s Notes On The Bible
Timothy, then, is called to be the opposite of this. “Run away from that; chase this.”
“Timothy is called to be the kind of person who willing surrenders heart, soul, mind and strength to God in response to the grace of Jesus, and as a result changes.”
Timothy loves Jesus. He has committed to him and worships him (that’s the form of godliness). Paul calls him to embrace the transformative power of the gospel. The way of the Master not only does it work inside with the issue of who we love, it restrains and reorders our passions and actions. We become different inside and out.
I started using myfitnesspal.com again this week. I need to lose a couple decades of pounds. Each day, I input what I eat and how I exercise. Now, I can take on the form of someone who is serious about losing weight. I can fill in everything; I could post updates on Facebook straight from the myfitnesspal.com site. But the power of the plan comes from following the plan. I’ve used this before; I have the kind of metabolism that if I keep track of input and output honestly, I will lose weight just like the site claims. I will not experience its transformative power without surrendering to it and letting it order my life.
The gospel calls us to surrender first and foremost. “A living sacrifice,” which is a reasonable response to the grace of God. (Romans 12:1) This gospel – the good news – provides a form, a framework: the path of life. “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21). The power of God’s gospel transformation is experienced in surrendering to His way and walking in it.
So what does that look like?
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself…”16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh…. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness and self-control…25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5)[9]
Bad roots bring bad fruit.
“The acts of the sinful nature are essentially self-centered, gratifying a person’s physical and emotional desires. They are destructive of community life.”[10]
Bad roots bring bad fruit.
The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, is a list of actions that promote community life [and] produces a harvest of ethical characteristics… (1) from and with God (love, joy, peace); (2) from God and with fellow believers (patience, kindness, goodness); and (3) from God and within oneself (faithfulness, gentleness, self-control).[11]
Good roots bring good fruit. Holy roots bring holy fruit. And by our fruit people will know us.
We’ve got the roots established. We are going to spend the next couple weeks hanging fruit on these trees based on what Paul has to say to Timothy so that we can see how life unfolds based on our rootedness.
THREE QUESTIONS
What is the difference between the love for self we see in “love your neighbors as you love yourself” and this warning that Paul gives about loving ourselves rather than God?
What is the difference between meeting personal, emotional and physical needs (self-care) vs. gratifying the desires of the flesh (self-indulgence)?
How can we best avoid being ‘silly’ people who are easily deceived by falsehoods of all kinds?
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[1] “The expression, “which creep into houses,” although perfectly natural, and one which, even in these Western countries, could be used with propriety to express the method in which these deceiving and perverting men make their way into households, yet, when we remember the comparative state of seclusion in which women usually lived and still live in Eastern lands, the words used by Paul acquire an increased force. Special fraud and deceit was needful for these false teachers to creep into the women’s apartments in Asia. The Greek word translated “lead captive” is a peculiar one, and is only found in comparatively later Greek. It is supposed to be a word of Alexandrian or Macedonian origin. It here represents these women as wholly under the influence of these bad men, to the utter destruction of all true, healthy, home life.” Ellicott’s Commentary
[2] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Bible Commentary
[3] “That in the last days perilous times shall come; "or hard" and difficult times to live in; not by reason of the outward calamities, as badness of trade, scarcity of provisions, the ravages of the sword, &c. but by reason of the wickedness of men, and that not of the profane world, but of professors of religion; for they are the persons afterwards described, who will make the times they live in difficult to others, to live soberly, righteously, and godly; the days will be evil, because of these evil men.” - Gill’s Exposition
“The Jews generally understand by this phrase, when used in the Old Testament, the days of the Messiah; and which are the last days of the world, in comparison of the times before the law, from Adam to Moses, and under the law, from thence to Christ; and even in the times of the apostles, at least towards the close of them, great numbers of men rose up under the Christian name, to whom the following characters well agree, as the Gnostics, and others; and who paved the way for the man of sin, the Romish antichrist, whose priests and votaries are here likewise described to the life: so that these last days may take in the general defection and apostasy of the church of Rome, as well as those times, which followed the apostles, and those which will usher in the second coming of Christ. The Ethiopic version renders it, "in the latter days will come an evil, or bad year". Gill’s Exposition
“In the last days] ‘Not only the very last days, towards the end of the world, but in general (according to the Hebrew phrase) the days to come, or the future time, whether nearer or afar off. He supposeth this would begin to happen in the age of Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:5 from such do thou (thou, Timothy) turn awayand avoid them,’ Bp Bull, Serm. xv. init. So Calvin, ‘universum Ecclesiae Christianae statum.’” – Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges
[4] “It seems, however, more in accordance with such passages as 1John 2:18 : “Little children, it is the last time”—where the present, and not an uncertain future is alluded to—to understand “the last days “as that period, probably of very long duration, extending from the days of the first coming of Messiah—in which time St. Paul lived—to the second coming of Christ in judgment.” - Ellicott’s Commentary
[5] Romans 1:29-30: “They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving,and unmerciful.”
[6] “last days. Not only future times, when things will worsen (Matt 24:21–31), but also the present. These “days,” also called “later times” (1 Tim 4:1 and note), began with Christ’s coming (Heb 1:1–2), intensified with Christ’s resurrection and the Spirit’s powerful arrival (Acts 2:17), and continue until his return.” NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible
[7] “Compare the catalogue in Romans 1 where much the same sins are attributed to heathen men; it shall be a relapse into virtual heathendom, with all its beast-like propensities, whence the symbol of it is "a beast" (Re 13:1, 11, 12, &c.; 17:3, 8, 11).” – Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
[8] He continues: “In these latter epistles we find ‘denying’ frequently used as equivalent to abjuring, renouncing, casting off. For instance, in a passage singularly and antithetically parallel to that of my text, we read ‘denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,’ which simply means throwing off their dominion. And in like manner the denial here is no verbal rejection of the principles of the gospel, which would be inconsistent with the notion of still retaining the form of godliness; but it is the practical renunciation of the power, which is inherent in all true godliness, of moulding the life and character - the practical renunciation of that even whilst preserving a superficial, unreal appearance of being subject to it.” – MacLaren’s Expositions
[9] “Paul uses the metaphor of fruit to describe the conduct of the believer in Rom. 6:22; Eph. 5:9; and Phil. 1:11. John the Baptist likewise claimed that true repentance would produce the “fruit” of concrete ethical behavior (Matt. 3:8; Luke 3:8).” – Reformation Study Bible
[10] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament
[11] slight paraphrase of a quote from Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament