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2 Timothy 3

This chapter has two short sections. The first, verses 1-9, about godlessness in the last days (the church age, the time we live in). The second, verses 10-17, about following scripture.

  1. From verses 1-5 which talk about the unrighteousness of people, the word or forms of the word “love” appear a lot, talking about people loving things other than God, what are the things they are loving?

  2. There is only one short command in all of verses 1-9, what is it?

Note: In verses 6-9 Paul gives a few examples of those kind of people that are described by their attributes in verses 1-5. In verse 6 we have an example a kind of person who captures weak women from houses. Some people would take advantage of these women as they were burdened with their past sin they were easily susceptible to two extremes, asceticism and just believing that their sins were ok.
The verse in the NIV explains this passage well, “They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires,” In verses 7-9 Paul gives an example of Jannes and Jambres who were corrupted and opposed the truth. These men’s names do not appear in the Bible but in extrabiblical Jewish texts these were the names of the magicians who opposed Moses in Exodus 7:8-13. Apparently Timothy would have been familiar with these names as they had become symbols of opposition to God.

  1. From verses 6-9 describe the kind of men Paul gives examples of in your own words. What sticks out to you from this section?

Note: In verse 11 Paul says that Timothy followed his persecutions and sufferings. This likely refers to the fact that Timothy knew about all the things that happened to Paul at the places he mentions (Antioch, Iconium, Lystra). In light of all that Timothy still continues to be faithful to God. As verse 12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”.

  1. From verses 10-17 find all the different ways Paul encourages Timothy and describe them.

  2. In verses 14-17 Paul talks about scripture, what can we learn about scripture from these verses?

  3. There is good personal application in this section, what do you get out of it for your own life?