2 Timothy 2:17-19 - The Lord knows those who are His

2:17,18

Now we get to more specific and serious cases, and an example of how godless chatter and controversies led to dangerous teaching. Wrong talk or wrong teaching can spread like gangrene, it is utterly destructive. Paul names two specific individuals. We are wary these days of naming people, and, of course, we should not bandy about accusations of heresy etc. But there is a time to take these things seriously, and to name names. Hymenaeus and Philetus were teaching that the resurrection had already taken place (referring to the final resurrection, ie the one involving us). This was destroying the faith of some. Why so? Well people would know that they were getting old, and if there is no resurrection to come then quite frankly we are done for! False teaching is not just an alternative view, it is poison with the effects that poison always has.

2:19

False teachers give many clever sounding ideas, but inspection of these ideas will always reveal that they are a very shaky foundation on which to build anything. In fact, they are usually complete nonsense. In contrast, Paul gives Timothy two reliable foundations. Notice that one is God centred, and the other man centred! The God centred one declares that the Lord knows those who are His. The man centred one says that if we truly belong to Christ then we must turn away from wickedness. False teachings will often involve us turning away from Christ and His teachings, rather than turning away from wickedness. Pay attention also to the twofold aspect of this, the God part and our part. Some of the Calvinism-Arminian debates do get rather silly at times. The Bible clearly teaches that we are saved by God’s sovereign choice, and that He saves us, but it also clearly teaches that what we do with our lives matters.