False Teachers

             But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—  having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

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, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone. (II Timothy 3:1-9)

Let’s start with the idea that there are the last days, and then, there are The Last Days. People have fit the description above since Adam and Eve sinned. Some eras have been worse than others. Our day seems to be pretty well described by it. At other times, for one reason or another, society seems a little less like the description above. We have been in the last days since the crucifixion and resurrection. But in The Last Days, things will be worse.

But, to return to the passage, in the previous chapter, Paul told Timothy to gently instruct people so that maybe they’ll come to their senses. Today’s passage includes an instruction to have nothing to do with certain people, and apparently, he thinks it’s easy to tell apart the ones you should instruct and the ones you should avoid. You and I may (or may not) find it easy to distinguish false teachers from true. But those who are not Christian and/or don’t have much Biblical knowledge may consider someone Christian just because the person said that he/she is one. And when the false teacher fits the description above, it’s assumed that they represent Christianity. (This is not the same as a Christian leader who falls into sin. That’s a different issue.) This is why we need to have nothing to do with the false teachers and be prepared to educate (gently) those who are misled by them. We also need to be prepared for backlash, whether we speak against someone whose false teaching is popular or if we reject the notion that they represent Christianity.