After encouraging Timothy on what he should be doing as a minister in the church in Ephesus, Paul turns briefly to what he should not be doing, and gives the example of a couple of men who fit the description of the false teachers.
See this passage for yourself at 2 Timothy 2:16-18:
Paul just spent the previous verses explaining to Timothy what he should be doing as a minister, as a believer. He now turns to what Timothy should avoid. This is a pretty strong contrast to what the description of a workman approved by God should look like.
Godless chatter
The first thing he mentions here is “godless chatter.” He has already spoken of this to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 6:20 (1 Timothy 1:6 and Titus 3:9 also convey this idea). Paul’s first word in this statement is the word “avoid.” This is a pretty strong command, telling Timothy that he should do whatever it takes to stay away from such a thing. But just what exactly is this? The Greek word literally means “profane and worthless, empty noise.” These false teachers are using a lot of empty speech to spread their teachings. Look at verse 18 for an example, referring to how the false teachers handled the resurrection. They said that it was already past. Such teaching is nothing more than empty speech. But behind this chatter, the philosophical implications were powerful, and once they were accepted, they robed the gospel of its power.
Such worthless teaching had two consequences. First, it led to ungodliness. In fact, it lead to a progression of more and more ungodliness. This is the direct opposite of what Paul encouraged Timothy to strive for in 1 Timothy 2:2. Second, such false teaching spreads like gangrene. This word is medical term, referring to the spreading of sores or ulcers. Its presence in the physical body is a terrible problem, leading to potentially serious medical problems. This is a very powerful metaphor for how false teaching can spread in the church.
Two examples
Just in case Timothy has any questions about what Paul is talking about, Paul singles out two of the false teachers and names them here for Timothy as examples. Hymenaeus is mentioned also in 1 Timothy 1:20, and in spite of the discipline handed out in Paul’s first letter, he doesn’t seem to have changed his ways. Apparently he has continued in his errors, and in spreading them to others in the church. The other man mentioned is Philetus. He is mentioned nowhere else in the New Testament. Nothing more is known about him. Although these two men are called out by name, there were others, as indicated by the prepositional phrase “among them.” I wonder how they feel about having their names memorialized for all time because of their errors?
The false teaching
Verse 18 and 1 Timothy 4 are the only places in the pastoral epistles where we get an indication of the nature of the false teaching Timothy must deal with. These men, and others, have left the truth behind, and will suffer the consequences for their false teachings. They have “gone astray from the truth.” This is a familiar phrase, similar to “shipwrecked their faith” (1 Timothy 1:19-20) and “wandered from the faith” (1 Timothy 6:21). They are teaching that the day of the Lord has already come, that the resurrection has already happened.
This probably took the form of an over-realized eschatology, and their teachings came from the point of view that because of our spiritual death and resurrection, through baptism, then the coming of Christ was accomplished in a purely spiritual way. This denies any possibility of a physical, literal resurrection, going against the teaching of Paul, the other New Testament writers, the apostles, and even Christ himself.
Such a false teaching is very serious because it strikes at the very center of our faith, destroying the faith of many. According to 1 Corinthians 15, to deny a physical resurrection is to deny Christianity. This is a serious problem, especially for those who are new to the faith, or not well grounded in their faith. They will be more likely to be swayed, and their faith will be destroyed.
And yet there is hope. In the very next verse, Paul will share how God in his sovereignty, knows the heart of each and every one of us, and his truth will prevail.
And that is good news indeed!
Question: How do you avoid godless chatter and false teachings? Staying in tune with the word of God is the primary way to do this, but what else have you found to be helpful? You can leave a comment by clicking here.