Where the last chapter ends with some hope that folks might be convinced of the truth of Jesus, the work laid out for Timothy remains difficult, as it has been for Paul. Again, when Paul says “last days”, the implication isn’t that it’s only a week or two and then Jesus is expected to return. They are in the “last” days, as we are, because upon the return of Jesus we will no longer count days. So, what we are living in now are it.
What kind of difficulty? Well, folks will largely worship themselves and their own desires and abandon any concept of a greater morality that is beyond them. Notice that almost all of these descriptions are self-serving, self-focused and self-promoting. Certainly, this has always been a problem (Joshua 21:25 says, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This was a description of God’s people then who basically didn’t submit to a specific moral standard and just did whatever they individually thought was best.)
This is problematic, of course, because if there is no objective standard of morality (what we would say comes from God) then there is no such thing as evil. If what is good or not good is simply a matter of individual opinion, although you may find theft to be wrong, as long as the thief doesn’t see a problem with it then it’s simply what you think is good vs. what he thinks is good. And since folks tend to be easy on themselves and hard on others when it comes to how they evaluate right and wrong, the end result is a selfish free-for-all. You want to know why God gives a law, both an identity and how to live? Because what is right in my eyes comes from a very limited perspective that tends to favor me. I need someone who has the big picture to set that right and God does that.
The world Timothy is in, the one that we are still in today, continues to trend away from what God says is good and towards what each individual says is good. And Paul is right, that’s difficult, because most people don’t take kindly to the assertion that what they “feel” or “believe” to be good isn’t really good at all. That’s a perspective not changed, though, by finger pointing (if they don’t know Jesus, we can’t be surprised that they don’t trust His perspective on morality.) If it’s to change, it’s changed by Jesus, the combination of truth and love. That’s why we’re about the business we’re about.
Paul calls out fellas who deceive women, specifically women who have had difficult and likely sinful pasts and who are susceptible to false promises and the deceit of these dudes. But just like Jannes and Jambres, the names of the Egyptian magicians from Exodus 7 who were able to turn their staffs into serpents just like Moses did, they will be outed as being in opposition to God’s truth (Moses’ snake eventually eats theirs. The Bible doesn’t explain how these magicians were able to turn their staffs into snakes). Their relevance to the fellas Paul is talking about is that, despite their deceit and tricks, ultimately God will ensure that their folly is revealed to all.
In contrast, what Paul has been teaching and living is not deceit, it’s the real deal and Timothy has been following in those footsteps. One of the ways this is affirmed is in Paul’s suffering. The big list in the previous paragraph is all about selfishness; Paul’s example and constant call (echoing that of Jesus, of course) is in service to God, the message of the Good News, and to others. In fact, Paul says that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. I think that’s a key point, these dudes are deceived and their deceit upon others is an outpouring of that. That doesn’t excuse it, of course, but I say it to point out that false teaching and selfish deceit very rarely limit their damage to the individual; it spreads to the world around them with little effort.
So, that’s the work. Timothy is to continue in confidence in what he has learned and counter the deceit that is perpetuating from elsewhere (obviously, this is still our work). Where do we go for a firm foundation? Scripture. Paul says that all Scripture is “God-breathed”, basically given to us using human authors but ensured to be the accurate information God wanted communicated. Now, in the context of this letter, Scripture would most likely mean the Old Testament, that was what they actually had for Scripture. However, by this point there are probably some New Testament documents available to them as well (Matthew, for example). In either case, we protect against deceit by reading Scripture, knowing the difference between what God says is good and what is not, and soaking in the example of Jesus so that we know how we shall live in these days of difficulty; not just to survive this world but to be part of sharing Good News for its redemption.