II Timothy 3:1-5
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
Perilous suggests “difficult,” “threatening,” and “dangerous.” The term “last days” does not specifically mean the times we are living in at this moment, as Paul believed he was living in the last days. He expected Christ’s return to be imminent, certainly during his lifetime, as many verses relate. Thus, he meant his instruction to Timothy to apply immediately.
Later in II Timothy 3, in verse 13 (“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”), the Greek grammar gives the sense of conditions or expressions of human nature that ebb and flow like waves of the sea rather than a constant state of affairs. When combined with the idea of things growing “worse and worse” and Jesus’ comments about the days of Noah, we can understand the situation will be especially intense in our time.
A peril to church members may not becoming injured or killed, but to being drawn into expressing the same sinful attitudes and conduct that everybody else is! Paul’s warning is not to mix with people dominated by these characteristics. This helps us to understand that the potential to commit these sins is right in the church! Why? It exists in the church because we have all come out of the world where these things are nurtured, and none of us have overcome all these characteristics yet. In other words, despite conversion, we are still capable of expressing these sins. We must be on guard!
Sadly, church members do not sufficiently realize the extreme subtlety of our heart’s disease. It does not come at us loudly proclaiming to be our deadly enemy, saying, “I want to ruin you in the Lake of Fire!” Sin comes like Judas, with a kiss, and like Joab, with his hand extended in friendship and his tongue uttering flattering words.
