The Book of
2 Timothy 3
17 verses≈ 3 minBSB
Images are artistic interpretations.
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Where we are
- 1Not ashamedGuard the gospel, share the suffering
- 2Be strongSoldier, athlete, farmer, workman
- 3Hard timesLast days and the God-breathed WordChapter 3
- 4Finish wellPreach the word; the race is run
Evil in the Last Days
But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.
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For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good, traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power.
Turn away from such as these!
Love turned inward
Whiteboard
Paul’s list begins with people who are “lovers of themselves” and ends with “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Love has been turned inward, and every other mark follows from it. Last of all comes religion that keeps its outward shape but has lost its power.
Pray
Lovers of God
Paul describes people who are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Ask God to search your heart and turn your love outward: first to Him, then to the people around you. Pray for a faith that is real all the way through, with His power at work in it, not only its outward form.
They are the kind who worm their way into households and captivate vulnerable women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions, who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith.
But they will not advance much further. For just like Jannes and Jambres, their folly will be plain to everyone.
All Scripture Is God-Breathed
You, however, have observed my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my perseverance, my persecutions, and the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
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Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
Stylised map · locations approximate
On the map
Antioch, Iconium, Lystra
On Paul’s first journey he was driven out of Pisidian Antioch, threatened in Iconium and stoned at Lystra, then left for dead outside the town. Lystra was Timothy’s home town. He knew these stories well: “the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra.”
Question
Quick question
Paul reminds Timothy of what he suffered in the towns of Timothy’s own region.
Which towns does Paul name as places of his sufferings?
Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16–17
Reflect
Handed on to you
Timothy could look back on the people who taught him: “you know from whom you have learned them.” Who handed the Scriptures on to you: a parent, a grandparent, a friend, a teacher? Give thanks for them. Then think of one person you could help to know God’s word, and how you might begin.
What Scripture does
Whiteboard
Scripture comes from the breath of God, so it speaks with His voice. It teaches what is true, shows where we have gone wrong, sets us right again and trains us to live right. The goal is a person “complete, fully equipped for every good work.”
You’ve experienced
2 Timothy 3
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A verse to carry with you
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16–17
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