1But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

The word "but" is used here to contrast to the exhortation regarding being gentle in correction from the end of chapter two. Paul's point was while the teaching overseer should be gentle in correction; he should also realize that there will be times when gentle correction will not suffice. Paul correctly predicted that in the last days there will be difficult times. The phrase "last days" occurs various times throughout the Scriptures but when used by the Apostles, it generally speaks of the time since the Messiah's coming. The Apostles understood that though the Messianic age had not yet begun, with the first coming of the Messiah accomplished, in comparison to previous generations, we are now in the latter days of earth's history. The difficult times that Paul went on to describe were and are not unique to the last days, for he will use an incident from the time of the exodus as his examples, but the implication is that in this era, difficult times will increase and intensify. The specific difficult times that Paul referred to here is and will not be a result of great catastrophes but rather because of people. The second verse of this chapter begins with "for men," with the word "men” being the Greek word "anthropos," a word that can just as easily be translated as "people." Nevertheless, the context Paul was writing within here was the context of his day, when there were many false teachers; these teachers would appear to be righteous but were actually wolves in sheep's clothing. The following sinful attributes are characteristics of the world but is unfortunately true of some within the believing community. It would be easy to go through this list to and point our fingers at others but let's try to look within ourselves, to see if we possess any of these attributes. If we do possess such attributes, let's give them over to God and do the work to change.

Firstly, people will be lovers of themselves, which comes form the Greek word "philarguros," which literally means "self-lover." This is essentially the sin from which all other sins flow from. Contrary to modern psychology, loving yourself is not the way to true fulfillment and confidence. The sin inherent in loving one's self is because we do so at the expense of God and others. In reality, the selfishness that results is simply an outworking of the sinful nature. In fact, our sinful hearts are so deceiving that much of the time when a person dislikes themselves, it's actually that they are being a self-lover. The true way to being confident and fulfilled is by putting all of one's being into loving God and others. If one does not do this, the following attributes will become manifest. They will become lovers of money, which Paul explained in his first epistle to Timothy (cf. 1 Timothy 6:7-10) referred to not being content with what God has given us, which can only lead to coveting. Also, these people are boastful, which refers to an outward pride, made evident in the fact that they are usually like to talk to about themselves. Likewise, they are arrogant, referring to the fact that they are always doing things to exalt themselves; living for their own desires and not caring about others. Furthermore, they will be revilers, translated from the Greek word "blasphemos," which actually refers to being blasphemous. In other words, this type of person will speak frivolously and, in the process, emotionally injure others. These types obviously have no regard for their upbringing, for they are disobedient to their parents. Disobedience to parents is a grave sin and does not only harm the sinner but also the offspring of the sinner. Being disobedient to one's parents prevents the truth of the Scriptures from being passed on a generational level. It's no wonder that such people are ungrateful, which refers to being greedy and thankless. Despite being looked after by God and parents, this type of person is covetous and is ungrateful for what they do have.

Additionally, these types of people will display none of the characteristics that define God's holy people, for they are unholy. The word "unholy," as we saw in chapter two, refers to being normal. In other words, they simply act the same way everyone else does, submitted to their sinful nature and not to God, unlike the way God's holy people are supposed to live. They will also be unloving, which refers to the fact that they do not even love those closest to them. While it's God's influence that makes Believers love those outside of their own families, even unbelievers love their own families. In this case, these people will not even care for their own family, evident in things like spousal or child abuse. It's no surprise that such a person would also be irreconcilable, which refers to not being willing to change or forgive, instead exhibiting much bitterness and resentment. Such bitterness and resentment will lead to becoming a malicious gossip, a phrase which is a translation of the Greek word "diabolos," actually meaning a slander. As we've noted in previous studies, slander, in biblical thought, refers to talking about another person, in regards to anything, even if the things talked about are true. This type of behaviour evidences a life without self-control. This refers to a person who simply does whatever they desire, despite the consequences to themselves or others. These people are usually brutal, which refers to a lack of compassion and mercy. It's not a surprise that these people are haters of good. We should note though that these people do indeed know what is good but they despise it. In Romans 7:12, Paul referred to the Torah as something that is holy, righteous and good. False believers give evidence to their depravity when they do not desire to obey God's commandments but instead hate that which is good (see also Isaiah 5:20). In fact, these people are treacherous, which refers to their readiness to betray, showing a lack of loyalty. Their actions are reckless, making decisions without the counsel of God's word. This type of behaviour is an outworking of their conceit, which literally refers to being "puffed up." The phrase "puffed up" stands as an idiom to refer to being only concerned with yourself, which again, conveys a lack of compassion. As perhaps a bookend, the last attribute Paul listed was that these people would be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. This is essentially the same as the phrase "lovers of self" because the goal that self-lovers pursue is to give oneself pleasure. The implication is that this person will forsake God, His ways and His people all for the sake of gaining momentary pleasure. Of course, sinful pleasure is implied, for there is nothing wrong with pleasure itself when it is sanctioned by God's word.

That Paul here referred to people within the community is confirmed in verse five with the phrase "holding to a form of godliness," which refers to the publicly complying with the various rituals and ceremonies associated with the faith. Though they have an outward appearance of being godly, in reality they have denied the power of godliness. The power of godliness is nothing less than the regenerative and empowering work of the Holy Spirit that comes with a genuine salvation experience. In other words, those who hold to a form of godliness but in reality exhibit the above characteristics are not actually believers at all. Unfortunately, in our day, there are those in every sect of Christianity and Judaism that fall into this category. Paul's instruction in regards to these types of people was to avoid them. As we saw in chapter two, the "honourable vessels" of the community should cleanse themselves from the "dishonourable vessels," for God's people are to be a set apart people.

6For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also.

To further explain why we should avoid such men, Paul went on to explain that some of those men would enter into households and captive weak women. The phrase "enter in," in the Greek, actually has the sense of "sneaking in." In other words, the men enter into these households under the guise of godliness but in fact are seeking to captivate weak women. These women were weak in the sense that they were most likely not under the loving care of a man, such as a father or a husband, which would indicate that he was probably referencing widows. Nevertheless, these women were not the noble women referred to in the first epistle to Timothy (cf 1 Timothy 5:5) but were instead women who were weighed down with sins, led not by the Spirit of God but by their various impulses (cf. 1 Timothy 5:6). Unfortunately, these women are the type that are always learning but never actually come to the knowledge of the truth. They may be attending every service and every Bible study but they always have the same problems in life. It is not enough to simply be present at religious functions; one must be engaged and open to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to illuminate the significance of the Scriptures.