2 Timothy Chapter 3

Paul exposes hollow, self-loving religion in the last days and anchors Timothy in apostolic example and God-breathed Scripture.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Portrait of the Last Days

2 Timothy 3:6-9

Counterfeit Teachers and Their Limit

2 Timothy 3:10-13

An Apostle’s Life and the Path of Persecution

2 Timothy 3:14-17

Remaining in the God-Breathed Word

2 Timothy 3:1

Paul has just expressed the hope that God may grant repentance to those who oppose the truth and free them from the devil’s snare (2:25–26). Now he places a sober counterweight beside that hope. “This know also” is a present imperative: Timothy must keep this understanding steadily before him. Gentleness toward opponents must never become naivety about the age in which the gospel is preached.

“In the last days” is not a period reserved for some remote future. Peter declared at Pentecost that the last days had arrived with the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 2:17), and Hebrews says God has spoken “in these last days” by his Son (Hebrews 1:2). Paul himself shifts into the present tense in verse 6, showing that Timothy already faces the people he describes. Yet the expression also looks forward. Jesus taught that lawlessness would increase and love grow cold before the end (Matthew 24:12), and verse 13 of this chapter speaks of evil men growing worse. The whole era between Christ’s ascension and his return bears these marks, with mounting intensity as Satan, knowing his time is short, presses the conflict toward its climax (Revelation 12:12).

“Perilous times” renders a phrase meaning hard, harsh, or dangerous seasons. The danger Paul has in mind is chiefly moral. The next verse begins “For men shall be,” locating the peril in what people become. The deepest threat to the church is not the hostility of governments but the corruption of character, including character inside the congregation.

Study Links

Cross References

1 Timothy 4:1

Word / Phrase Notes

ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις (en eschatais hēmerais) — in the last days

Drawn from the prophets’ language for the time of God’s decisive action, the phrase in the New Testament designates the age opened by Christ’s coming and the gift of the Spirit. It is both present and intensifying: the apostles lived in it, and its features grow sharper as the Lord’s return draws near.

καιροὶ χαλεποί (kairoi chalepoi) — perilous times

Kairoi refers to seasons or periods rather than a single moment, and chalepos means hard, troublesome, or dangerous. Its only other New Testament use describes two violent demoniacs whom travelers could not safely pass, suggesting times made savage by what people become.

1 Timothy 4:1