Fifty Two Weeks / 2 Timothy 3

Are You Ready for Some Prophecy?

This chapter has always caught my attention because the Apostle Paul lays out a prediction about the future which is both bodacious and accurate. It is bodacious because it doesn’t equivocate. He lays out a clear direction in which he states the world is going and then he gives specific examples of the earmarks of that direction. It is accurate because… it is exactly right.

Evolution is a buzz word, at least in North American culture, these days. There are different types of evolution. The type that causes such a stir concerns biology and the origins of mankind. Another type of evolution, which perhaps should be even more important to Christians, is social evolution. Regardless of one’s opinion regarding human origins no one can deny that change (or evolution) is part of the human experience. This evolution must conform to one of three forms: random, upward, or downward. In other words, either things (on a macro level) are getting better or getting worse or none of the above.

Obviously there is a bit of randomness involved since clearly there are periods and places where things have gotten better and conversely where they have gotten worse, but we are talking about the general trend over centuries and over the globe in general.

Paul leaves no doubt in which direction he believes the world is headed. In spite of technological advances, in spite of almost universal education, in spite of the spread of “civilization” he gives the following description of the “last days”.

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Wow. I know that things vary from culture to culture but even considering such nuances this is a disarmingly accurate description of the 21^st century on planet earth. This was written almost 2,000 years ago. If this doesn’t make you stop and think then I will have to conclude that you just don’t want to stop and think.

Are You Ready for Some Scripture?

Paul finishes this chapter with a famous pronouncement concerning the Scriptures. 

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Scripture is the absolutely essential requirement in the preparation of a godly person. Yes, the Holy Spirit is also required and certainly the example of other believers can be useful, but anyone who gives short shrift to the Scriptures is at best deficient and at worst a charlatan. 

Furthermore, all Scripture is God-breathed. This means that man didn’t invent it. Paul wasn’t making a clever guess when he wrote about conditions in the last days. And here is the real point: if the inspiration behind the Scriptures knew how to describe 2,000 years in the future then it just may be that everything else in this book is true as well? That’s my take anyway.