As if our apostle had said "O my son Timothy, be not thou discouraged, neither let any of thy successors be dismayed, at the sects and schisms, at the heresies and blasphemies, at the vice and impiety, which will be found in and among persons in the last days, when certainly know, that PERILOUS TIME... [ Continue Reading ]
Here our apostle reckons up the several sins which would abound in these last days, and make the times perilous: persons professing Christianity shall appear inordinate self-lovers, insatiably covetous, vain-glorious, boasters, proud, despisers of others, blasphemers of God, and Christ, and the Holy... [ Continue Reading ]
This is the last, but not the least sin of the perilous times: the apostle, 1. Tells us what these men have, A FORM OF GODLINESS; that is,. vain, empty show of piety and religion, which discovers itself in external devotion, in. profession of the Christian faith, in an external show of mortificatio... [ Continue Reading ]
In these words our apostle renders. reason why we should turn away from the forementioned sins and sinners, namely, because these heretical and false teachers before characterized are of an insinuating temper; they vent not their errors openly, but in corners; they creep into houses, and there set u... [ Continue Reading ]
Jannes and Jambres were two famous magicians in Egypt, who withstood Moses when he was working miracles before Pharaoh to hinder him from believing; their names are not mentioned in scripture, but taken by St. Paul, either from public tradition, or from some ancient Jewish records. Now, says the apo... [ Continue Reading ]
Here our apostle encourages Timothy, and in him all the succeeding ministers of the gospel, to the end of the world, against all the discouragements which either he or they might meet with from the impostors and seducers of the times, by assuring them of the issue and event of these trials; first,... [ Continue Reading ]
A special mean is here propounded, how Timothy and his successors may be preserved from the seduction of false teachers, namely, by setting before themselves the example of the great apostle St. Paul; we are more easily led by precedents than by precepts; therefore the apostle propounds his own exam... [ Continue Reading ]
Our apostle having acquainted us, in the former verse, with the condition of the godly, that they must expect and prepare for persecution; he lets us in this verse understand the miserable condition of the wicked, that they WAX WORSE AND WORSE; their proficiency is mere apostasy, they actively decei... [ Continue Reading ]
Several arguments are here made use of, by St. Paul, to press Timothy to the duty of perseverance in the doctrine of Christ, contained in the holy scriptures; the first is drawn from the authority of the person from whom he had received that doctrine, to wit, St. Paul himself, an inspired apostle of... [ Continue Reading ]
Our apostle closes this chapter with an exhortation to Timothy to persevere in his study of the holy scriptues, by an argument drawn, 1. From the dignity and authority of the scriptures; 2. From their utility; 3. From their perfection. 1. From their dignity and authority, THEY ARE GIVEN BY THE INS... [ Continue Reading ]