2 Timothy 3:1–9

Verse 1. Know. Do not be troubled at the many evils, persecutions, and heresies, which rise up against the Church. There have ever existed such since the Church was first established, and such ever will exist. Did not Jannes and Mambres rise up against Moses? Calmet. See 1 Timothy 4:1. 2 Peter 3:3. Judith 18.—That in the last days. It only signifies hereafter. And the advice Saint Paul gives to Timothy, (verse 5) now these avoid; shews that some of those false teachers should come in S. Timothy’s days. We may observe that few agree exactly in translating or expounding the sense of so many Greek or Latin words, which express the vices of such heretics; but the difference is so small, that it need not be taken notice of. Witham.

Verse 2. S. Cyprian, expounding these words, says: “Let no faithful man, who keepeth in mind our Lord’s and apostle’s admonition, marvel, if he see in latter times proud and stubborn men, enemies of God’s priests, go out of the Church to attack the same, since both our Lord and his apostle have predicted that such things would be.”

Verse 5. Having an appearance indeed of piety, in some things, as we may see heretics affect to be thought more exact than the Catholics in some things, by which the devil more easily deceives souls, but denying by their lives the power, virtue, and force of piety. Witham.—These avoid. Saint Paul having in the preceding verses described the vices and enormities which were to reign in the world in the latter days, here warns Timothy, that already people given to such extravagancies were in the world, and that consequently in regard to Timothy, those days were already come. Chrysos. Theophyl. and so forth—How many crimes are covered with the cloak of knowledge, and the exterior of piety, and what mischief arises to religion from such base and hypocritical conduct: it cannot be too severely attacked, as we see in Christ’s comportment towards the Pharisees.

Verse 6. Of this sort, and so forth Here Saint Paul gives a true description of heretics, and evil men; such as they have existed in every age. For there never existed a time, either under the Old or New Testaments, in which such have not appeared. Even in the apostle’s time, we behold heresies and disorders in the Church. We see them increase rapidly after their decease. Simon, the magician, seems to have been dead when Saint Paul wrote this epistle, which was but a short time before his martyrdom. But he had left a great number of disciples behind him, known by the numerous sects, the Gnostics, the Simonians, the Encratians, and so forth and so forth into which, after the death of their master, they were split. Calmet.—Who creep [1] into houses and lead captive silly [2] women, and so forth That is the custom of almost all heretics. See S. Jerom to Ctesiphon, tom. iv. part 2. p. 477. Nov. edit. where he brings a number of instances, from Simon Magus to his time. Witham.

Verse 7. Never attaining to the knowledge of the truth. These words, in construction, agree with the aforesaid women. Witham.

Verse 8. Jannes and Mambres. The names of the magicians, who in Egypt, resisted Moses, says Saint John Chrysostom and though not mentioned in the Scriptures, their names might be known by tradition. Witham.—Since the Old Testament does not mention these magicians of Pharao, who opposed Moses, it seems probable that Saint Paul either learnt their names by a particular revelation, as Saint John Chrysostom Theophyl. and Tirinus think, or by some tradition of the Jews, agreeably to the opinions of Theodoret, Grotius, Estius, and so forth Others think he might have found their names in some ancient histories, which have not reached our time; or perhaps from the apocryaphal book of Jannes and Mambres, mentioned by Origen and Ambrosiaster. Certain it is, that in Saint Paul’s time the names of these two famous magicians were very well known; thus it is by no means necessary in this instance to have recourse to a particular inspiration. The Orientals say there were many magicians who opposed Moses. Among others, they mention Sabous and Gadous, who came from Thebias; Graath and Mospha, from some other country. They wished, as they inform us, to imitate the miracle by which Moses turned his rod into a serpent, by throwing their canes on the ground, and ropes filled with quicksilver. These ropes began to move a little, one twisting with another, on account of the heat of the earth warmed by the sun. But the rod of Moses in a moment broke them to pieces. Calmet.—These magicians are called by different names. The Greek has Jannes and Jambres. Some ancient writers, Jannes and Mambres; as Cyprian, Optatus, (chapter 7.) Born. and so forth The Jews call that Joanne, or Johanna, whom the Greeks name Jannes; and that called by the Jews Jambres, the Greeks name Mambres. The Hebrews would have them to be the sons of Balaam, the soothsayer, and the masters of Moses in the sciences of the Egyptians. Calmet.

Verse 9. But they shall proceed no farther. How doth this agree with verse 13 where it is said, that seducers shall grow worse and worse? or with what he said in the last chapter, (verse 17) that their talk spreadeth like a cancer? We may answer, that the heretics became worse, and seduced very many in all ages, but the providence of God always put a stop to their progress, so that they could never prevail against the Church, as they hoped and proposed to do. Witham.—Saint Paul shews what will be the fate of all heresies; and the annals of the Church prove good his words, that they will appear to flourish for a time, and then will die away and be forgotten.