Lawlessness in our society is tragic. But what is worse is the failure and even complicity of so many Christians in the face of it. In their responses they have, as Paul puts it, an appearance of godliness that denies its power (v. 3:5). True godliness unashamedly declares what God has said and it does so not just when it is safe but even when that message might cost your life. It is taking God at His Word regardless of cost or consequence and speaking that Word with confidence in its power. Thus, John the Baptist didn’t merely preach repentance in the wilderness, he also applied God’s Word to Herod that by telling him that he could not lawfully have his brother’s wife (Matthew 14:1-12).
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. —2 Timothy 3:1-7
Read those seven verses of God’s words again. Slowly. Now go check your twitter feed or simply do a social media search for #GeorgeFloyd, #GeorgeFloydProtests, and #GeorgeFloydRiots. Paul is talking about America in 2020. Just as he was talking about Ephesus in the late AD 60s as well as about other times and places between then and now. He is speaking of recurring “times of difficulty”—perilous times; what he elsewhere describes as “the evil day” (Ephesians 6:13).
Such seasons will be characterized by severe problems in society as “people” (v. 2) in general will give themselves over to the types of wickedness Paul catalogues in verses 2-4. Such wickedness is characterized by selfishness (“lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant”) and lawlessness (“abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”).
That is bad enough. What is worse, however, is that godlessness in society does not stay there but seeps into the church wreaking havoc among the people of God. The most unsettling part of what Paul says is coming is his description of how professing Christians will act. They will be “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (v. 5).
Paul further describes these people within the church in verse 7—they will be unteachable, “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”
