RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2020-10-13	Always Learning But Never Able To Come To The Knowledge of the Truth (2Tm.3:6-7)
		2Ti 3:6  For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 2Tm 3:7  always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Some may sense they are not maturing much in the faith. They say they forget what they learn as soon as they learn it. You may feel you are the one mentioned in Scripture as “always learning” (2Tm.3:7). Those that have this sense about themselves show more insight than the ones this text actually refers to. Paul is writing to Timothy about a certain kind of man who does certain things with a certain kind of woman. What is the man doing? He is creeping into households. What kind of women does he seek? The gullible. The women are described as “gullible” or weak. What is the nature of their weakness? Answer: They are “loaded down with sins”. The word “loaded down” is the same word Paul used in Romans 12:20 for heaping coals of fire on his head. This is a picture of piles of sin upon their heads. They are sinning a lot. So what is the nature of the weakness that results in these women committing sin that piles up? Paul answers this by saying they are being “led away by various lusts”. They are always learning but are not able to come to the truth because they are being led by desires (“lusts”). They are being led by passion, and not by the truth. The context is of certain women who do not have any humility to admit or discerning to perceive they are not learning. Some of us may have a weak memory. A weak memory is not the same as a weak morality that these women had. These women are not believers. They have no power over their desires. The knowledge of truth referred to in verse 7 is not likely truth in general, but the core message of the gospel. The exact phrase, “knowledge of the truth” (v.7) is used in other passages in the context of the gospel message (1Tm.2:4; 2Tm.2:25; Ti.1:1). Coming to the knowledge of the truth in these passages means coming to faith in Christ. It does not mean you have a poor systematic theology. In their desired-controlled hearts they were so resistant to see the gospel as desirable above all things, that they could not understand. That leads to this question. Do you have a firm grasp of the gospel? That is, what God did in Jesus Christ for you. Earlier in the text (2Tm.2:25) Paul gave the solution of not coming to the knowledge of the truth. He says, “God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth”. Arriving to a knowledge of the truth is a gift of God. The bondage of our desires, and the blindness of our hearts is a hopeless condition without divine intervention. The remedy for these women is to pray for God's mighty grace to give the knowledge of the truth, that Christ saves sinners. This passage is not referring to saved people who may not have good memories, or do not have a clear presentation of theology as a whole. This passage refers to unbelieving women who are driven by their passions. The men are false teachers taking advantage of these gullible women. The text refers to them because either the men and/or the women attend some local church and it is a problem Paul needed to address. So if you are a believer in Christ, this text does not refer to you. Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

An Evangelical Free Church of America

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