World English Bible · Under Rome
2 Timothy 3
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But know this: that , grievous times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of , holding a form of godliness but having denied its . Turn away from these, also. For some of these are people who creep into houses and take gullible women loaded down with , led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed , so these also oppose the truth, men corrupted in , who concerning the are rejected. But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be. But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, , , love, , persecutions, and sufferings—those things that happened to me at , , and . I those persecutions. me out of them all. Yes, and all who to live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them. From infancy, you have known the which are able to make you for through which is in Christ . Every is -breathed and profitable for teaching, for , for , and for in , that each person who belongs to may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
Christians read this chapter differently
- Where does the church's authority come from? · 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Every view at its strongest, with who holds it and what it has to answer for.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.