3 “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3–4 (ESV)
“Verse 3 of 2 Timothy 4 begins with the word for, which tells us that the sentence in verses 3–4 is one of the reasons behind Paul’s charge to Timothy that he be ready to preach the Word of God in every season (vv. 1–2). The rise of false teachers and the prevalence of those who deny orthodoxy will make the need for faithful preaching all the more acute, so Timothy and all the preachers and teachers who follow him must not quit when people will not listen to them,” warns Dr. R. C. Sproul.
Predictions abound regarding the return of Jesus Christ. For the fifty plus years I have been a believer in Christ, I have heard many so-called and self-proclaimed “eschatological experts” confidently assert when the Lord will return to this world in power, might and glory. This is in spite of clear biblical teaching which says no human will know that day and hour (Matt. 24:36, 43-50; 25:1-13; I Thess. 5:1-2). One author writes, “Throughout the New Testament (NT), our Lord and His apostles consistently rebuked attempts to predict the time of His second or final coming.”
However, the Apostle Paul confidently affirmed believers in Christ could know a certain period of time was coming. In today’s text, the phrase the time is coming (ἔσται καιρὸς; estai kairos) refers to a period of time, a season or an era which will exist in the future. It will be an age which will happen or occur. What will happen during this future period of time? How will believers in Christ know the arrival of this future time period? Paul answered these questions with four definitive statements.
First, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.” The word when (ὅτε; hote) means a point in time overlapping another point in time. In other words, it is an occasion which will happen (James 1:2; I Peter 2:12). What will happen is people will not endure (οὐκ ἀνέξονται; ouk anexontai). This means certain individuals will not collectively, personally and assuredly accept, receive or be patient with something.
Paul provided the answer as to the object of this future, personal and collective rejection. It is sound teaching (ὑγιαινούσης διδασκαλίας; hygiainouses didaskalias). The verb “sound” means to be presently, actively and possessively healthy and accurate. The English word hygiene comes from this Greek word. Teaching refers to biblical doctrine and its instruction.
Dr. John MacArthur writes, “Why are people unwilling to endure sound teaching? Because they love what? Sin. Sound preaching confronts and rebukes sin and people with love for a sinful lifestyle will not tolerate it, they just want their ears tickled. Paul says we can’t do that. We can’t do that. They want to be entertained. We can’t do that. I think there are thousands of evangelical churches worldwide that can’t even tolerate sound doctrine. They wouldn’t listen to it for two weeks in a row because it would confront their sin, it would confront their error, convict them, call them to truth and obedience”
“They don’t want healthy teaching. Why? Because they’ve been corrupted by the world. They don’t want to give up their sinful lifestyles. They want someone who makes them feel good about the way they live. And what do they want to hear? Ear-tickling stuff and they will literally heap to themselves teachers who give them that stuff. In periods of unsettled faith, says one writer, and skepticism and mere curious speculation in matters of religion, teachers of all kinds swarm like the flies in Egypt and the demand creates the supply. The hearers invite and shake their own preachers. If the people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf maker is readily found.”
“In every period of history (2 Tim. 3:1) there will be a season during which men refuse to listen to sound doctrine. As history continues onward toward the consummation, this situation grows worse. Men will not endure or tolerate the truth, the doctrine which, because it promotes spiritual health, is called sound (1 Tim. 1:10).[1]
What kind of teaching do you listen to? Do you crave a pastor who preaches and teaches what you want to hear? Or, do you crave a pastor who preaches and teaches what you need to hear from the Word of God? How you answer these questions will reveal what kind of disciple you truly are.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a God-glorifying day.
Soli deo Gloria!
[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 311.
