2 Timotius 3:1-5

Ministry in the Last Days

3:1 But understand this, that in the last days difficult ¹  times will come. 3:2 For people ²  will be lovers of themselves, ³  lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good, 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God. 3:5 They will maintain the outward appearance ⁴  of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these. ⁵ 

Roma 1:21-32

1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ⁶  were darkened. 1:22 Although they claimed ⁷  to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings ⁸  or birds or four-footed animals ⁹  or reptiles.

1:24 Therefore God gave them over ¹⁰  in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor ¹¹  their bodies among themselves. ¹²  1:25 They ¹³  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ¹⁴  and worshiped and served the creation ¹⁵  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, ¹⁶  1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women ¹⁷  and were inflamed in their passions ¹⁸  for one another. Men ¹⁹  committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ²⁰  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ²¹  1:29 They are filled ²²  with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with ²³  envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, ²⁴  heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know ²⁵  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ²⁶  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ²⁷ 

Galatia 5:19-21

5:19 Now the works of the flesh ²⁸  are obvious: ²⁹  sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, ³⁰  hostilities, ³¹  strife, ³²  jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, ³³  factions, 5:21 envying, ³⁴  murder, ³⁵  drunkenness, carousing, ³⁶  and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

[3:1]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “dangerous,” “fierce.”

[3:2]  ² tn Grk “men”; but here ἄνθρωποι (anqrwpoi) is generic, referring to both men and women.

[3:2]  ³ tn Or “self-centered.” The first two traits in 2 Tim 3:2 and the last two in 3:4 are Greek words beginning with the root “lovers of,” and so bracket the list at beginning and end.

[3:5]  ⁴ tn Or “form.”

[3:5]  sn Outward appearance. Paul’s contrast with power in 3:5b shows that he regards this “form” to be outward, one of appearance rather than reality (cf. 1 Cor 4:19-20; 1 Thess 1:5).

[3:5]  ⁵ tn Grk “and avoid these,” with the word “people” implied.

[1:21]  ⁶ tn Grk “heart.”

[1:22]  ⁷ tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.

[1:23]  ⁸ tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).

[1:23]  ⁹ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.

[1:24]  ¹⁰ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 81:12.

[1:24]  ¹¹ tn The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι (tou atimazesqai, “to dishonor”) has been taken as (1) an infinitive of purpose; (2) an infinitive of result; or (3) an epexegetical (i.e., explanatory) infinitive, expanding the previous clause.

[1:24]  ¹² tn Grk “among them.”

[1:25]  ¹³ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the lie.”

[1:25]  ¹⁵ tn Or “creature, created things.”

[1:26]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is contrary to nature.” The term χρῆσις (crhsi") has the force of “sexual relations” here (L&N 23.65).

[1:27]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “likewise so also the males abandoning the natural function of the female.”

[1:27]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “burned with intense desire” (L&N 25.16).

[1:27]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “another, men committing…and receiving,” continuing the description of their deeds. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:28]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ²¹ tn Grk “the things that are improper.”

[1:29]  ²² tn Grk “being filled” or “having been filled,” referring to those described in v. 28. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:29]  ²³ tn Grk “malice, full of,” continuing the description. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:31]  ²⁴ tn Or “promise-breakers.”

[1:32]  ²⁵ tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:32]  ²⁶ tn Grk “are worthy of death.”

[1:32]  ²⁷ sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.

[5:19]  ²⁸ tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.

[5:19]  ²⁹ tn Or “clear,” “evident.”

[5:20]  ³⁰ tn Or “witchcraft.”

[5:20]  ³¹ tn Or “enmities,” “[acts of] hatred.”

[5:20]  ³² tn Or “discord” (L&N 39.22).

[5:20]  ³³ tn Or “discord(s)” (L&N 39.13).

[5:21]  ³⁴ tn This term is plural in Greek (as is “murder” and “carousing”), but for clarity these abstract nouns have been translated as singular.

[5:21]  ³⁵ tc ‡ φόνοι (fonoi, “murders”) is absent in such important mss as Ì⁴⁶ א B 33 81 323 945 pc sa, while the majority of mss (A C D F G Ψ 0122 0278 1739 1881 Ï lat) have the word. Although the pedigree of the mss which lack the term is of the highest degree, homoioteleuton may well explain the shorter reading. The preceding word has merely one letter difference, making it quite possible to overlook this term (φθόνοι φόνοι, fqonoi fonoi).

[5:21]  ³⁶ tn Or “revelings,” “orgies” (L&N 88.287).