How will people behave in the “last days”?

2 Timothy 3:1-5

1 “Remember that there will be difficult times in the last days.

2 People will be selfish, greedy, boastful, and conceited; they will be insulting, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and irreligious;

3 they will be unkind, merciless, slanderers, violent, and fierce; they will hate the good;

4 they will be treacherous, reckless, and swollen with pride; they will love pleasure rather than God;

5 they will hold to the outward form of our religion, but reject its real power. Keep away from such people”.

1. LOVERS OF THEIR OWNSELVES – philantos; lover of oneself; selfish; fond of self

2. COVETOUS – philarguros; loving money (arguros, silver) money loving; fond of silver; avarice or greed for riches and wealth

3. BOASTERS – alazon; a boaster; primarily signifies a wanderer about the country a vagabond, an imposter; braggart; an empty pretender

4. PROUD – huperephanos; showing oneself above others; appearing above others; preeminent; arrogant; disdainful; proud; overtopping; overestimating one’s merits while despising or treating others with contempt

5. BLASPHEMERS – blasphemos; abusive; speaking evil; a railer; one who spreads false, malicious, and harmful statements meant to hurt someone’s reputation

6. DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS – apeithes; unwilling to be persuaded; spurning belief; disobedient; incompliant

7. UNTHANKFUL– acharistos; ungrateful; thankless and unappreciative

8. UNHOLY – anosios; unholy; profane, impious; defile and make common

9. WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION – astorgos; hard-hearted towards kindred; especially of parents for children and children for parents (from a negative prefix “a”, plus “storge,” love of kindred affection)

10. TRUCEBREAKERS – aspondos; lit. denotes without libation; without a truce; without being poured out like a sacrifice; a libation (a sacrifice) accompanied the making of treaties and compacts; one who cannot be persuaded to enter into a covenant or one who is implacable; can also signify untrue to one’s promise;

11. FALSE ACCUSERS – diablos; a false accuser; slanderer; to say untrue or malicious things about; to defame, slander or vilify

12. INCONTINENT – akrates; without self control; intemperate; without self restraint; powerless

13. FIERCE – anemeros; not tame; savage; wild; crude; lacking polish and civility; distasteful and of a violently cruel nature

14. DESPISERS OF THOSE THAT ARE GOOD – aphilagathos; hostile to virtue; opposed to goodness and good men; not lovers of good (opposite of philogathos loving that which is good Titus 1:8)

15. TRAITORS – prodotes; a betrayer; traitor; giving forward into or handing over to an enemies hands; One who betrays cause, or friends; one who violates the allegiance owed

16. HEADY – propetes; lit. means falling forwards; headstrong – determined not to follow orders or advice but to do as one pleases; self-willed; reckless; rash; abrupt or curt in behavior or speech;

17. HIGH-MINDED – tuphoo; lit. to wrap in smoke; used metaphorically for conceit; puffed up; to inflate with self-conceit; to render insolent (boldly disrespectful in speech or behavior; arrogantly contemptuous; overbearing)

18. LOVERS OF PLEASURES – philedonos; loving pleasure (from hedone – pleasure); the self-indulgent pursuit of pleasure as a way of life; in psychology hedonism is the theory that a person acts in such a way as to seek pleasure and avoid pain

19. MORE THAN LOVERS OF GOD (a lover of God) – philotheos; fond of God; affectionate, tender,loving

20. HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS – morphosis; a form or outline; an image or impress; an outward semblance

21. DENYING THE POWER THEREOF– arneomai; to contradict; to not accept; to reject something offered; to renounce, forsake or abrogate a thing.

1 Timothy 4:1

1 “But the Spirit says clearly that in later times some will be turned away from the faith, giving their minds to spirits of deceit, and the teachings of evil spirits,”

That false teachers would arise to deceive Christians is a clear prophetic teaching of Jesus:

Mark 13:22

²² For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.

And it is seen in other parts of the Bible as well. So, while the specific words in 1 Timothy 4:1 are not found elsewhere in the Bible, they reflect a truth which as Paul states the Holy Spirit has “expressly” taught would occur.

Matthew 24:12

12 “And because lawlessness is multiplied, the love of many will grow cold”.

The lawlessness spoken of is lawlessness in regard to God’s laws. It is TRUE apostasy.

The effect of this apostate lawlessness was lukewarmness and coolness among Christians.

By reason of these trials and persecutions from without, and these apostasies and false prophets from within, the love of many to Christ and his doctrine, and also their love to each other would wax cold.

Mark 13:12

12 “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death”.

Unbelieving family members shall betray and deliver to be imprisoned, tortured, and put to death their believing relatives, even their brothers or sister, fathers or mothers or their own children.

They will overlook the ties of nature and would be instrumental in putting to death their own relatives who followed the standard of Christ.

These negative behavior traits abound in these, the last days.

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