Art Toombs Ministries
Online Bible Commentary
They Say What Your Itching Ears Want to Hear
2 Timothy 4:1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (NKJV)
The Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy, who is helping at the church in Ephesus. False Teaching has infiltrated the church and this letter is the second Paul has sent in an effort to remedy the situation.
Paul is writing from prison in Rome, with Luke being his amanuensis, or scribe. This letter is being written about AD late 65-early 66.
In this passage, Paul gives his final charge to Timothy. Paul is turning over his ministry to Timothy, and his successors.
False Teachers in the churches of Asia Minor have turned the Christians against Paul. It may be that he is hoping that Timothy, and his successors, since Paul is also calling Timothy to his side in Rome, will be more effective with them than he could be at this time.
Also, Paul is anticipating his own demise. He is living in deplorable conditions, in a prison cell in Rome. His health may be declining because he is now in his mid sixties and living in poor conditions, including a poor diet.
He also has to be concerned that he may be executed as part of Nero’s extermination of Christians. Peter, who was executed by Nero, may have already met this fate.
Paul, himself, may have been executed within two years of this letter. He was executed prior to Nero’s death in June, 68 A.D.
Paul begins by writing “I charge you therefore before God:” (v. 1a). Paul’s charge to Timothy is made in the omnipresent view of the triune God.
Paul continues with “and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom” (v. 1b). The word translated “at” is the Greek word kata, which means according to. Paul is not giving a location or time of judgment but rather that it will occur “according to” God’s will, and timing.
Next, Paul writes “Preach the word!” (v. 2a). Paul’s charge to Timothy is nine-fold. First of all, Timothy is to preach the Word, the Word of God, the Bible.
The second part of the charge is to “Be ready”. Paul writes “Be ready in season and out of season.” (v. 2b).
He is to “be urgent, in season, out of season”, according to the original Greek, in his preaching. This means that he should be faithful to preach the word regardless of the circumstances, whether the people are tuning in to him or tuning in to the false teachers.
Paul continues by writing “Convince, rebuke, exhort”. So, the third part of Paul’s charge is that Timothy should “convince” (v. 2c) the Christians of Ephesus.
The Greek word translated “convince” in this verse is the Greek word “elegcho”, which means to convict or rebuke. Timothy is first to rebuke, to convict them of their sin, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The fourth part of Paul’s charge is to “rebuke” (v. 2d). This is from the Greek word “epitimao”, which is better translated “to admonish” or “forbid”.
So, first Timothy should rebuke, and then he should forbid the behavior, the sin, that he has rebuked. This is equivalent to imploring the Christians who have turned to false teaching to confess their sin and repent, turning from it.
The fifth part of the charge is to “exhort”. This is a call to action.
Paul completes verse two by writing “with all longsuffering and teaching”, which applies to “convince, rebuke, and exhort” which preceded it. When Timothy performs these actions, he should do so with patience and teaching. He should be teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, correct doctrine.
Next, Paul writes “3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (vv. 3-4).
So why is Paul giving this charge to Timothy? It is because “the time will come” when Christians will reject “sound doctrine” (v. 3a). Instead, to suit their own desires they will listen to false teaching that tickles their “itching ears” (v. 3b). “They will turn…away from the truth” of Scripture and “turn…to fables”, myths and untruths (v.4).
This is the nature of false teachers. They say what your itching ears want to hear.
False teaching is the same today as it was in Paul’s time. It is always targeted to fulfill the desires of its listeners, whether true or not.
If the listeners are happy, they will reward the messenger. False teaching is always designed to reward the messenger with financial gain, which is why the false teaching of today embraces the “prosperity gospel”, homosexuality in the church, and other sins.
Paul closes this passage by writing “But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (v. 5). Paul completes his charge to Timothy with four more instructions on how he should proceed, in light of the presence of false teaching. He should keep his head, endure hardship, evangelize, and faithfully discharge all of his ministry duties.
Thus, Paul gives Timothy, and us, a mission. The mission is to confront false teaching by speaking the truth of the Gospel.
It is to encourage those caught up in false teaching to confess that the teaching is false, and repent, turning back to the truth of the Bible. It is to remain calm, endure criticism, bring others to Christ, and be faithful to the Lord in all ways. This is our mission, should we choose to accept it. .