As Paul began to close his second letter to Timothy, he “solemnly” charged him (2 Timothy 4:1) to carry out his work as a preacher. He told the young evangelist, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2).
Timothy was not at liberty to teach any message that he or others might prefer. He was to proclaim the word of God, just as Paul and the other apostles taught (2 Timothy 1:13). He was not to deviate from this message in any way – just as we must not alter the message (cf. Galatians 1:8-9; Revelation 22:18-19). The charge for him to “be ready in season and out of season” to preach this pure, unadulterated message of the gospel required a willingness to proclaim it even if it was unpopular, inconvenient, and difficult for people to accept.
However, since the message of the gospel is sometimes unpopular, inconvenient, and difficult for people to accept, many turn away from it. Sadly, this even happens among Christians and in local churches. Paul warned Timothy that he would encounter this:
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
The word sound means to be safe or in good health. “Sound doctrine” is the teaching that will provide us with spiritual health and enable us to grow in the Lord. Paul told the Ephesian elders that the word of God is able to “build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). If we want to be strengthened and have hope of eternal life, we need to be listening to and following the word of God.
Yet Paul said a time was coming in which Christians would “not endure sound doctrine.” The Greek word translated “not endure” is used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe one having to “put up with” someone (Matthew 17:17; Acts 18:14). In other words, Paul warned that these Christians’ love for the truth would wane over time, but they would not close their ears to it immediately. Instead, they would “put up with” it for a while, even though it was not what they preferred. However, eventually their patience for “sound doctrine” would run out, and they would find teachers who would teach what they wanted to hear.
Why would this happen? Paul said that the teachers they would find would teach “in accordance to their own desires.” In other words, they wanted to engage in sin, tolerate those who were unfaithful, and welcome false teachers, but “sound doctrine” stood in the way of them doing this. Yet before they finally “[turned] away their ears from the truth,” they had these desires in their hearts that were contrary to the will of God.
Why do churches that at one time were sound congregations seem to fall into error so quickly? I believe it is rarely because some incredibly deceptive or charismatic false teacher arrived and destroyed the foundation of their faith in one fell swoop. Instead, it is because the desire to engage in sin, tolerate the unfaithful, and welcome false teachers was building among the members of the congregation while they “put up with” the “sound doctrine” that was being proclaimed from the pulpit. Once their patience runs out, it can be remarkable how quickly they abandon their former stand for the truth.
How can we combat this? Obviously, we must “preach the word…in season and out of season,” just as Timothy was told to do (2 Timothy 4:2). At the same time, there are a couple of other things that we need to do:
- Each of us must work to weed out evil desires before they can take root in our hearts. If left unchecked, these evil desires will eventually lead to sin and, ultimately, death (James 1:14-16).
- We must cultivate a love for the truth, not just tolerate it. We need the attitude of the psalmist: “O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). Without this love of the truth, we cannot be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
“Sound doctrine” is incompatible with sin and error. Instead, the message of the Lord’s apostles calls us to “deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:12). Those who are “holding fast the faithful word” must be prepared to “refute those who contradict” the Lord’s teaching (Titus 1:9).
If we can weed out evil desires from our hearts and cultivate a love for the truth – and encourage our brethren to do the same – we can avoid the type of apostasy that Paul warned Timothy about. However, if “the time [comes] when [our brethren] will not endure sound doctrine,” we must continue to do what Timothy was told to do: “Be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5). Even if we are not in the same position as Timothy was (an evangelist), we must still stand for the truth no matter how many of our brethren turn away from it.
