하나님나라를 꿈꾸며(Kingdom of God)

6 For among them are ithose who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to jarrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as kJannes and Jambres lopposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, mmen corrupted in mind and ndisqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, oas was that of those two men.

i [Titus 1:11]

j 1 Tim. 2:4

k Ex. 7:11

l [Acts 13:8]

m See 1 Tim. 6:5

n Titus 1:16

o Ex. 7:12; 8:18; 9:11

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 딤후 3:6–9.

6 그들 중에 남의 집에 가만히 들어가 어리석은 여자를 유인하는 자들이 있으니 그 여자는 죄를 중히 지고 여러 가지 욕심에 끌린 바 되어

7 항상 배우나 끝내 진리의 지식에 이를 수 없느니라

8 얀네와 얌브레가 모세를 대적한 것 같이 그들도 진리를 대적하니 이 사람들은 그 마음이 부패한 자요 믿음에 관하여는 버림 받은 자들이라

9 그러나 그들이 더 나아가지 못할 것은 저 두 사람이 된 것과 같이 그들의 어리석음이 드러날 것임이라

 대한성서공회, 성경전서: 개역개정, 전자책. (서울시 서초구 남부순환로 2569: 대한성서공회, 1998), 딤후 3:6–9.

-  3:6 Paul now turns to a subgroup of those he has just mentioned (ἐκ τούτων). γάρ indicates that this statement provides further explanation why Timothy must “avoid” such people. Present tense εἰσιν and ἐνδύνοντες speak of what is happening as Paul writes (see Ellicott) and provide another indication that the preceding future tense verbs do not apply only to a distant future.

What these false teachers do is described in the present tense participial clause. ἐνδύνοντες** (a NT hapax) can mean simply “entering,” but it is used here with a negative overtone so that “creeping in” (NASB), “worming in” (BAGD, NIV), or “making their way into” (RSV) expresses the nuance better (the same idea is found in Jude 4 [παρεισέδυσαν]; 2 Pet. 2:1; Gal. 2:4). They enter “houses” (for τὰς οἰκίας see 1 Tim. 5:13) “to capture weak women.” With the participle αἰχμαλωτίζοντες** (literal in Lk. 21:24; figurative in Rom. 7:23; 2 Cor. 10:5), “capturing,” Paul continues the military imagery that he used in 2:26.

Those whom the false teachers seek to capture are designated with γυναικάρια,** a diminutive of γυνή (and a NT hapax used with similar significance in extrabiblical literature [see BAGD]), literally “little women,” which is used here with a negative connotation. It is the immaturity and thus the weakness of these “childish women” that make them susceptible to the false teachers. Paul does not use the term to derogate women but to describe a situation involving particular women. That he uses a diminutive form shows that he is not intending to describe women in general.

The reason that these women are characterized as childish and weak is given in two qualifying participial clauses. The passive participle σεσωρευμένα** (the verb also in Rom 12:20, basically “heap or pile up”) means here “overwhelmed,” and its perfect tense specifies that this is a condition that these women are continually in (see Field, Notes). They are overwhelmed by their “sins” (ἁμαρτίαις, dative of means; elsewhere in the PE* in 1 Tim. 5:22, 23).

Not only are they overwhelmed by past sins, they are being continually led in the present (ἀγόμενα, present passive; cf. 1 Cor. 12:2) by a multitude of desires (ἐπιθυμίαις ποικίλαις, dative of means; on ἐπιθυμία see 1 Tim. 6:9; on its use with ποικίλος see Tit. 3:3). ἐπιθυμίαις is used here specifically of evil desires (as it usually is in the NT). These women’s desires are ποικίλαις, “manifold,” or “of various kinds.” That their consciences are burdened by past sins and their lives controlled by such desires puts them in a weakened condition and makes them vulnerable to false teachers who “capture” them as followers.

3:7 The condition these women

NASB New American Standard Bible

BAGD W. Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, tr. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. 2nd ed. rev. and augmented by F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker from Bauer’s 5th ed. (1958), Chicago, 1979.

NIV New International Version

RSV Revised Standard Version

BAGD W. Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, tr. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. 2nd ed. rev. and augmented by F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker from Bauer’s 5th ed. (1958), Chicago, 1979.

 George W. Knight, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1992), 433–434.

-  3:7 The condition these women enter when they are thus captured is described as that of perpetual learners who never learn the truth. The neuter accusative plural participle μανθάνοντα (as does δυνάμενα) continues to refer to neuter accusative plural γυναικάρια, as did the previous participles, σεσωρευμένα and ἀγόμενα. They are “learning” from the instruction (μανθάνοντα) of these false teachers and are doing so “constantly” or “always” (πάντοτε, adverb of time in a negative sense here as in 1 Thes. 2:16).

Concomitant (καί) with this constant learning is the sad fact that they “never,” “never at all” (μηδέποτε,** a NT hapax and adverb of time, an intensifying negative compound [Robertson, Grammar, 1173], here as the opposite of πάντοτε) are able to come to the knowledge of the truth, which is the opposite of what would be expected of those who are “constantly learning.” The very falseness of the teaching itself makes them not “able” (δυνάμενα; cf. Mt. 23:15 and for the contrast 2 Tim. 3:15) to learn the truth.

εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν, “to come to the knowledge of the truth,” is associated with being saved in 1 Tim. 2:4; εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας is associated with repentance in 2 Tim. 2:25; and ἐπίγνωσις ἀληθείας is associated in Tit. 1:1 with the faith of God’s chosen and with godliness (these are the other three occurrences of ἐπίγνωσις ἀληθείας** in the PE [see the comments on each passage: 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Tim. 2:25; Tit. 1:1], which appears elsewhere in the NT only in Heb. 10:26). ἐπίγνωσις ἀληθείας presents “the content of Christianity as the absolute truth” (BAGD s.v. ἀλήθεια 2b). “To come into” that knowledge is to acknowledge and embrace the truth of the gospel and be converted by it so that the things associated with this phrase in the other PE occurrences (repentance, faith, being saved, living in godliness) become a reality in one’s life. The terrible consequence of the false teaching is that these women, who are so burdened, never really learn the truth that can make them free.

3:8 Paul turns to the false tea

BAGD W. Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, tr. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. 2nd ed. rev. and augmented by F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker from Bauer’s 5th ed. (1958), Chicago, 1979.

 George W. Knight, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1992), 434.

성경에는 이들의 이름이 등장하지 않는다. 하지만 유대 문헌이나 초대 그리스도교 문헌에서 등장한다. 요나단 탈굼이나 외경에 의하면 이들은  출애굽 당시 모세를 대적했던 애굽의 마술사들의 이름이라고 나온다. 얀네는 아람어로 ‘유혹하는 자’, 암브레는 ‘반란을 일으키는 자’라는 의미를 지닌다. 이들 문헌에서는 얀네와 얌브레는 사기꾼으로 모세의 기적을 보고 자신들이 이스라엘의 출애굽을 막을 수 없다는 사실을 깨달은 후 유대교로 개종하여 이스라엘 백성들 속에서 그들의 파멸을 촉박시키기로 작정했다고 말한다. 실제로 유대인의 전승에 따르면 이스라엘 백성들을 설득해서 그들로 하여금 금송아지를 만들게 하고 거기에 절하게 만든 장본인이 이들이었다고 한다. 얀네와 얌브레게 모세를 대적하여 이스라엘을 잘못된 길로 인도한 것과 같이 바울과 디모데의 가르침을 반대하여 사람들을 거짓의 길로 인도한다는 점에서 당시 거짓 교사들이 얀네와 얌브레와 같이 거짓을 전하는 사기꾼이요, 하나님의 백성들 사이에 가만히 들어와 교회를 파괴하는 이들의 실상을 고발하고 있는 것이다. 

There is another sect, also, of adepts in the magic art, who derive their origin from Moses,16946 Jannes,16947 and Lotapea,16948 Jews by birth,16949 but many thousand years posterior to Zoroaster: and as much more recent, again, is the branch of magic cultivated in Cyprus.16950 In the time, too, of Alexander the Great, this profession received no small accession to its credit from the influence of a second Osthanes, who had the honour of accompanying that prince in his expeditions, and who, evidently, beyond all doubt, travelled16951 over every part of the world.

16946 Moses, no doubt, was represented by the Egyptian priesthood as a magician, in reference more particularly to the miracles wrought by him before Pharaoh. From them the Greeks would receive the notion.

16947 In 2 Tim. iii. 8, we find the words, “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.” Eusebius, in his Prœ paratio Evangeliea, B. ix., states that Jannes and Jambres, or Mambres, were the names of Egyptian writers, who practised Magic, and opposed Moses before Pharaoh. This contest was probably represented by the Egyptian priesthood as merely a dispute between two antagonistic schools of Magic.

16948 Of this person nothing is known. The former editions mostly have “Jotapea.” “Jotapata” was the name of a town in Syria, the birthplace of Josephus.

16949 He is mistaken here as to the nation to which Jannes belonged.

16950 By some it has been supposed that this bears reference to Christianity, as introduced into Cyprus by the Apostle Barnabas Owing to the miracles wrought in the infancy of the Church, the religion of the Christians was very generally looked upon as a sort of Magic. The point is very doubtful.

16951 His itinerary, Ajasson remarks, would have been a great curiosity.

 Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, ed. John Bostock (Medford, MA: Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, 1855), 5425.

‘마음’으로 번역된 ‘누스’는 오늘 우리가 생각하는 정서의 자리만이 아니다. 히브리인들에게 있어서 마음은 인간의 지성과 감성과 의지등 인간의 전인격의 좌소이다. 그런데 거짓 교사들의 경우 이 전인격의 자리인 마음이 부패한 것이다. ‘부패한 자’로 번역된 ‘카텝다르메노이’는 강조를 나타내는 접두어 ‘카타’와 ‘파괴하다, 멸망시키다’란 의미의 ‘프테이로’의 합성어로 ‘완전히 파괴하다’라는 ‘카탑데이로’의 현재 완료 분사형이다. 현재 완료 시제가 사용된 것은 과거로부터 현재에 이르기까지 계속 이러한 상태가 있었음을 보여준다. 

둘째 이들은 믿음에 관하여 버리운 자들이다. ‘믿음, 피스틴’은 일차적으로 ‘예수 그리스도에 대한 믿음’이며 나아가 ‘그리스도교 전반에 대한 객관적인 믿음’을 의미한다. ‘버리운 자들이라’로 번역된 ‘아도키모이’의 원형 ‘아도키모스’는 부정 불변사 ‘아’와 ‘시험에 통과해서 인정된’이란 의미를 지닌 ‘도키모스’의 합성어로 ‘실패한, 자격을 잃은, 타락한’이라는 의미인데 여기서는 ‘시험에서 탈락되어 인정되지 못한’ 의미이다.  ‘조사하다, 검증하다’라는 의미의 동사 ‘도키마조’는 마치 국무위원에 대한 인사 검증, 혹은 금과 은이 풀무불을 통과하여 순금, 순은 인지를 테스트하는 것을 의미한다(잠 27:21). 거짓 교사들의 믿음은 불순한 금속을 섞어서 만들어진 주화와 같은 것이어서 검증을 통과하지 못하기에 이러한 위조 지폐는 폐기되어야 마땅한 것이다. 

). There is some ambiguity in the combination δοκιμάζειν τὰ διαφέροντα (Rom 2:18; Phil 1:10), which could mean “to examine [discover, determine] the things that make a difference” or, more prob., “to approve of what is superior” (NIV; the NRSV gives a third option, “determine what is best”).

In at least one passage (2 Cor 8:2), the noun δοκιμή has what may be regarded as an active meaning, “act/process of testing, trial, ordeal” (perhaps also 2:9 [NRSV, “to test you”; but NIV, “to see if you would stand the test”]; 9:13 [NRSV, “through the testing of this ministry”; but NIV, “the service by which you have proved yourselves”]; 13:3 [where the usual rendering “proof” could be understood as either act. or pass.]). Otherwise it has a passive nuance, i.e., the result of having been tested, and in these cases the rendering “[tested/proven] character” is sometimes appropriate (Rom 5:4; Phil 2:22). The rare noun δοκίμιον occurs only in the phrase τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως, used in both Jas 1:3 and 1 Pet 1:7 (letters that share various similarities), but with differing nuances. In the former, which has πειρασμός in the background (Jas 1:2), the sense is clearly active, referring to the testing of the believer’s faith as a process that “produces perseverance.” In 1 Pet 1:7, however, the author describes the result of the trial: “so that the proven genuineness of your faith … may result [lit., may be found] in praise, glory and honor”; here Peter, under OT influence, compares this experience with gold that is “tested/refined [δοκιμαζομένου] by fire.”

2 Theological teaching. (a) The passages of Scripture that speak of testing, trial, recognition, and rejection are addressed specifically to those who are part of the church. In Heb 6:8 the figure of a “worthless” (ἀδόκιμος) land illustrates the failure to bear the fruit of repentance and faith (the context is apostasy, 6:4–6; cf. ἀποδοκιμάζω in 12:17).

(b) What matters in testing is that we use God’s gifts aright. Timothy, to whom the word of truth had been entrusted, was to show himself as an approved worker (2 Tim 2:15) by faithful preaching. On the other hand, those who do not honor God according to the knowledge granted them, who reject knowing him (οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν θεόν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, lit., “did not approve of retaining God in their knowledge”), are given over to a base mind (ἀδόκιμον νοῦν) and to improper conduct as a punishment (Rom 1:28).

(c) God himself tests and passes judgment on the day of judgment. Paul   1권, 759쪽  declares in 1 Cor 3:13 that all service for the church and all the fruit borne by it are subjected to God’s testing and verdict in the fire of judgment. The determining factors will be whether faith was created (3:5) and the church built up (3:10). Those who have stood the test in faith will receive eternal life as the victor’s crown (Jas 1:12).

(d) This test is taking place already in this life. God even now shows himself as the tester of human hearts (1 Thess 2:4). So the whole of a Christian’s life is subject to the testing scrutiny of God. All depends on our being found as “approved in Christ” (Rom 16:10; NIV 2011 ed., “whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test”). Paul submitted himself to the judgment of God, not to that of human beings (1 Cor 9:27; cf. 4:3–5), even though they can and should recognize when someone has stood the test (2 Cor 13:3; Phil 2:22). The content and goal of Paul’s pastoral care of the individual and community is that they should be found obedient (2 Cor 2:9).

(e) That one has stood the test is manifested in various ways. (i) By a serious effort to know the will of God. The gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to recognize God’s will (Rom 12:2) and to test what is well-pleasing to God (Phil 1:10; Eph 5:10) and what is best (1 Thess 5:21). The gift of testing and distinguishing of the spirits (1 John 4:1) is also part of the Christian’s duty. (ii) By one’s loyalty to God. The vb. δοκιμάζω is used side-by-side with πειράζω G4279 and ἐπιγινώσκω (see γινώσκω G1182) in 2 Cor 13:5 so as to move the Corinthians to the crucial task of testing their own faithfulness. (iii) By love to one’s neighbor. In the instructions regarding the collection (2 Cor 9:13), Paul writes that because of the Corinthians’ “testing” (or proving themselves) in this service many praise God. (iv) By holding fast to hope in the midst of tribulation. The church is exposed to attacks from within and without, from satanic powers and godless people. It lives by faith, not by sight. In this position willed by God it maintains its living hope by remaining under God’s hand, by the overflowing of the riches given by God and of the goodness created by the Spirit to others (2 Cor 8:2), by patience (Jas 1:2–3), and by overcoming temptations (1 Pet 1:6–7).

TDNT 2:255–60; EDNT 1:341–43; Spicq 1:353–61; TDOT 2:69–72; 2:475–79; NIDOTTE 1:636–38; 3:847–53.

i.e. id est (that is)

lit. literal(ly), literature

cf. confer (compare)

cf. confer (compare)

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, transl. G. W. Bromiley, 10 vols. (1964–76)

EDNT Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. H. Balz and G. Schneider, 3 vols. (1990–93)

Spicq C. Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, transl. and ed. J. D. Ernest, 3 vols. (1994)

TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. G. J. Botterweck et al., transl. J. T. Willis et al., 15 vols. (1974–2006)

NIDOTTE The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. W. Van Gemeren, 5 vols. (1997)

 Moisés Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 758–759.

-  3:8 Paul turns to the false teachers, as is evidenced by the subject matter itself, by the use of masculine οὗτοι, and by the use of ἄνθρωποι in its more restricted masculine sense (cf. 2:2). He likens them to “Jannes and Jambres” who opposed Moses and says that they also oppose the truth because of their depraved minds.

δέ ties this verse to v. 6 as further grounds for the command in v. 5b and prepares the way for the comparison applied to the false teachers by οὕτως καί. The adverbial accusative τρόπον is the antecedent of ὅν, with which it is incorporated in the relative clause (Robertson). The phrase indicates a comparison, “in the manner in which,” i.e., “(just) as” (BAGD s.v. τρόπος 1; cf. BDF §475.3; ὃν τρόπον** elsewhere in the NT in Mt. 23:37; Lk. 13:34; Acts 1:11; 7:28; 15:11; 27:25).

The Egyptian sorcerers who opposed Moses before Pharaoh (Ex. 7:11ff., 22) were called Ἰάννης and Ἰαμβρῆς in Jewish writings (e.g., Targum Ps.-Jonathan 1.3; 7.2; at an earlier date in CD 5:17–19). The names were also widely known in pagan writings (e.g., Pliny, Natural History 30.1.11), so Paul’s reference to them would have presented no problem for the church at Ephesus (especially not for the false teachers, with their interest in genealogies [1 Tim. 1:4]). Even though the names do not occur in the OT text, there is no reason to doubt the reliability of the Jewish tradition (so Ellicott; for further discussion of the names and references to primary and secondary literature see BAGD; H. Odeberg, TDNT III, 192f.; Str-B III, 660–64; McNamara, NT and Palestinian Targum, 82–96).

Paul appeals to the OT episode to illustrate the point he is making about the false teachers (cf. 1 Cor. 10:4). Both groups take the same sort of action. Just as the sorcerers “opposed” (ἀντέστησαν, aorist) Moses in the past, so also the false teachers now “oppose” (ἀνθίστανται, present) “the truth” (both verb forms from ἀνθίστημι, which basically means “set oneself against”). Moses (Μωϋσεῖ, the dative required by the verb) is referred to 10x by name in Paul’s letters. In the Corinthian correspondence, as here, the references are with one exception to events in Moses’ life (1 Cor. 10:2; 2 Cor. 3:7, 13, 15). Here, even though in the first instance a person is opposed and in the second the truth is opposed, the two episodes are analogous in that opposition to Moses was really opposition to the truth of Moses’ message (cf. Ex. 7:2, 13 with Ex. 8:18–19).

With the adv. οὕτως, “so,” corresponding to the correlative ὃν τρόπον and strengthened in its comparative force by adverbial καί, “also,” what has been said about Jannes and Jambres is applied to the false teachers. The latter are referred to in the demonstrative pronoun οὗτοι, “these,” the antecedent of which is οἱ ἐνδύνοντες … καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντες (v. 6). That which they oppose is ἀληθείᾳ, “truth,” the truth of the gospel (cf. ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας in v. 7). Paul has used ἀλήθεια five times already in this letter (2:15, 18, 25; 3:7, 8) and will use it for the last time in 4:4.

The explanation for their opposition is given in the first of two participial clauses: These “men” (ἄνθρωποι in its distinctly masculine sense following masculine οὗτοι; see 2:2) are κατεφθαρμένοι τὸν νοῦν. νοῦς, “mind,” is used here as elsewhere in the PE* (1 Tim. 6:5 [see the comments there]; Tit. 1:15) “as the sum total of the whole mental and moral state of being” (BAGD s.v. 3; cf. J. Behm, TDNT IV, 948ff.). Here τὸν νοῦν is accusative of respect (BDF §159.3; Robertson, Grammar, 486) with the perfect passive participle κατεφθαρμένοι (from καταφθείρω,** 2 Pet. 2:12): With respect to their minds, these teachers have been “ruined” or “corrupted” (see 1 Tim. 6:5), with the passive perhaps an allusion to the devil’s activity (cf. 2:26 and the related verb διαφθείρω of the evil one in 2 Cor. 11:3).

The second participial clause gives the result of all this: The false teachers are ἀδόκιμοι (see Tit. 1:16; the opposite of δόκιμον in 2 Tim. 2:15), i.e., those who have “not stood the test” and are therefore “rejected” “with respect to” (περί; cf. 2:18) “the faith” (τὴν πίστιν, used here as in 2:18 and 1 Tim. 1:19; see the comments especially on the latter), i.e., the faith relationship with God.

BAGD W. Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, tr. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. 2nd ed. rev. and augmented by F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker from Bauer’s 5th ed. (1958), Chicago, 1979.

BDF F. Blass and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, tr. and rev. R. W. Funk from the 10th German ed. Chicago, 1961.

BAGD W. Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, tr. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. 2nd ed. rev. and augmented by F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker from Bauer’s 5th ed. (1958), Chicago, 1979.

TDNT G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, tr. G. W. Bromiley, I–X. Grand Rapids, 1964–76.

Str-B H. Strack and P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch I–V. 3rd ed., München, 1956.

BAGD W. Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, tr. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. 2nd ed. rev. and augmented by F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker from Bauer’s 5th ed. (1958), Chicago, 1979.

TDNT G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, tr. G. W. Bromiley, I–X. Grand Rapids, 1964–76.

BDF F. Blass and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, tr. and rev. R. W. Funk from the 10th German ed. Chicago, 1961.

 George W. Knight, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1992), 434–436.

NIV는 이를 'their folly will be clear to everyone.’로 ESV는 이를 ' for their folly will be plain to all’로 번역했다. 

-  3:9 Here Paul encourages Timothy by reminding him of the outcome that will meet the false teachers as it met Moses’ opponents. In contrast (ἀλλά, Ellicott suggests “notwithstanding”) with what he has written about their inroads into households, he wants Timothy to know that their impact will not continue because the “folly” of what they teach will become “obvious to everyone.” With οὐ προκόψουσιν ἐπὶ πλεῖον, “they will not advance farther,” Paul uses the same idiom that he used without the negative in 2:16 (see the comments there).

γάρ indicates that the second clause of this verse states the grounds for the first clause. ἡ ἄνοια αὐτῶν, “their folly,” refers to the teaching of the false teachers. The best understanding of this phrase is gained from Paul’s earlier appraisal of one aspect of the teaching: “They do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions” (1 Tim. 1:7). The reason that they will not advance further is that their folly will be “quite evident,” i.e., “plain” and “conspicuous” (ἔκδηλος, a NT hapax; cf. LSJM) to “all” (πᾶσιν) who are exposed to it (cf. πάντες in 1 Tim. 4:15; 2 Tim. 2:24).

Paul makes his point by comparing (ὡς) the false teachers to Moses’ opponents and by reminding Timothy that this happened with them “also” (καί): ὡς καὶ ἡ ἐκείνων ἐγένετο, literally “as also that of those came to be.” ἡ recalls ἡ ἄνοια (see BAGD s.v. 9). The demonstrative pronoun ἐκείνων, denoting a remoter object, refers back to Ἰάννης καὶ Ἰαμβρῆς, the subject in v. 8. ἐγένετο, “became,” is used with the adjective ἔκδηλος understood from the preceding clause. Paul says, therefore, that the folly of those men (Jannes and Jambres) also became evident to all. He is apparently referring to the failure of these opponents of Moses to repeat all the miracles that he brought about, which they sought to do to discount his message (e.g., Ex. 8:18–19 and especially 9:11). Thus it eventually became evident that their message was not true and was not to be followed. Paul says that the same will happen with regard to the false teachers at Ephesus.

LSJM H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, rev. and augmented by H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie, with a Supplement by E. A. Barber. Oxford, 1968.

BAGD W. Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, tr. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. 2nd ed. rev. and augmented by F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker from Bauer’s 5th ed. (1958), Chicago, 1979.

 George W. Knight, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1992), 436–437.