Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Timothy 3:6
For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
6 9. Appeal to Timothy for pure doctrine in view of the worse doctrines to come
6. For of this sort ] For of these, the reason of the warning; the mischief has begun.
which creep into ] The verb occurs only here in N.T., but is classical.
lead captive ] For the primary sense cf. Luk 21:24; for the derived, Rom 7:23; 2Co 10:5.
silly women ] The neuter gender and the diminutive ending of the word here indicate the degraded contemptible state to which they have come. Vulg. ‘mulierculas’; ‘womanlings,’ Farrar.
laden with sins ] The simple verb occurs only Rom 12:20, where it is quoted from LXX., Pro 25:22 ‘thou shalt heap coals of fire’; the compound verb in 2Ti 4:3. Why such women especially? Their burdened conscience lays them open to any proselytisers who promise relief.
led away with divers lusts ] Apparently the meaning is (not ‘lusts of the flesh’ but rather) as in 2Ti 4:3, which Wordsworth explains of persons ‘who in their prurient craving for something new, to stimulate and gratify their diseased appetite, accumulate to themselves a promiscuous heap of self-chosen teachers.’ ‘Led’ belongs to ‘women’; it occurs with the same construction, Rom 8:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For of this sort are they which creep into houses – Who go slyly and insidiously into families. They are not open and manly in endeavoring to propagate their views, but they endeavor by their address to ingratiate themselves first with weak women, and through them to influence men; compare Tit 1:11. The word translated creep into, is rendered by Doddridge, insinuate themselves; by Bloomfield, wind their way into, in the manner of serpents; by Bretschneider, deceitfully enter; by Robinson and Passow, go in, enter in. It is not certain that the idea of deceit or cunning is contained in this word, yet the whole complexion of the passage implies that they made their way by art and deceitful tricks.
And lead captive silly women – One of the tricks always played by the advocates of error, and one of the ways by which they seek to promote their purposes. Satan began his work of temptation with Eve rather than with Adam, and the advocates of error usually follow his example. There are always weak-minded women enough in any community to give an opportunity of practicing these arts, and often the aims of the impostor and deceiver can be best secured by appealing to them. Such women are easily flattered; they are charmed by the graceful manners of religious instructors; they lend a willing ear to anything that has the appearance of religion, and their hearts are open to anything that promises to advance the welfare of the world. At the same time, they are just such persons as the propagators of error can rely upon. They have leisure; they have wealth; they are busy; they move about in society, and by their activity they obtain an influence to which they are by no means entitled by their piety or talents. There are, indeed, very many women in the world who cannot be so easily led away as men; but it cannot be denied also that there are those who are just adapted to the purposes of such as seek to spread plausible error. The word rendered silly women, means properly little women, and then weak women.
Laden with sins – With so many sins that they seem to be burdened with them. The idea is, that they are under the influence of sinful desires and propensities, and hence, are better adapted to the purposes of deceivers.
Led away with divers lusts – With various kinds of passions or desires – epithumias – such as pride, vanity, the love of novelty, or a susceptibility to flattery, so as to make them an easy prey to deceivers.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ti 3:6
Lead captive silly women.
Creeping into houses
The expression which creep into houses, although perfectly natural, and one which, even in these Western countries, could be used with propriety to express the method in which these deceiving and perverting men make their way into households, yet, when we remember the comparative state of seclusion in which women usually lived, and still live, in Eastern lands, the words used by Paul acquire an increased force. Special fraud and deceit was needful for these false teachers to creep into the womens apartments in Asia. (H. D. M. Spence, D. D.)
Sneakiness
Cheaters must get some credit before they can cozen; and all falsehood, if not founded in some truth would not be fixed in any belief. (T. Fuller.)
Woman and sin
There lies in the womanly character the foundation; as for the highest development of the power of faith, so also for the highest revelation of the power of sin (comp. Rev 17:1-18.). Josephus also states that the Pharisees especially had found much support amongst women (Antiq. 17:2). Compare the account, moreover, of the rich Fulvia of Rome, who was induced by two Jewish impostors to furnish a considerable sum of gold, under the supposition that it was for the temple at Jerusalem (Antiq. 18:3). (Van Oosterzee.)
Impostors
1. As they are impudent, so they are of a fraudulent, subtle, sly, insinuating temper; they vent not their errors openly (especially, not at first) but they secretly and slily creep into private houses, and there they sell their wares (Jud 1:4), they privily bring in damnable heresies (2Pe 2:1; Gal 2:4). Truth loveth the light and seeks no corners.
2. These impostors observe a method in seducing silly women, who being the weaker sex, are sooner won over to their way, as being less able to withstand the shock of a temptation. As warriors go about a city observing where the wall is weakest, lowest, and unguarded, and there they make their greatest assault; and as thieves set not upon strong, armed men, but upon weak, unarmed ones, so seducers love not to set upon strong, grounded, judicious, discerning Christians, but it is the weak and ignorant which cannot discern their frauds, but like children are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, that become their prey (Pro 14:15; Rom 16:18; Eph 4:14); man is, or at leastwise should be, more strong and prudent to resist temptations than women are. They catch not grave and truly pious matrons, but light women which prefer their lusts before Christ. It is the light chaff which is tossed with every wind, when the massy wheat abides in the floor. (T. Hall, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. For of this sort are they] He here refers to false teachers and their insinuating manners, practising upon weak women, who, seeing in them such a semblance of piety, entertain them with great eagerness, and at last become partakers with them in their impurities. Among the Jews there are remarkable cases of this kind on record, and not a few of them among the full fed monks of the Romish Church. But in what sect or party have not such teachers been occasionally found? yet neither Judaism, Protestantism, nor Roman Catholicism makes any provision for such men.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For of this sort are they which creep into houses; who do not only privily enter in at the doors of houses, but pierce into the secrets of them, making it their business to pry into all families,
and lead captive silly women, and take their advantages upon women, (the weaker sex), and not the wisest of them, but , the diminutive word, is used to vilify; the little despicable women, of no judgment in sound religion, whom they by their tongues and pleasing errors make their captives.
Laden with sins; nor do they deal with the most pious and honest women, but such as are laden with the guilt of much sin;
led away with divers lusts; and who, being possessed of divers sinful inclinations, not only lusts of the flesh, but any other, such as pride, &c., are easily led away; lust always smoothing the way for such errors as will be principles to justify it against the reflections of conscience. Their vices, rather than sex, made them easily seduced.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. of this sortGreek,“of these,” such as were described (2Ti3:5).
creep intostealthily.
laden with sins (Isa1:4); applying to the “silly women” whose consciencesare burdened with sins, and so are a ready prey to the false teacherswho promise ease of conscience if they will follow them. A badconscience leads easily to shipwreck of faith (1Ti1:19).
divers lustsnot onlyanimal lusts, but passion for change in doctrine and manner ofteaching; the running after fashionable men and fashionable tenets,drawing them in the most opposite directions [ALFORD].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For of this sort are they which creep into houses,…. Privily and unawares, in a clandestine manner, and insinuate themselves into families, by fawning and flattering, and under specious pretences to knowledge and virtue. The Syriac version uses a word, from whence comes
, “Chulda”, which signifies “a weasel”; suggesting, that their entrance into houses was like to the way of that creature, which is sometimes covered, and sometimes open: there was also a gate of the temple, which was called “Huldah”; whether there is any allusion in the word to that, may be inquired k.
And lead captive silly women; the coming of antichrist is after the working of Satan; as Satan attacked the woman, and not the man, and beguiled Eve and not Adam, so these his instruments and emissaries, work themselves into the affections of the weaker vessel, and into the weaker sort of women, as the diminutive word here used signifies; and gain upon them, instil their principles into them, attach them to their interests, captivate them to them, and lead them as they please:
laden with sins; covered with them, full of them, and so ready to receive any set of principles that would encourage them to continue in them; or else were pressed down with a sense of them, their consciences being awakened, and they under some concern on account of them, and so fit persons for such deceivers to gain upon, by pretending to great sanctity and religion, and by providing them with pardons and indulgences, and putting them upon penance, c. though the former sense seems most agreeable, and is confirmed by what follows,
led away with divers lusts. The Alexandrian copy adds, “and pleasures” that is, sinful ones; though this may be understood, not of unclean lusts, but of the itch and desire after new teachers, and new doctrines, and practices, which prevail in weak women, and by which they are governed and led away.
k Vid. L. Empercur in Misn. Middot, c. 1. sect. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That creep ( ). Old and common verb (also ) either to put on (1Th 5:8) or to enter (to slip in by insinuation, as here). See same idea in Jude 1:4 (), 2Pe 2:1 (), Ga 2:4 ( and ). These stealthy “creepers” are pictured also in Tit 1:11.
Take captive (). “Taking captive.” Present active participle of , for which see 2Cor 10:5; Rom 7:23.
Silly women (). Literally, “little women” (diminutive of ), found in Diocles (comedian of 5 century B.C.) and in Epictetus. The word here is neuter (grammatical gender) plural. Used contemptuously here (only N.T. example). Ramsay suggests “society ladies.” It is amazing how gullible some women are with religious charlatans who pose as exponents of “new thought.”
Laden with sins ( ). Perfect passive participle of , old word from Aristotle down (from , a heap) to heap up. In N.T. only here and Ro 12:20. Associative instrumental case .
Divers (). Many coloured. See Tit 3:3. One has only to recall Schweinfurth, the false Messiah of forty odd years ago with his “heavenly harem” in Illinois and the recent infamous “House of David” in Michigan to understand how these Gnostic cults led women into licentiousness under the guise of religion or of liberty. The priestesses of Aphrodite and of Isis were illustrations ready to hand. (present passive participle) means “continually led astray or from time to time.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Of this sort [ ] . Lit. of these. The formula often in Paul. Which creep [ ] . N. T. o. Thrust themselves into. Comp. Jude 1:4, pareiseduhsan crept in privily (see note); 2Pe 2:1 (note), pareisaxousin shall privily bring in; and Gal 2:4, pareisaktouv brought in by stealth.
Lead captive [] . Only here in Pastorals. See on captives, Luk 4:18; and 2Co 10:5.
Silly women [] . N. T. o. o LXX Silly is expressed by the contemptuous diminutive. Comp. Vulg. mulierculas.
Laden [] . Only here and Rom 12:20, citation. In LXX, see Judith 14 11, of loading a wagon with the property of Holofernes. It implies heaped up; heavily laden.
Led away [] . Away is superfluous. It is only an inference. The meaning is under the direction of. Comp. Rom 8:14; Gal 5:18. Divers [] . In Pastorals only here and Tit 3:3. Lit. variegated, of different tints. See on manifold wisdom, Eph 3:10. 141
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For of this sort” (ek touton gar) “Out of these,” those of the disposition and attitude just reviewed, 2Ti 3:5.
2) “Are they which creep into houses” (eisin oi endunontes eis tos oikias) “Are the ones creeping into houses,” by cunning, stealth, and ulterior motive; Tit 1:11; Mat 23:14; Stealthily; 2Pe 2:1; Jud 1:4.
3) “And lead captive silly women laden with sins” (aichmaloti-ontes gunaikaria sesoreumena hamartiais) “Capturing silly women having been heaped with sin; Silly women, made silly by a consciousness of sin, more easily led than men, a ready prey to promises of false teachers, 2Ti 2:14; 2Pe 1:1; 2Pe 1:19.
4) “Led away with divers lusts” (agomena epithumiais poikilais) “Being led (on) by various or variegated types of appealing lusts,” Isa 1:4; Not only running after animal passions of false teachers, fashionable men, and fashionable tenets, but also a change in doctrines and manners of conduct … permissive looseness in morals to the shipwreck of the faith, 1Ti 1:19.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6 Of those are they who creep into families You would say, that here Paul intentionally draws a lively picture of the order of monks. But without saying a single word about monks, those marks by which Paul distinguishes false and pretended teachers are sufficiently clear; creeping into houses, snares for catching silly women, mean flattery, imposing upon people by various superstitions. These marks it is proper to observe carefully, if we wish to distinguish between useless drones and faithful ministers of Christ. These former are here marked by so black a coal, that it is of no use for them to shuffle. To “creep into families” means to enter stealthily, or to seek an entrance by cunning methods.
And lead captive silly women laden with sins Now, he speaks of “women” rather than men, because the former are more liable to be led astray in this manner. He says that they “are led captive,” because false prophets of this sort, through various tricks, gain their ear, partly by prying curiously into all their affairs, and partly by flattery. And this is what he immediately adds, “laden with sins;” for, if they had not been bound by the chain of a bad conscience, they would not have allowed themselves to be led away, in every possible manner, at the will of others.
By various sinful desires I consider “sinful desires” to denote generally those foolish and light desires by which women, who do not seek God sincerely, and yet wish to be reckoned religious and holy, are carried away. There is no end of the methods adopted by them, when, departing from a good conscience, they are constantly assuming new masks. Chrysostom is more disposed to refer it to disgraceful and immodest desires; but, when I examine the context, I prefer the former exposition; for it immediately follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
2Ti. 3:6. Silly women.The diminutive term (little women) is not found again in New Testament. The contemptuous epithet indicates their weakness and proneness to temptation.
2Ti. 3:7. Never able.In the nature of things whilst such conditions lasted. To come to the knowledge.I.e. the complete knowledge.
2Ti. 3:8. Jannes and Jambres.According to Jewish tradition, sons of Balaam, at first teachers, then opponents, of Moses. They perished with the Egyptians in the Red Sea.
2Ti. 3:9. Shall be manifest.Thoroughly exposed. As theirs also was.R.V. came to be. The pronoun points to these men far removed as monitory specimens of those who oppose truth.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.2Ti. 3:6-9
Characteristics of False Teachers.
I. They furtively insinuate themselves into the midst of domestic life.For of this sort are they which creep into houses (2Ti. 3:6). As a serpent crawls towards its prey, or as a wolf stealthily attacks the sheepfold. The peace of many a home has been destroyed by the cunning of unprincipled men.
II. They practise their wiles on weak women.
1. Women whose sinful lives make them a prey to conflicting passions. And lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts (2Ti. 3:6). The most abandoned woman has her moments of remorse, when her conscience is roused and her soul bowed down under the load of conscious sin. It is then that the false teacher, who promises ease of conscience, is eagerly listened to, especially if too much restriction is not placed on the indulgence of unholy desire.
2. Women who crave for novelty rather than the knowledge of the truth. Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2Ti. 3:7). They quickly disparage what they already know by the restless desire and curiosity to gain something new. It is not a paradox but a truth to say that their constant craving for knowledge leaves them utterly ignorant, for nothing can be known that is forgotten as soon as it is learned. The Gnostic teachers, like more recent heretics, laid hold of the female sex and encouraged them to use all their seductive arts in popularising their theories.
III. They have their prototypes in past ages.
1. In men who audaciously opposed the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth (2Ti. 3:8). These were the traditional names of the Egyptian magicians who sought by their conjuring tricks to discredit the authority of Moses. It is the ambition of false teachers to-day to imitate and if possible outrival the preacher of the gospel.
2. In men whose degraded minds rendered them incapable of appreciating the truth. Men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith (2Ti. 3:8). Their own vitiated tastes and misused powers incapacitated them from testing the truth. They were bewitched and misled by their own foolish errors, and infatuated by their own sins.
IV. The inevitable exposure of their wicked and insensate folly limits their power for mischief.But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest (2Ti. 3:9). Wise as they may seem, their folly shall be exposed. In all wickedness there is an element of weakness which limits its power to do evil. They who seek to deceive others end in being most deceived themselves.
Lessons.
1. False teachers are not particular as to the instruments they employ.
2. Error hopelessly degrades its victims.
3. False teachers expose themselves.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ti. 3:8-9. Opposition to the Truth
I. Is the offspring of ignorance and obstinate wickedness.
II. Is limited in its power.
III. The folly of such an attitude will be exposed and the opponents signally punished.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(6) For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women.The corrupting influence of these hypocritical professors of the religion of Jesus must have been already great, and the danger to all real vital godliness in Ephesus imminent, for Paul here specifies one of the mostperhaps the mostsuccessful work of these toilers for Satan: the power they were acquiring over women. As we shall see, these unhappy men busied themselves in securing popularity among the female portion of the flock in the Ephesian Church, and the way by which they won their popularity was by supplying anodynes for the guilty consciences of these women, laden, we are told, with sins The expression, which creep into houses, although perfectly natural, and one which, even in these Western countries, could be used with propriety to express the method in which these deceiving and perverting men make their way into households, yet, when we remember the comparative state of seclusion in which women usually lived and still live in Eastern lands, the words used by Paul acquire an increased force. Special fraud and deceit was needful for these false teachers to creep into the womens apartments in Asia. The Greek word translated lead captive is a peculiar one, and is only found in comparatively later Greek. It is supposed to be a word of Alexandrian or Macedonian origin. It here represents these women as wholly under the influence of these bad men, to the utter destruction of all true, healthy, home life. The Greek word translated silly women, in the Vulgate mulierculas, is simply a diminutive, expressing contempt. There is no doubt but that the older Heresiarchs made great use of women in the propagation of their new and strange systems. They worked more easily, perhaps, on the impulsive and emotional female mind; but what has never sufficiently been taken into account is the reaction which was then taking place among women, so long relegated to an inferior and subordinate position, and now, by the teaching of Christ and His Apostles, raised to a position of equality with men as regards the hope of future glory. In many instances, in the first ages of Christianity, there is no doubt, but that they misunderstood their position; they claimed work they could never do, and aimed after an influence they could never exercise, and thus, no doubt, in these first feverish years many a woman fell a comparatively easy prey to these proselytisers, who, laying claim to a higher and deeper wisdom, proposed now to lead some into the knowledge of profound and hidden mysteries, now offered ease of conscience to others if they would but follow them. Irenus, in the second century, speaks of the special power which the Valentinian Gnostic Marcus had acquired over women; and Epiphanius, in the same century, also refers to the Gnostics deceitful influence with the female sex. Jerome, in an interesting though rhetorical passage (Epist. ad Ctesiphontem), cites a number of instances in which a woman shared in the baleful influence exercised by the leading masters of heresy in doctrine and laxity of life.
Simon Magus, he tells us, was accompanied by the wicked Helen. Nicolas, of Antioch, a teacher of immorality, gathered round him what Jerome calls choros fmineos. Montanus is associated with the well-known names of Maximilla and Prisca. Donatus is coupled with Lucilla. Marcion, Arius, Priscillian, and other Heresiarchs, famous in the annals of the early churches, he speaks of as intimately associated with or supported by female influence.
Laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.This gives us some insight into the source of the power which these false teachers acquired over those women of Ephesus who in name were Christians. They had accepted the faith of Christ, but were unable to live His life; over their passions and lusts had these no mastery. Laden with sins, and led away with divers lusts, these weak women fell an easy prey to men who procured them, by means of their lying doctrines, a false peace. By their words they seemed to have lulled the consciences of their female listeners to sleep. They showed them, no doubt, how in their school they might still be Christians and yet indulge their divers lusts.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. St. Paul now shows one of the arts by which these antinomians gain adherents, namely, by appealing to the weaknesses of weak women. St.
Paul more than once found noble women who were converted by his public preaching. Act 17:4. But these proselytes crept, like serpents, into the women’s apartments to suit their doctrines to their tempers.
Creep Metaphor, perhaps, from serpents.
Silly women The Greek diminutive, womanlings, females of a smaller intellectual magnitude than the average.
Laden with sins With remorseful views of past courses, and so looking for some method of absolution. So the Jesuits have, during their whole history, held the secrets of families in possession through means of the female confessional. Women laden with a life of sins found the convent their last resource.
Led lusts The word lusts, same as 2Ti 2:22, where see note. Here the strong impulses and passions of the feminine sex are meant, by which the proselytes gained them over.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For of these are they who creep into houses, and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.’
Paul now gives an example by describing in the present tense those who are already doing such things. The description no doubt includes the idea of sexual misbehaviour, but must not be limited to that. The men in question ‘creep into their houses’ (they are entering under false pretences) and seduce and deceive these women by false teaching, capturing their very souls, and making them prisoners to false teaching. The women may even think that what they are being taught is Christianity, but it is a perverted form that leads them away from true righteousness and rather than bringing relief, simply adds to their already heavy load of sin. Uneducated women whose hearts were not fixed on Christ were wide open to such manipulation. As mentioned it probably includes sexual misbehaviour which was a common feature of religion in those days (compare Rev 2:14; Rev 2:20 ; 2Pe 2:2; 2Pe 2:7-8; 2Pe 2:14).
‘Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.’ In 1Ti 2:11 the women were to learn in quietness and in subjection to the elders of the church and to their Christian husbands. That is how they would come to a knowledge (epignosis) of the truth (1Ti 2:4). But these women, although they are ever learning, and indulge fully in what they learn, fail to learn the truth because they go to false sources, and thus never come to that knowledge of the truth which is essential to salvation (1Ti 2:4).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Ti 3:6. For of this sort are they, &c. Some begin this verse with the last clause of the preceding. The word rendered creep, , signifies to insinuate, or slide in, like snakes. Some read who dive into families. This and the next verse contain a lively description of the practices of the monks and friars and other religious orders in the church of Rome, who creep into houses, and by auricular confession, and many other wicked arts, not only dive into the secrets of families, but, under the form and pretence of extraordinary sanctity, delude and corrupt their votaries.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ti 3:6 . In this verse the apostle passes on to definite facts in the present. We cannot but see that he is thinking of the heretics on whose he lays stress also in other passages; comp. 2Ti 3:8 (2Ti 2:16 ). Hofmann says that “Paul was thinking of people who wished to be considered, and pretended to be, on good terms with Timothy;” but there is no hint of this in the context. By similarity of disposition they belong already to the number of the godless men of the future; hence Paul says: ] gives the reason of the previous exhortation, as the apostle means to declare that men such as he has described already exist.
] here, “ enter, press into ,” with a suggestion of secrecy; Luther: “who slip into houses here and there;” Bengel: irrepentes clanculum; in this sense the word is . [46] The form of expression shows that this is a characteristic of those of whom the apostle is speaking.
The purpose of this secret entering is given in the next words: . . .] , a verb belonging to later Greek: “make a prisoner of war;” it denotes here, getting complete possession of; the word is thoroughly apposite for describing the conduct of the founders of heretical sects. [47]
] . ., the diminutive with a suggestion of contempt; “the contemptuous epithet indicates their weakness and proneness to temptation” (van Oosterzee).
The nature of these is described in the following three participial clauses: ] (Rom 12:20 ), “gather, heap up,” corresponds to the Latin cumulare: “cumulatae peccatis.”
(Rom 8:14 ; Gal 5:18 , ). Luther is inaccurate: “who go on with manifold lusts.” Their internal motive and spring of action are their manifold lusts; Chrysostom: ; , , , . Comp. Tit 3:3 . 2Ti 3:7 . ] Bengel adds the adverb: curiose. The incentive of their was not the search after truth, but mere desire for entertainment, a longing for intellectual pastime (comp. the description of the Athenians, Act 17:21 ); this longing makes them the prey of teachers who promise new wisdom. Hence it goes on: ] is . .; is emphatic; they cannot attain to the truth, because the necessary conditions do not exist in their inner life. Chrysostom: , .
Mosheim thinks that the three participial clauses describe the three different classes of the : (1) sinners, (2) seekers after happiness, (3) devotees; they rather denote various traits in the same persons, and “the very union of such traits is characteristic” (de Wette).
It is no matter of surprise that the heretics, to win more followers, turned their attentions to the fair sex; that has been done by heretics in all ages. It is a charge brought specially against the Gnostics by various writers. Irenaeus, 1. 13. 3, says of Marcus the Valentinian Gnostic: ; and Epiphanius, Haer . xxvi., expressly upbraids the Gnostics with and with ; [48] see Baur, p. 36. This, however, cannot be taken as a proof of the later composition of the epistle, all the less that many expressions in the descriptions of the Fathers show that they had this description in their thoughts.
[46] Chrysost.: , ; , , .
[47] The word occurs in Ignatius ( Ep. ad Philadelph. chap. ii.) in the same sense as here: .
[48] The passage, quoted by Mack from Jerome ( Ep. ad Ctesiphontem ), is very descriptive: Simon Magus haeresin condidit adjutus auxilio Helenae meretricis; Nicolaus Antiochenus omnium immunditiarum conditor choros duxit foemineos; Marcion quoque Romam praemisit mulierem ad majorem lasciviam; Apelles Philemonem comitem habuit; Montanus Priscam et Maximillam primum auro corrupit, deinde haeresi polluit; Arius ut orbem deciperet, sororem principis ante decepit. Donatus Lucillae opibus adjutus est; Elpidium caecum Agape caeca duxit; Prisciliano juncta fuit Galla.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
Ver. 6. Creep into houses ] Gr. , shoot themselves into the inner rooms of houses, qui sese immergunt, by their pithanology and counterfeit humility, as the Jesuits and many of our modem sectaries, a That creep like ferrets or weasels, as the Syriac here hath it.
Lead captive silly women ] Gr. , take them prisoners, and then make price of them, 2Pe 2:3 . Egregiam vero laudem, et spolia ampla refertis. (Virgil.) But omnes haereses ex gynaeciis. It is the guise of heretics to abuse the help of women, to spread their poisonous opinions. They get an Eudoxia, Justina, Constantia on their side; and so work upon Adam by Eve. Of women they have ever made their profit, that have attempted any innovation in religion.
a Mulierculas Iesuitae pio studio semper complecti soleni.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6 .] for (reason of the foregoing command, seeing that they are already among you) among the number of these are they who creep ( , , , , Chrys. Cf. Aristoph. Vesp. 1020, . Bengel interprets it ‘irrepentes clanculum’) into (men’s) houses and take captive (as it were prisoners; a word admirably describing the influence acquired by sneaking proselytizers over those presently described: attach to themselves entirely, so that they follow them as if dragged about by them a late word, said to be of Alexandrian or Macedonian origin, and condemned by the Atticist: see Ellicott) silly women (the diminutive denotes contempt) laden with sins (De W. alone seems to have given the true reason of the insertion of this particular. The stress is on : they are burdened, their consciences oppressed, with sins, and in this morbid state they lie open to the insidious attacks of these proselytizers who promise them ease of conscience if they will follow them), led about by lusts of all kinds (I should rather imagine, from the context, that the reference here is not so much to ‘fleshly lusts’ properly so called, though from what we know of such feminine spiritual attachments, ancient (see below) and modern, such must by no means be excluded, as to the ever-shifting ( ) passion for change in doctrine and manner of teaching, which is the eminent characteristic of these captives to designing spiritual teachers the running after fashionable men and fashionable tenets, which draw them ( ) in flocks in the most opposite and inconsistent directions), evermore learning (always with some new point absorbing them, which seems to them the most important, to the depreciation of what they held and seemed to know before), and never (on ., see Ellicott) able to come to the thorough knowledge (reff., and notes: the decisive and stable apprehension, in which they might be grounded and settled against further novelties) of the truth (this again is referred by Chrys., all., to moral deadening of their apprehension by profligate lives: , . It may be so, in the deeper ground of the psychological reason for this their fickle and imperfect condition: but I should rather think that the Apostle here indicates their character as connected with the fact of their captivity to these teachers.
With regard to the fact itself, we have abundant testimony that the Gnostic heresy in its progress, as indeed all new and strange systems, laid hold chiefly of the female sex: so Irenus i. 13. 3, p. 61, of the Valentinian Marcus, , and in ib. 6, p. 63 f., : and Epiphanius, Hr. xxvi. 12, vol. i. p. 93, charges the Gnostics with and , then quoting this passage. Jerome, Ep. 133. ad Ctesiphontem 4, vol. i. p. 1031 f., collects a number of instances of this: “Simon Magus hresin condidit Helen meretricis adjutus auxilio: Nicolaus Antiochenus omnium immunditiarum repertor choros duxit fmineos: Marcion Roman prmisit mulierem qu decipiendos sibi animos prpararet. Apelleos Philumenem suarum comitem habuit doctrinarum: Montanus Priscam et Maximillam primum auro corrupit, deinde hresi polluit : Arius ut orbem deciperet, sororem principis ante decepit. Donatus Lucill opibus adjutus est: Agape Elpidium ccum cca duxit in foveam: Priscilliano juncta fuit Galla.”
The general answer to Baur, who again uses this as a proof of the later origin of these Epistles, will be found in the Prolegomena, ch. vii. i. De Wette remarks, “This is an admirable characterization of zealous soul-hunters (who have been principally found, and are still found, among the Roman Catholics) and their victims. We must not however divide the different traits among different classes or individuals: it is their combination only which is characteristic.” “Diceres, ex professo Paulum hic vivam monachismi effigiem pingere.” Calvin).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Ti 3:6 . : who insinuate themselves into houses [which they overthrow], Tit 1:11 . “Observe how he shows their impudence by this expression, their dishonourable ways, their deceitfulness” (Chrys.). (Jud 1:4 ) and (Gal 2:4 ) are similar expressions.
: Mulierculas . Chrys. acutely implies that the victims of the crafty heretics were “silly women” of both sexes: “He who is easy to be deceived is a silly woman, and nothing like a man; for to be deceived is the part of silly women”. St. Paul, however, refers to women only.
: overwhelmed , rather than burdened ( ) (Field). Is there any contrast implied between the diminutive, indicating the insignificance of the women, and the load of sins which they carry? De Wette (quoted by Alf.), notes that a sin-laden conscience is easily tempted to seek the easiest method of relief.
: There is no great difficulty in diverting them from the right path, for they are inconstant even in vice.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
of. App-104.
this sort = these.
creep. Greek. enduno Only here. Akin to enduo, to clothe, to put on. into. App-104.
houses = the houses.
lead captive. See Eph 4:8.
silly women. Greek. gunaikarion, neut. A diminutive form of geno, used as a term of contempt. Only here.
laden. Greek soreuo. See Rom 12:20.
sins. App-128.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6.] for (reason of the foregoing command, seeing that they are already among you) among the number of these are they who creep ( , , , , Chrys. Cf. Aristoph. Vesp. 1020, . Bengel interprets it irrepentes clanculum) into (mens) houses and take captive (as it were prisoners; a word admirably describing the influence acquired by sneaking proselytizers over those presently described: attach to themselves entirely, so that they follow them as if dragged about by them a late word, said to be of Alexandrian or Macedonian origin, and condemned by the Atticist: see Ellicott) silly women (the diminutive denotes contempt) laden with sins (De W. alone seems to have given the true reason of the insertion of this particular. The stress is on : they are burdened, their consciences oppressed, with sins, and in this morbid state they lie open to the insidious attacks of these proselytizers who promise them ease of conscience if they will follow them), led about by lusts of all kinds (I should rather imagine, from the context, that the reference here is not so much to fleshly lusts properly so called,-though from what we know of such feminine spiritual attachments, ancient (see below) and modern, such must by no means be excluded,-as to the ever-shifting () passion for change in doctrine and manner of teaching, which is the eminent characteristic of these captives to designing spiritual teachers-the running after fashionable men and fashionable tenets, which draw them () in flocks in the most opposite and inconsistent directions), evermore learning (always with some new point absorbing them, which seems to them the most important, to the depreciation of what they held and seemed to know before), and never (on ., see Ellicott) able to come to the thorough knowledge (reff., and notes: the decisive and stable apprehension, in which they might be grounded and settled against further novelties) of the truth (this again is referred by Chrys., all., to moral deadening of their apprehension by profligate lives: , . It may be so, in the deeper ground of the psychological reason for this their fickle and imperfect condition: but I should rather think that the Apostle here indicates their character as connected with the fact of their captivity to these teachers.
With regard to the fact itself, we have abundant testimony that the Gnostic heresy in its progress, as indeed all new and strange systems, laid hold chiefly of the female sex: so Irenus i. 13. 3, p. 61, of the Valentinian Marcus, , and in ib. 6, p. 63 f., : and Epiphanius, Hr. xxvi. 12, vol. i. p. 93, charges the Gnostics with and , then quoting this passage. Jerome, Ep. 133. ad Ctesiphontem 4, vol. i. p. 1031 f., collects a number of instances of this: Simon Magus hresin condidit Helen meretricis adjutus auxilio: Nicolaus Antiochenus omnium immunditiarum repertor choros duxit fmineos: Marcion Roman prmisit mulierem qu decipiendos sibi animos prpararet. Apelleos Philumenem suarum comitem habuit doctrinarum: Montanus Priscam et Maximillam primum auro corrupit, deinde hresi polluit : Arius ut orbem deciperet, sororem principis ante decepit. Donatus Lucill opibus adjutus est: Agape Elpidium ccum cca duxit in foveam: Priscilliano juncta fuit Galla.
The general answer to Baur,-who again uses this as a proof of the later origin of these Epistles,-will be found in the Prolegomena, ch. vii. i. De Wette remarks, This is an admirable characterization of zealous soul-hunters (who have been principally found, and are still found, among the Roman Catholics) and their victims. We must not however divide the different traits among different classes or individuals: it is their combination only which is characteristic. Diceres, ex professo Paulum hic vivam monachismi effigiem pingere. Calvin).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Ti 3:6. , of these) See the preceding verse, these (such). The expression is clearly demonstrative.- , they who creep in) privately.-) silly women, who are presently described as like those (in 2Ti 3:5).- , with various or divers lusts) of the mind and of the flesh: 2Ti 4:3. Even this variety is a source of delight.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Ti 3:6
For of these are they that creep into houses,-The men with these unworthy characters are described as insinuating themselves into the homes of the Christians, and their influence must have been great, and the church suffered much. The power they acquired over women of this type was great, and their influence abounded everywhere in the apostolic age.
and take captive silly women-These hypocritical men busied themselves in securing popularity among the women of the church. The way by which this was accomplished was by easing their guilty consciences.
laden with sins, led away by divers lusts,-[As if sins were heaped upon them. Their consciences were oppressed with sins, and in this morbid state they lay open to the insidious attacks of these corrupt men who promise them ease of conscience if they will follow them.] Those who reject the truth of God and are not subject to his authority are slaves of sin and are led into the excesses and immoralities of lust.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
sins
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
of this: Mat 23:14, Tit 1:11, Jud 1:4
laden: Psa 38:4, Isa 1:4, Mat 11:28
led: 1Co 12:2, 2Pe 3:17
divers: Mar 4:19, 1Ti 6:9, Tit 3:3, 2Pe 2:18, Jud 1:16, Jud 1:18
Reciprocal: Job 5:2 – one Jer 23:27 – think Amo 8:12 – shall run Mar 12:40 – devour Luk 20:47 – devour Gal 2:4 – unawares Eph 4:14 – tossed 1Th 5:21 – hold 2Ti 4:3 – but 2Jo 1:10 – come
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ti 3:6. This sort refers to the characters described in the preceding verses. Such persons might be expected to accomplish their unrighteous schemes by means of this kind. Creep into houses. According to the Greek sense of the words, they mean men who manage to get inside the houses after the manner of an insistent salesman. They make their approach to the silly women (“little women”–Thayer) who are already in a state of uncertainty on account of their many sins. Since they are already led away with their various lusts, they would be easy prey for these intruding men who will capture their attention for evil purposes.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Ti 3:6. Creep into houses. The whole verse paints the early phase of an evil which has reappeared but too frequently in the religious history of Christendom. Every word expresses the scorn with which the apostle looked on the clandestine practices of those who thus gained influence in families, and became, if not the founders of sects, at least the leaders of coteries.
Silly women. The English well expresses the force of the Greek diminutive, women-creatures.
Laden with sins. The word gives the reason why such women fall easy victims to the Tartuffe of their time. They are oppressed with the burden of accumulated sins, and they follow any one who promises deliverance on easy terms, or drugs them with a spiritual anodyne.
Diverse lusts. As in the youthful lusts of 2Ti 2:22, the word, though it includes, is not limited to, sensual passion, but takes in, as the word divers implies, desires and caprices of every possible variety.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In these words our apostle renders a reason why we should turn away from the forementioned sins and sinners, namely, because these heretical and false teachers before characterized are of an insinuating temper; they vent not their errors openly, but in corners; they creep into houses, and there set upon women with their temptations, who have less ability to detect them: and first upon women, that they may better win their husbands over to compliance with them; and upon silly women, and such as were laden with sins and led way with divers lusts; they make a prey of such women as are weak in their intellectuals, and corrupt and wicked in their morals: which women always pretend to be learned, but are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, and consequently, are an easy prey to seducers, and very capable receptive objects for such deceivers to draw away.
Learn hence, That seducers observe a method in seducing. They begin with women, weak women, and usually wicked and loose women. Carefully ought that sex to resolve, and shun conversing and disputing with them.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The Work of Apostates The hypocritical men Paul had just described would sneak into the homes of the saints and take advantage of the unsuspecting nature of women. Particularly, the silly, or little or weak, women whose consciences are loaded down with sins and uncontrolled desires. It may be false teachers somehow promised them freedom from the guilt they felt. Whatever the case, they were able to lead them away like prisoners of war. Such women, and men who are like them, constantly crave new knowledge. So, they are ever listening for something new and never finding time to really understand the truth ( 2Ti 3:6-7 ).
Jannes and Jambres were two of the magicians who opposed Moses before Pharoah. They used deception to make it appear that they were able to work the same miracles as the man of God ( Exo 7:11 ; Exo 7:22 ). The false teachers Paul warned against were also resisting God’s truth. Their minds were destroyed by false teaching and the faith they had once had in God could no longer withstand the test and was not fit for anything. The false teachers of Paul’s day would be exposed just as the magicians of Moses’ day were. Remember that Moses’ rod which became a snake devoured all of the snakes the magicians had used in their trickery ( Exo 7:12 ). Eventually, they could not even stand before Moses because of the plague of boils ( 2Ti 3:8-9 ; Exo 9:11 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
2Ti 3:6-7. For, &c. As if he had said, There is need to watch against such, because there are some of them already in the church; for of this sort are those artful deceivers who creep into houses Insinuate themselves into families, and, having the appearance of godliness, lead captive silly women Gain such influence over women of low rank and mean understandings as to obtain the direction of their consciences and purses; women who, whatever pretences they may make to sanctity, are laden with sins, and led away with divers lusts Or desires, which these seducers know how to flatter, so as to make such persons their own property. This, with the two subsequent verses, is thought by some a prophetical description of the practices of the Romish monks and friars in the dark ages, who, by hypocritical pretensions to extraordinary sanctity, and by auricular confession and other wicked arts, deluded and corrupted their female votaries. But practices similar to those began very early in the church, and, by a gradual progress, were at length, under the Romish hierarchy, formed into a regular system of deceit. We may therefore suppose, that as in the prophecies which foretel the political state of the world, so in those concerning the apostacy, in which its religious state is represented the general course of things through a succession of ages is foretold, rather than the state of things in any particular age. This will be allowed, when it is considered that not the rise only, but the progress and downfall of the apostacy is foretold in these prophecies. So that their subject being a series of things which were to happen throughout a long course of years, and which were gradually to produce a widely-extended and confirmed state of corruption in the church, there is no reason for limiting their fulfilment to any particular period. Macknight. Ever learning Pretending to hear with great eagerness, and, it may be, charmed with every appearance of fervour and novelty in their teachers, but, being tossed about with every wind of doctrine, they are never able to come to the experimental and practical knowledge of the truth As it is in Jesus, or to attain any fixed and steady principles of religion.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,”
This verse sets a real qualifier on previous comments about talking to these people – they are out to deceive so be careful not to fall into their trap of falsehood.
Creep relates to putting on something, putting on the house as you would a piece of clothing. This is something that is done in the lowest of attention getting. The term for women relates to a little woman as one that uses the term with contempt.
The term laden has the thought of heavily laden overburdened weighed down with sin would be the thought. These women are led away as an animal is led.
Years ago several times I came home to lunch and found that the Jehovah Witness women of the neighborhood were in my living room. As soon as I opened the door they were on their feet and moving toward the door. They were operating on the truth of this verse they knew women were the easiest targets for their false doctrine.
It is the churchs responsibility to teach women to defend themselves from such. If the church isnt training, it is not protecting.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
Paul evidently had the false teachers in Ephesus in view in these verses, though what he wrote here applies to all false teachers. Teachers manifesting some of the characteristics he just enumerated made a practice of gaining entrance into households in which the wives were spiritually weak (lit. little). He described these women further as dominated by various sins, responsive to their sinful desires, and seemingly ever learning but never really able to comprehend the truth of God. They cannot learn the truth because what they are learning is falsehood. The false teachers captivated such women with their teaching. Women were probably more susceptible to the influence of false teachers than men because in Paul’s culture women occupied a lower status in society. [Note: Wiersbe, 2:250.] Furthermore, they did not usually have as much education as their husbands. Another explanation is that they had more time on their hands with which they could dabble in various things.
"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." [Note: Knight, p. 433.]