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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Timothy 3:8

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Timothy 3:8

Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

8. Now as Jannes and Jambres ] And like as; the conjunction should be translated ‘now’ only when there is more of a fresh departure; the present is only a small additional paragraph. Jannes and Jambres are nowhere else mentioned in Scripture. The Targum of Jonathan inserts their names in Exo 7:11, Mambres which the Vulgate reads here being sometimes a later form for Jambres in the Jewish Commentaries. They were held to be the magicians who first imitated the wonders wrought by Moses and Aaron (see 2Ti 3:13 ‘impostors’ or ‘magicians’) but afterwards failing confessed that the power of God was with those whom they had withstood. Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxx. i. 2, mentions their story ‘est et alia magices factio a Mose et Jamne et Jotape Judis pendens.’ He could not have derived his information from St Paul. There must have been an oral tradition or a lost book of Israelitish early history. Mr Poole (Art. Dict. Bib. from which this account is mainly taken) inclines to the latter supposition as more likely to preserve the exact names. That they are exact he thinks probable; since (1) the termination in Jambres or Mambres is like that of many Egyptian compounds ending with ra “the Sun,” as Men-kau-ra, (2) Jannes appears to be a transcription of the Egyptian name Aan, that of a king of the 15th dynasty who was probably the second predecessor of Joseph’s Pharaoh, and the most prevalent names among the Egyptians were those of kings then reigning or not long dead. The Rabbins state that Jannes and Jambres were sons of Balaam, and prophesied to Pharaoh the birth of Moses, and were authors of much mischief, subsequently perishing either in the Red Sea or in the tumult over the golden calf.

resist the truth ] Rather, withstand, keeping the word.

of corrupt minds ] Implies too much a natural viciousness; the perfect passive participle implies ‘having come to a corrupt state and remaining in it’ as above. In itself the word ‘corrupt’ from the Latin participle (cf. the Vulg. ‘corrupti mente)’ should have just this force, but in usage it is a mere adjective; render corrupted in mind.

reprobate ] Just as in Tit 1:16, where see note.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses – The names of these two men are not elsewhere mentioned in the Bible. They are supposed to have been two of the magicians who resisted Moses (Exo 7:11, et al.), and who opposed their miracles to those of Moses and Aaron. It is not certain where the apostle obtained their names; but they are frequently mentioned by the Hebrew writers, and also by other writers; so that there can be no reasonable doubt that their names were correctly handed down by tradition. Nothing is more probable than that the names of the more distinguished magicians who attempted to imitate the miracles of Moses, would be preserved by tradition; and though they are not mentioned by Moses himself, and the Jews have told many ridiculous stories respecting them, yet this should not lead us to doubt the truth of the tradition respecting their names. A full collection of the Jewish statements in regard to them may be found in Wetstein, in loc.

They are also mentioned by Pliny, Nat. Hist. 30:7; and by Numenius, the philosopher, as quoted by Eusebius, 9:8, and Origen, against Celsus, p. 199. See Wetstein. By the rabbinical writers, they are sometimes mentioned as Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses in Egypt, and sometimes as the sons of Balaam. The more common account is, that they were the princes of the Egyptian magicians. One of the Jewish rabbins represents them as having been convinced by the miracles of Moses, and as having become converts to the Hebrew religion. There is no reason to doubt that these were in fact the leading men who opposed Moses in Egypt, by attempting to work counter-miracles. The point of the remark of the apostle here, is, that they resisted Moses by attempting to imitate his miracles, thus neutralizing the evidence that he was sent from God. In like manner, the persons here referred to, opposed the progress of the gospel by setting up a similar claim to that of the apostles; by pretending to have as much authority as they had; and by thus neutralizing the claims of the true religion, and leading off weak-minded persons from the truth. This is often the most dangerous kind of opposition that is made to religion.

Men of corrupt minds; – compare the notes at 1Ti 6:5.

Reprobate concerning the faith – So far as the Christian faith is concerned. On the word rendered reprobate, see the Rom 1:28 note; 1Co 9:27 note, rendered cast-away; 2Co 13:5 note. The margin here is, of no judgment. The meaning is, that in respect to the Christian faith, or the doctrines of religion, their views could not be approved, and they were not to be regarded as true teachers of religion.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

2Ti 3:8-9

As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses.

Jannes and Jambres


I.
The nature of the opposition offered by these men to Moses. You do not find that they tried to make light of the miracles of Moses, or call in question their genuineness, or anything of the sort. No, they simply tried by imitations to depreciate the value of the real. They so surrounded the true diamond with cut glass copies that in the eye of an undiscerning public it was difficult to tell the difference. This is the kind of resistance the Church has to struggle against in the present day. The old, rough, brutal, physical opposition has passed away. It would be folly on the part of Satan to try and use such weapons now. Like a skilful angler he suits the fly on his hook to the season of the year. Variety, if not pleasing, is profitable to him in this respect. Having failed to do away with Christians, he now seeks to make the whole world Christian after his sort. Stamping out the genuine having proved an utter failure, he now seeks to swamp them with imitations of his own manufacture.


II.
The influence of jannes and jambres. Jannes and Jambres wield an immense power in the present day, and it is no use shutting our eyes to the fact. Jannes is not to be got rid of with a laugh, nor Jambres with a smile of indifference. Their existence is a source of constant danger, and their presence in the professing Church does more to paralyze its testimony than all the outward opposition and persecution it has ever met. This form of Satanic resistance is an awful proof of the deep-sightedness of the great adversary. He knows that nothing can possibly deaden the power of the Churchs testimony more than flooding it with a number of cold formalists, who in the eyes of the world can do as much as the genuine Christian. And then when the world detects they are but shams and finds that it has been deceived, so much the better for him, for he knows that the whole Church will be judged by the impostors, and all put down as belonging to the same family. Counterfeits destroy confidence. This is true in everything. It is unprincipled rogues that make it so hard for honest men to get their bread. It is quackery that keeps the true medicine out of the field. It is bubble joint-stock companies that eat out all commercial trust, and make the very name to many a synonym for fraud. Everywhere the true and real are suffering through the influence of the false and base imitations. I have heard an anecdote somewhere that so exactly sets forth the idea I have in my mind I cannot but tell it. One gentleman made a wager with another that if he stood on London Bridge with a tray full of sovereigns and offered them to the public for sixpence each, he would not sell half a dozen of them in the day. All day long the man cried out, Real sovereigns for sixpence, and declared with all earnestness that he could guarantee their genuineness. Of course no one believed him and he sold none. Why? Because the public had so often seen sham sovereigns for sale that it never doubted they were the same. The gilt having come first had destroyed all faith in the gold. Just so in the spiritual world. The existence of Jannes and Jambres eats out all faith in the reality of any Christian life.


III.
The end of their resistance. They were put to shame (see Exo 8:18). Ah Jannes, it must have been a bitter moment when you stood convicted before all of being an impostor! How complete the collapse of their pretensions. So shall it he with their followers of to-day. This Paul most distinctly states in the verse following our text, But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. Folly? No other word could better describe their resistance. The hypocrite is of all fools the greatest. He is almost certain to be unmasked in time, and even should he carry on the horrible deception unto the last, what shall it profit him when God calleth for his soul? Now just as Jannes and Jambres failed to do all that Moses did, so there are some things that the mere formalist can never accomplish. I will but mention two.

1. He has no power to bear trouble with joyfulness. His whole life being one of externals, when he is driven by force of circumstances to seek his joy in the life within, he fails, and fails utterly, for there is no life there. A sham Christianity withers up in days of trouble. It has no arms to put beneath a man when the dark waters of sorrow roll and surge around him. No, it can do none of these. It fails like the magicians when needed the most. The form may do for bright and sunny days when sorrow and sickness are unknown, but it requires the power to triumph in the winter night, and to take joyfully the spoiling of the goods. Put a Jannes or Jambres amidst a number of anxious souls, and tell him to speak to them and point them the way of peace. See how he fails.

2. If not, I pray you to remember that Jannes and Jambres were included in the doom of the Egyptians. When the angel of death walked through the streets of Egypt, there was no exception made. The form of religion does not save–the appearance of piety is of no avail. (A. G. Brown.)

Men must guard against error

This must teach us to keep our judgments pure, and our understandings clear, for it is our guide, and if that mislead us, we must needs fall into the ditch. Corruption in judgment (in some respects) is worse than corruption in manners, especially when the mind hath been enlightened with the knowledge of the truth; for this is the root of those corrupt manners that are amongst us. In the time of the Law, the leprosy in the head was of all other leprosies the most dangerous and destructive; the man that had it in his hand or feet was unclean, but if it were in his head then he was to be pronounced utterly unclean (Lev 13:44). Hence the Scripture gives so many caveats against errors and erroneous ones (Deu 13:3; Php 3:2; Col 2:8; 2Pe 3:17; Mat 7:13). Beware of false prophets; the word implies a diligent study and singular care, lest we be caught by such subtle adversaries. Keep your judgments pure.

1. There have been false teachers in all ages to oppose the truth and the professors of it. As Jannes and Jambres here oppose Moses, a meek, a learned, a faithful servant in all Gods house.

2. That as the devil hath his Jannes and Jambres to oppose the truth, so God hath His Moses and Aaron to uphold it. As the devil hath his domestic chaplains, so God hath His armed champions; and as the devil raiseth up oppressors, so God sends saviours.

3. A corrupt head and a corrupt heart usually go together; no sooner are mens minds corrupted, but presently it follows they are reprobate concerning the faith; and if once men make shipwreck of faith, they will soon part with a good conscience too. Corrupt principles breed corrupt practices; and corrupt practices teach men to invent corrupt principles. Be sure, then, to keep your heads free from error, if ever you would have your hearts and hands pure from sin.

4. That false teachers are very dangerous persons–they are not such meek, innocent, harmless persons as some imagine. The apostle here tells us that they are impudent, fraudulent, resisters of the truth, men of corrupt heads, hearts, and hands; and what could he say more unless he should call them devils? and so he doth (2Ti 3:3), in the last days, men, especially seducing men (for all these nineteen sins are applicable also to the false teachers of the last times, as appears by the context (2Ti 3:5-6). These study to please men, and therefore they are no servants of Christ (Gal 1:10), all their fine speeches are but like poison given in honey, which destroys more swiftly. They set a gloss upon their false tenets as tradesmen do upon their bad stuffs to make them sell the better. They can cite Scripture to draw you from Scripture, and tempt you to be irreligious by religious arguments misapplied. This is the devils great masterpiece which he hath now upon the wheel, he carries his deadliest poison in a golden cup (Rev 17:4).

5. They wrest and abuse the Scriptures for their own ends. They do violence to the Law (Zep 3:4), they wrest and wring it, they add, they detract, they change the sense, they set it on the tenters to fit it to their fancies, they turn it this way and that way as may best serve their purposes; they set it on the rack, and so make it speak what it never thought. They compel the Scriptures to go two miles, which of themselves would go but one. They deal with them as chemists do with natural bodies, which they torture to get that out of them which God and nature never put into them (2Pe 3:16).

6. They seek their own glory, not Gods. They cry up nature, and decry grace, they cry up a light within them (which is no better than darkness), and cry down Gods word without them. Simon Magus sets up himself instead of God (Act 8:9-10), they drive at self in all their actings (Rom 16:18; 2Pe 2:3; 2Pe 2:14). Impostors are always great self-seekers. These are contrary to Gods faithful ministers. (T. Hall, B. D.)

Resistance of the truth

1. Its weapons.

2. Its sworn comrades.

3. Its stubbornness.

4. Its final fate. (Van Oosterzee.)

Bounds set to spread of error

As God set bounds to the sea, saying, Hitherto shall ye come but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed (Job 38:11), so He limits the malice and madness of men how far they shall prevail; He only can stop these seas of error, and bound these floods of false doctrine which are ready to overflow the face of the world. (T. Hall, B. D.)

Deceivers subject to providence of God

Our comfort is that both the deceivers and the deceived are ordered by the providence of God (Job 12:16); He sets down the time when they shall begin, and limits them how long they shall continue, He orders how far men shall deceive, and to what height they shall come and prevail, and when to stop them, that they may proceed no further: for as the maliciousness, so the deceivableness of men would know no bounds if God did not bound it; but because He doth, therefore though they would, yet they shall proceed no further. No man can do good till God assist him, and no man shall do hurt when God will stop him (Rev 20:3). (T. Hall, B. D.)

Heresies short-lived

Heresies are seldom long-lived–such meteors last not long, such mushrooms soon vanish; witness Becold, Knipperdolling, Phifer, etc. Though for a time they may deceive many, yet in a short time God discovers their hypocrisy to their reproach. (T. Hall, B. D.)

Error vanisheth, truth increaseth

Heresy is like a cloud which for a little time darkens the Church, and then vanisheth. But truth, though it meet with opposition at first and hath few followers, yet increaseth and prevails against all opposition. It hath its plus ultra, it is perpetual and endures for ever. (T. Hall, B. D.)

Impudent error near its end

Pride and impudence, they do not only preach but print their blasphemy: a sign their end is near. Smoke, the higher it riseth the sooner it is scattered (Psa 68:1-2). (T. Hall, B. D.)

The fall of error

They shall fall–

1. Irrecoverably.

2. Easily.

3. Suddenly.

4. Surely. (T. Hall, B. D.)

False teachers exposed

Observe, that God will overthrow false teachers, by discovering their coverings and making known their delusions to the world. As a disease discovered is half cured, so an error discovered is half conquered. Usually before God overthrows wicked men He discovers their vileness first, that the glory of His justice may be the more apparent, and His people may come out from amongst them. (T. Hall, B. D.)

A faithful ministry the best safeguard against error

When the sun ariseth the clouds scatter, and where the Son of Righteousness is powerfully preached and published, heretics hide themselves, and dare not make that open sale of their wares as they do in dark corners. Let us therefore pull off their masks of liberty, their sleeves of sanctity, and their trappings of hypocrisy: let us expose their error, stripped and naked in their own natural deformity, and they will soon be exploded by all, so that they shall proceed no further. (T. Hall, B. D.)

Error utilised and subjugated at last

He is infinitely just, though His ways be secret and full of darkness to us, yet they are always just. When clouds and darkness are round about Him, then righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne (Psa 97:7). He can make a medicine of the poisonous oppositions of wicked men, their malice shall be as horse-leeches to suck out the bad blood, as a file to take off the rust, as rubbish to cleanse the vessel and wash away the filth, and as a touchstone to try the graces of His children. And though His providences seem to cross His promises, yet wait the conclusion, and you shall see and say He hath done all things well. We see in a clock though the wheels run cross and contrary one to another, yet they all conduce to the going of the clock. Josephs imprisonment is the way to his preferment, and Jonahs drowning was the means to save him from drowning. We must not judge of Gods actions before they be formed and finished. (T. Hall, B. D.)

Their folly shall be manifest unto all

The efficiency of the Divine government seen in the limitations of wickedness

1. This is seen in the manifest folly of sin. Sin is always folly, but this is not always made manifest in the course of human affairs. But Gods government is such that, though the folly of sin be not in every case made manifest, it is always made clear that God thwarts the designs of wicked men, no matter how ingenious they may be. Men play the knave, only to show themselves fools. Their deeds ever pass in review before the never-closing eye of Him who holds every destiny in His hand. Under every wise system of government sin is demonstrated to be folly, though it may not always be exposed.

2. One of the declared principles of this effective government is, that crime shall be its own warning. There are earnests of penalties and promises of penalties, no less pronounced, in every-day life, than in the written moral code, the latter to follow us hereafter. The trial and punishment of law-breakers remain unfinished here, though there are generally enough admonitions to associate sin with approach ing danger. Owing to the cross-workings of law upon law, here the danger is not so apparent; but the Divine economy marks its criminals before they are arraigned.

3. Sin is often limited by exposure, pain, and special judgments, so that God Him self becomes the greatest restraint. Destruction of Sennacheribs army.

4. Divine grace often limits sin in action. Conversion of Paul.

Lessons:–

1. If there is a limit to wickedness, and to wicked men, in their course, there must be a limit to individual sins. The believer has to struggle more or less with sin while in this world, but there will be an end of all that conflict.

2. Living under such a government, how unwise to lead wicked lives l

3. The Christian can be faithful and energetic in his work. Sin is sure to fail, and righteousness to succeed. (W. M. Barbour, D. D.)

The true nature of scepticism

Some time ago I was a little alarmed at the stealthy progress which that accursed system–secularism–was making in Lancashire. But God settled it. God sent us the cotton famine; that settled it: and secularism has never rallied since. When the secularists used to come out to meet us, they said to the people, Dont listen to these men; all they want is your money. All their talk is about the next world. They do not care about this. They do not care about your having food, clothes, and healthy homes. And thus we were taunted everywhere. Then occurred the outbreak of that terrible cotton famine. Where were the secularists then? Like the Arabs of the desert, they folded up their tents and silently stole away. And they who had said it was their special mission to deal with temporalities, forgot all temporalities but their own, and came up to London to lecture upon anything–admission threepence. (C. Garrett.)

Manifest folly

Dr. John Hall, in one of his sermons, compared the attacks of infidelity upon Christianity to a serpent gnawing at a file. As he kept on gnawing, he was greatly encouraged by the sight of the growing pile of chips, till, feeling pain and seeing blood, he found that he had been wearing his own teeth away against the file, but the file was unharmed.

The folly of opposition to Christ

You have heard of the swordfish. It is a very curious creature, with a long and bony beak or sword projecting in front of its head. It is also very fierce, attacking other fishes that come in its way, and trying to pierce them with its sword. The fish has sometimes been known to dart at a ship in full sail with such violence as to pierce the solid timbers. But what has happened? The silly fish has been killed outright by the force of its own blow. The ship sails on just as before, and the angry swordfish falls a victim to its own rage. But how shall we describe the folly of those who oppose the cause of Christ? They cannot succeed; like the swordfish, they only work their own destruction. (G. S. Bowes.)

Error cannot stand

Error is a palace of ice, which at last must melt and tumble down necessarily, when but one ray of the sunlight of truth penetrates it. (Van Oosterzee.)

The gospel and its enemies

Luther hoard one day a nightingale singing very sweetly near a pond full of frogs, who, by their croaking, seemed as though they wanted to silence the melodious bird. The Doctor said, Thus tis in the world; Jesus Christ is the nightingale, making the gospel to be heard; the heretics and false prophets are the frogs, trying to prevent his being heard. (Table Talk.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 8. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses] This refers to the history of the Egyptian magicians, given in Exodus 7, where see the notes (Ex 7:11, Ex 7:12), and particularly the concluding observations at the end of that chapter, Ex 7:25 where several things are said concerning these two men.

Men of corrupt minds] It appears as if the apostle were referring still to some Judaizing teachers who were perverting the Church with their doctrines, and loudly calling in question the authority and doctrine of the apostle.

Reprobate concerning the faith.] . Undiscerning or untried; they are base metal, unstamped; and should not pass current, because not standard. This metaphor is frequent in the sacred writings.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Concerning this resistance of Moses by Jannes and Jambres, the Holy Scripture saith nothing but in this text. It is said by interpreters, that they were two brethren, the chief of Pharaohs magicians, who opposed Moses in the miracles he wrought, Exo 7:11, whose names might be known in Pauls time by tradition, or the public writings of the Jews.

So do these also resist the truth; so will corrupt teachers under the gospel resist the truth of the gospel published by Christs ministers.

Men of corrupt minds; men whose hearts are corrupted with sordid lusts.

Reprobate concerning the faith; adokimoi of no sound judgment as to the doctrine of faith, or not approved of God, or good men, as to their sentiments about our faith.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. NowGreek, “But”;it is no wonder there should be now such opponents to the truth, fortheir prototypes existed in ancient times [ALFORD].

Jannes . . .Jambrestraditional names of the Egyptian magicians whoresisted Moses (Exo 7:11; Exo 7:22),derived from “the unwritten teaching of the Jews”[THEODORET]. In a point soimmaterial as the names, where Scripture had not recorded them, Paultakes the names which general opinion had assigned the magicians.EUSEBIUS [Preparationof the Gospel], quotes from NUMENIUS,”Jannes and Jambres were sacred scribes (a lower order ofpriests in Egypt) skilled in magic.” HILLERinterprets “Jannes” from the Abyssinian language atrickster, and “Jambres” a juggler” (Ac13:8).

resist“withstand,”as before. They did so by trying to rival Moses’ miracles. So thefalse teachers shall exhibit lying wonders in the last days (Mat 24:24;2Th 2:9; Rev 13:14;Rev 13:15).

reprobateincapableof testing the truth (Ro 1:28)[BENGEL]. ALFORDtakes passively, “not abiding the test”; rejected on beingtested (Jer 6:30).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses,…. These were not Jews, who rose up and opposed Moses, as Dathan and Abiram did, as some have thought; but Egyptian magicians, the chief of those that Pharaoh sent for, when Moses and Aaron came before him, and wrought miracles; and who did in like manner by their enchantments, Ex 7:11 upon which place the Targum of Jonathan has these words:

“and Pharaoh called the wise men and the magicians; and Janis and Jambres, the magicians of the Egyptians, did so by the enchantments of their divinations.”

And the same paraphrase on Ex 1:15 calls them by the same names; and this shows from whence the apostle had these names, which are not mentioned in any place in the Old Testament; namely, from the traditions and records of the Jews, with which he was well acquainted: there is no need to say he had this account by divine revelation, for some of the Heathens had knowledge of this story some such way. Numenius; the philosopher, speaks of Jannes and Jambres as Egyptian scribes, and famous for their skill in the magic art; and who opposed themselves to Moses when the Jews were driven out of Egypt l. Pliny also makes mention of Janme and Jotape as magicians; though he wrongly calls them Jews, and places Moses with them m, as Jannes likewise is by Apuleius n. It is commonly said by the Jews o, that these were the two sons of Balaam, and they are said to be the chief of the magicians of Egypt p; the latter of these is called in the Vulgate Latin version Mambres; and in some Jewish writers his name is Mamre q by whom also the former is called Jochane or John; and indeed Joannes, Jannes, and John, are the same name; and R. Gedaliah r says, that their names in other languages are John and Ambrose, which is not unlikely. Mention is made of the sons of Jambri in the Apocrypha:

“But the children of Jambri came out of Medaba, and took John, and all that he had, and went their way with it.” (1 Maccabees 9:36)

whom Josephus s calls the sons of Amaraeus. These are said to be the persons that told Pharaoh, that a child should be born among the Israelites, by whom the whole land of Egypt should be destroyed, and which was the reason of Pharaoh’s giving such a charge to the Hebrew midwives t; also the making of the golden calf is ascribed to them u; for, according to the Jews, they afterwards became proselytes; but these things are not to be depended on: however, certain it is, that they withstood Moses by their enchantments, and hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that, for a while, he would not let the children of Israel go. Now between these magicians, and the Papists before described, there is a very great agreement; as these men were Egyptians, so the Papists may be called, since Rome is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, Re 11:8 as the one were, so the other are idolaters, who worshipped devils, idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, Re 9:20 and both sorcerers, using the magic art; Re 9:21 and they both pretended to miracles; though what they did were no other than lying wonders, 2Th 2:9 and both agreed to keep the people of God in bondage, as much, and as long as they could: and particularly, as the magicians of Egypt withstood Moses,

so do these also resist the truth; the truth of one God, by their worshipping of images; and of one Mediator, by making use of angels, and saints departed, to intercede with God for them; and of justification by the righteousness of Christ, by introducing the doctrine of works, of merit, and supererogation; and of pardon and cleansing by the blood of Christ, and atonement by his sacrifice, by their pardons, indulgences, penance, purgatory, and the sacrifice of the Mass; yea, they resist the Scriptures of truth, not allowing them to be a sufficient rule without their unwritten traditions, and even Christ, who is truth itself, in all his offices, prophetic, priestly, and kingly.

Men of corrupt minds, of bad principles, holding antichristian tenets, derogatory to the grace of God, and glory of Christ; giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; like Jannes and Jambres, who were given to magic arts, and were under the influence of Satan:

reprobate concerning the faith; men of no judgment in the doctrine of faith; who have not their senses exercised to discern good and evil, to try things that differ, and approve the more excellent, but call good evil, and evil good: or as those who are disobedient and wicked in their lives, are said to be to every good work reprobate, Tit 1:16 so these are said to be reprobate to the faith; that is, to have no liking of it, or value for it, but despise it, hate it, and reject it; and upon that account, as they are like reprobate silver, whom God has rejected, they ought to be rejected by men.

l Apud Euseb. Praeparat. Evangel. l. 9. p. 411. m Nat. Hist. l. 30. c. 1. n Apolog. p. 248. o Targum Jon. in Numb. xxii. 22. & Zohar in Numb. fol. 78. 3. & Chronicon Mosis, fol. 6. 2. p Targum Jon. in Exod. i. 15. & vii. 11. & Zohar in Exod. fol. 75. 1. q T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 85. 1. Midrash Shemot Rabba, sect. 9. fol. 97. 3. & Aruch. in voce. r Shalsheleth Hakabala, fol. 7. 1. s Antiqu. l. 13. c. 1. sect. 2. t Targum Jon. in Exod. i. 15. u Zohar in Exod. fol. 75. 1. & in Numb. fol. 78. 3. Shalsheleth, ib.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Like as ( ). “In which manner.” Adverbial accusative and incorporation of the antecedent into the relative clause.

Jannes and Jambres ( ). Traditional names of the magicians who withstood Moses (Targum of Jonathan on Ex 7:11).

Withstood (). Second aorist active (intransitive) of , to stand against, “they stood against” (with dative ). Same word used of Elymas in Ac 13:8 and repeated here (present middle indicative). Paul here pictures the seducers of the above.

Corrupted in mind ( ). Perfect passive participle of , old compound, in N.T. only here in critical text. See 2Cor 11:3; 1Tim 6:5 for . The accusative is retained in the passive.

Reprobate (). See 1Cor 9:27; Titus 1:16. They had renounced their trust () in Christ.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

As [ ] . The formula occurs in the Synoptic Gospels (see Mt 23:37; Luk 13:34), and in Acts (i. 11; Act 7:28), but not in Paul. Jannes and Jambres. According to tradition, the names of the chiefs of the magicians who opposed Moses. Exo 7:11, 22.

Of corrupt minds [ ] . Better, corrupted in mind. The verb, N. T. o. Comp. diefqarmenwn ton noun corrupted in mind, 1Ti 6:5.

Reprobate [] . In Pastorals only here and Tit 1:16. A Pauline word. See on Rom 1:28, and castaway, 1Co 9:27.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses” (on tropon de lannes kai lambres antestesan mousei) “By which way indeed Jannes and Jambres turned against Moses;” Tradition names these as Egyptian magicians, opponents of Moses, Exo 7:11; Exo 7:22; Exo 8:7; Exo 9:11.

2) “So do these also resist the truth” (houtos kai houtoi anthistantai te aletheia) “So also these oppose or stand against the truth;” They tried to rival Moses’ miracles, as false prophets shall try to do in end times -impostors are they. Act 13:8; Act 19:13-19; Mat 24:24; Rev 13:14-15.

3) “Men of corrupt minds” (an thropoi katephtharnenoi) “Men with corrupted, distorted, or deranged minds, mentality;” Unregenerate, servants of corruption, 1Ti 6:5; Jud 1:6; Jud 1:8; Jud 1:12-13.

4) “Reprobate concerning the truth” (adokimoi peri ten pistin) “Reprobate concerning the faith — the system of Christian truth;” Apostate, having turned their backs on divinely revealed truth; These deceivers do not stand the test, Jer 6:30; Rom 1:28-32.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

8 And as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses This comparison confirms what I have already said about the “last times”, for he means that the same thing happens to us under the gospel, which the Church experienced almost from her very commencement, or at least since the law was published. In like manner the Psalmist also speaks largely about the unceasing battles of the Church.

Often did they fight against me from my youth, now let Israel say. The wicked ploughed upon my back, they made long their furrows.” (Psa 129:1)

Paul reminds us, that we need not wonder if adversaries rise up against Christ to oppose his gospel, since Moses likewise had those who contended with him; for these examples drawn from a remote antiquity yield us strong consolation.

It is generally believed; that the two who are mentioned, “Jannes and Jambres,” were magicians put forward by Pharaoh. But from what source Paul learned their names is doubtful, except that it is probable, that many things relating to those histories were handed down, the memory of which God never permitted to perish. It is also possible that in Paul’s time there were commentaries on the prophets that gave more fully those narratives which Moses touches very briefly. However that may be, it is not at random that he calls them by their names. The reason why there were two of them may be conjectured to have been this, that, because the Lord had raised up for his people two leaders, Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh determined to place against them the like number of magicians.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(8) Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses.To one brought up, like Timothy, by a pious Jewish mother, and who from a child knew the Holy Scriptures and all the history and ancient traditions connected with the early history of the people, such a comparison would be very striking. No child of Israel could hear the name of Moses, the loved hero of the chosen people, unmoved; and to be told that these false teachers of Ephesus stood in the same relation to him and the Church of Christ as, in old daysin the never-to-be-forgotten Egyptian episodethose famous magicians Jannes and Jambres stood to Moses, would throw for Timothy a new light on all the words and works of these wicked and ambitious men. We can well imagine the comparison being repeated in many an assembly of the faithful, long after the great Apostles death: how St. Paul had likened these early Heresiarchs to those evil men who before Pharaoh had dared to resist God and His servant Moses. These magicians, also termed wise men and sorcerers (Exo. 7:11-22) at the court of Pharaoh, appear as the enemies of Moses. The names Jannes and Jambres, though not given in the sacred text, are preserved in the oral tradition of Israel. The names are found in the Targum of Jonathan on Exo. 7:11; Exo. 22:22. These traditions relate how these men were sons of Balaam, and in the first instance were the instructors of Moses, though subsequently his enemies and opponents. One legend mentions them as perishing in the catastrophe when the waves of the Red Sea overwhelmed the armies of Egypt; another tradition speaks of their having met their death in the slaughter after the worship of the golden calf, the making of which they advised. It was their prophetic words, so say these legendary histories, which, foretelling the birth of Moses, induced Pharaoh to give this order for the destruction of the Jewish children. The later Jews distorted the names into John and Ambrose.

So do these also resist the truth.The point of comparison between the depraved teachers of Ephesus and these Egyptian sorcerers consisted in a persistent and deadly enmity to the truth, which existed in both cases. The life of the prophet Balaam, the traditionary father of this Jannes and Jambres, supplies a vivid illustration of this malignant and persistent hatred of what is known and felt to be true. That these Ephesian heretics in like manner availed themselves, or pretended to avail themselves of occult power is just probable, though in the comparison this point is of but little moment. We know, however, that the claim at least to possess mysterious and unearthly powers was often made by covetous and worldly men in these times: as, for instance, by Simon Magus (Act. 8:9-24), by Elymas the sorcerer, the false prophet and Jew in Cyprus (Act. 13:6-12). See also the episode of Act. 19:18-20, when many which used curious arts came to Paul and his companions, and confessed and shewed their deeds.

Men of corrupt minds.Literally, corrupted in their minds. Timothy might possibly have been induced to regard these evil men, though erring in some particulars, as still of the flock of Christ, to which they belonged nominally; but he was now instructed that they were simply enemies to the truth: that it was vain to hope that they would ever come to a knowledge of the truth, for their mind, the human spirit, the medium of communication with the Holy Spirit of God, was corrupted. There was no common ground of faith, save in the bare name of Christian, between Timothy and these men, for they, in the matter of faith, had been tried and found wanting.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

8, 9. St. Paul here seems to describe a future, the type of which occurs at this same Ephesus in Act 19:13-20, where see notes, including the notes on the remainder of that chapter.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

8. Jannes and Jambres The traditional names of the magicians who at Memphis withstood Moses with their false miracles opposed to the true.

Exo 7:11; Exo 7:22. Origen says, that the account was preserved in a secret, or apocryphal, Jewish volume entitled “Jannes and Jambres.” The names are found, variously spelled, in the Targum of Jonathan on Exo 7:11, and Num 21:22. Says Alford: “They were the sons of Balaam prophesied to Pharaoh the birth of Moses, in consequence of which he gave the order for the destruction of the Jewish children and thenceforward appear as the counsellors of much of the evil in Egypt, and in the desert after the Exodus which happened to Israel. They were variously reported to have perished in the Red Sea, or to have been killed in the tumult consequent on the making the golden calf, which they had advised. Origen (‘Contra Cels., 4:51, vol. i, p. 543’) mentions the Pythagorean Noumenius as relating the history of Jannes and Jambres; so also Euseb., (Praep. Evang., 9:8, vol. iii, [Migne,] p. 412 . )” Pliny (“H. Nat., 30:1”) says: “There is another performance of magic, namely, by Moses, and Jannez and Jotapez, among the Jews, but many thousands of years after Zoroaster.”

Reprobate Rejected, not able to stand the test when tried by the true doctrine of Christ as summarized in 2Ti 2:8-13.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also withstand the truth. Men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith.’

For these men who creep into women’s houses are like the magicians who opposed Moses in the days of the Pharaoh (Exo 7:11, where the Jewish commentary, the Targum of Jonathan, mentions Jannes and Jambres; Exo 8:7; Exo 9:11). Just as those magicians/false religionists opposed and withstood Moses, so do these false teachers oppose and withstand the truth. They stand firm against the revelation of God’s power. And this is because their minds are corrupted, so that they have become spurious, ‘rejected after testing’, concerning the faith.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The certainty of the ultimate exposure of the errorists:

v. 8. Now, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

v. 9. But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.

According to Jewish tradition the men here mentioned, Jannes and Jambres, were sons of Balaam and belonged to the Egyptian magicians that were such strong opponents of Moses. By inspiration of the Spirit, St. Paul here changed tradition into history, thus supplementing the Old Testament account. These magicians had heard the Word of God from the mouth of Moses and Aaron, but they had deliberately and maliciously hardened their hearts against the truth, they had persisted in offering the most stubborn resistance to all the evidence of God’s power. In the very same manner the errorists of Ephesus were resisting the truth as taught by Paul and Timothy, at the same time hindering the labor of the apostles by their secret opposition. The reason for their actions is found in the condition of their hearts: Men corrupt in their mind, not approved with respect to their faith. Men of that stamp have not only spoiled their minds for the acknowledgment of the truth, but they have also hardened their consciences. Any attempt to change this corruption seems doomed to failure from the outset. They may have a head-knowledge of the Christian doctrine, but they are void of all sound judgment in affairs of true Christian religion; if they are put to a test, they fail most lamentably. Since the knowledge of the Christian truth includes repentance and faith, self-denial and love, they are not at all pleased with the outlook. But their chief danger lies in this, that men of this kind are usually very clever in hiding their real sentiments.

The apostle, however, gives the comforting assurance that they will eventually be exposed: But they will not continue very much longer; for their lack of sense will become manifest to all, just as was that of those men. This statement is not at variance with chap. 2:16; for in that passage the apostle speaks of the increasing influence of the false teachers, while he here refers to the revelation of a hypocritical Christianity, such as may be hidden from the eyes of men for a long time. It is a matter of comfort that there will be a limit to the measure of hypocrisy which people may reach without being detected. The eyes of men will finally be opened to the real status of affairs; the lack of sense and wisdom in the hypocritical Christians will finally become manifest and an end thus put to their machinations. Note: This is a source of great consolation also in our days, since it happens time and again that certain sordid spirits will manage to gain adherents for themselves. Eventually all the opposition of error is bound to break down before the power of the truth. God does not permit the rule to be torn from His hand.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

2Ti 3:8. As Jannes and Jambres Jannes and Jambres are not mentioned Exodus 7 nor any where else in the Old Testament; but their names are said to be mentioned, though with some variety as to the spelling, in both the Talmuds, and in the Targum of Jonathan on Exo 7:11. It is remarkable, that the former of them is mentioned together with Moses by Pliny, and both of them by Numenius the philosopher (quoted byEusebius) as celebrated magicians. The Jews affirmed them to have been princes of Pharaoh’s magicians, and greatly to have resisted Moses. See Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 30. c. 1. and Euseb. lib. ix. c. 8.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

2Ti 3:8 . Further description of the heretics: ] Paul here compares the heretics to the Egyptian Magi who are mentioned in Exo 7 . but not named. Origen ( Tract. 35 in Matt. ) thinks that the apostle extracted them from a liber secretus which bore the title “Jamnes et Mambres.” That is, however, doubtful; Theodoret’s supposition is more probable: , . The names were a part of Jewish tradition from which they passed into the Talmudic and other Jewish writings; see Targum Jonathan, Exo 7:11 ; Exo 22:22 . Even the Pythagorean Numenius in the second century mentioned them, as Origen ( Contra Celsum , iv.) and Eusebius ( Praep. Evangel . ix. chap. 8) inform us. “According to Jewish tradition, they are said to have been the sons of Balaam, and at first the teachers of Moses, but afterwards his chief opponents, and to have perished at last with the Egyptian army in the Red Sea;” see Heydenreich and Wetstein on this passage.

The correlation of does not necessarily place emphasis on the similarity of the manner of the act, but often only on the similarity of the act itself (comp. Mat 23:37 ; Act 7:28 ). Possibly, therefore, the heretics are compared with these sorcerers only because they both withstood the truth (so Plitt).

Possibly, also, it is because the resemblance lay in the heretics preaching the same thing as Timothy, just as the sorcerers did the same thing as Moses, the heretics and the sorcerers having the same purpose of striving against the truth (so Hofmann). Still the mention of the sorcerers at all is strange; hence we may suppose that the heretics by some more characteristic trait suggested the resemblance to the apostle’s mind, and that this trait was their use of magic arts, to which there is allusion made also in , 2Ti 3:13 (de Wette, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee [49] ). The not only marks the transition to a new thought, but also introduces something in contrast to what preceded: what they did they did with an appearance of piety, but in truth they were opposing the truth.

] The verb ( . .; in 2Pe 2:12 it is the reading of the Rec., but there is more testimony for the simple verb) is synonymous with , 1Ti 6:5 .

] Luther’s translation: “incapable of believing,” is inaccurate; nor is Beza’s explanation suitable: rejectanei, i.e. falsae et adulterinae doctrinae doctores, quos oporteat ab omnibus rejici. is one who does not stand proof, and in connection with one who does not stand proof in regard to faith: “not standing proof in respect of faith” (Matthies, de Wette); comp. 1Ti 1:19 . The description here given of the heretics is the same as in 1Ti 6:5 : .

[49] Van Oosterzee here makes an apposite allusion to Simon Magus, to Elymas, to the itinerating devil-exorcisers among the Jews, and to the magic arts practised from time immemorial at Ephesus, comp. Act 19:19 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

Ver. 8. Now as Jannes and Jambres ] Numenius the Pythagorean calleth him Mambres. These were those Egyptian sorcerers: their names St Paul had either by tradition, or out of some Jewish records. Apuleius in his second apology mentioneth one Joannes among the chief magicians. The Babylonian Talmud also maketh mention of these two by name, as chief of the sorcerers of Egypt. (Tract. Menachoth, cap. ix.)

Resist the truth ] Not so much us as the truth. So Alexander the coppersmith did greatly withstand Paul’s preachings, 2Ti 4:15 ; this was far worse than to withstand his person.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 .] But (q. d. it is no wonder that there should be now such opponents to the truth, for their prototypes existed also in ancient times) as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses (these are believed to be traditional names of the Egyptian magicians mentioned in Exo 7:11 ; Exo 7:22 . Origen says (in Matt. comment. 117, vol. iii. p. 916), “quod ait, ‘sicut Jannes et Mambres (see var. readd.) restiterunt Mosi,’ non invenitur in publicis scripturis, sed in libro secreto, qui suprascribitur Jannes et Mambres liber.” But Thdrt.’s account is more probable ( , ), especially as the names are found in the Targum of Jonathan on Exo 7:11 ; Num 22:22 . Schttgen has (in loc.) a long account of their traditional history: and Wetst, quotes the passages at length. They were the sons of Balaam prophesied to Pharaoh the birth of Moses, in consequence of which he gave the order for the destruction of the Jewish children, and thenceforward appear as the counsellors of much of the evil, in Egypt, and in the desert, after the Exodus, which happened to Israel. They were variously reported to have perished in the Red Sea, or to have been killed in the tumult consequent on the making the golden calf, which they had advised. Origen, contra Cels. iv. 51, vol. i. p. 543, mentions the Pythagorean Noumenius as relating the history of Jannes and Jambres: so also Euseb. prp. evang. ix. 8, vol. iii. (Migne), p. 412. Pliny, H. Nat. xxx. 1, says, “Est et alia Magices factio, a Mose et Jamne et Jotape Judis pendens, sed multis millibus annorum post Zoroastrem.” The later Jews, with some ingenuity, distorted the names into Joannes and Ambrosius), thus these also withstand the truth, being men corrupted (reff.: the Lexx. quote from a fragment of Menander) in mind, worthless (not abiding the test, ‘rejectanei’) concerning the faith (in respect of the faith: is not, as Huther, equivalent to , but expresses more the local meaning of : ‘ circa ,’ as the Vulg. here has it. In 1Ti 1:19 , , we have the local reference brought out more strongly, the faith being, as it were, a rock, on, round which they had been shipwrecked).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

2Ti 3:8 . The apostle now returns from the to their seducers, whom he compares to the magicians who withstood Moses and Aaron, both in their hostility to the truth and in their subsequent fate. St. Paul is the earliest extant authority for the names; but of course he derived them from some source, written (Origen), or unwritten (Theodoret), it is immaterial which. But the former theory is the more probable. The book is called by Origen ( in Matt . p. 916, on Mat 27:8 ), Jannes et Mambres liber , and is perhaps identical with Pnitentia Jamnis et Mambrae condemned in the Decretum Gelasii . Pliny, whose Natural History appeared in A.D. 77, mentions Jannes along with Moses and Lotapis (or Jotapis) as Jewish Magi posterior to Zoroastes ( Hist. Nat . xxx. 1). He is followed by Apuleius, Apol . c. 90. Numenius (quoted by Eusebius ( Prep. Ev . ix. 8) mentions Jannes and Jambres as magicians who resisted Moses. In the Targ. of Jonathan on Ex. vii. 11, the names are given as , Janis and Jamberes; but in the Talmud as , Jochana and Mamre. It is generally agreed that Jannes is a form of Jochanan (Johannes), and that Jambres is from the Hiphil of to rebel. For the legends associated with these names, see art. in Hastings’ D. B .

: The same word is used of Elymas the Sorcerer, Act 13:8 . The refers rather to the degree of their hostility than to the manner in which it was expressed, i.e. , by magical arts. At the same time, it is possible that magic was practised by the false teachers; they are styled impostors, , in 2Ti 3:13 ; and Ephesus was a home of magic. See Act 19:19 .

: cf. 1Ti 6:5 , . . This is the Pauline equivalent for the Platonic “lie in the soul”. . is not coordinate with .; the latter is the exemplification of the former.

: reprobate . The A.V.m. gives the word here, and in Tit 1:16 , an active force, of no judgment, void of judgment . For with the acc. See on 1Ti 1:19 .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

as. Literally in the manner in which.

Jannes and Jambres. The names of the magicians of Exo 7:11. Found in the Targum of Jonathan.

withstood. Greek. anthistemi. Translated nine times “resist”, five times “withstand”.

Moses. The tenth occurance of the name in the Epistles. See Rom 5:14.

resist. Same as “withstood”.

of corrupt minds = utterly corrupted (Greek. kataphtheiro. Only here and 2Pe 2:12) as to their mind.

reprobate. See Rom 1:28.

concerning. App-104.

faith. App-150.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

8.] But (q. d. it is no wonder that there should be now such opponents to the truth, for their prototypes existed also in ancient times) as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses (these are believed to be traditional names of the Egyptian magicians mentioned in Exo 7:11; Exo 7:22. Origen says (in Matt. comment. 117, vol. iii. p. 916), quod ait, sicut Jannes et Mambres (see var. readd.) restiterunt Mosi, non invenitur in publicis scripturis, sed in libro secreto, qui suprascribitur Jannes et Mambres liber. But Thdrt.s account is more probable ( , ), especially as the names are found in the Targum of Jonathan on Exo 7:11; Num 22:22. Schttgen has (in loc.) a long account of their traditional history: and Wetst, quotes the passages at length. They were the sons of Balaam-prophesied to Pharaoh the birth of Moses, in consequence of which he gave the order for the destruction of the Jewish children,-and thenceforward appear as the counsellors of much of the evil,-in Egypt, and in the desert, after the Exodus,-which happened to Israel. They were variously reported to have perished in the Red Sea, or to have been killed in the tumult consequent on the making the golden calf, which they had advised. Origen, contra Cels. iv. 51, vol. i. p. 543, mentions the Pythagorean Noumenius as relating the history of Jannes and Jambres: so also Euseb. prp. evang. ix. 8, vol. iii. (Migne), p. 412. Pliny, H. Nat. xxx. 1, says, Est et alia Magices factio, a Mose et Jamne et Jotape Judis pendens, sed multis millibus annorum post Zoroastrem. The later Jews, with some ingenuity, distorted the names into Joannes and Ambrosius), thus these also withstand the truth, being men corrupted (reff.: the Lexx. quote from a fragment of Menander) in mind, worthless (not abiding the test, rejectanei) concerning the faith (in respect of the faith: is not, as Huther, equivalent to , but expresses more the local meaning of : circa, as the Vulg. here has it. In 1Ti 1:19, , we have the local reference brought out more strongly, the faith being, as it were, a rock, on, round which they had been shipwrecked).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

2Ti 3:8. , Jannes and Jambres) Euseb., 2Ti 1:9, Prp. Evang., quotes the following passage from Numemius: Jannes and Jambres, understood to be Egyptian sacred scribes (, a lower order of priests in Egypt), men of no small skill in magical operations, at the time when the Jews were driven out of the land of Egypt, etc. Jannes and Jambres were names very well known in Pauls time; for they were very often mentioned in the ancient books of the Hebrews, as two of the principal magicians among the Egyptians. The very acute Hillerus, according to the Abyssinian language, interprets Jannes, a jester or trickster, and Jambres, a juggler; for he is of opinion, that the appellatives were changed into proper names in the lapse of time.-Onom. S., p. 671, 843. Certainly, if they were entirely proper names, we may believe that they were formerly (terms intermediate between appellatives and proper names), which indicated the profession of the art itself (as well as the person); comp. Act 13:8.- , withstood Moses) by rivalling to some extent his wonders.-, resist) The opposite is, shall suffer persecution, 2Ti 3:12.-) reprobate, having no power to approve: comp. Rom 1:28.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

2Ti 3:8

And even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses,-These names are not mentioned elsewhere by name in the Bible. They are supposed by early Jewish writers to have been the magicians in Egypt that wrought wonders before Pharaoh when Moses performed his miracles to cause him to let the Israelites go. They used these magical arts to withstand Moses and prevent the delivery of Israel from Egypt.

so do these also withstand the truth;-So did these men who now opposed Paul and sought to destroy his influence. Probably they used some magical powers to deceive the people with the idea that they exerted miraculous powers as well as Paul and others of the inspired men. God sometimes permitted evil men to manifest wonder-working power from the devil which his servants wrought for him.

men corrupted in mind,-They were men who had once been Christians, but had become corrupt in mind and were enemies of the truth.

reprobate concerning the faith.-Their faith had become so perverted by sin that God condemned it as unworthy, leading to ruin instead of salvation. It is possible for man to believe that Jesus is the Christ and yet his faith is so mixed up with error that it will not lead to salvation. This may mean that they are so given over to sin that they lose the ability to distinguish between good and evil.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

as: Exo 7:11, Exo 7:22, Exo 8:7, Exo 8:18

resist: 2Ti 4:15, 1Ki 22:22-24, Jer 28:1-17, Act 13:8-11, Act 15:24, Gal 1:7-9, Gal 2:4, Gal 2:5, Eph 4:14, 2Th 2:9-11, Tit 1:10, 2Pe 2:1-3, 1Jo 2:18, 1Jo 4:1, Rev 2:6, Rev 2:14, Rev 2:15, Rev 2:20

men: Act 8:21, Act 8:22, Rom 1:28, Rom 16:18, 2Co 11:13-15, 1Ti 1:19, 1Ti 4:2, 1Ti 6:5, Tit 1:16, 2Pe 2:14, Jud 1:18, Jud 1:19

reprobate: or, of no judgment, 2Co 13:5, 2Co 13:6

Reciprocal: Exo 9:11 – General 1Ki 18:29 – voice 1Ki 22:11 – horns of iron 2Ch 18:10 – horns of iron Ezr 4:2 – Let us Neh 6:14 – on the prophetess Pro 22:12 – he Ecc 1:10 – it hath Ecc 9:18 – sinner Jer 29:27 – which Eze 13:20 – and will Dan 1:20 – the magicians Dan 4:7 – but Mic 3:7 – the seers Mat 23:13 – for ye shut Luk 20:7 – that Luk 20:26 – they could Act 8:9 – used Act 13:6 – a false Act 16:16 – possessed 1Co 8:13 – if meat 2Ti 3:9 – their 2Ti 3:13 – evil Rev 9:4 – that they Rev 13:13 – he maketh Rev 13:16 – or

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2Ti 3:8. Jannes and Jambres were the magicians who stood against Moses and Aaron in Exo 7:11-12. According to Thayer, their names were given in the Jewish commentaries. Paul is making the comparison of the simple fact that both sets of evil workers resisted the principles of truth that would have been accepted of the Lord. Out of the heart the mouth speaks (Mat 12:34), and since these were men of corrupt minds, is was in line for them to act against the principles of righteousness. Reprobate (unfit or useles) concerning the faith. There was nothing in the character of these men that was of any use for the faith.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

2Ti 3:8. Jannes and Jambres. The names do not appear in the Pentateuch or elsewhere in the Old Testament. They are found in the Targum or Paraphrase of Exo 7:11; Exo 22:11, ascribed to Jonathan, and may represent either a fragment of decorative fiction or an unwritten tradition. According to one legend they were the sons of Balaam, who prophesied the birth of Moses, suggested the murder of the Hebrew infants, and were Pharaohs counsellors in all evil. As in the reference to Enoch in Jude 14, we see a free use of what we call uncanonical materials by way, not of proof, but illustration.

Of corrupt minds. As in 1Ti 6:5, though the Greek word is not quite the same, corrupted in their mind.

Reprobate. In its strict sense, as tried, found wanting, and rejected.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Jannes and Jambres were two famous magicians in Egypt, who withstood Moses when he was working miracles before Pharaoh to hinder him from believing; their names are not mentioned in scripture, but taken by St. Paul, either from public tradition, or from some ancient Jewish records. Now, says the apostle, as the magicians resisted Moses, so these heretical seducers resist the truth, making a violent and rancorous opposition against it.

Thence learn, That there have been false teachers in all ages, who have with vehemency opposed the truth, and the professors of it. Neither the members nor the ministers of Christ shall ever want enemies to war with, whilst the seed of the serpent remains in the world.

Observe, 2. The character of these men who resist the truth, they are men of corrupt minds, and reprobate concerning the faith; they have lost all sound judgment, and made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.

A corrupt head, a corrupt heart, and a vicious life, usually attend and accompany one another; loose principles dispose men to loose and licentious practices; such as are latitudinarians in opinion, and oftentimes so in practice too.

An heretical head and an upright heart are incompatible; a good conscience and a true faith, like Hippocrate’s twins, live and die together.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

2Ti 3:8-9. Now as Jannes and Jambres Some ancient writers speak of these persons as the chief of Pharaohs magicians, whose names, though not recorded by Moses, yet being handed down by tradition, are preserved in Jonathans Chaldee Paraphrase on Exo 7:11; withstood Moses We learn from Exo 7:11; Exo 7:22, that Pharaohs magicians imitated three of Mosess miracles by their enchantments; that is, by repeating a form of words known only to themselves, in which they invoked certain demons, and, as they fancied, constrained them to do the things desired. By thus pretending to work miracles equal to those of Moses, they resisted him in his attempts to persuade Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. So these also resist the truth That is, the true and genuine gospel; namely, as he seems to mean, by false miracles. In the early ages of Christianity the heretical teachers are said to have been much addicted to the study of magic, and that some of the Gnostics pretended to have the secret books of Zoroaster. Clemens. Alexand. Strom., lib. 5. p. 104. And we know that in later times the monks and friars have been great pretenders to miracles. Hence (2Ti 3:13) they are called , magicians. Men of corrupt minds Impure notions and wicked inclinations; reprobate, , disapproved, with respect to the faith And worthy of being rejected as enemies to it. Or, as some render the clause void of judgment as to the faith; quite ignorant, as well as careless, of true spiritual religion. But they shall proceed no further Or, as Doddridge renders the clause, they shall not proceed much further, in these artifices, and in gaining proselytes; for their folly shall be made manifest unto all , their want of understanding. The apostle might justly call the errors of the authors of the apostacy, and the base arts by which they established their authority, foolishness, because, though they thought themselves superlatively wise in the methods which they devised for obtaining power and wealth, their doctrines and practices were as void of reason as are the imaginations and actions of fools. As theirs also was To the Israelites, and even to the Egyptians themselves. That is, the vile arts by which the corrupters of Christianity established their errors being discovered, their folly and wickedness shall be very plain to the people, even as the folly and wickedness of Pharaohs magicians were made plain to the Israelites, by the stop which God put to their enchantments. And thus, the truth being set in a more clear light, the wisdom and righteousness of God, in permitting these corruptions to take place for a while, will be demonstrated. They who are acquainted with the history of the ancient heretics, and of the Romish Church, and of the Reformation, need not be informed how exactly this whole prophecy hath been fulfilled.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 8

Jannes and Jambres; names handed down by tradition, though not mentioned in the Old Testament, as those of the magicians who resisted the claims of Moses to be received as the messenger of God in the palace of Pharaoh.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

Week 9

2Ti 3:8-13

A FAITHFUL SERVANT IS EXAMPLED (Paul was Timothys example)

8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all [men], as theirs also was. 10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of [them] all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

Even clearer – these are those that reject the truth – they are not seeking, nor following God, thus worthy to be avoided.

Reprobate seems to relate to not coming up to the standard – rejected – not standing the test – castaway. Something, when examined, which is found wanting in some manner.

This in effect is saying the person has been found wanting in truth. There seems to be an evaluation on the part of others in the determination of the persons credibility.

To those that do not want us to judge others – well this seems to be a clear command to evaluate the teachings of others and class them according to the truth found within.

Jannes and Jambres were, according to tradition the magicians that withstood Moses before Pharoah and imitated the miracles. (Exo 7:11-12; Exo 7:22; Exo 8:7; Exo 9:11 speaks to the events, but does not name the men involved.) There is nothing in the Bible dictionaries that I checked that would indicate the truth or falsehood of what is assumed by many. (Jannes means he vexed and Jambres means foamy healer)

The two are named in some of the older traditional sources including the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. These names come to us from Tradition, but Paul knowing that tradition of the Jews knew of the men and that the old Jewish teachers had held the two names to be authentic. Since they are in the inspired New Testament, we know the names of the men to be true from God via Paul. Not as if we need tradition to prove it.

A note of further information about these men – the term corrupt is a verb and is presented in the perfect tense, thus these are men of corrupt minds – minds that will remain corrupt into the future to a corrupt end – at least this is Pauls evaluation of them.

To seek to reconcile them might be a total waste of time and this should be considered before going to them.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

2. Negative and positive illustrations 3:8-13

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Paul used the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses in the plagues (Exo 7:11; Exo 9:11) to illustrate the fate of these false teachers. Jewish oral or written tradition preserved their names even though the Old Testament did not. [Note: Homer A. Kent Jr., The Pastoral Epistles, p. 285. See also Fee, pp. 272, 274.] Their names, probably nicknames, mean "the rebel" and "the opponent." [Note: Walter Lock, The Pastoral Epistles, p. 107.] Like these magicians, the false teachers opposed God’s revealed truth, possessed corrupt minds, and were outside the fold of the faithful. They would proceed only so far, as their Egyptian predecessors did. Their foolishness would become common knowledge when their power would prove inadequate.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

-2

Chapter 33

THE LAST DAYS-THE BEARING OF THE MENTION OF JANNES AND JAMBRES ON THE QUESTION OF INSPIRATION AND THE ERRORS CURRENT IN EPHESUS. – 2Ti 3:1-2; 2Ti 3:8

IN the first chapter the Apostle looks back over the past; in the second he gives directions about the present; in the third he looks forward into the future. These divisions are not observed with rigidity throughout, but they hold good to a very considerable extent. Thus in the first division he remembers Timothys affectionate grief at parting, his faith and that of his family, and the spiritual gift conferred on him at his ordination. And respecting himself he remembers his teaching Timothy, his being deserted by those in Asia, his being ministered to by Onesiphorus. In the second chapter he charges Timothy to be willing to suffer hardships with him, and instructs him how to conduct himself in the manifold difficulties of his present position. And now he goes on to forewarn and forearm him against dangers and troubles which he foresees in the future.

There are several prophecies in the New Testament similar to the one before us. There is that of St Paul to the Ephesian Church some ten years before, just before his final departure for the bonds and afflictions which awaited him at Jerusalem. “I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and from your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after.” {Act 20:29-30} The Epistles to Timothy show that this prediction was already being fulfilled during the Apostles lifetime. There is, secondly, the prophecy respecting the great falling away and the revealing of the man of sin, which is somewhat parallel to the one before us. {2Th 2:3-7} Thirdly, there is the similar prediction in the First Epistle to Timothy. {1Ti 4:1-3} And besides these three by St. Paul, there are those contained in 2Pe 2:1-2 about the rise of false teachers, and in the First Epistle of St. John {1Jn 2:18 and 1Jn 4:3} about the coming of antichrist. Those in 2 Thessalonians and 2 Peter should be compared with the one before us, as containing a mixture of present and future. This mixture has been made the basis of a somewhat frivolous objection. It has been urged that the shifting from future to present and back again indicates the hand of a writer who is contemporary with the events which he pretends to foretell. Sometimes he adopts the form of prophecy and uses the future tense. But at other times the influence of facts is too strong for him. He forgets his assumed part as a prophet, and writes in the present tense of his own experiences. Such an objection credits the feigned prophet with a very small amount of intelligence. Are we seriously to suppose that any one would be so stupid as to be unable to sustain his part for half a dozen verses, or less, without betraying himself? But, in fact, the change of tense indicates nothing of the kind. It is to be explained in some cases by the fact that the germs of the evils predicted were already in existence, in others by the practice (especially common in prophecy) of speaking of what is certain to happen as if it were already a fact. The prophet is often a seer, who sees as present what is distant or future; and hence he naturally uses the present tense, even when he predicts.

The meaning of the “last days” is uncertain. The two most important interpretations are:

(1) the whole time between Christs first and second coming, and

(2) the portion immediately before Christs second coming.

Probability is greatly in favor of the latter; for the other makes the expression rather meaningless. If these evils “were to come at all,” they must come between the two Advents; for there is no other time: and in that case why speak of this period as the “last days?” It might be reasonable to call them “these last days,” but not “last days” without such specification. At the present time it would not be natural to speak of an event as likely to happen in the last days, when we meant that it would happen between our own time and the end of the world. The expression used in 1Ti 4:1 very probably does mean no more than “in future times; hereafter” ( ). But here and in 2Pe 3:3 the meaning rather is “in the last days; when the Lord is at hand.” It is then that the enemy will be allowed to put forth all his power, in order to be more completely overthrown. Then indeed there will be perilous, critical, grievous times ( ). The Apostle treats it as possible, or even probable, that Timothy will live to see the troubles which will mark the eve of Christs return. The Apostles shared, and contributed to produce, the belief that the Lord would come again soon, within the lifetime of some who were then alive. Even at the close of a long life we find the last surviving Apostle pointing out to the Church that “it is the last hour,” {1Jn 2:18} obviously meaning by that expression that it is the time immediately preceding the return of Christ to judge the world. And some twenty years later we find Ignatius writing, to the Ephesians, “These are the last times ( ). Henceforth let us be reverent; let us fear the longsuffering of God, lest it turn into a judgment against us. For either let us fear the wrath which is to come, or let us love the grace which now is” {Ephesians 11} Only by the force of experience was the mind of the Church cleared so as to see the Kingdom of Christ in its true perspective. The warning which Jesus had given, that “of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father,” seems to have been understood as meaning no more than the declaration “in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.” That is, it was understood as a warning against being found unprepared, and not as a warning against forming conjectures as to how near Christs return was. Therefore we need not be at all surprised at St. Paul writing to Timothy in a way which implies that Timothy will probably live to see the evils which will immediately precede Christs return, and must be on his guard against being amazed or overwhelmed by them. He is to “turn away from” the intense wickedness which will then be manifested, and go on undismayed with his own work, “Like as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also withstand the truth.” The Apostle is obviously referring to the Egyptian magicians mentioned in Exodus. But in the Pentateuch neither their number nor their names are given; so that we must suppose that St. Paul is referring to some Jewish tradition on the subject. The number two was very possibly suggested by the number of their opponents: Moses and Aaron on one side, and two magicians on the other. And on each side it is a pair of brothers; for the Targum of Jonathan represents the magicians as sons of Balaam, formerly instructors of Moses, but afterwards his enemies. The names vary in Jewish tradition. Jannes is sometimes Johannes, and Jambres is sometimes either Mambres or Ambrosius. The tradition respecting them was apparently widely spread. It was known to Numenius, a Platonic philosopher of Apameia in Syria, who is mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (“Strom.,” I 22.), and quoted by Origen and Eusebius as giving an account of Jannes and Jambres (“Con. Cels.,” IV 51.; “Praep. Evang.,” IX 8.). In Africa we find some knowledge of the tradition exhibited by Appuleius, the famous author of the “Golden Ass,” who like Numenius flourished in the second century. And in the previous century another Latin writer, Pliny the Elder, shows a similar knowledge. Both of them mention Jannes as a magician in connection with Moses, who is also in their eyes a magician; but Pliny appears to think that both Moses and Jannes were Jews. It is highly improbable that any of these writers derived their knowledge of these names from the passage before us; in the case of Pliny this would scarcely have been possible. His “Natural History” was published about A.D. 77, and at that time the Second Epistle to Timothy must have been known to but few, even among Christians. The author of the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus very possibly did derive his knowledge of the names from St. Paul; yet he may have had independent sources of information. He represents Nicodemus as pleading before Pilate that Jannes and Jambres worked miracles before Pharaoh; “but because they were not from God, what they did was destroyed.” Whereas “Jesus raised up Lazarus, and he is alive”. {1Ti 5:1-25}

One of the ablest of English commentators on these Epistles remarks upon this passage, “It is probable that the Apostle derived these names from a current and (being quoted by him) true tradition of the Jewish Church.” And in a similar spirit a writer in the “Dictionary of the Bible” thinks that it would be “inconsistent with the character of an inspired record for a baseless or incorrect current tradition to be cited.”

Let us look at the phenomena of the case and see whether the number and the names appear to be trustworthy or otherwise, and then consider the question of inspiration. To drag in the latter question in order to determine the former, is to begin at the wrong end.

That there should be a pair of brothers to oppose a pair of brothers, has been pointed out already as a suspicious circumstance. The jingling pairing of the names is also more like fiction than fact. Thirdly, the names appear to be in formation, not Egyptian, but Hebrew; which would naturally be the case if Jews invented them, but would be extraordinary if they were genuine names of Egyptians. Lastly, Jannes might come from a Hebrew root which means “to seduce,” and Jambres from one which means “to rebel.” If Jews were to invent names for the Egyptian magicians, what names would they be more likely to fasten on them than such as would suggest seductive error and rebellious opposition? And is it probable that a really trustworthy tradition, on such an unimportant fact as the names of the enchanters who opposed Moses, would have survived through so many centuries? Sober and unbiased critics will for the most part admit that the probabilities are very decidedly against the supposition that these names are true names, preserved from oblivion by some written or unwritten tradition outside Scripture.

But is it consistent with the character of an inspired writer to quote an incorrect tradition? Only those who hold somewhat narrow and rigid theories of inspiration will hesitate to answer this question in the affirmative. No one believes that inspired persons are in possession of all knowledge on all subjects. And if these names were commonly accepted as authentic by the Jews of St. Pauls day, would his inspiration necessarily keep him from sharing that belief? Even if he were well aware that the tradition respecting the names was untrustworthy, there would be nothing surprising in his speaking of the magicians under their commonly accepted names, when addressing one to whom the tradition would be well known. And if (as is more probable) he believed the names to be genuine, there is still less to surprise us in his making use of them to add vivacity to the comparison.

Nothing in Gods dealings with mankind warrants us in believing that He would grant a special revelation to an Apostle, in order to preserve him from so harmless a proceeding as illustrating an argument by citing the incorrect details which tradition had added to historical facts. And it is worth noting that nothing is based upon the names; they occur in what is mere illustration. And even in the illustration it is not the names that have point, but the persons, who are supposed to have borne them; and the persons are real, although the names are probably fictitious. Still less are we warranted in believing, as Chrysostom suggests, that St. Paul by inspiration had supernatural knowledge of the names. As we have seen, the names were known even to Gentiles who cannot well have derived their knowledge from him; and why should he have received a revelation about a trifle which in no way helps his argument? Such views of inspiration, although the product of a reverential spirit, degrade rather than exalt our conceptions of it. The main point of the comparison between the two cases appears to be opposition to the truth. But there is perhaps more in it than that. The magicians withstood Moses by professing to do the same wonders that he did; and the heretics withstood Timothy by professing to preach the same gospel as he did. This was frequently the line taken by heretical teachers; to disclaim all intention of teaching anything new, and to profess substantial, if not complete, agreement with those whom they opposed. They affirmed that their teaching was only the old truth looked at from another point of view. They used the same phraseology as Apostles had used: they merely gave it a more comprehensive (or, as would now be said, a more catholic) meaning. In this way the unwary were more easily seduced, and the suspicions of the simple were less easily aroused. But such persons betray themselves before long. Their mind is found to be tainted; and when they are put to the proof respecting the faith, they cannot stand the test ().

There is nothing improbable in the supposition that St. Paul mentions the magicians who withstood Moses as typical opponents of the truth, because the false teachers at Ephesus used magic arts; and the word which he uses for impostors () in ver. 13 {2Ti 3:13} fits in very well with such a supposition, although it by no means makes it certain. Ephesus was famous for its charms and incantations ( ) and around the statue of its goddess Artemis were unintelligible inscriptions, to which a strange efficacy was ascribed. The first body of Christians in Ephesus had been tainted by senseless wickedness of this kind. After accepting Christianity they had secretly retained their magic. The sons of the Jew Sceva had tried to use the sacred name of Jesus as a magical form of exorcism; and this brought about the crisis in which numbers of costly books of incantations were publicly burned. {Act 19:13-20} The evil would be pretty sure to break out again, especially among new converts; just as it does among Negro converts at the present day. Moreover, we know that in some cases there was a very close connection between some forms of heresy and magic: so that the suggestion that St. Paul has pretensions to miraculous power in his mind, when he compares the false teachers to the Egyptian magicians, is by no means improbable.

The connection between heresy and superstition is a very real and a very close one. The rejection or surrender of religious truth is frequently accompanied by the acceptance of irrational beliefs. People deny miracles and believe in spiritualism; they cavil at the efficacy of sacraments and accept as credible the amazing properties of an “astral body.” There is such a thing as the nemesis of unbelief. The arrogance which rejects as repugnant to reason and morality truths which have throughout long centuries satisfied the highest intellects and the noblest hearts, is sometimes punished by being seduced into delusions which satisfy nothing higher than a groveling curiosity.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary