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3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. ~ 2 Timothy 3:3-5
The emphasis in 2 Timothy 3 is on the utter importance of biblical knowledge and the responsibility to teach truth. As time marches on, the Scriptures are clear that the people on earth will experience increased difficulty, ending in cataclysmic chaos at the end of the Tribulation.
We return to the middle of Paul's description of the End Times Man who will be living on earth at the end. This person will not be operating out of a personal relationship with the God of the Bible. Yesterday, we considered the first eight hallmarks of the End Times Man, today we con the final ten.
In v.3 we learn of the ninth hallmark of the End Times Man. The Apostle uses the words "without love," which is one Greek word: astorgos. Found just twice in the New Testament (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:3), "astorgos" means without natural affection, heartless, unloving. This is the natural movement of the soul that knows no love itself.
The End Times Man will be "unforgiving" due to the fact that he will have no connection with the source of forgiveness. And, since he is not in relationship with the Lord, he can not share forgiveness with others. Since this person will be very familiar with self-love, he will see no need for personal forgiveness.
As the result of being without love and forgiveness, this person will be a "slanderous" person who is known by tearing others down. The Apostle uses the word that is used in the New Testament for "the devil," which is diabolos. Every time anyone slanders, they are embracing the character of Satan who speaks evil against all who represent God in Christ.
The next hallmark of the End Times Man is that he will be "without self-control." This is an adjective used only here and it literally means to have no inhibitions. This person is just a slave to his unrestrained lusts.
Their lack of self-control reveals itself in a number of ways. "Brutal" means “untamed.” When this person cannot get his way, he becomes much like a savage beast. Instead of loving what is good, he will despise what is good and honor what is evil. This person is quite descriptive of many today in our world today where the standards of right and wrong have been twisted so that people literally get away with murder. The prophet Isaiah cries out, “Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil.”
The word "treacherous" in v.4 describes the person who betrays others and cannot be trusted. Neither friendship nor partnership makes any difference to him; he lies and breaks his promises whenever doing so helps him get his own way. This word basically means “ready to betray.” It draws attention to the idea of disloyalty.
The word "rash" in v.4 means “reckless, acting without careful thought.” This person is aggressive. This word, "rash," literally means "falling forward." It delivers the idea of moving forward fast, disregarding anything and everything around. It describes someone who is moving recklessly, stopping at nothing in the pursuit of fulfillment of self-loving desire.
The next hallmark of the End Times Man is "conceited." This person is so full of himself, he can not see beyond his faults, nor can he see them at all. The root for this word comes from the word “smoke.” This is the person who blows smoke because he is inflated with his own sense of self-importance.
To wrap up Paul's description of the End Times Man, the Apostle writes, "Lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God." His choice is between loving pleasure and loving God. If we love God, we will also enjoy fullness of life here and forever, but the pleasures of sin can only last for a brief time. No one can deny that we live in a pleasure-mad world.
Paul states that this man that he has just described would consider himself religious! "Having a form of godliness" suggests an outward appearance of religion, not true Christian faith, for he has never experienced the power of the God of the Bible in his life.
This description of the End Times Man describes many in the world around us right now. This is why the Lord is so adamant in His Word that we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Of course, this side of heaven, we will never accomplish this great feat. However, if we do not aim for perfection, we will never get very far in our attempts. This is the way to conquer diabolical self-love, by loving God as best as we can, and out of that, we seek to love our neighbor as God has loved us.
