2 Timothy 3:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“Let it not trouble you at all,” he says, “if they prosper while you undergo temptations. Such is the order of things. From my example you can see that one who struggles against evil cannot avoid sorrows.

A wrestler cannot give himself to luxury. A soldier in battle cannot feast. Therefore let no one who is in the struggle seek rest or give himself to pleasures.

The present time is a time of struggle, battle, sorrows, and groanings. It is the arena of contests. The time of rest will come afterward. Now is the time of effort and labors.

No one, having stripped and anointed himself for wrestling, thinks about rest. If you seek rest, why did you strip? Why do you stretch out your hands against the enemy?

Do not be troubled at all if they prosper while temptations overtake you. Such is the order of things. Having stripped for the contest, you must exert yourself. It is unreasonable to seek rest in a struggle. Even if they seem to advance, in reality this is deception, not progress. For the Apostle, defining what evil is, said: to deceive and be deceived.

What does it mean: "Rise, take up your bed and walk" (Jn 5:8)? Advance, advance in good. For according to the Apostle, some advance in evil. If you advance, you walk. But advance in good, advance in the right faith, advance in good morals. Sing, and walk. Do not wander, do not turn back, do not stand still.

These madmen, drunk not with wine but with their own malice, promise the distribution of sacred ranks and even boast of their boldness. But do not believe them. On the contrary, since temptations lie before us, let us humble ourselves, lest we perish through them. ... Let us too, when tempted in this way, not fall away from the love of God.

But those who conceal their falsehood under the appearance of truth will advance toward the worse. That is, their falsehood grows and strengthens to their own harm, and also to the harm of those after them who will fall into deception.

“But evil men and sorcerers will grow worse and worse.” They will be enriched with every evil and increase in wicked deeds. They will “advance” not in what is better, but in what is worse.

That is, their wicked deeds will multiply, and their sins will accumulate more and more. For broad and spacious is the way of destruction (Mt 7:13).

The present time is a time of battle, contests, and intense labors. The future is a time of rest and enjoyment.

In war it happens this way. Those who fight, labor, endure every difficulty, and finally conquer are crowned and deemed worthy of honor.

If a superior rebukes one of the monks subject to him, instructing him in the fear of God and desiring to turn him away from error, and another wishes to intercede for him and justify him, troubling the guilty man's heart, then the one who acts thus sins against his own soul. For he corrupts the one who could have been corrected, throws down the one who was rising, and by the suggestion of evil deceives the one striving for what is better. He errs himself and leads others into error.

"But evil men and impostors," that is, deceivers and flatterers, "will advance toward the worse," that is, they will increase and multiply their sins. How then will they advance? They are deceived by their own passions, and deceive the hearts of the guileless "by smooth words and flattering speech" (Rom 16:18), that is, by flattery and praise. Such evil men and impostors were the false apostles, Simonians, Basilidians, Nicolaitans, Cerinthians, Manichaeans, Arians, and all the other heretics. Deceived by their passions, by blessing and fair praise, and by every other means, they deceived and unsettled the faithful. They advanced in evil, multiplying their sins according to the number of the faithful whom they scandalized and corrupted.

"But evil men and impostors will advance toward the worse." The same false teachers are being described, and here they are called not only evil, but deceivers or seducers. These are people who mix fables with the pure truth of religion in order to deceive the inexperienced.

Further, the holy Apostle Paul praises his disciple Timothy because he acted and continues to act precisely in this way, in imitation of Paul the Apostle, as every successor of the Apostles and every good pastor ought to act.

The sufferings of those striving to live righteously were common both in the Old Testament and in the New. Jesus Christ Himself suffered because His righteousness was unbearable to His envious haters.

The righteous man is always a living rebuke to the ungodly. For this reason they attack him in many ways. Yet they are in harmony with those who live as they do.

All the strivings and deeds of ungodliness unite them and make them desirable to one another, since none of them surpasses the others in anything essential.

As for success in ungodliness, they know that this path is open to all and swift for all, down to the very depths of sinfulness.

This is set in contrast to the preceding statement. But to which one? Immediately before this stands the general proposition about the earthly misfortune of the pious. It was brought forward to strengthen the call to courage in the work of evangelizing and ordering the Church of believers.

This entire section is directed toward that aim (see 2 Tim 3:10-13). We should suppose that the present contrast is directed there also.

Take courage, he says, in the work of evangelizing or establishing the truth, despite your misfortune. Such is already the earthly lot of the pious.

Do not look at the prosperity of the opponents of the truth, and do not be troubled by it. Their success is not for their good. Nor does it occur because the truth is on their side.