2 Timothy 3:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Who were these magicians with Moses, and why are their names mentioned nowhere else? They were probably preserved in unwritten tradition, or revealed to Paul by the Holy Spirit.

"As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth." These were magicians of Moses’ time.

How did Paul know their names, when Scripture does not speak of this? Their names were taken from unwritten tradition, or, probably, Paul learned them from the Holy Spirit.

"Men corrupt in mind, reprobate concerning the faith." When someone has corrupted his mind by passions, then he is unskilled in the faith.

"The fool has said, There is no God" (Ps 52:2). Why? Because they were corrupt and became abominable in iniquities.

Therefore, for the reception of faith an uncorrupted mind is needed. Let us then attend to ourselves, so that we may not be corrupted by passions and so that corruption of faith may find no place in us.

Do they not resist this truth, men corrupted in mind and ignorant in the faith, who answer and speak unjust words, saying: "From God we have that we are men, but from ourselves that we are righteous"? What are you saying, you who deceive yourselves? You are not defenders, but overthrowers of free will, plunging from the height of exaltation through the emptiness of prejudice into the deep. Certainly these are your words, that man by himself works righteousness. And this is the height of your self-exaltation.

But as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses in that Old Covenant, so these men oppose the truth of this New Covenant. They are men corrupted in mind and ignorant in the faith.

In wheat, says the Apostle, tares usually grow. Preachers of truth have always had opponents. Who was more glorious than Moses in piety? Yet he too had magicians, men openly arrayed against the truth. However, the divine Apostle learned their names not from Divine Scripture, but from the unwritten teaching of the Jews. Naturally, the grace of the Spirit could also reveal this to him.

Jannes and Jambres were Egyptian magicians who once came out against Moses and undertook, in opposition to his miracles, to perform their own false miracles (Ex 7:11).

The names of these men are not mentioned in Scripture. Paul indicated them either according to the tradition preserved about them, or learned them by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps he simply borrowed these names from some apocryphal book. So also these deceivers, he says, withstand the truth.

"Men corrupt in mind."

They think soundly about nothing.

"And reprobate concerning the faith."

They do not hold the pure faith purely. They do not believe rightly, but understand the faith in a distorted and confused way.

The enemy deceived Adam and, having thus reigned over him, took authority from him and himself was named the prince of this age.

Yet in the beginning the Lord appointed man as prince of this age and master of the visible creation. Fire did not overcome him, nor did water drown him. No beast harmed him, and no venomous creature could act against him.

But after he yielded to deception, he handed over his authority to the one who deceived him.

Therefore magicians and sorcerers, by the action of the opposing power and by God’s permission, appear as wonderworkers. They have power over venomous creatures and boldly go into fire and water.

So did Jannes and Jambres, who opposed Moses, and Simon, who entered into contest with Peter, the chief of the Apostles. Cf. Acts 8:9-24.

The sins of the unrighteous are committed in three ways. They are drawn either into sacrileges, or into shameful acts, or into crimes.

They commit sacrilege when they think wrongly about God and depart from the true faith. This happens either from fear of temporal hardships, or from desire for temporal advantages, or from blindness and corruption of heart.

They sin by shameful acts when they live disgracefully, being inwardly unrestrained and corrupt. They sin by crimes when they cruelly harm others.

The blessed Apostle calls both sorts perverse, those who sin mortally either in faith or in deeds. He says of those who contradict the true faith: "As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, men corrupt in mind, reprobate concerning the faith."

Greek: ἀδόκιμοι περὶ τὴν πίστιν.

"As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses." These were the names of the Egyptian magicians who tried to oppose Moses when, by signs and wonders, he wished to compel Pharaoh to release the Israelites from Egypt. Their names are not known from the books of Moses or from the Old Testament. Yet in the Targum of Jonathan on Ex 7:11 and Ex 22:22, in the Zohar, and in other Talmudic writings, these names appear exactly as the Apostle gives them. This shows that they were truly known from oral or written tradition, from which the Apostle drew his information. The comparison with magicians, opponents of the manifest power and truth of God, was very fitting for the false teachers of Ephesus, since Ephesus was famous for its magicians.

The names of the Egyptian magicians were evidently known to St. Paul from Jewish traditions, either oral or written down somewhere in his time. Nothing is said about them in Exodus or anywhere else in Scripture.

Meanwhile, in the Targum of Jonathan, on Ex 7:11 and 20:22, and also in Talmudic books, for example in the Zohar, the names of both magicians cited by the Apostle Paul have been preserved.

By pointing to these persons, St. Paul warns his disciple Timothy what opposition awaits him from the false teachers, and what decisiveness and courage he must acquire for the struggle against them.

Resistance to the truth is maintained chiefly by ignorance and by corruption of the mind, which becomes incapable of grasping the truth.

The example of the magicians who rose against Moses as God’s messenger proves this clearly. Although by their art, the handling of serpents, they had success, it did not last long (Ex 7:10-12).

So it was also with the deceivers whom the Apostle rebuked, declaring that their folly would soon become evident to all. Such is the lot of all deceivers.

Yet the harm they cause is great and often remains irreparable for a long time. Therefore it is understandable how necessary it is to value the apostolic warning.

The Apostle also indicates the goal these false teachers have in view, and likewise their method of action. "These people," he says, "oppose the truth as Jannes and Jambres did."

According to a tradition widespread at that time in both the Jewish and pagan world, these were the names of Moses’ rivals before Pharaoh. By their miracles they wished to turn him away from obedience to the true God.

In the times of the Apostles, similar opponents of the Gospel truly existed. They would especially have appeared in Ephesus, which had long been a nest of every kind of magic and sorcery.

But to console Timothy, who might be troubled at the thought of the force with which he would have to struggle, the Apostle at once speaks of these corrupt men.

The names of the magicians who opposed Saint Moses are not indicated in Scripture. “Probably their names, stated by the Apostle, were preserved in unwritten tradition,” as all our interpreters say. Yet this is not important. What is important is the application that follows from this of itself.

Saint Moses was manifestly sent by God. He spoke and acted in God’s name, as God commanded him. Those magicians, however, came out against him. It is clear that they were not of God’s truth and were not led by the Spirit who is from God, but by the spirit who is always and in everything against God.