Bible Truth #167 - 2 Timothy 3:1-7

2 Timothy 3:1-7

1  But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 

2  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 

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 — a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

6  They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 

7  always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 

I sent the first 7 verses for context to show you just who Paul was writing about. He was writing about the lost, unregenerate souls of men. But the point I want to bring up is the last verse, verse 7.  ...always learning but never ABLE to acknowledge the Truth.

Paul didn’t write that these women rejected the Truth after thoughtful deliberation nor that they considered it and opted not to believe. He wrote they were not even ABLE to acknowledge the Truth. Why do you suppose the lost are not ABLE to acknowledge the Truth? Could it be that the ability has to be given by God?

It is my contention that the answer is yes, the lost man must be enabled by the Father (John 6:65) because that’s what God clearly wrote! It takes a man whose spirit that has been quickened by God to be able to see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3) and to understand things from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14). A lost man will never be ABLE to acknowledge the Truth as long as his spirit is dead, or specifically in this case, weak-willed women. They must FIRST be enabled by God and they are enabled when God quickens their dead spirit.

We become children of God NOT by human decision (John 1:13). It’s God’s decision and His alone - and He made it before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).