Part XIV

THEY WILL NOT ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE

Paul once again, tells Timothy that things are only going to get worse. Those who once held and embraced Paul's special revelation would no longer endure it being taught. It is not that they would not endure teaching. They just would not endure sound teaching. They would only go so far!

Paul was not guessing here. This was the foretelling of the future of the body of Christ. Notice how clearly he states this, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." This is a part of Paul's continuing prophecy of the future condition of the church, which is His body. And it would find fulfilment in Timothy's lifetime.

To satisfy their appetites for unsound doctrine they "after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears."

A HEAP PILE OF TEACHERS

"[They] shall invite teachers en masse. In periods of unsettled faith . . . teachers of all kinds swarm like the flies of Egypt. The demand creates the supply. The hearers invite and shape their own preachers. If the people desire a calf to worship, a ministerial calf-maker is readily found" (Martin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, Volume IV, pages 320-321).

So it is in our day. Could there have ever been a greater heap pile of teachers than today? Christendom is buried under such a heap, and the body of Christ wit it! We have a saturation of such teaching – teaching that does not suit this dispensation of grace. It is profusely everywhere. Endless religious radio and television broadcasts fill the air waves 24 hours a day. We have an incomprehensible heap pile of teaching through: books, booklets, pamphlets, tracts, study guides, magazines, journals, audio cassettes, video tapes, creeds, confessions, articles of faith, doctrinal statements, "churches," "fellowships," "ministries," centers, schools, colleges, Bible institutes, seminaries, Sunday schools, and now through the world wide web. Has the body of Christ ever had such a heap pile of unsound teaching? – teaching that has abandoned Paul's distinct revelation to the body of Christ? We are drowning in it! There is every color, size, flavor, and style of teaching to suit anyone's fancy ("itching ears").

TURN AWAY THEIR EARS FROM THE TRUTH

Paul knew and foretold of the time when the body of Christ (as a whole) would abandon the truth. They wound "turn away" just as all those in Asia had done (II Timothy 1:15). The Asian ministry was the foretaste and model of the future! They would endure any and all teaching, except the truth!

TURNED UNTO FABLES

The result of all this is that the body of Christ lives in fantasy and superstition. We have been "turned unto fables." This is the sad commentary of modern-day Christendom! We have lost our scriptural bearing from the flood of unsound teaching.

Paul calls us out of all of this apostasy. He calls us to simply stand fast in the liberty (Galatians 5:1), grace (Romans 5:2), and the simplicity that is in Christ! (II Corinthians 11:3) – Having done all to stand! (Ephesians 6:13).

Why not abandon the heap pile and stand outside with Christ?

PILKINGTON & SONS
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