2 Timothy 4 Itching Ears

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
2 Timothy 4:1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
9 Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. 12 I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
14 Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. 15 You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
19 Greet Priscilla[a] and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. 21 Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers and sisters.[b]
22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.


a. 2 Timothy 4:19 Greek Prisca, a variant of Priscilla
b. 2 Timothy 4:21 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family.

What an interesting chapter.... I'm itching to get into it. Thanks to Paul I'm itching to study because I have a new word.....

This is from the easy English site.

The task that Timothy has is urgent. While he has the chance, he must preach the truth. This is because Paul is warning him about a future time. At that time, the people will not listen to the truth. The truth would make them uneasy because of their sin. It would demand that they repent and change. Many will then oppose the good news of Jesus Christ.​
Instead of the truth, they would rather hear what pleases them. They will gather many teachers. And these teachers will tell them what they want to hear. These teachers will not question what they do. They may amuse them, or interest them in some new thing. But the result will be that they will not change. They will go on living for themselves and for their own desires.
They will turn their ears away from the truth so that they cannot hear it. They will choose not to listen to the truth. They will prefer that which is new or strange. So, they will believe false ideas and refuse the word of God.​

We do not know when, where, or how Alexander caused Paul a great deal of trouble. All we know about him is that he worked with metal. Alexander was a common name. A Jew called Alexander tried to stop the angry crowd in Ephesus (Acts 19:33-34). There was another man called Alexander whom Paul put out of the church there (1 Timothy 1:19-20). It could have been either of these men or some other man with the same name.​
Paul is not asking the Lord to punish him. This is not a prayer but a statement of fact. The Lord will punish him for the evil that he has done.
Paul warns Timothy that Alexander is a dangerous man. As he has troubled Paul, he could well attack Timothy. He opposed the Christian teachers as they taught the truth. He was an enemy of the gospel of Christ. He may also have spoken in the courts against Paul.​
This is from bible-studys.org.
“Having itching ears”: Professing Christians, nominal believers in the church follow their own desires and flock to preachers who offer them God’s blessings apart from His forgiveness, and His salvation apart from their repentance. They want to be entertained by teachings that will product pleasant sensations and leave them with good feeling about themselves.
Their goal is that men preach “in accordance to their own desires” Under those conditions, people will dictate what men preach, rather than God dictating it by His Word.​
We are experiencing this in the church world today. Sound doctrine teaches sacrifice of self. Sound doctrine teaches walking each day in the salvation Christ has provided for you. Sound doctrine teaches living a holy separated life to God. Sound doctrine is the Word of God.​
There is a great falling away in the church today, not only in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense, as well. Many go to church, but want to hear a message of nothing but God's love. They would tell us not to speak against adultery or homosexual activity, because we will hurt some of the member's feelings.​
They would have us preach things pleasant to the flesh of man. The sermon that appeals to the flesh of mankind, is preaching to itching ears. I would say the time Paul was speaking of in the verse above is here. Not many want to hear about the blood of Jesus. Not many want to know that Jesus is Judge, as well as Savior.
Not many want to hear that we must take up our cross daily and follow Him. Most want to hear, that when they become a Christian, all of their problems will be gone. Most would like to hear, that when they come to God, they will never be sick again. They want to believe that their money problems are over. The sad thing is that we are not equipping our people to face hardship.
The work of the evangelist is to save the lost. This watching in all things means to stay grounded in the Word and be moderate. Paul warns Timothy again, that there are afflictions associated with serving God. The full proof is telling Timothy to not waver in his ministry. He must be fully persuaded, and also give this message without wavering from the Truth.

Nobody knows who some of these people are. They just appear in a couple of obscure verses and then they are gone again. I wonder... are these men from Paul's old crew? Paul was traveling with men when he reported Jesus knocked him down and blinded him. Did Paul teach the Gospel to these men? I would make sense that Paul would want to tell his friends. Then again.... some of the men Paul dealt with were quite happy to murder Christians. Paul held their coats while they beat Stephen to death. Maybe they nodded their heads in all the right places to make their buddy Paul happy..... but they never really accepted the idea that Jesus died for them. I think he was warning Timothy that those men are going to murder again.

I'm pretty sure.... If I was sitting in jail... I would be thinking of the people I thought were my friends. I would be lamenting just like Paul if my friends let me down. And since Paul was the one who introduced his murderous buddies to the good men in the church.... maybe Paul didn't want to believe that these men were not believers... they were nodding at the right places.... putting their hands in the air like they really care... but they are empty. They never really let Jesus in.

Itching ears.... what a concept. Over the years I've noticed that ears generally itch when they are dry. The wax compacts and causes ears to hurt.... but dry weather.... will make the skin in the ear sluff and that makes the ears itch.... dead skin..... hhhhhmmmmm..... dead gospel.... dead skin.... good one Paul.

Anyway... the commentary tells us a couple things. It talks about feel good preachers. The rich would travel from preacher to preacher until they found one that suited their needs. They needed [and still need] someone who will preach only the parts that make them feel good. They look for preachers who will talk about the value of life... the goodness of money. The rich guy is more than willing to build that new wing and even supplement the paycheck of their favorite preacher if he would just point out the sins of the guy sitting next to him.... while exalting the rich guy for being so rich.... surely, they would preach.... God loves the rich man because God gave the rich man that midas touch turning life into coin. A costly lie.... but worth the money.

Meanwhile... in Corinth.... the Christian Church held meetings in a room in the Temple of Aphrodite.... a brothel. The members of the church included male and female prostitutes employed by the Temple... the brothel. That is what made the rich man crazy. Timothy was in Ephesus..... but a problem was brewing and Paul was addressing it.... BUT.... even today.... preachers are more interested in feel good messages than teaching the truth.

I'm sure most church teach the story of Noah and the Ark. When the flood had subsided.... three brothers got off the boat. Everyone agrees... the Bible says.... Noah and these three men [and their families] were the only humans left on earth. There was Japheth..... Ham [who Noah cursed for something he said or did when he saw Noah naked] and Seth [the great great great whatever grandfather of Jesus the Messiah]. So yes... in spite of all the worry about interfamily marriage.... all the humans on the earth came from Japheth, Ham, or Seth.

Fast forward to the Mission.... Jesus didn't preach just to the descendants of Seth. His own family tried to run Him off a cliff because they thought he was insane. Jesus sent his apostles out to teach the descendants of Seth [the descendants of Jacob (Israel)]. Jesus, Himself, went out to teach the descendants of Ham and Japheth. Jesus didn't leave anyone out of during His Mission.

Fast forward to the Cross. Jesus said "forgive them Lord". He didn't say "Lord forgive the descendants of Seth, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob". If Jesus had gone to the Cross for the exclusive purpose of saving the remnant of the original family of Seth.... then I believe the Bible would have said so. Jesus came to offer eternal life to anyone who believed in Him and His Mission.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
The plain truth is.... some people will not believe no matter what. Some will pretend to believe to receive the low hanging fruit.... like the vender who joins the church to increase his customer base..... there are some who pretend to believe but they never quite got around to asking Jesus to take over. Some will see the church as a chance to get things right in their town.... a way to run the drunks and the gamblers and the hookers out of town.

Jesus fed and taught 5,000 men.... that number didn't include the women, children, or slaves. Jesus didn't have a PA system. How did all those thousands and thousands of people hear His message? They did.... Jesus spoke clearly. Jesus used exactly the words He wanted them to hear. Jesus didn't exclude any human.
I think the commentary got it wrong. I don't think that preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Messiah had anything to do with teaching the ten commandments. Jesus said there were two commandments.....

Matthew 22: 34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I don't see how clearing out the male and female prostitutes, drunks or drug addicts had anything to do with those verses. Jesus was not exclusive......

As I kid... I thought when my ears itched someone was talking about me. Now after all those years.... I think I just learned that when my ears are itching... someone is lying to me... and I need to go back and look at what the scripture really says.

My itching ears.... tell me that the church is in trouble... and Christians better go back to the Word.... and figure out who these feel good preachers are really working for.

Itching ears.... a sign of the times.

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