2 Timothy 2:17

and their word will eat as doth a gangrene: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; men who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some.

Will eat as doth a gangrene ... The word here, according to White, "is the medical term for the consuming progress of mortifying disease";[26] and once again the vocabulary of Paul's close friend and companion, the beloved physician Luke, seems to have influenced that of the apostle.

Hymenaeus and Philetus ... Having identified their teaching as "gangrene," Paul then proceeded to give one of the salient features of their false doctrine. They had spiritualized the resurrection, claiming that it had already happened. It may appear surprising that such a false notion would have been able to overthrow the faith of some, but history has demonstrated that the more ridiculous and preposterous some heretical teaching is, the more readily some unstable souls are attracted and destroyed by it.

It is not hard to see why Paul elected that particular phase of their false doctrine as the target of these words; for, in view of the impending death of many Christians in the great persecution, it had a special relevance for that time and circumstance.