2 Timothy 3:4 - Exposition

Headstrong for heady , A.V.; puffed up for high minded , A.V.; pleasure for pleasures , A.V.; rather for more , A.V. Traitors ( προδόται ); Luke 6:16 ; Acts 7:52 . It does not mean traitors to their king or country, but generally betrayers of the persons who trust in them, and of the cause of the trust committed to them; perhaps specially, as Bishop Ellicott suggests, of their brethren in times of persecution. Headstrong ( προπετεῖς ); as in Acts 19:36 . Neither "heady" nor "headstrong" gives the exact meaning of προπετής , which is "rash," "hasty," "headlong." "Headstrong" rather denotes obstinacy which will not be influenced by wise advice, but προπετής is the person who acts from impulse, without considering consequences, or weighing principles. Puffed up ( τετυφωμένοι ); see 1 Timothy 3:6 , note. Lovers of pleasure ( φιλήδονοι ); only here in the New Testament, and not found in the LXX ., but occasionally in classical Greek. "Fond of pleasure" (Liddell and Scott). It is used here as an antithesis to lovers of God ( φιλόθεοι ), which also occurs only here either in the New Testament or the LXX ., but is used by Aristotle. Philo, quoted by Bishop Ellicott (from Wetstein), has exactly the same contrast: φιλήδονον … μᾶλλον ἢ … φιλόθεον . It looks as if the men spoken of claimed to be φιλόθεοι . A somewhat similar paronomasia occurs in Isaiah 5:7 , where הפַשְׂםִ is opposed to טפָשְׁםִ , and הקָעָץְ to הקָדָץְ .