What is the meaning of 2 Timothy 4:4? So they will turn • Paul warns Timothy that a deliberate choice is coming: people will pivot away from faithful teaching the moment it conflicts with their desires (2 Timothy 4:3). • Similar turning points are pictured when Israel “turned quickly from the way” (Deuteronomy 9:12) and when disciples deserted Jesus because His words were “hard” (John 6:66). • The phrase underscores personal responsibility; no one drifts accidentally—there is an intentional redirecting of life’s steering wheel. their ears away from the truth • “The truth” is God’s unchanging revelation (John 17:17); closing one’s ears is an act of willful deafness like Israel refusing to listen to the prophets (Zechariah 7:11–12). • Paul links sound hearing with sound living: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). When the ears shut, faith starves. • This severing of the sensory gate also echoes Proverbs 28:9—“If anyone turns his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.” Rejecting truth corrodes worship itself. and turn aside to myths • Without truth, the vacuum fills with fiction. Myths promise spirituality without submission, resembling the “cleverly devised tales” Peter rejected (2 Peter 1:16). • Paul already battled such fables in Ephesus—“nor pay attention to myths and endless genealogies” (1 Timothy 1:4). The danger is not harmless storytelling but teaching that undermines Christ’s sufficiency (Colossians 2:8). • Modern parallels include any message that diminishes Scripture’s authority, elevates personal experience, or offers salvation minus repentance. The result is spiritual anesthesia—soothing yet deadly. summary Paul pictures a conscious three-step slide: first, a pivot of heart; second, a shutting of ears to God’s voice; third, a chase after seductive falsehoods. The antidote remains unchanged: preach the Word, cling to the truth, keep ears open to Scripture, and refuse the glitter of myths so that faith stays anchored in Christ alone. |
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