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The apostle connects the persecution with the ways of evil men, while he warns Timothy against them.

I. THEIR DEGENERATE COURSE. "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse."

1. The persons here described.

(1) Evil men.

(a) They are those in contrast with the men who "would live godly in Christ Jesus."

(b) They are not simply sinners as all men are by nature and practice, but rather wicked men who wear a mask of godliness, yet are full of malice against the saints of God.

(2) Seducers, literally magicians, in allusion to those of Egypt; men who are full of sorceries to captivate and betray the unwary into error.

2. They shall go from bad to worse - both in principle and in practice, in the use of their seductive arts and in the gradual depravation of their character. There is nothing to arrest their downward course; there is no grace in the heart; the principles of evil will work with unchecked energy in their natures.

II. THE EXPLANATION OF THIS DEGENERACY. "Deceiving and being deceived."

1. The method of mental and moral debasement. Let men repeat falsities with sufficient frequency and deliberateness, and they will come by and by to believe them themselves. They begin by deceiving others. They cannot deceive God nor the elect, but by their good words and fair speeches, their lying wonders and their specious arts, they may seduce the simple into error.

2. The retribution that follows upon deception is self-deception. Such deceivers have become sincere in their error, because they have blinded their spiritual eyesight; but now they see truth as error, and error as truth. - T.C.

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KJV: But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

WEB: But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.