~ A place to find answers to gnawing spiritual questions ~
Question: In the book of 2 Timothy 3:5-7, Paul writes "having a form of godliness but denying its power and from such people turn away...always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." My question is, what power is Paul talking about?Answer: Thank you for your question concerning "having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof" found in 2 Tim 3:5. This is an interesting verse.
At the beginning of chapter 3, Paul begins to list actions and attitudes describing mankind in the last days. Some of these are because of demonic influence and some are works of the flesh. In verse 5 Paul looks at a man that seems to have some sort of exterior religion, but his unchanged life suggests that he has not had a transforming encounter with Christ. What is worse is this person uses his religious facade to rip people off
Verse 7 seems to be referring to the silly women of verse 6. These women are in pursuit of truth but follow after so many religious people that say so many things that don't seem to correspond, that they (the women) stay in a state of confusion and never seem to be able to find the truth. It is also understood that these women seemed to have a desire for sensational experiences that they would have considered as "truth"
In verse 8, the people who deceive these women are compared to the magicians whom Moses encountered in Egypt in Exodus 7:11. God has never dealt lightly with deception. These cases will be no exception.
I hope this will help some. If you have access to an Amplified Bible it helps clarify this passage some.
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