Ones that Worm

Ones that Worm
Words of Faith 7-28-2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2023
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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2 Timothy 3
[6] They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, [7] always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.

Paul was concerned about the hard times in the Last Days. He saw that in these days, there would be a great deal of error. He was concerned about the worsening situation in the church as the world decayed.
"People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them" (3:1-5).
Paul also had in mind the specific situation in Ephesus. He could see that false teachers had emerged from this societal decay to plague the church. Their methods were insidious. They would "worm" their way into homes and gain control over those they knew were vulnerable and gullible. The KJV translates that they will "creep" into houses and captivate "silly women" laden with sins. The word here means literally to sink down low to sneak or creep. This does not mean they would slither on the ground, but their methods would be seductive, covert, and insidious. We get the idea.
At this time, some women were particularly vulnerable. In Ephesus, false teachers had crept in through a group of weak-willed women who were, literally, "heaped with sin and fed by various lusts." Paul saw that this infiltration of false teaching was connected with moral deficiency. Immaturity and carnality made these particular women easy targets for the false teachers. Out of a so-called "openness to learn," they evidently embraced every fad or new heresy that came along. The real problem was that they could not recognize the truth when they saw it.
The warning from Paul is powerful, but we should be careful how we frame it. The warning was not against women. The warning was not against all who might minister to women. The warning was not against women gathering to study, nor was there an implication that heresy always enters the church through women. Passages such as this have been used to divide the Body of Christ or to reject the participation of some.
The actual warning here was against those who take advantage of any who are spiritually vulnerable or morally weakened. We are to beware of those who creep in with a seductive or faddish message or even a seductive way about them. We must be watchful regarding gatherings that crave the newest idea rather than the established Word of the Gospel.
We live in an age when we need to be very careful. Compromise is rampant in the church. Turning one gender into a scapegoat was not the intention of Paul. But taking great care regarding the careful handling of the Word of Truth was the focus.
How do you prepare to not fall prey to the "creeps" that creep or the ones that worm their way in? Careful attention to the true Word enables us to readily recognize counterfeit teachings. Close adherence to the true Gospel keep us clear from the error that comes with faddish ideas.

Father God, keep me focused on You. Help me to walk closely with You in Your Word. Help me to see the truth so clearly that the fads will drift away. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2023 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.