Timothy Dwight entered Yale at the age of 13, he started reading the Bible when he was 4, he was competent in Greek and Latin by 8.
He was a chaplain in the Continental Army and a close personal friend of General and eventually President George Washington.
He became the president of Yale in 1795, when he was 43 years old.
Yale, was founded in 1701 to train Christian ministers and political leaders…but by the time Dwight showed up, it had become almost completely secularized (non Christian).
The Student body had become enamored with the French Enlightenment, which had led to the bloody French Revolution.
The famous quote that summarizes that terrible movement was…
“Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails (guts) of the last priest.”
They took that quote literally…political and religious leaders were massacred.
3,000 priests and nuns were murdered by the French government in their attempt to “DE Christianize” the nation.
Back at Yale, the most popular book on campus when Dwight arrived was “The Age of Reason” by Thomas Paine.
It was an aggressive attack on Christianity and a defense of human reason as being supreme.
Paine was prominent in the American revolution…but he had become aggressive in his attacks on the Christian faith.
At Yale it was cool to mock Christianity…students began calling each other by the names of French philosophers…like…Voltaire, Rousseau.
Students held mock communions making fun of Christ’s sacrifice.
And out of a student body of over 200 only a handful were professing Christians.
Remember, this was a school founded to train pastors.
This all sounds strangely like 2026, except there are more Christians on WSU campus than on Yale at the time.
But this was Yale when Timothy Dwight took over.
Dwight, like his famous grandfather, Jonathan Edwards was a biblical scholar but also a promoter and lover of science…he as an all-around brilliant, and godly man.
For him it was not faith or reason, but faith and reason.
God has given man reason and revelation (his Word)
We can know some things through reason (science, discover, our minds, experience)…but ultimate things have to be revealed to God…they cannot be discovered by us. We are far to limited.
Dwight didn’t come in and ban all the philosopher’s works from campus; he knew that would make the truth look weak…and he knew what the truth isn’t weak.
Instead, he met these challenges to the gospel head on, with Scripture and reason and logic and relationships.
He held a series of lectures that became famously known as the Yale Debates.
He invited the senior class; to choose any topic they wanted for their mandatory final debates, and they chose: “Are the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament the word of God?”
Dwight allowed the skeptical students to make their best arguments without fear of academic penalty.
Then he systematically dismantled their secular philosophy using Scripture, logic, history, and science.
He didn’t make them look foolish…he made folly look foolish.
You see he was smarter than Thomas Paine…and all the students at Yale…but more importantly…what he believed was true and what they believed was not.
He won them over rather to the truth, rather than beating then over the head with truth.
He didn’t just hold brilliant lectures (which he gave often without notes) he invited students into his home and into his life.
In 1802, seven years after he arrived, a revival swept across the campus…1/3 of the students became Christians and two more of these revivals occurred on campus, a few years later.
The students who came to Christ under Dwight’s leadership went on to become the political and religious leaders in the new nation…faithfully living out a biblical faith in their different spheres of influence.
Couple of things I want to point out about this before we read our passage from 2 Timothy.
Things looked pretty bad for the Christian faith in the 1790s in the US, not just on campus, but in the larger society…but the tide turned in what is called the second Great Awakening…of which Dwight was a large part.
His method was walk with Jesus and walk with others…so that he might win them to Christ.
God used a man who was not intimidated by a hostile culture or combative with it…he believed in the sovereign God and that the Word of God is powerful…it cannot be chained.
Through years of personal investment in students and a serious walk with God…he helped turn the tide.
Paul is writing to Timothy from a prison cell, things look bad…Paul won’t survive, Timothy is surrounded by a hostile culture.
He is under attack from inside and outside the church.
Paul paints a bleak picture of ungodly people and dark times…and then, calmly tells Timothy…”don’t worry, these guys aren’t going very far…we are going to win this thing (God will)”
2 Timothy 3:1-9
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes (jan-ez) and Jambres (jam-brez) opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.
This can sound like the “sky is falling” “all is lost” “Timothy run for your life”…but that would not be reading this as Paul wrote it.
This is actually the opposite of alarmism…it a clear description of what Timothy is seeing or going to see…and a clearer description of what is ultimately true…what Timothy will see God do.
- But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
When are these last days?
All the time since Christ came until he returns are what Scripture calls “last days.”
We tend to think, “look how bad it is getting!”
That’s what the folks in New Haven, Connecticut said about the younger generation over at Yale in 1790.
Or the folks who lived near what was called “Rogues Harbor” in North Carolina…a hotbed of piracy and crime…essentially a lawless place…250 years ago.
It has always been the best and worst of times in some sense.
Of course, some things are bad now, but this isn’t entirely new is it?
There is confidence in this warning.
Instead of looking around and asking, “Where is God, things are getting bad!”
We look around and say, “Oh yeah, Jesus warned us that this is coming…and it was there, 2000 years ago…its there still…he is on top of things.”
- Then Paul gives a long and nasty list of what the bad will look like in the lives of some people.
Jesus gave a similar list in Matthew 7.
We are not going to work through the list diagnosing what each word means…they pretty much mean what they sound like.
Self-loving, proud, arrogant, abusive, swollen with conceit…you don’t need me to tell you that this is bad stuff, and these are bad people.
Look at verse 5 again
“having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
- How we synch this “avoid such people” with what Jim read last week?
“Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.”
2 Tim 2:25
Do we gently instruct, or do we avoid them…which is it?
Well, it depends…who are talking about?
You have to have situational awareness.
I’ve had great conversations recently with friends who had good questions, legitimate struggles.
The appropriate response to them is…gentle, relational instruction.
I have had encounters with other people where it was not a conversation but rather a conflict or potential conflict.
I have told some people…”I have no interest in a debate, not like this…it would end with me winning or you winning (or both thinking we had won), but neither of us helped.”
There are other people who have asked me to meet with them and I have simply said, “no, I won’t.”
It is because I am unkind?
I can be unkind…but in these cases it was because wisdom told me that this was a person to avoid not to engage…they just wanted a fight.
That’s the difference between engage or avoid…know who you are dealing with.
I have told people, “I won’t get with you and talk about that, but if you want to hear the gospel…count me in.”
Often they have said “no”, but sometimes, maybe years later, they have become interested.
So, even when dealing with different types of people…people can change and become open over time.
Paul assumes that Timothy will use situational awareness to decide which is appropriate…gently instruct or avoid.
Sometimes you have to learn from the experience…because we can get this wrong.
I have written people off that I should not have.
I have engaged people that I should not have.
It’s all part of paying tuition on an education in wisdom.
In verse 6 Paul tells Timothy why these “creeps” are to be avoided.
6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,
Creep is a descriptive not a derogatory term.
They creep, because they are creeps.
The NIV says “They worm their way in.”
Disgusting.
They are slick and they are evil and they are on the offensive.
I have encountered some “creeps”…they cannot be reasoned with or trusted…they may wear a christian exterior or use Christian words…but they have evil intent.
I spoke with one a guy in the past few months…who talked a good game…but turned out to be evil.
Neither is Paul being derogatory but rather descriptive when he talks about the women who are the prey of the creeps.
He is not saying that women (in general) are weak…he has already praised Timothy’s mom and grandmother…he is just saying that these women are weak…as revealed in their actions.
This is not derogatory but descriptive…because he has seen it, many times.
These evil men target these weak women.
Because they are wolves (creeps in this passage, but wolves in other places in Scritpure)…you don’t reason with wolves…you run them off…they are looking for easy prey.
In context this is not about sexual predators (although they may be this as well)…but religious predators.
Teaching false doctrine for selfish gain.
It is very likely that many of these were married women…so where are their husbands?
They are passive, or absent…or both… like Adam in the garden following Eve into sin, rather than leading her to safety.
If anyone looks bad in this story, it is the weak, passive, absent men, not the weak women.
These creeps targeted women because they knew they could get into the whole families through them.
Look at what made these women (and their passive husbands) vulnerable to the creeps
Verse 7
“They are always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”
- We want to learn in order to know God, and his truth…we want to settle on what is true…so that we can love and obey God.
Chesterton wrote: “Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”
These women and their families were prey for false teaching because they were unwilling to live decided on the truth of the gospel.
A disciple is a learner, that is what the word means.
The great commission is to make disciples, teaching them to obey what Jesus taught.
The church is a learning community.
The problem is not in the “always learning” part but rather in the “never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” part.
This is often not because of intellectual doubts but because of pride.
We are not going to have all our questions answered…but God has given us enough truth that we can settle this thing…and get busy living the decided life.
Years ago, I became friends with an older man who had spent his life seeking…but he had learned to find his identity in being a seeker…he had long since given up on every becoming a “finder”
It was tragic.
One conversation as I pleaded with him to follow Christ…he wept, but would not.
God has not hidden the truth from us…he has revealed it to us.
There is no “my truth” there is just the truth.
There is no “new truth” just the truth.
Truth is an objective (external to us) thing…revealed by God.
In the modern era the attack has been not just on what is true but on the concept of truth itself.
Either there is no ultimate truth (its fluid) or if there is, we can’t possibly know it.
This has bled over into the church where we chase continual new fads and trends…someone writes a new book that “explains everything” “turns everything we knew on its head” “uncovers a long-hidden truth or exposes a long running lie”
A new biography of a yet another disgruntled and disillusioned former Christian…rocks people’s faith
It all serves to undermine, potentially, our confidence in the truth of the gospel.
“But Terry, you know the church is divided, no one even agrees on the truth.”
That’s not remotely true…the Christian Church scattered across the globe agrees on the basics of the gospel.
The truth of the gospel isn’t changing…and it is believed by the true Church across the ages and across the planet.
Now there has been in the church at large, the need for course correction…but new truth isn’t being produced…no new chapters in the Bible, no updates on the gospel.
I’m not saying it is easy to understand biblical theology…or that we don’t disagree on minor issues.
But the major issues of the gospel…they are settled.
It is both possible and necessary to decide that gospel is true, then to go live decided.
Jesus is Lord, the gospel is true, heaven and hell are real, the Bible is the Word of Truth…truth with no mixture of error.
No more deciding, just go live decided.
Then Paul casts a vision for Timothy to have confidence in verse 8.
By essentially saying…
- The creeps are not going to last
Just as Jannes(jan-ez) and Jambres(jam-brez) opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.
Who were these guys anyway?
They are not mentioned in the OT but in Jewish tradition they were the court magicians who opposed Moses before Pharoah.
They would have been very familiar to Timothy having been raised on Scripture and with Jewish traditions…he had a Jewish mom.
Paul is saying…”Timothy, these creeps are like those guys who opposed Moses…remember them?”
They are corrupt in their minds and disqualified from the faith.
Verse 9
But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.
Paul…”Timothy, go ask your church (which was largely non-Jewish background believers) if they remember Jannes(jan-ez) and Jambres(jam-brez).”
Timothy…”They will say “Who”?”
Paul…”Exactly.”
These creeps are not going to last.
Two points of confidence in this passage:
- Jesus told us this was coming (all this bad stuff)…God is not surprised, he is in control
- The creeps won’t get far…God’s Word (the truth) will win out.
Back in 2:9 “I may be chained but God’s word is not.”
God’s word, not the creeps…will win.
Go back to verse 5 “have the appearance of godliness, they but deny its power.”
On the surface they look like they are deep, or spiritual, or wise…but just wait , Time will Tell who they really are…they are image managers without godly power.
There is nothing under the hood…shiny car, no engine.
What is this power and how do they deny it (how do we embrace it)
1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
God’s power is revealed in growing Christlike character…from the inside out.
Love, self-control, sacrifice, serving others…this is evidence of the power of God in a person’s life.
It is absent from the lives of the creeps.
Let’s conclude with a call to confidence…because that what Paul is giving Timothy.
Hal Moore was a soldier who commanded an Army unit in the first major engagement between the US and Vietnamese soldiers.
The Battle of the Ia Drang.
The battle was made famous by the film, “We were Soldiers” based on a book, “We were soldiers once and young.”
I personally love the movie and the book.
Vastly outnumbered in the battle, Moore’s confidence (and of course his military competence) were widely said to be the reason that his unit survived and won.
In the film, when a terrified young soldier cries, “We are being overrun” , Colonel Moore says, “Nah boys, we are going to win this fight.”
His confidence was contagious…but not it wasn’t just emotion…he knew stuff about situation, the young terrified troops didn’t know.
I thought about that film, when I thought of Paul sitting in his Roman cell, writing to Timothy away in his church in Ephesus.
I don’t know if it is true, but I imagine Timothy thinking, worrrying, “We are being overrun”
Then Paul saying, “Nah, Tim, we are going to win this fight.”
Paul writes of all the nasty stuff that is descriptive of the creeps…and the nefarious motives that drive their creepy behavior and then he writes…but they won’t last.
“Remember Jannes(jan-ez) and Jambres(jam-brez)?”
“Who?”
“Exactly!”
It can be terrifying out there…what will become of our kids?
What will happen to the US and the world and the church?
What will happen to me, how will I be faithful when so many oppose the faith?
Focus on faithfulness.
Timothy Dwight was called a fool when he arrived on campus.
In the dorms, you could have heard, “That idiot, naive, Christian president…I bet he hasn’t even read Thomas Paine; he isn’t as cool as those French philosophers…they know what is up.”
Through life-on-life ministry, through walking with Jesus and walking with people so they will walk with Jesus…God used him to turn hearts, then a school, then a nation.
Jesus has already said to us, “We are going to win this fight.”
Life with confidence.
Don’t panic, don’t have your head turned by something new.
It if is brand new, regarding the Christian faith…I can assure you it is not true.
Be confident…be faithful…have some fun in the process.
We have reason for to live with confidence and with joy, optimism.
We don’t need to be grumpy or defensive…we can be, we should be really happy in our God-given confidence.
We aren’t being overrun…we, God, is going to win this fight.