“But shun foolish questionings, and genealogies, and strife, and fightings about law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A factious man after a first and second admonition refuse; knowing that such a one is perverted, and sins, being self-condemned.”
Paul warned Timothy and Titus, young evangelists, of a future apostasy similar to that given to the overseers in Ephesus (Acts 20:28-30). We have the final words of a dying man who paints a dismal picture of a departure from the faith. It is believed that Paul wrote 2 Timothy in the late 60s. The things about which Jesus predicted in Matthew 24 are about to happen. Jesus forewarns disciples then living that men will claim they are the Messiah and mislead many people away. During the “birth pains” of verses 6-7, disciples would experience persecution, hatred, and death. Then he says,
“At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Mat. 24:6-7).
Associated with the time of the end is the Lord’s coming in judgment on Jerusalem (Matthew 24:29-31). This answered the question asked in verse three, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age.” Life was very confusing and it fits the time and description of the warnings in these last letters of Paul to his sons in the faith about unruly men and the havoc caused by their influence (cf. 2 Tim. 2:17).
After the Lord’s coming as promised to His disciples, one can only imagine the panic among some religious leaders to establish order and provide a stronger presence of stability in the face of so much confusion. As Paul predicted, men arose who did not speak as the oracles of God, but spoke “perverse things to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:28). The apparent purpose of the appointment of spiritual shepherds was to oversee the souls under their care and silence the errors of these false brethren by sound teaching. There is no evidence of a church organization led by officials of a society. The concept of the universal (Catholic) church being an organization to establish “orthodoxy” for all to follow had not yet occurred. The shepherds of whom Paul is writing were not expected to form an organization of clergymen who dictated church doctrine and required the people to bow to them to receive a blessing or dispense with the “sacraments.” These are terms built around concepts that are altogether foreign to the revealed Word. You might find them in the tradition of the Catholic Church following the apostles, but then, that’s exactly what the Lord and Paul had predicted. As men failed to “hold fast to the pattern of sound words” and developed their own, there was an obvious need to establish their order.