In the Last Days Difficult Times Will Come— Posturing, Slandering Egotists
February 13, 2006
Dear Friends
Once again this week, we take a look at the details of 2 Timothy 3. We have suggested that this refers to “believers†in the Last Days before the return of Christ.
The next word we come to is “boastful.†The Greek word is alazon and means “a posturing and self-deceiving boaster.†It is not simply bragging, but posturing. We see this type of arrogance in politics quite often. They “spin†the truth to make themselves look better and their opponents worse. It is a form of bragging, but worse, because it elevates the making of me right over the truth (which always proves God right). We see alazon in action when brethren relay partial facts to make their opponents look worse than they are in reality. We see alazon displayed when they resort to debating tricks or worse, dirty tricks, to win their point versus relying on Biblical substance and morality. We see alazon at work when the goal is winning the debate rather than truth.
The next trait of these brethren in the Last Days is being arrogant. The Greek word is huperephanos and means “showing one’s self above others†or trying to gain preeminence. The same word is found in James 4:6 when James says “God resisteth the proud (huperephano), but giveth grace unto the humble.†It is the opposite of humility. The Apostles were afflicted with this problem during Jesus’ earthly ministry. They were constantly engaged in a running argument about who was to be the greatest. A brother once remarked to me “The disciples of Jesus were always arguing about who was going to be the greatest and we haven’t stopped arguing about it since.†In 1 John, the apostle speaks concerning a brother called Diotrephes. He describes him as one “who loveth to have the preeminence among them.†Paul counsels against this sin when he tells the brethren in Philippi “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.†(Php. 2:3)
The next trait of these men are that they are “revilers.†The Greek is blasphemos from which we get our English word “blasphemy.†We typically think of blasphemy as only applying to speaking evil of God, but in the Greek language, it applied equally to men. It means slanderous, insulting and abusive. A bit later we have a similar trait which has been translated as “malicious gossips.†This word is the Greek word diabolos which means a “false accuser†but is better known by its poor translation into “devil.†The doubling of these similar traits gives us an insight into how God views this sin. When God doubles things in Scriptures He is trying to make a point. God hates these sins (Prov. 6:19).
Slander and false accusation are the very sins which brought about the death of Jesus Christ. It is these sins which destroy the reputation of good brethren. It is a hateful and malicious. It is a failure to establish the facts and truth by failing to follow the commands of Christ in Matthew 18, but worse because of the intent. The intent is maliciousness coupled with deceit. It utterly fails the command “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying [building up], that it may minister grace unto the hearers.†(Eph 4:29)
We see a scary portrait when we put all of the above mentioned traits together. We see a caricature of a man in the ecclesia who is willing to posture, slander and deceive based on a hyper-inflated ego. Rather than elevating our Lord by humble service to their brethren, they choose rather to elevate themselves by tearing down their brethren.
For those who might find themselves the target of such men, I offer the following comfort from the words of Christ:
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matt. 5:11, 12)
Have a great week!
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