and the talk of such men will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
Be strengthened in grace, not as a permission to sloth, but as a command to shake off the flesh's sluggishness. Even the most gifted lose heart midway unless they are constantly aroused and reminded that their strength comes not from themselves but from Christ.
AI summary
Commenting on 2 Timothy 2:1-26
will eat--literally, "will have pasture." The consuming progress of mortification is the image. They pretend to give rich spiritual pasture to their disciples: the only pasture is that of a spiritual cancer feeding on their vitals. canker--a "cancer" or "gangrene." Hymenaeus--(See on Ti1 1:20). After his excommunication he seems to have been readmitted into the Church and again to have troubled it.
Charge your people to stop striving about words, for such quarrels destroy souls and lead hearers away from the great things of God. Those who contend over trifles rarely consider how useless these disputes are; they are not merely profitless but deeply harmful.
AI summary
Commenting on 2 Timothy 2:14-18