2 Timothy 3:12-13 12And all who want to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13But evil people and impostors will progress to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Verse 12 gives a truth that applies to all believers. A godly life will be evident in reverent devotion to God by faithfully living by God’s righteous will. Godliness develops in relationship with God in Christ Jesus. When we identify with Christ, we should expect the world to treat us the same way Jesus was treated by the Jews of his day. Paul warns Timothy that he should expect hardship and opposition just like Paul did in his ministry. The world rejects the light of holiness. Putting one’s life under the Lordship of Christ may lead to mistreatment by others.
Those who cause the problems of verse 11 are evil people and imposters, like the false teachers in Ephesus. These people do evil because they claim to speak the truth but are only imposters who preach false doctrines. They look godly on the outside, perhaps with their speech or dress, but it should not take the person trained in the truth long to see through their hypocrisy. These people go from bad to worse because they refuse to follow the truth. They are not innocent but have intentionally followed a lie. They have a two-part problem of deceiving and being deceived. They intentionally mislead with the wrong teaching because they have been deceived by Satan (1 Timothy 4:1-2; 2 Timothy 2:26). Their decline began when they listened to a lie about the gospel. They accepted this lie and brought others along with them.
Paul gives two paths in these verses. The path of godliness may have suffering, but this suffering is temporary to this life. The path of deceit offers empty promises that lack power. Those who follow this path may avoid suffering because their behavior is more acceptable to the culture around them, but in the end, they are following the way of judgment.
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