Combatting Godless Living

10/2/25 Bible Thought (2 Timothy 3)

Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash

The believer combats godless living with God’s Word.

As the apostle Paul nears the end of his final letter, he warns of future days of difficulty where people’s lives will showcase that their faith is just a façade (2 Tim. 3:1).

While there are many negative and sinful qualities that he outlines (2 Tim. 3:1-5), in summary the problem is that they love other things more than God.

They will love self and money (2 Tim. 3:2) and they will love pleasures rather than God (2 Tim. 3:4).

Certainly, we see these things on the rise today, just as Paul predicted.

Contrasting this, the genuine believer will be committed to truth. Paul exhorts Timothy to continue in what he had been taught (2 Tim. 3:14), despite persecution and despite what others might say.

To do so, the apostle outlined the need for Timothy’s devotion to the sacred writings:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Now, in the original sense, Paul was referring to the Old Testament. However, if we look at the writing of Peter, he quickly understood Paul’s writings to be on par with Scripture (see 2 Pet. 3:15-16).

Likewise, through the early church’s practice of copying and distributing the four Gospel accounts and the letters of the New Testament we can quickly see that the doctrine of inspiration need not apply to the Old Testament only—although it does still apply to the Old Testament too! We do not need to “unhitch” from any portion of the Bible because it is all God-breathed and it is all profitable.

Now, while Scripture was not written first to us, it was written for us.

We do not want to lose sight of the original historical context and thereby misapply passages of Scripture or miss key background ideas. However, in the omniscience of God He superintended His Word to be applicable to all believers in all generations for all time. This is what makes God’s Word so unique. It is a living book that is never out-of-date.

As the apostle Paul concluded in another passage after referencing Israel’s time in the wilderness:

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction” (1 Cor. 10:11).

God, through inspiration, used unique people and their unique personalities and experiences to write down His instruction for how we ought to live as believers.

Through God’s Word we learn how to live a God-pleasing life. It is both God’s love letter and His instruction manual for us.

It is the only immovable bedrock and sure foundation for morality! Cultures sway in their opinions. Consciences can be seared. Even churches can err if they put culture before God, but God’s Word remains the same for God’s opinions do not change because He does not change.

As such, we must be diligent in the study of God’s Word. Pastor Robby Gallaty, in his book on discipleship, Replicate, points out:

“An increase in Bible engagement leads to increased participation in every other spiritual discipline. It is the most important growth metric of all. It’s the tide that cause all the other ships to rise with it.”[1]

We cannot live out God’s commandments if we are not familiar with them. However, once we read, study, and know God’s Word we must likewise be diligent to apply its truths to our lives, lest we be hearers only, deceiving our own selves (Jas. 1:22).

This is how we combat godless living.

---

[1] Robby Gallaty & Chris Swain, Replicate: How to Create a Culture of Disciple-Making Right Where You Are. (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2020), 61).