and their word will spread as a gangrene; of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
[men] who as to the truth have gone astray, saying that the resurrection has taken place already; and overthrow the faith of some.
Paul names two men whose teaching had gone wrong: they did not deny the resurrection, but said it was already past. How far can an error like that reach into a believer's life, and where does it stop?
These were not outsiders attacking from a distance. The verb Paul uses for going wrong carries the idea of an archer's shot falling wide.
The apostle points out that this dreadful evil among the saints — once, if not any longer — was no imaginary danger to haunt souls, but a fact calling for healthy fear and horror: "Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who as to the truth went astray," or literally, missed the mark, saying that "the resurrection had taken place already, and overthrow the faith of some."
Commentators agree the error was subtle rather than blunt, and that its attraction was its air of deeper insight. One writer suggests where they may have found their proof-text.
These men, it seems, held the place of teachers. They fell into a serious error: they did not deny the resurrection, but said it was already past. This subtle form of false teaching is worth special attention. Many believers today could be caught by a seeming super-spirituality that sounds plausible. The teaching of Hymenaeus and Philetus had exactly that pretentious character, for they made the resurrection a spiritual thing. It is quite possible they based their argument on Ephesians 2, where we read that God has made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up together. But "concerning the truth" they erred — literally, they missed the mark. The effect was to overthrow the faith of some.
The danger was not too little interest in truth but too much confidence about it. That makes the warning land closest to the people who care most.
It is deeply interesting to weigh the character of this error. It was not ignorance of the truth so much as exaggeration. It was the exalting of present privilege to the denial of our hope at Christ's coming. No doubt they prided themselves on higher truth than others taught, and on superior intelligence. This is an extreme danger for people who truly thirst for the truth of God and value it. If they are not watchful, they fall into the trap most easily.
Our Lord calls us to share His sufferings now and to be glorified later. This error cuts the waiting short.
But the error that the resurrection is already past is fatal to this endurance in the meantime. If it were true, it would entitle us to reign as kings now, to take our ease, to enjoy present honour and glory. The enemy framed and calculated it for one purpose: to thwart the will of our Lord, who calls us to share His sufferings until we are glorified together. So it is false as a doctrine and ruinous in practice. It also destroys all communion with Christ, which means sharing His affections in separation from the world.
The error changed whole churches, not only individuals. Take away the future, and the people of God stop travelling.
I think I see the form of the church settling down into the world in the doctrine of Hymenaeus and Philetus: if the resurrection is already past, then here we are, settled in our final state. No one had yet formed it into a system. It simply took away the expectation of the Lord and heavenly hopes. For if the resurrection was past, then Christ had freed His people spiritually and left them here, content in their worldly home. The church was no longer a stranger and a pilgrim, a bride waiting for the Bridegroom. She had settled into a permanent, accepted place on the earth.
Paul says the faith "of some" was upset. One writer explains what "the faith" means here.
"The faith" here means the thing believed. These false teachers really turned souls aside from the truth and led them away from what they had said they believed. It is not a question of salvation, but for the time, at least, these misguided people gave up the truth.
The loss was real. It also had a limit.
In teaching this they tampered with the very foundations of the faith of the gospel. They overthrew the personal faith of anyone who came under their power. They could not, of course, overthrow the faith of Christianity. That was a divine foundation, and whatever God founds always stands firm as a rock. Nor could they overthrow anything God had founded in the hearts of His people. That always remains, come what may, and "the Lord knows those who are His" — even if false teaching had misled them, so that others could no longer tell them apart.
- Missed — "swerved" means missing the mark. These two men taught inside the church, and they shot wide of the truth.
- Stretched — the error was exaggeration, not ignorance. They pushed present privilege so far that it denied the hope of Christ's coming.
- Flattered — it looked like deeper insight. That is why people who value truth most fall into this trap most easily.
- Settled — if the end has come, endurance and suffering with Christ end too. The bride stops waiting and makes a home in the world.
- Bounded — the damage is real but limited. False teaching can upset "the faith of some," but it cannot touch what God has founded, either in Christianity or in His people's hearts.