For the time shall be when they will not bear sound teaching; but according to their own lusts will heap up to themselves teachers, having an itching ear;
Paul has just told Timothy to preach the word. Here he gives the reason: a time is coming when people will not put up with healthy teaching. So who refuses it, why, and what should a preacher do when his hearers have already decided what they want to hear?
What "Sound" Means
The word translated "sound" is about health. One writer points to a familiar English word from the same root:
It is worth noting that the word translated "sound" comes up again and again. It is the word from which we get "hygienic," which is so often on people's lips today. It means healthful. Sound doctrine is in every sense doctrine that makes for spiritual health.
The Refusal Begins With the Listeners
The verse does not blame corrupt teachers first. It describes hearers who refuse sound teaching and then pick teachers to suit themselves.
Notice, though, that this corruption begins with the hearers. It is they who "will not endure sound doctrine" (teaching). It is they who "after their own lusts … heap to themselves teachers" to satisfy a diseased and itching ear… Plain scriptural teaching only explains and applies the mind of God as contained in the Scriptures. That is not enough for such hearers. Neither are the teachers whom the Lord sends, since they prefer to "heap" up, to choose, their own.
Inside Christianity, Not Outside It
The people here are not strangers to the message. They have heard it, and they still keep their teachers — but on terms that leave them undisturbed.
Whether teachers fail or not, the time will come. The people, "having itching ears", will not endure sound doctrine. Following their own lusts, they will heap up teachers for themselves. This does not describe those who have never heard the truth. It describes Christendom, where people have heard the gospel but will no longer endure it. Even so, they do not give up the Christian profession, for they still heap up teachers for themselves. But those teachers must be ones who will not get in the way of their worldly desires by preaching the truth.
Appetite, Not Argument
Paul traces the drift to the hearers' own passions. The appetite is what has changed.
New, sensational things deceive even Christians — things that leave out the sound doctrine of the Word. But notice that this happens because "their own lusts" are involved: it is what the flesh desires. They become like people in love with a diet of wine and pastry, and they turn away from the healthy, solid food of the Word.
An itching ear is a symptom, and what it craves does its own damage:
One danger for Christians at the present moment is the desire for stimulants in teaching… But stimulants are not food. Worse, in the end they create a distaste for it. They only stir the imagination, the intellect, or the nature. They never reach the conscience or the heart. The evidence of this desire is the itching ear (2 Tim. 4:3). Christ, and Christ alone, is the food of His people.
Still Ahead, and Not for Everyone
When Paul wrote, this evil had not yet arrived. And some hearers always welcome sound teaching.
Here the time had not yet come for such widespread evil, but the Spirit of God speaks of it as close at hand: "For the time will be when they will not endure the sound teaching." It assumes people who were used to hearing the truth. But now the truth is hard to swallow, and its sound teaching cannot be endured — a frightful time for men who bear the name of the Lord. Sound teaching is always welcome to those whose desire is to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
What the Servant Does About It
What does this mean for the preacher? He will not be popular, and he keeps preaching anyway.
And the result? Timothy would never be a popular preacher… There is no shortage of preachers now, but there is a shortage of those who preach the Word. It is one thing to preach about the Word, and another to preach the Word itself. There is a great danger in trying to please the popular ear. The people's ear is about as false as its voice is uncertain. Happy is the man of God who keeps preaching the Word to the end, when the crowd has turned away and listened to fables.
Summary
- Health — "Sound" means healthful. Sound doctrine makes a soul well, so refusing it is refusing medicine.
- Appetite — The refusal comes from the hearers' own passions, not from better arguments. A taste for wine and pastry replaces solid food.
- Choosing — It starts with the hearers. They heap up teachers of their own choice instead of the ones the Lord sends.
- Profession — This happens inside Christianity. People keep their teachers, but only ones who leave their desires untouched.
- Faithfulness — The same times that make a preacher unpopular are the reason to keep preaching the Word. Sound teaching is still welcome to everyone who wants to grow.