2 Timothy 3:5

2 Timothy 3:5 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
• New International Version (NIV)having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
• English Standard Version (ESV)having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
• New King James Version (NKJV)having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Context of 2 Timothy 3:5

3They will not be kind to other people, but they will like to quarrel. They will tell lies to hurt other people. They will be unable to control themselves properly. They will be cruel and they will hate anything that is good. 4People will turn against their friends. They will do foolish things. They will boast that they are very important. They will not love God, but instead they will only want to enjoy themselves. Those people will seem to be serving God. But really they refuse to accept God's power to help them. You must stay away from people like that. 6Among those people, there are some men who find a way into people's homes. They get power over silly women who feel very guilty about their sins. Those women want to do wrong things and they cannot stop themselves. 7They are always trying to learn new things, but they can never really understand God's true message.

2 Timothy 3:5 word by word

ἔχοντες μόρφωσιν εὐσεβείας, τὴν δὲ δύναμιν αὐτῆς ἠρνημένοι. καὶ τούτους ἀποτρέπου.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·καίkai · andG2532
• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Havingἔχωechō · to have/beG2192
• a formμόρφωσιςmorphōsis · formG3446
• of godlinessεὐσέβειαeusebeia · pietyG2150
• butδέde · thenG1161
• denyingἀρνέομαιarneomai · to denyG720
• the powerδύναμιςdunamis · powerG1411
• thereofαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• fromἀποτρέπωapotrepō · to avoidG665
• suchοὗτοςhoutos houtoi hautē hautai · this/he/she/itG3778

Cross-references for 2 Timothy 3:5

• Isaiah 29:13The Lord God says, ‘These people open their mouths to worship me. They use their lips to say that I am great. But they are not really thinking about me. When they worship me, they use rules that people have taught them.
• Isaiah 48:1Listen to this, family of Jacob. You are called ‘Israel’, and you are Judah's descendants. You use the name of the Lord when you make promises. You pray to Israel's God. But you do not do those things honestly and fairly.
• Isaiah 58:1The Lord says, ‘Shout out! Shout as loudly as you can! Make as much noise as a trumpet makes! Tell my people that they have not obeyed me. Tell the family of Jacob about their sins.
• Ezekiel 33:30Son of man, the Israelites who are here with you in Babylon are talking about you. They meet together near the walls of the city and at the doors of their houses. They are saying to each other, “Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.”
• Matthew 7:15‘Some people say that they are prophets from God. But their words are false. They seem to be like sheep that are not dangerous. But they are really like hungry wild dogs. What they teach will hurt you.
• Matthew 23:27It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You are like a grave that has nice white paint on the outside and it looks beautiful. But on the inside it is full of bones and disgusting things.
• Romans 2:20You are sure that you can teach fools and people who do not know very much. You know that God's Law tells you everything about what is true. Because it helps you to know so much, you think that you can be a great teacher!
• 1 Timothy 5:8Every believer must take care of his own family. Certainly, he must do that for the people who live with him in his home. If anyone does not do that, it shows that he has refused God's true message. That person is worse than someone who does not believe in Christ.
• 2 Timothy 2:16But stay away from people who talk about silly things that are not important to God. A message like that causes people to live more and more in a way that does not please God.
• Romans 16:17My Christian friends, I want to tell you something important. Be very careful about people who teach wrong things. They teach things that are different from God's true message that you learned. Those people cause you to quarrel with each other. They cause people to turn away from God. You must stay away from them.
• Ephesians 4:14So then we will not be like children any more. Our minds will not become confused by strange ideas. We will not change what we believe, from one thing to another. Some people teach things that are not true. They do clever things to deceive people. But we will not agree with their false message.
• 2 Thessalonians 3:6Our friends, you must stay away from every believer who is living in a lazy way. We tell you this with the authority that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to us. Lazy people like that are not living in the way that we taught you.
• 1 Timothy 6:5Their minds have become confused and they argue all the time. They refuse to believe God's true message. They think that they will become rich if they say that they are serving God.
• 2 John 1:10Someone may come to you and teach you something that is different. Do not receive that person into your house. Do not receive him as a Christian.

Commentaries on 2 Timothy 3:5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Having a form of godliness - The original word signifies a draught, sketch, or summary, and will apply well to those who have all their religion in their creed, confession of faith, catechism, bodies of divinity, etc., while destitute of the life of God in their souls; and are not only destitute of this life, but deny that such life or power is here to be experienced or known. They have religion in their creed, but none in their hearts. And perhaps to…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Having a form of godliness - That is, they profess religion, or are in connection with the church. This shows that the apostle referred to some great corruption in the church; and there can be little doubt that he had his eye on the same great apostasy to which he refers in 2 John 1:10-11; see the notes at 2 Corinthians 6:17.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5such as these: These people rejected good teaching. They denied the power that could make them live as God desires (3:2–4; see 1 Timothy 1:5–11; Colossians 2:16–23).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. form--outward semblance. godliness--piety. denying--rather as Greek, "having denied," that is, renounced. the power--the living, regenerating, sanctifying influence of it. turn away--implying that some of such characters, forerunners of the last days, were already in the Church.Read the comment

Topics related to 2 Timothy 3:5

• Apostasy
• Character
• Commandments
• Company
• Fellowship
• Formalism
• Hypocrisy
• Minister, Christian
• Wicked (People)
• Worldliness

In the dictionaries

• Correction
• Creep
• Doctrine
• Godly
• Inspiration
• Reprobate
• Unholy
• Wise
• Worse
• Form

Commentaries on 2 Timothy 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings