2 Timothy 2:17

2Ti_2:17

Their word will eat as doth a canker.

Gangrene

The substitution of gangrene for cancer is an improvement, as giving the exact word used in the original, which expresses the meaning more forcibly than cancer. Cancer is sometimes very slow in its ravages, and may go on for years without causing serious harm. Gangrene poisons the whole frame, and quickly becomes fatal. The apostle foresees that doctrines, which really ate out the very heart of Christianity, were likely to become very popular in Ephesus, and would do incalculable mischief. The nature of these doctrines we gather from what follows. (A. Plummer, D. D.)

Unsound opintions

I. The Church in all ages hath been pestered with vain babblers,

II. Unsound opinions are of a spreading nature. And this is true of all sin, original and actual.

1. For doth not corruption, like a disease, disperse itself, and pollute every power of the soul and member of the body? What part is not infected with that leprous contagion? Hath it not spread also, by natural propagation, to all Adams posterity?

2. Will not all actual sin spread also? For unbelief, hath it not run into atheism? fear, into despair? anger, into fury? and that, to revenge? Foolish mirth will become madness; temporary faith, high presumption; and speculative lust, actual whoredom. Were not images, in the beginning, for civil use, to put men in mind of deceased friends; and are they not at this day, by the Romanists, religiously adored?

3. Shall we not see one error beget another?

4. Moreover, unsound opinions spread from person to person.

III. Sin will destroy, if not destroyed. (J. Barlow, D. D.)

Justification by faith

This is a most striking and accurate description of the nature of heresy--it never remains inactive--it is sure to spread; an error in any essential point is sure, eventually, to corrupt the whole body of truth, just as a gangrene in the human body appearing, at first, as a small spot, gradually spreads, eating into the sound parts near it, and they, in their turn, infecting the rest, until the whole body is destroyed. The reason for this is very simple. The truths of religion are not a set of independent and unconnected notions bound up together in a creed, as men bind loose sticks into a bundle; they are closely connected parts of a great whole, arising one out of the other, so that you cannot deny one without denying or perverting a great many others; for once you admit a truth, you admit all its consequences; once you deny a truth, you must be prepared to deny, in like manner, all its consequences. God declares that false doctrine eats into the faith of the Church like a canker. Sacramental justification does this--therefore it is false. In order to show the injurious results of this false doctrine, we will take, for our example, that Church which most strongly holds it. The Church of Rome gives us the most awful instance of its effects. The Church of Rome holds that, at his baptism, every one is made perfectly holy; that if he remain in this state of grace, or if, after falling from it, he is restored to it again, so that he be in it at his death, then he is saved. Now let us suppose a church, as yet sound upon all other points, adopting this opinion. We shall see how it eats its way. And firstly, it must lead to the perversion of the doctrine of original sin. But further; every one knows that he is constantly committing little faults. In many things we offend all. But Rome affirms that some sins are venial, while others are mortal. But the law of God commands as welt as forbids, and they must, by their good works, continue to deserve Gods favour! Now, in such a system, every work must have its own proper value, it must be just so much merit towards justification: a man who works because he has been justified, does not stop to reckon or to price his good works; he works from love--he cannot do too much; but he who works that he may be justified, must keep count of his good deeds, and try to ascertain their value, that he may be sure he has really done enough to secure his justification. But this is not all. In such a system of external observances, it is clear that the man most remarkable for his lastings and his many prayers is the holiest man. But we may trace it further still. These holy men, who dwell apart from the common crowd, have clearly attained a degree of holiness greater than is necessary for their own salvation. May they not, then, bestow some of it on others? So far we have been tracing the effects of this false doctrine on those who believe that they are still in a state of justification because they have retained their baptismal purity. We have now to see its effects upon those who have reason to fear that they have lost their justification. Even when men have raised their own righteousness to the utmost, and lowered Gods law to the lowest, still the uneasy doubt will intrude itself--What if, after all, I have not done enough? what if I have fallen into mortal sin? Now, in such a case, of whom would the anxious sinner seek advice and consolation? who shall decide for him each nice case of conscience, and say what is venial and what is mortal sin? what are good works and what are not? Who but his pastor, Gods minister, whose province it is to study such matters? He wilt naturally ask him to decide for him what his state may be; but if so, he must confess all his sins to him: this spiritual physician must know all the symptoms of his case before he can give his opinion upon it; and, accordingly, the penitent will soon acquire the habit of auricular confession of all his sins to his priest. But what if this adviser, when consulted, shall decide that he has fallen from grace and is even in mortal sin? The priest cannot re-baptize him; how shall he regain his justification? This confessor has a right to declare Gods forgiveness; he preaches remission of sins; what if he have a right to give it? it is but a step from saying You are forgiven, to I forgive you. The fears of the penitent, the ambition of the priest, soon take it; the inquisitor becomes a judge, the ambassador assumes the authority of the king, the minister of Christ attempts to give the sinner the peace he needs, by usurping the office of his Lord and Master, who alone tins power on earth to forgive sins. The canker eats its way! There may, however, be cases where time is too short for the performance of penance--death may be imminent. For such a state another provision must be made--it is ready. There is a scriptural and primitive custom, that the elders of the Church should pray over a sick man, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. All that is necessary is, to make of this rite, a sacrament conveying to the insensible, sick man remission of sins, as baptism was supposed to have given it to the insensible infant; and then his salvation is secured. Mark, now, how the true doctrine of justification preserves from all this error. Being justified by faith I have peace; what need have I then to confess to man? I may come boldly into the holy of holies, through the new and living way; I need no man to tell me how great my sins may be; I can ask God to pardon my iniquity, for it is great! If I address myself to my fellow man, it is for counsel and consolation, not for pardon. I have no need of extreme unction, I have an unction from the Holy One; I have no need of purgatorial fire, for the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. Being justified by faith I have peace with God. (W.G. Magee.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:17 Hymenaeus was earlier teamed with Alexander (1 Tim 1:20); both of them were still wreaking havoc (2 Tim 4:14-15). • Philetus was Hymenaeus’s new accomplice.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Ti 2:17. Ὑμέναιος, Hymenœus) who continued pertinacious; comp. 1Ti 1:20.—καὶ Φίλητος, and Philetus) who assented to Hymenæus.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ti_2:17. The increase of the ἀσέβεια is closely connected with the further spread of the heresy. On this point the apostle says: καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν ὡς γάγγραινα νομὴν ἕξει] γάγγραινα, an eating ulcer, like cancer, called in Galen the cold burn (σφάκελος); νομὴν ἔχειν = νέμειν (Act_4:17 : ἐπὶ πλεῖον διανέμεσθαι), eat into the flesh, spread; comp. Polybius (ed. 2, Tauchnitz), i. 4, viii. 5: ἡ τοῦ πυρὸς νομή is equivalent to the spreading of fire; 2Ti_1:8; 2Ti_1:16, used of an ulcer (Pape, s.v. νομή).

Jerome, Ep. ad Galat.: doctrina perversa, ab uno incipiens, vix duos aut tres primum in exordio auditores reperit, sed paulatim cancer serpit in corpore. The body on which the gangrene is found, and in which it spreads ever wider, is the church. He is therefore speaking here not so much of the intensive increase of the evil (Mack, Wiesinger) in those attacked by it, as of its extensive diffusion (so most expositors), thinking, at the same time, of the ever deepening mark which it is making on the inner life of the church. Chrysostom rightly says: τὸ πᾶν λυμαίνεται; but his further explanation is not apposite: ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἀδιόρθωτον αὐτῶν δηλοῖ, for the apostle does not say here that the heretics are beyond amendment.

Of these heretics Paul mentions two: Hymenaeus and Philetus, of whom nothing further is known, except that the former is possibly the same as the one named in 1Ti_1:20 (see on that passage).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ti 2:17 . ὡς γάγγραινα νομὴν ἕξει : spread , R.V.m., ut cancer serpit , Vulg. Ell. compares Ovid. Metam . ii. 825, “solet immedicabile cancer Serpere, et illaesas vitiatis addere partes”. Alf. supplies many illustrations of νομή as “the medical term for the consuming progress of mortifying disease”.

Harnack ( Mission , vol. i., pp. 114, 115) illustrates copiously this conception of moral evil from the writings of the early fathers.

Ὑμέναιος καὶ φίλητος . This Hymenaeus is perhaps the same as he who is mentioned in 1Ti 1:20 . Of Philetus nothing is known from other sources.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

will eat--literally, "will have pasture." The consuming progress of mortification is the image. They pretend to give rich spiritual pasture to their disciples: the only pasture is that of a spiritual cancer feeding on their vitals.

canker--a "cancer" or "gangrene."

Hymenaeus--(See on Ti1 1:20). After his excommunication he seems to have been readmitted into the Church and again to have troubled it.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 17. Their word will eat as doth a canker] ως γαγγραινα. As a gangrene; i.e. as a mortification in the flesh, where the circulation is entirely stopped, and putrefaction takes place, which continues to corrupt all the circumjacent flesh, spreading more and more till death takes place, unless stopped by a timely and judicious application of medicine. Such is the influence of false doctrine; it fixes its mortal seed in the soul, which continues to corrupt and assimilate every thing to itself, till, if not prevented by a timely application of the word of life, under the direction of the heavenly Physician, it terminates in the bitter pains of an eternal death. To such a gangrene the apostle compares the corrupt doctrines of Hymeneus and Philetus.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17 And their word will eat as a gangrene I have been told by Benedict Textor, a physician, that this passage is badly translated by Erasmus, who, out of two diseases quite different from each other, has made but one disease; for, instead of “gangrene,” he has used the word “cancer.” Now Galen, in many passages throughout his writings, and especially where he lays down definitions in his small work “On unnatural swellings,” distinguishes the one from the other. Paul Aegineta, too, on the authority of Galen, thus in his sixth book defines a “cancer;” that it is “an unequal swelling, with inflated extremities, loathsome to the sight, of a leaden color, and unaccompanied by pain.” Next, he enumerates two kinds, as other physicians do; for he says that some “cancers” are concealed and have no ulcer; while others, in which there is a preponderance of the black bile from which they originate, are ulcerous.

Of the “gangrene,” on the other hand, Galen, both in the small work already quoted, and in his second book to Glauco, Aetius in his fourteenth book, and the same Ægineta in his fourth book, speak to the following effect; that it proceeds from great phlegmons or inflammations, if they fall violently on any member, so that the part which is destitute of heat and vital energy tends to destruction. If that part be quite dead, the Greek writers call the disease σφάκελος the Latins sideratio, and the common people call it St. Anthony’s fire.

I find, indeed, that Cornelius Celsius draws the distinction in this manner, that “cancer “is the genus, and “gangrene” the species; but his mistake is plainly refuted from numerous passages in the works of physicians of high authority. It is possible, also, that he was led astray by the similarity between the Latin words “cancer“ and “gangræna.” But in the Greek words there can be no mistake of that kind; for κάρκινος is the name which corresponds to the Latin word “cancer,” and denotes both the animal which we call a crab, and the disease; while grammarians think that γάγγραινα is derived ἀπο τοῦ γραίνειν which means “to eat.” We must therefore abide by the word “gangrene,” which Paul uses, and which best agrees with what he says as to “eating” or “consuming.”

We have now explained the etymology; but all physicians pronounce the nature of the disease to be such, that, if it be not very speedily counteracted, it spreads to the adjoining parts, and penetrates even to the bones, and does not cease to consume, till it has killed the man. Since, therefore, “gangrene” is immediately followed by (νέκρωσις) mortification, which rapidly infects the rest of the members till it end in the universal destruction of the body; to this mortal contagion Paul elegantly compares false doctrines; for, if you once give entrance to them, they spread till they have completed the destruction of the Church. The contagion being so destructive, we must meet it early, and not wait till it has gathered strength by progress; for there will then be no time for rendering assistance. The dreadful extinction of the gospel among the Papists arose from this cause, that, through the ignorance or slothfulness of the pastors, corruptions prevailed long and without control, in consequence of which the purity of doctrine was gradually destroyed.

Of the number of whom are Hymenaeus and Philetus He points out with the finger the plagues themselves, that all may be on their guard against them; for, if those persons who aim at the ruin of the whole Church are permitted by us to remain concealed, then to some extent we give them power to do injury. It is true that we ought to conceal the faults of brethren, but only those faults the contagion of which is not widely spread. But where there is danger to many, our dissimulation is cruel, if we do not expose in proper time the hidden evil. And why? Is it proper, for the sake of sparing one individual, that a hundred or a thousand persons shall perish through my silence? Besides, Paul did not intend to convey this information to Timothy alone, but he intended to proclaim to all ages and to all nations the wickedness of the two men, in order to shut the door against their base and ruinous doctrine.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(17) And their word will eat as doth a canker.—Better rendered, as in the margin of the English translation, as doth a gangrene, the usual rendering of the various English versions. “Cancer,” which is adopted also by Luther—krebs—fails to express the terrible and deathly nature of the “word” of these false teachers. The life of the sufferer afflicted with cancer may be prolonged for many years; a few hours, however, is sufficient to put a term to the life of the patient attacked with “gangrene,” unless the limb affected be at once cut away. To translate this Greek word here by “cancer” is to water down the original, in which St. Paul expresses his dread of the fatal influence of the words of these teachers on the lives of many of the flock of Christ. Perhaps Jerome’s words, “a perverse doctrine, beginning with one, at the commencement scarcely finds two or three listeners; but little by little the cancer creeps through the body” (Jerome. in Epist. ad Gal.), has suggested the rendering of the English Version.

Of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus.—Of these false teachers nothing is known beyond the mention, in the First Epistle to Timothy, of Hymenæus, who, regardless of the severe action which had been taken against him (1Ti_1:20), was apparently still continuing in his error. Vitringa thinks they were Jews, and probably Samaritans. Their names are simply given as examples of the teachers of error to whom St. Paul was referring—famous leaders, no doubt, in their cheerless school of doctrine.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. their word] As opposed to ‘the word of truth’ above, the fictions and heresies in which the Gnostic scheme expressed itself.

will eat] Lit. ‘will have pasture.’ The word occurs Joh_10:9 ‘will find pasture.’ Cf. Latimer Serm. p. 525 quoted in the Bible Word Book ‘In another place St Paul compareth their doctrine unto a sickness which is called a canker; which sickness, when she once beginneth at a place of the body, except it be withstood will run over the whole body, and so at length kill.’

as doth a canker] Or more exactly a gangrene or ‘eating sore,’ the root notion of ‘gangrene’ as of the common word ‘grass’ being ‘to devour’ ‘to eat.’ Galen defines it as a tumour in the state between inflammation and mortification.

of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus] Or ‘among whom’; the partitive genitive. Hymenæus is probably the same as in 1Ti_1:20; see note. Philetus is not mentioned elsewhere.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And their word will eat as doth a cancer,.... Or "gangrene", which gnaws and feeds upon the flesh, inflames and mortifies as it goes, and spreads swiftly, and endangers the whole body; and is therefore to be speedily taken notice of, and stopped. It is better rendered "gangrene", as in the marginal reading, than "cancer".

"The word "gangrene" is Greek (g), and is derived by some authors from the Paphlagonian "gangra", a goat; it being the character of a goat to browse the grass all around without shifting. It is more correct, perhaps, to derive it from the Greek word "manduco", "consumo", I eat, I consume. The "gangrene" is a disease in the flesh of the part which it corrupts, consumes, and turns black, spreading and seizing itself of the adjoining parts, and is rarely cured without amputation. By the microscope, a gangrene has been discovered to contain an infinite number of little worms engendered in the morbid flesh; and which continually producing new broods, they swarm, and overrun the adjacent parts: if the gangrene proceed to an utter sphacelation (or mortification), and be seated in any of the limbs, or extreme parts, recourse must be had to the operation of amputation''

And so the errors and heresies of false teachers worm and spread, and feed upon the souls of men, and eat up the vitals of religion, or what seemed to be such, and even destroy the very form of godliness; and bring destruction and death, wherever they come; and when they get into Christian churches, threaten the ruin of them; and therefore are to be opposed in time, and those infected with them to be cut off.

Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; these were some of the principal among the false teachers, the chief authors and spreaders of error and heresy: the former of these is mentioned before in Ti1 1:20 along with Alexander, as guilty of blasphemy, and as delivered up to Satan for it. Philetus is a Greek name as well as the other, though it is sometimes found in Roman inscriptions (h): it is very likely that these were both in Asia, and probably in Ephesus, or near to it, since the apostle mentions them by name to Timothy, that he might beware of them.

(g) See Chambers's Cyclopedia in the word "Gangrene". (h) Vid. Kirchman. de Funer. Roman. l. 3. c. 10. p. 390.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

Ver. 17. Eat as doth a gangrene] Which presently overruns the parts, and takes the brain, pierceth into the very bones, and if not suddenly cured by cutting off the part infected, kills the patient. Lo, such is heresy and error, which made Placilla the empress earnestly beseech her husband Theodosius senior, not to confer with Eunomius the heretic, lest he should be perverted by his speeches. (Sozom. vii. c. 7.) Anasius II, bishop of Rome, A.D. 497, while he sought to win Acacius the heretic, was seduced by him. (Jac. Revius, de Vit. Pont.) Error is exceeding infectious, and for most part mortal, as the leprosy in the head was held to be. Jealousy, frenzy, and heresy can hardly be cured, saith the Italian proverb.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And their word - The word, or the discourses of those who love vain and idle disputations.

Will eat as doth a canker - Margin, “gangrene.” This word - γάγγραινα gangraina - occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is derived from γραιω graiō, γραινω grainō, to devour, corrode,” and means “gangrene” or “mortification” - the death of a part, spreading, unless arrested, by degrees over the whole body. The words rendered “will eat,” mean “will have nutriment;” that is, will spread over and consume the healthful parts. It will not merely destroy the parts immediately affected, but will extend into the surrounding healthy parts and destroy them also. So it is with erroneous doctrines. They will not merely eat out the truth in the particular matter to which they refer, but they will also spread over and corrupt other truths. The doctrines of religion are closely connected, and are dependent on each other - like the different parts of the human body. One cannot be corrupted without affecting those adjacent to it, and unless checked, the corruption will soon spread over the whole.

Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus - In regard to Hymenaeus, see the notes at 1Ti 1:20. Of Philetus nothing more is known. They have gained an undesirable immortality, destined to be known to the end of time only as the advocates of error.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Like a cancer;[8] others say a canker or gangrene, a distempter that eats the flesh and parts affected. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Ut cancer, Greek: os gaggraina.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And their word will eat as doth a canker; in the Greek it is: And their word will have pasture (or place to feed upon) as a gangrene: we have ill translated the word a canker, for it signifieth a gangrene; both our English word gangrene and the Latin word are derived from the Greek. There is a great difference between a canker and a gangrene, in the causes of those two diseases, and the nature of them, and the time in which they destroy the body of a man; only they both agree in their infecting the parts contiguous, the canker eating them, the gangrene mortifying them; and for this, the words of erroneous persons are here compared to this disease, because either of them will have something to feed upon; so νομην signifieth, Joh 10:9. Most errors in matters of faith are contagious and infectious; the reason is, because ordinarily an error is broached by some, and entertained by others, in satisfaction to some lust, as favouring some evil desire and inclination of our minds, and so naturally pleaseth those who have the same evil propensions.

Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus: of Hymenaeus we read before, 1Ti 1:20, there he is joined with Alexander; but not of Philetus, nor do we find him further mentioned in holy writ.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Canker—A gangrene; called by some “an incipient mortification.” A corrupted spot, eating in every direction from its centre, until it corrupts and destroys the whole. So one fatal error or sin may spread its influence over the whole character, destroying the moral nature. And so, collectively, (as St. Jerome quoted by Huther says,) “a perverse doctrine, commencing with one individual, at first scarce finds two or three listeners, but by degrees it creeps like a canker over the whole body.”

Philetus—Only mentioned here.

Hymeneus—Note, 1Ti_1:20.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gangrene for canker, A.V Their word; as opposed to "the Word of truth" in ver. 15. Will eat (nomhn exei); i.e. spread, like a gangrene, which gradually enlarges its area, corrupting the flesh that was sound before. So these heretical opinions spread in the body of the Church which is affected by them. Nomh is literally "pasture", (Joh_10:9) "grazing of flocks," and hence is applied to fire (Polybius), which as it were feeds upon all around it, and, in medical language (Hippocrates), to sores and gangrenes, which grow larger and depasture the flesh. Of whom; of the number of those pointed at in the phrase, "their word." Hymenaeus; probably the same person as is mentioned as a blasphemer in 1Ti_1:20. Philetus. Nothing is known of him.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And their word - If they go on, will be mischievous as well as vain, and will eat as a gangrene.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Ver. 17. And their word will eat as a gangrene. A gangrene is described by Galen as “an eating sore,” or a tumour in the state between inflammation and entire mortification, and tending to the latter. Though not strictly synonymous with our word cancer, it might not improperly be represented in popular language as a sort of cancerous affection, and, like this, spreading or finding pasture (νομὴν ἕξει) on the contiguous parts of the body. It was therefore a fitting image of the evil tendency in such false teaching to diffuse itself among the people, because ministering in one respect or another to the weaknesses and follies of human nature. As the moral disease in the teachers themselves would get worse, so their word would eat outwards, catching hold of others, and bringing them under its noxious influence. It is a general statement, but to what extent applicable then, or to any particular error arising in later times, must always depend, partly on the kind of error which seeks propagation, and partly in the more or less congenial elements amid which it has to work.

Patrick Fairbairn — An Exposition of Ezekiel (1851), Jonah (1849), and The Pastoral Epistles (1874) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. And their word. The profane and vain babblings. Eat as doth a canker. Eat deeper and deeper, like a gangrene. Of whom is Hymenæus. See 1 Tim. 1:20.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

17–22. THE SPECULATIONS OF HYMENAEUS AND PHILETUS

17. καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν, and their word, sc. not specifically their ‘doctrine’ but their ‘talk’; cp. 2Co 10:10; 2Co 11:6.

ὡς γάγγραινα, as a gangrene. The word does not occur elsewhere in the Greek Bible, but is used by medical writers of a sore which eats into the flesh. Cp. the note on the wholesome doctrine, 1Ti 1:10.

νομὴν ἓξει, will eat, lit. ‘will have pasture’; cp. Joh 10:9, the only other place where the word is found in the N.T. νομή is often used by medical writers of the ‘spreading’ of a disease, as here; cp. Polyb. 1. 81. 6.

ὦν ἐστὶν Ὑμέναιος καὶ Φιλητός. Hymenaeus has been mentioned already, 1Ti 1:20; but we know nothing further either of him or of Philetus.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. νομὴν ἕξει] perhaps “will eat into their own heart and ruin it more and more,” cf. Tit 1:15; but the chief thought is “will spread further into the Church and corrupt others”; cf. 1Co 5:6, Act 4:17 ἵνα μὴ ἐπὶ πλεῖον διανεμηθῇ εἰς τὸν λαόν: Apost. K.O. 17, μήποτε . . . ἐπὶ πλεῖον νεμηθῇ ὡς γάγγραινα.

ὧν ἐστιν: cf. 1:15, 1Ti 1:20 note: it might be a later note added by an editor, giving an illustration from his own time, cf. Introd., p. xxxi. Ὑμένσιος, 1Ti 1:20. φιλητός, not mentioned elsewhere.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Will eat [νομην εξει] . Lit. will have pasturage, and sO grow. Nomh purov a spreading of fire : a sore is said nomhn poieisqai to spread. Comp. Act 4:17, dianemhqh spread, of the influence of the miracle of Peter, from the same root, nemein to distribute or divide; often of herdsmen, to pasture. Nomh only here and Joh 10:9 Canker [γαγγραινα] . Transliterated into gangrene. An eating sore; a cancer. N. T. o. o LXX Comp. Ovid :

"Solet immedicabile cancer Serpere, et illaesas vitiatis addere partes." Metam. 2 826

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.