A Form of Godliness that Denies the Power

2 Timothy 3:5

There was a time when the intelligentsia of Western culture predicted the end of the Church and all religion, having a vision of a utopia that was a completely secular society. Perhaps the most famous prediction was given by the French atheist Voltaire, who said in the year 1776 that within a century the Bible would just be another ancient relic. Voltaire’s prediction has not come true and the Bible is still the world’s bestseller. However, the spirit of Voltaire and other secularists like him have continued to influence the minds of people in Western societies. And this vision of a secular society is actually becoming a reality.

Even in the last couple of years there are those saying that organized religion, primarily Christian, is going to eventually be extinct in Western societies. The CNN news organization recently reported a study done by a group of mathematicians that predicts the end of organized religion in nine Western societies. The study was done based on the growing numbers of people who are not affiliated with any organized religious group. The fastest growing religious group in Western nations is those who are unaffiliated with any organized religious group. The group of mathematicians was not trying to come out against religion or Christianity, but were simply doing a mathematical and sociological study. The numbers are showing the gradual death of organized religion, especially Christianity, in the West.

What should we draw from these kinds of studies? First, these studies do not necessarily mean that people are becoming atheists. They are turning away from organized religion, but not belief in God. Secondly, people are still interested in spirituality even though they are ambivalent about religion.

But the deeper question is why are people turning away from religion, especially from Christianity? Could it be that religion, including the religion that wears the name of Christ, is viewed by many people in Western societies as a colossal failure? The Christian writer and philosopher G.K. Chesterton once said that “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” I agree with Chesterton. The trouble is not that Christianity has actually failed, even though that is the popular perception. The trouble is that the thing that has been called Christianity is not the real thing. People are right to abandon something that is false and powerless.

Some would even argue, with good reason, that religion has actually made the world worse. One of the popular arguments against Christianity is the terrible record of those who claim to be Christians. What should we say to those who raise such objections to the Christian faith? We cannot ignore the reality that most of what parades itself as Christianity does not measure up to what we find in the Scriptures.

Fortunately we do not have to be dismayed by this situation. The Scriptures warn us about this very situation and the spiritual condition that we see in the professed Church today. The Apostles of Christ actually predicted in their writings that these things would happen and that these difficult times would come to the world before the Lord Jesus comes again.

Difficult Times

We are truly living in the difficult times predicted by the Apostle Paul when he wrote to Timothy. But I do not think Paul was referring to some future period of time only, but to a general condition which had already begun to seize the Church even in the Apostolic Era. There would be no reason to warn Timothy about a future problem. Paul is warning Timothy about a situation that he would have to be prepared to navigate in his own ministry.

Many people have a romantic and unrealistic perception of the Church in the Apostolic era. The New Testament Church, as it is often called, is viewed as a pristine model of perfection. And there are those who claim to want to restore the New Testament Church while other Churches actually claim to be the only remaining example of the New Testament Church.

But this ignores the fact that many of the epistles were written to correct the Churches. When Jesus addresses the seven Churches in the book of Revelation He has to rebuke five out of the seven. The decline of the Church had already begun, even before the Apostolic era had ended.

Paul knew that this decline was taking place. When he left Ephesus he told the elders of the Church there that “after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). The infiltration of the Church by false teachers had already begun. Paul is warning Timothy of this reality, which will be the case throughout the history of the Church.

Peter also warned of the rise of false teachers and heresy in the Church (2 Pet 2.1-3) as did Jude (See Jude v.4).

This situation that Paul describes to Timothy is a sign of the last days. We must understand that by the last days we are speaking of the period of time that began on the Day of Pentecost and will end when the Lord Jesus comes again. This period of time will be a difficult time.

We are not speaking of some future tribulation period, but of the times in which we live. We do not want to be disarmed by some doctrine of a future tribulation. We need to be aware of the times in which we live now. Whatever Paul said applied to Timothy and it will apply to us today and not just to some future period of history. No Word of God is irrelevant for our lives now.

The difficult times are not referring to life in the world but to a spiritual condition or climate that makes things difficult for the people of God. It would be difficult because of a decline in the Church. The decline Paul was speaking about would not be seen primarily in culture but in the Church. Paul was not concerned about politics, society, or culture. Paul is concerned about the Church. And we should be concerned about the Church too.

There are too many Christians who are more concerned about who is in the White House than about the condition of the Church. Since the Church is the “pillar and ground of the truth,” (1 Tim. 3.15) and if the Church is salt and light in the world (Matt. 5.13-16), then when there is a decline in the Church there will also be a corresponding decline in the world because the influence of the truth has been diminished. But the difficult times are not traced back to the condition of the unbelieving world. We expect the world to be corrupt. The difficult times are caused by corruption in the Church.

God’s people should be able to understand the times and know how to respond. It is simply unacceptable for God’s people to be like the ostrich and stick our heads in the sand. We should be awake and alert and able to discern the times.

Jesus actually criticized the leaders of the Jews because they were not able to recognize what was going on in their midst. Jesus said that “when it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:2-3). God was working in their midst and they were missing it! At the end of His ministry Jesus wept over Jerusalem, lamenting its impending judgment, because they did not recognize the time of their visitation (See Luke 19.44).

God’s people should be able to perceive what God is doing in our generation and also be able to recognize the spiritual climate in which we live. And we should be especially alert and sensitive to what is going on in the Church today. What is the spiritual climate in the Church? Many Church people do not take the time to assess their own Church, not to mention the rest of the Body of Christ. (Some even teach that we should not criticize the Church at all, even though there is a precedent for this in the Scripture and in Church history.)

I fear there are many people who are too wrapped up in worldly pursuits to be able to recognize the signs of the times and what is really going on around us.

Please understand that I am not speaking of just reading the news every day. You might read the news and not really understand the times. I am talking about a spiritual insight and understanding which enables you to interpret what is going on from a Kingdom-centered perspective. This is a rare gift today.

It was once said of the tribe of Issachar that they had “men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chron. 12.32). Notice the connection between understanding the times, and knowing what the people of God ought to do. How can we know what we ought to do unless we are able to correctly interpret the times in which we live?

The Reason for these Difficult Times

It is fairly easy to see that we are living in difficult times. You don’t have to even be a Christian to see this. And people will give you different reasons for why we are living in difficult times. Even in the Christian community I do not think everyone would define the difficulties of these times in the same way. Many Christians simply point to the moral decline that is so evident in our culture. And this is a very serious problem.

But this still does not tell us why the moral decay happened in the first place. There is a deeper problem that many even in the Christian community cannot or will not see. The problem is described by Paul in his letter to Timothy, and it is not a new problem.

According to the Apostle Paul, the greatest problem in these difficult times is that there are those who want an outward show of religiosity without the power of an inward transformation. This is “a form of godliness that denies the power.” This spiritual condition is at the heart of the difficult times in the last days of which Paul speaks in his letter to Timothy. And this very thing is all around us today. It is so common that we might actually miss it because we have become so accustomed to it.

A form of godliness that denies the power is a condition in which people are outwardly religious, even claiming to be Christian, yet inwardly they are unchanged and unaffected by the power of the truth. And so while they profess to be Christians and even do religious things, like go to Church services, it is all empty and vain. (I think this form of godliness that denies the power could also be applied to people who practice false religions and do not even claim to be Christians. But I don’t think that is what Paul had in mind. There is no reason for Paul to warn Timothy about pagan religions. But there is a reason to warn him about those infiltrating the Church, claiming to be Christians, who deny the power of the Faith.)

The people who have a form of godliness that denies the power are not those who have heard and then openly rejected the Gospel but those who at least outwardly have appeared to receive it. That is what produces a situation that is so difficult, and why Paul had to warn Timothy. These are people who are in the Church, claiming to be Christians. They seem to have received the Gospel, but actually this condition is an intentional rejection and refusal of the truth.

In other words, the people who have a form of godliness and deny the power actually rejected the truth even though they profess it.

We are not talking about those who are ignorant and just need more teaching. We are not talking about those who are weak or immature and need to grow. We are not talking about those who might have a misunderstanding of doctrine and just need correction. We may find people in these conditions of ignorance, immaturity, or even with a misunderstanding of the Faith and we cannot label them as having a form of godliness that denies the power.

No, we are not talking about sincere people at all. We are talking about people who are pretentious. They are pretending to be something they are not when they actually have no interest in the real thing.

Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power are hypocrites. This is a word we hear a lot these days even from worldly people who are not professed Christians. The world has been smart enough to figure this out! Professed Christians are often labeled by the world as hypocrites and we have to admit that this is often true.

Hypocrisy is putting on a show. The word used to refer to the actors in a Greek play who wore masks. A hypocrite is an actor, wearing a mask to hide his true identity, while he or she becomes someone else. A hypocrite is a pretender, a liar, and a deceiver.

Jesus called the religious leaders of the Jews hypocrites. He also called them whitewashed tombs filled with dead men’s bones, which I think is an excellent illustration of a form of godliness that denies the power. These are people who appear to be something that they are not. And if we consider Jesus’ words to the religious leaders of his day, we must conclude that there are few sins that make God angrier than hypocrisy.

The really disturbing thing is that this hypocrisy is often used as a cover for sin. Wickedness can be disguised in a religious cloak. The people Paul was describing to Timothy are outwardly religious, yet inwardly they are wicked people. These are people who have not repented of their sins but continue living in sin, while also practicing religion! These are people who think that their form of godliness is a license to continue in their wickedness.

We see this in the fact that professed Christians are often just as immoral, or maybe even more wicked, than those who make no profession of faith. We see it in those who want to be Christian yet openly homosexual. We see it in the terrible scandal in the Catholic Church and all of the predator, child-molesting priests. We see it in all of the greedy, worldly, mega-church pastors and TV preachers getting rich by pretending to be men of God. And we see it in the fact that the rate of sexual immorality, marital unfaithfulness, and divorce are just as common among professing Christians as in the world. All of this is evidence of a form of godliness that denies the power.

A Powerless Religion

Paul is warning Timothy about a spiritual condition or climate in the last days. This spiritual condition is that there will be people who have a form of godliness that denies the power. A form of godliness means that these people will outwardly appear to be religious, even wearing the name of Christ. Yet, they will deny the power of the truth. That is, they will actually reject the truth, yet still be professing to believe it. But what is this power that they will deny? I believe this is referring to the inward power of the truth of Christ that transforms the hearts and the lives of those who truly believe and receive it. To reject or deny this power means those who have a form of godliness must reject the source of this transforming power.

First, they reject the power of the Gospel. Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power have rejected the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1.16). If the Gospel is rejected then there can be no Divine power at work because God only works through the Gospel. The Gospel must be preached and believed for the power of God to be at work.

We know that it is possible to accept a different Gospel (Gal. 1.6-7). This happened even in the churches Paul himself had started so we know it can happen today. And it has happened today. There have been entire denominations that have completely rejected the Gospel.

There are those, for example, who have questioned the doctrine of sacrificial atonement and called that concept a pagan idea. So they have said that God really does not have wrath against sin and that Christ did not die to bear the penalty for our sin. That position is a complete and total rejection of the Gospel.

There are those who have embraced the belief in universalism – that everyone will be saved even if they have no personal faith in Christ and even if they reject Christ and follow another religion. This is a complete rejection of the Gospel which commands all people who hear the message to repent and trust in Christ alone for salvation.

And there are many who have not rejected any part of the Gospel but have simply added to it. This was the trouble Paul addresses in the letter to the Galatians. There were teachers there who came preaching that they had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses to be saved. These Jewish teachers probably did not teach anything that was against Christ. They simply said that faith in Christ was not sufficient and that there is something else you must do. This is the error of legalism! Legalism does not take away from the Gospel it adds requirements to the Gospel, which makes the power of the Gospel void.

I would also say a word about those who have accepted a social Gospel. The social Gospel is still with us today, though it may come wrapped in a new package. The social Gospel says that Jesus came to help the poor and to bring social change, justice, and equality. Sin is redefined as social inequality and salvation is a just society where everyone has enough to eat. This is a different Gospel that denies the power of the true Gospel! Jesus Himself refused to become an earthly king who fulfilled the people’s earthly appetites with earthly bread (See John 6).

But you don’t have to accept these false Gospels to deny the power of the real Gospel. You can also simply ignore the Gospel, remain ignorant of what the Gospel is, emphasize something else besides the Gospel, and you will have denied the power of the Gospel. If the institutional Church is powerless today it is because it has rejected or neglected the power of the Gospel!

Secondly, those who deny the power also reject the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as the body without the soul is dead, Christianity without the power of the Holy Spirit is nothing but a form of godliness that denies the power.

Jesus told His disciples to wait for the power of the Spirit before they went out preaching the Gospel (Acts 1.8). The life and witness of the Church are empowered by the presence of the Spirit. Without the Spirit there is no Church. If the institutional Church is powerless in its witness it is because it has rejected the Holy Spirit.

All of the confusion and controversy about the work of the Spirit in the institutional Church today may be evidence that the Spirit Himself has been rejected and is absent. We have Churches who almost seem to have never even heard of the Holy Spirit and act as if they are afraid of Him. And then we have Churches who think the Holy Spirit makes you fall down senseless on the floor and speak in a meaningless, unintelligible babble.

What are the true work and power of the Spirit? Jesus said that the Spirit causes us to be born again (John 3.3-5). Without this spiritual rebirth we cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God. A form of godliness that denies the power of the Spirit is a religion without the New Birth. This means that the people have the dry, lifeless husk of religion and are going through the motions of ceremony and ritual without being born again. No amount of religious observance can replace being born of the Spirit. Paul is warning us in our text that a time will come when what is called the Church will be full of people who have never been born again.

The Spirit also gives us the power to overcome sin. It is by the Spirit that we mortify the sinful deeds of the body (Rom. 8.13). Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power have rejected the power to subdue sin. Are we then surprised by the worldliness, carnality, and lack of holiness in the institutional Church? The power to live a godly and holy life has been rejected.

Even worldly people know that a person who claims to be a Christian yet is still dominated by sin is a contradiction. Yet the Church has come up with all kinds of ways to excuse this condition and mitigate the embarrassing effects of Church members who are powerless against temptation.

The modern Church has built a theology that allows people to continue being dominated by sin, yet still be saved. This is a doctrine of salvation that teaches justification but not sanctification. That is because the power to be sanctified, the Holy Spirit, has been denied and rejected.

What kind of salvation would leave us powerless against the very thing we are being saved from? God cannot accept people who are in the Flesh (Rom. 8.8). But the institutional Church today is filled with those who have a form of godliness yet deny the power of the Spirit of God.

Responding to this Powerless Religion

What are we supposed to do when we encounter such people? We are to avoid them. This agrees with what Paul taught elsewhere in his letters. You remember that at the Church in Corinth there was a man who had his father’s wife. That is, he was having an affair with his stepmother. Paul’s instructions to the Church were to remove this man from the fellowship (See 1 Cor. 5.1-13). Furthermore, Paul instructed the believers to avoid anyone who claimed to a believer, yet was an immoral person. Avoid those who profess the name of Christ yet live ungodly lives in opposition to that profession. These are people who have a form of godliness that denies the power.

We should be able to recognize the people who have a form of godliness that denies the power. Sometimes this is rather easy to do. A person who is a professing Christian, yet lives in an unrepentant and consistently immoral lifestyle, is to be avoided. A person who is a Christian may sin, but then repent. They are not to be avoided if they repent but are to be restored to fellowship. But a person who is deep-diving enthusiastically into sin is to be avoided as one having a form of godliness that denies the power.

Remember that we can only judge what we see. There are sins of the flesh, which are usually very easily seen. And there is a sin of the spirit, which is much harder to see. These sins of the spirit may actually be more serious than the sins of the flesh! We do not want to be judgmental and engage in witch-hunts, trying to uncover every fault and flaw in people. But a tree is known by its fruit.

One of the problems with the modern Church is the fact that many Church attenders remain anonymous. People can attend Church services and yet remain unconnected and unaccountable. In the traditional Church it is hard to know what is really going on in people’s lives. And many Church members prefer it that way! People think they can come to Church and then leave and live however they want to live.

But what if a person is not openly and defiantly immoral? How can we recognize a form of godliness that denies the power if there are not obvious sins of the flesh that we can see? In our text Paul gives several characteristics of people in this state.

First, they love self, money and pleasure rather than God and what is good (2 Tim 2.2-4). These kinds of people may not appear to be immoral. But their preferences are for something other than God and His Kingdom. And if given enough time, these preferences will be made manifest. Those who love the world cannot love God (1 John 2.15-17; James 4.4).

Secondly, these may be educated and intellectually sophisticated people. Paul says they are always learning, yet never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 2.7). That is, they have knowledge but not the knowledge of God. Worldly wisdom is actually opposed to God, who reveals Himself in the foolishness of the Gospel (See 1 Cor. 1.21). Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power will often be steeped in the wisdom of the world. So we should never be overly impressed just by someone’s education, knowledge, oratory, or intelligence – none of these things are indications of godliness.

Thirdly, they oppose the truth of God and the true people of God (2 Tim 2.8). Those who have a form of godliness that denies the power can be recognized by how they oppose those who have the real thing! The greatest opponents of the people of God have always been religious people. So the best way to expose those who have a form of godliness that denies the power is for the true people of God to boldly speak the truth of the Word of God! That is what Paul had told Timothy to do so that it will then be obvious who has a form of godliness that denies the power and who has the real thing. (We should make sure that we are really speaking the truth in love and that we are not simply offending people by being unclear or unkind.)

We are equipped by the Word of God to be able to understand the times and know what to do. We are not helpless and the situation is not hopeless. Paul is writing to Timothy so he will understand the times and know what to do. Paul’s instructions put the Word of God at the center of young Timothy’s life and ministry. The Scripture is the key to the people of God being able to respond to these difficult times:

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

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

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

If we know the Word of God and how to use it we will be able to respond appropriately to these difficult times. We cannot afford to be ignorant of the Word of God today! If we handle the Scriptures correctly then we will be preaching Christ, which is perhaps the greatest need in our difficult times.

Summary and Conclusion

The trouble with all false and empty religion, including that which wears the name of Christ, is that it does not have the power to change the hearts of the people. All religious institutions, traditions, and observances that do not receive the Gospel of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit are nothing but forms of godliness that deny the power. Only the power of the Gospel and the work of the indwelling Spirit can transform the hearts of people. Unfortunately, an outward form of godliness that denies the power of an inward transformation is common in our time and it is to be avoided at all costs. That this spiritual condition exists in the Church is a sign of the last days and points to the imminent return of Christ.

It is unfortunate that the celebration of Christmas, the first advent of Christ, has actually become in our culture a form of godliness that denies the power. What I mean is that many people enjoy having a baby Jesus around – a Jesus lying helpless in a manger is not much of a threat to our plans. The Nativity Scene gives us a warm and sentimental feeling at Christmas. But a Jesus who is the exalted King of glory is disruptive to our little kingdoms! And so, there are many people who enjoy the Nativity of the infant Jesus will also deny what He was sent into the world to do and to be. But one of our favorite Christmas songs tells us the truth:

“Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room . . .”

Let us never settle for an empty form of godliness that denies the power of Christ to reign in our hearts and over our lives as the King He was born to be!