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“Now” would be better translated “but.” This would set in sharp contrast the early doctrinal creed given in the final verse of the preceding chapter and the apostasy within the church that Paul is now going to discuss.

“That in the latter times.” Elsewhere in my writings on 1 Timothy I have said that this expression refers to the last days of the church on the earth, but I want to change my mind on that. I now feel that this refers to the days of the church beginning immediately after the life of Paul. The apostasy of the church had begun even at that time. You remember that when Paul was in Ephesus he warned them that there would come wolves in sheep’s clothing who would deceive the believers. John said, “Already there are many antichrists”—already error had entered the church. The first great church was the Coptic church in Africa; it was way ahead of the others. North Africa produced some of the greatest saints in the early church, including Augustine, Tertullian, and Athanasius, but that church went off into heresy and departed from the faith.

When Paul says here, “in the latter times,” he does not have the second coming of Christ in view at all. However, in 2 Timothy 3:1 where he says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (italics mine), he is using a technical expression that always refers to the last days of the church on the earth before the Lord Jesus takes it out. The “latter times” mentioned here refers to our times today—Paul was speaking of what lay just ahead for the church in his day.

“Some shall depart from the faith.” Paul is warning that there will be heretical teachers who will mislead a great company of people. There will be a departure from the faith. Paul wrote also in 2 Thessalonians 2 of the apostasy to come. Actually this matter of apostasy has been in the church a long time, and it will not be new at the end of the age by any means.

“Depart” is aphistemi in the Greek, and it means “to stand away from.” A departure suggests not only that you have a point to which you are going, but also a point from which you have come. Those who apostatize are ones who have professed at one time to hold to the faith, but now they have departed from it. There cannot be an apostasy in paganism because they have never professed the faith. They never professed to trust Christ as Savior. They have never heard about Him, and there can be no apostasy among them. The apostasy comes within the organized church among those who profess to the faith and then depart from it.

“Giving heed to seducing spirits.” Now when they depart from the faith, what is responsible for it? What has caused them to depart? Is it because they have become better educated, more intellectual? Is it because of scientific developments and increased knowledge which reveals that the faith can no longer be held? No, Paul says, “Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits.”

“Seducing” actually means wandering, roving, and it comes from the word vagabond or deceiver or seducer. In fact, Satan is all those things. They shall give heed to satanic spirits.

“Doctrines of devils [demons].” People will give heed to doctrines of demons. It is alarming to a great many people that even in our very materialistic age there is a return to the things of the spirit world and a great emphasis upon it.

Christians are told to “… try the spirits whether they are of God …,” because there have gone out into the world these seducing spirits (1 John 4:1). The test that we should apply is the creed that was given in 1 Timothy 3:16: “… God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit ….” The only way of salvation is through the death of Christ, and it is by this truth we can test the doctrines of demons today.

There is a small segment of those who claim to be believers who are placing a great emphasis on demonism. They are very interested in this subject and are reading everything they can find about it. I think that we are seeing a real manifestation of the spirit world today, but the best thing you and I can do regarding the Devil is to show him a clean pair of heels. We should not be a bunch of heels, sticking around and getting ourselves involved in all of this. Paul warns us against being seduced by the doctrines of demons. We should stay clear of them, testing each spirit by its acknowledgment of the deity of Christ and by its acknowledgment that God was manifest in the flesh and that we are justified through the redemption He wrought for us on the cross.

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 5:446-447