REMEMBER – STUDY. 2nd Timothy 2:8-19 False teaching presents a false view of the Person and work of Christ. When 2nd Timothy was written, Gnosticism held that resurrection was not physical but simply moving from ignorance to knowledge. Others taught the resurrection of Christ, and those who rose "after his resurrection and appeared unto many" were considered the only resurrection. Denying the physical resurrection of the body is really a denial of the physical resurrection of Christ, which is a fundamental part of Christianity.
A misunderstood view of our Lord Jesus Christ is at the core of false teaching. Such teachings can be intentional, using Bible verses to support personal opinions, or due to ignorance, by not reading the scriptures in their proper context. Today, some teach that Jesus was a good man but not divine. In the past, when Timothy was in Ephesus, some false teachers taught that Jesus was God but not a man.
Such false teachings threaten the truth of salvation, in which we are reconciled to God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is both God and man. Jews were angry when Paul preached that Jesus was both God and man. It was on that basis that they condemned him because he clearly showed them that even though Jesus appeared as a man, He was the "I AM." Romans were angry with Paul because they were taught that the emperor was a god. Greeks were angry because they believed that any contact with men defiled divinity.