Philautos - Lovers of Self

As believers in Christ, loyal to Jesus Christ, are there still vestiges of these qualities remaining in our lives?

Study this list from II Timothy 3:1-4 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”

Let's look at one word at a time:

• lovers of self—translates the single Greek word [philautos] a compound of the verb [phileo] (to have great affection for) and the pronoun [autos] (self).
• lovers of money – covetous, materialistic
• boastful – [alazon] a "braggart", which Plato defined as a person who claims greatness that he does not possess. Boastful persons brag about their accomplishments, overstating the truth to the degree that it has no basis in reality. Face a fact of life: It is impossible not to boast! Therefore, don't let your boasting be misguided: Psalm 20:7; I Cor. 1:31; Gal.6:14
• arrogant- [huperephanos] has the literal meaning of placing above, hence the idea of superiority. Example: The Jewish religious leaders discussed in Luke 18:9, "And He (Jesus) told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and viewed others with contempt." (see parable Luke 18:9-14)
• revilers – [blasphemos] from which we get the word blasphemous and carries the basic idea of being abusive and slanderous.
• disobedient to parents – the generic principle here is rebellion against God-appointed authority that has its roots in an early propensity to rebel against one’s first authorities. (See: II Thess.1:8; II Thess.3:14; Heb.13:17; I Thess.5:12,13; II Tim.3:10,11)
• ungrateful – Christians are characterized by thanksgiving to God through Christ.
• unholy – [anosias] gross indecency; recklessly gratifying one’s lusts and passions with no thought of the consequences.
• unloving – [astorgos] this word is a negative adjective form of the form of the verb [storge] which commonly was used of family, social and patriotic love.
• irreconcilable – those who refuse at all costs to forgive and be forgiven, and thus reestablish unity. (Herein lies the root problem for so many sad stories of church discipline.)
• malicious gossips – [diabolos] !!! PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS GREEK WORD!!! even to the person unacquainted with Greek, this word is easily connected to the severity of this evil because from this word we derive our English word: “diabolical”. Diabolos literally means ”accuser” and is use 34 times in the NT as the title for SATAN!! Those who maliciously gossip are literally doing the work of Satan!
• without self-control – describes a person who recklessly follows fleshly, worldly desires with no inhibitions or shame. He is a slave to sin.
• brutal- refers to savagery, like that of wild beasts, whose nature it is to attack enemies and tear them to pieces.
• haters of good- hating what should be loved, and loving what should be hated. Isa.5:20 declares this person’s life cursed with a "woe” from the Lord God Himself!
• treacherous – disloyal to the Lord, His Word and His people. (Matt.10:21-22)
• reckless – careless, negligent and rash.
• conceited – [tuphoo] the root meaning of this word is to be surrounded by a smoke-screen of self occupation.
• lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – “lovers of pleasure” translates the single Greek word [philedonos] a compound of [philos] (loving) and [hedone] (pleasure), from which we get our words, "hedonist" and "hedonism". This person is a pleasure-mad, hedonist.

Dear Fellow Evangelist, join me in searching your heart.  Are you convicted by the above list of sinful qualities that define the unsaved world?  I definitely am.  I need the Lord to help me to be more like Him and less like this list.  Ask the Lord to purify your heart so that together we can proclaim His righteousness to the nations from a clean heart.  Amen.