With this paragraph Paul shifts his focus from Timothy to the false teachers themselves and sets them against the backdrop of the eschatological urgency that runs throughout the letter. The only personal word to Timothy is the reiterated imperative in verse 5—that he should have nothing to do with such people—which functions to tie the two parts of the paragraph (vv. 1–5, 6–9) together.

Timothy is again reminded (cf. 1 Tim. 4:1) that the presence of the false teachers should come as no surprise; they belong to the theme of eschatological fulfillment, begun with the coming of Christ. But in this case Paul does an interesting turn. By including a typical vice list (vv. 2–5), he ties together the defections of the false teachers with the general increase in evil seen all about them as eviden…