Paul is about to bring the letter to its close. One more time he exhorts Timothy: These are the things you are to teach and urge on them. But before he concludes, the exhortation to teach and urge these things leads Paul to go back over the two dominant concerns one more time: the false teachers and Timothy’s role.

In this section he presents the final exposure and indictment of the false teachers. Much that is said in the first paragraph (vv. 3–5) is reminiscent of the language of chapter 1. But much is new as well. Here the picture is filled out in greater detail. These teachers, who are the reason for everything—Timothy’s presence in Ephesus, this letter, the “falling away” by some in the church—turn out to be conceited, having a sickly craving for arguments. And all of this, it turns …