2 Timothy 3:8

Ἰαμβρῆς. This is the best supported orthography; but there is a Western reading Μαμβρῆς (Gc d m); Origen refers to a book entitled Iamnes et Mambres liber; see exegetical note.

8. ὂν τρόπον δὲ Ἰαννῆς καὶ Ἰαμβρῆς�. For like as Jannes and Jambres with stood Moses. Whether St Paul derived these names which he gives to the Egyptian magicians who ‘withstood Moses’ (Exodus 7:11; Exodus 7:22) from unwritten tradition or from some book now lost to us, it is impossible to say. Origen held (in Matt. § 117) that he was quoting from an apocryphal work entitled Iamnes et Mambres liber (see crit. note), which is probably the same as a book no longer extant, condemned in the Gelasian decree of 494 under the title Poenitentia Iamnae et Mambrae. The names are found in the Targum of Jonathan on Exodus 7:11. Jewish Haggadoth also described them as sons of Balaam, who either perished in the Red Sea or were killed in the tumult after the episode of the golden calf. The name Jannes meets us several times. E.g. Pliny (Hist. Nat. XXX. 1) has “Est et alia factio a Mose et Ianne et Iotape ac Iudaeis pendens, sed multis millibus annorum post Zoroastrem.” In the second century Apuleius (Apol. p. 544) in like manner mentions Moses and Jannes as Magi who lived after Zoroaster.

οὕτως καὶ οὗτοι�. So do these also withstand the truth. We can hardly lay stress on οὕτως as ascribing to the false teachers pretension to magical arts such as the Egyptian magi practised, although γόητες of 2 Timothy 3:13 might support this view. ἀνθιστάναι is used of Elymas the sorcerer in a similar context in Acts 13:8.

ἄνθρωποι κατεφθαρμένοι τὸν νοῦν, men corrupted in their mind. See on 1 Timothy 6:5. καταφθείρειν is not found elsewhere in N.T., but is a LXX. word.

ἀδόκιμοι περὶ τὴν πίστιν, reprobate concerning the faith. For the phrase περὶ τὴν πίστιν see note on 1 Timothy 1:19. ἀδόκιμος we have again in Titus 1:16; cp. Romans 1:28; 1 Corinthians 9:27; 2 Corinthians 13:5; it is a favourite word with St Paul. see on 1 Timothy 1:5.