2 Timothy 3:5

ἔχοντες (see note on 1 Timothy 1:19) μόρφωσιν, κ. τ. λ.: Habentes speciem quidem pietatis. We have an exact parallel in Titus 1:16, θεὸν ὁμολογοῦσιν εἰδέναι, τοῖς δὲ ἔργοις ἀρνοῦνται. They were professing Christians, but nothing more; genuine Christians must also be professing Christians. This consideration removes any difficulty that may be felt by a comparison of this passage with Romans 2:20, where it is implied that it is a point in the Jew's favour that he has τὴν μόρφωσιν τῆς γνώσεως καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐν τῷ νόμῳ. The μόρφωσις, embodiment, is external in both cases, but not unreal as far as it goes. The ineffectiveness of it arises from the coexistence in the mind of him who “holds” it of some other quality that neutralises the advantage naturally derivable from the possession of the μόρφωσις in question. In this case, it was that they of whom St. Paul is speaking had a purely theoretical, academic apprehension of practical Christianity (εὐσέβεια, see 1 Timothy 2:2), but a positive disbelief in the Gospel as a regenerating force. Compare what St. John says of the rulers who believed on Jesus but did not confess Him (John 12:42-43). They too were φιλήδονοι μᾶλλον ἢ φιλόθεοι. In Romans the case is similar: the possession of an admirable moral code did not make the Jew's moral practice better than that of the Gentile (see Sanday and Headlam on Romans 2:20). There is therefore no necessity to suppose with Lightfoot that “the termination - ωσις denotes the aiming after or affecting the μορφή ” (Journal of Class. and Sacr. Philol. (1857), iii. 115).

δύναμιν : the opposition between μόρφωσις and δύναμις here is the same as that between δύναμις and σοφία in 1 Corinthians 2:5, or λόγος, 1 Corinthians 4:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; see also Hebrews 7:16.

ἠρνημένοι : To deny a thing or a person involves always more than an act of the mind; it means carrying the negation into practice. See on 1 Timothy 5:8.

καί : perhaps refers back to 2 Timothy 2:22-23.