From 2 Timothy 3:
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,
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
The part I'm wondering about is in bold. What exactly does everyone think that means?
You are wondering about the following:
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;
Allow me to answer you by giving you a couple of scriptures. And the question which I am going to issue before I give the scriptures is this: How was the gospel preached?
1
Mat 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Luk 4:32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was
with power.
2
Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mar 16:17
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Luk 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until
ye be endued with power from on high.
3
Luk 9:6 And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel,
and healing every where.
4
Act 4:33 And
with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
Act 14:7 And there they preached the gospel.
Act 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked:
Act 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him,
and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
Act 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
5
Rom 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God
with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
The answer is quite simple and obvious:
1 Wherever Jesus went and preached the Gospel... He did it with power (miracles)
2 In the great commission it states that when we preach the gospel - miracles must follow as signs to faith for the unbelievers.
3 In the training of the disciples... they preached the gospel with power (miracles)
4 In their ministery the disciples still preached the gospel with power. (miracles)
5 Even Paul, who only joined the ranks afterwards preached the Gospel with power
Now your query again...
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;
We serve the same Master, abide (hopefully) by the same commands. It is our duty to fulfill the obligation of preaching gospel with power.
So wherever we preach the gospel, evidence of God must be given. Kind of like His fingerprint.
This doesn't have to be Healing necessarily...here is an example of something that wasn't healing...
Act 8:39 And when they were come up out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
But everywhere the gospel was preached, miracles followed. This is what it means. A lot of people try to preach the gospel, but they don't add God's fingerprint as it where. They tell off Jesus, but don't show it. They preach God heals, but then don't heal anyone. They preach God knows all things, but don't prophecy. Whenever one preach the Gospel, the power of God must go with it.
To explain why... say for example You just heard the gospel for the very first time. All your life, your one leg has been shorter than the other one. As the preacher explains the Gospel upon which you accept what he says, as you come to faith, he walks towards you, touch your legs, and you literally see your one leg grow to the length of the other one. Now just there and then, One your faith is made absolute. Your doubt which you might have had is completely gone. In fact, you might even be eager to go out and preach the gospel yourself just to see God in action again. That is normal for all people.
The other day, we were sitting in a group and talking to a couple of youngsters. One of the youngsters said his arm was in pain. I saw he had enough faith to be curious and God told me to heal him, so I called him closer, put his two arms together and the young man could clearly see his one arm growing and shrinking to its correct position and afterward the pain was gone. Now that experience nobody can take away from that young man. I mean he can forget me, I don't care. But he will remember that God healed him and how he healed him. He will not ever again doubt the existence of God. Questions he will still have, as being a young man... true. But never will he doubt again in God. For he saw with his own eyes and experienced with his own body. And nobody, not even I, can ever take that away from him.
And that is how the gospel must be preached. With power. There are those that deny it and hold themselves to some form of godliness. But they deny the power of the Gospel of Christ and as such deny that God puts His fingerprint on His gospel.
