I received the following question:
The mention of Jannes and Jambres by Paul in 2 Tim. 3:8-9 is the only Biblical reference to these two by name. Jewish legend says that Jannes and Jambres were the two magicians who were trying to counter the miracles of the ten plagues.
Origen says that there is a book called “The Book of Jannes and Jambres”. This book has not been found.
As we know their magic was always shown up by the greater miracles of God. But it should be noted that these two men were performing what many consider super-natural acts. No one today can recreate their magic.
This informs how we are to understand what Paul is saying in 2 Tim.
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.
9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
So in the resulting days there will be people who oppose God (as always), but the folly of their opposition will be exposed. But it appears that something more than a political stance is being viewed here. Jannes and Jambres’ exposed folly was the black magic they were working. What was exposed was that God’s miracles were more powerful than their Satan powered magic. So is Paul saying that in the resulting days Satan’s restrain in the area of black magic will be reduced? And that this black magic will ultimately be shown to be not as powerful as the power of God? Hard to tell exactly, but it does seem to suggest it.
It says clearly in the passage how these men are like Jannes and Jambres. In the translation you offer: Read the rest of this entry »