Man living at the time of the New Testament
Philetus, along with Hymenaeus, was a false teacher who had strayed from the truth and taught that the resurrection had already taken place.
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Philetus is mentioned in 2Ti.2.17 as one of two individuals, along with Hymenaeus, who had strayed from the truth and were promoting false teachings in the early Christian church. According to Paul, their message was spreading like gangrene, causing spiritual harm to those who listened to them.
The specific false teaching promoted by Philetus and Hymenaeus was that the resurrection had already taken place (2Ti.2.18). This belief contradicted the Christian doctrine of a future bodily resurrection and threatened to undermine the faith of some believers.
Paul's mention of Philetus and Hymenaeus serves as a warning to Timothy, and by extension, to all Christians, about the danger of false teachings and the importance of adhering to sound doctrine. The passage also emphasizes the need for church leaders to confront and correct those who spread false teachings, in order to protect the spiritual well-being of the church.
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Amiable, with Hymenaeus, at Ephesus, said that the “resurrection was past already” (2 Tim. 2:17, 18). This was a Gnostic heresy held by the Nicolaitanes. (See ALEXANDER [4].)
(beloved) was possibly a disciple of Hymenaeus, with whom he is associated in (2 Timothy 2:17) and who is named without him in an earlier epistle. (1 Timothy 1:20) (A.D. 68-64) Thep appear to have been persons who believed the Scripture of the Old Testament, but misinterpreted them, allegorizing away the doctrine of the resurrection and resolving it all into figure and metaphor. The delivering over unto Satan. seems to have been a form of excommunication declaring the person reduced to the state of a heathen; and in the apostolic age it was accompanied with supernatural or miraculous effects upon the bodies of the persons so delivered.
PHILE'TUS (amiable), one whom Paul associates with Hymeneus as an errorist. 2 Tim 2:17. "They appear to have been persons who believed the Scriptures of the O.T., but misinterpreted them, allegorizing away the doctrine of the resurrection, resolving it all into figure and metaphor. The delivering over unto Satan seems to have been a form of excommunication declaring the person reduced to the state of a heathen, and in the apostolic age it was accompanied with supernatural or miraculous effects upon the bodies of the persons so delivered." - Waterland: Importance of Doctrine of Holy Trinity.
PHILE'TUS (amiable), one whom Paul associates with Hymeneus as an errorist. 2 Tim 2:17. "They appear to have been persons who believed the Scriptures of the O.T., but misinterpreted them, allegorizing away the doctrine of the resurrection, resolving it all into figure and metaphor. The delivering over unto Satan seems to have been a form of excommunication declaring the person reduced to the state of a heathen, and in the apostolic age it was accompanied with supernatural or miraculous effects upon the bodies of the persons so delivered." - Waterland: Importance of Doctrine of Holy Trinity.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
1 verse in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s G5372
and the talk of such men will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.