2 Timothy 2:16

‘But shun profane babblings, for they will proceed further in ungodliness,’

All ‘profane babblings’, which includes anything that does not come from the Scriptures or the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles, are to be thrust aside. The world offers many ‘words’ and many ‘truths’, but if they do not conform to the teaching of Scripture they are to be shunned, for it is the Scriptures alone, rightly interpreted, that are able to make us ‘wise unto salvation’ (2 Timothy 3:15-16).

This is important because such profane babblings will only result in ‘more ungodliness’, in a wrong attitude and behaviour towards God and men, on behalf both of those who teach and those who listen. For ‘profane babblings’ compare 1 Timothy 6:20. It includes any religious teaching not genuinely based on Scripture and the teaching of the Apostles, the kinds of teaching which in those days poured out with great verbosity from the mouths of false teachers everywhere, and for which they were often well paid. Today we find them more in people’s writings, or on popular television, where anything is satisfactory except the truth, although now it is presented more subtly by misusing the Scriptures to suit their purpose.