2 Timothy 2:17

‘And their word will eat as does a gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus,’

But their ‘word’, in contrast with ‘the word of truth’ (2 Timothy 2:15), which feeds the soul (James 1:21; 1 Peter 2:2; Hebrews 5:12-14), will be like a gangrene, eating into and destroying those who are affected by it. And in order that Timothy might be sure whom he particularly has in mind, he mentions two of the false teachers by name, Hymenaeus and Philetus. For Hymenaeus compare 1 Timothy 1:20.