Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Timothy 2:16-17

"But shun profane babblings: for they will proceed further in ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a gangrene: or whom is Hymenaeus an Philetus;" — 2 Timothy 2:16-17 (ASV)

But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker:

Now, there are some people who can never be content unless they make their religion a sort of wrangling match. They get a hold of a word in Scripture, and away they go with it. Here will be another opportunity for finding fault with all the church of God; here will be another occasion for railing against all the preachers of the truth. How delighted they are when they can do this! Shun profane and vain babblings.

Martin Luther said that there were some in his day so exacting and precise about the letter of Scripture. He related that when one of them had delivered an exposition on the Book of Job, Luther commented that by the time the man had reached the tenth chapter, Job had been a thousand times more plagued by the expositors than he had ever been by the losses he suffered on the dunghill.

Undoubtedly, many truths of Scripture are turned to mischief because people will forever be making them opportunities for strife, and not bonds of love.

Fellow believers, hold the five points of Calvinistic doctrine, but be careful not to hold them as babbling questions. Do not learn what you have received from God in order to fight with it, to create contention and strife, to divide the church of God, or to rail against the people of the Most High, as some do.

Instead, love one another as fellow believers, hold the truth in love, and seek the unity of the Spirit and the perfect bond of charity. The word of those who raise these questions will eat like a cancer, which eats until it reaches the bones and turns sound flesh into rottenness. Oh, many contentions have done this mischief in the church of Christ!