The Form and the Power

2 Timothy 3:1 ...in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
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The part from this passage that I frequently return to is the idea of assuming the appearance of godliness while denying its power. What is the power of godliness other than the resurection power, and are we not all guilty of denying that power in our own lives? Are we not all guilty of having faith much smaller than a mustard seed? Are we not all guilty of the litany of sins listed above? I am wary that I may be always learning, in an attempt to know and better myself, only with the effect of avoiding the truth. Jesus is the truth and everything else is just details.
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16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God [8] may be competent, equipped for every good work.
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I would love to do a word study on the word "scripture" and see what we are referring to here. It seems that the word of God in John is Jesus himself. It seems that the 'sword of the scripture' is the Old Testament and portions of the New Testament as they were canonized at the time of writing. It seems as though the early church had faith that the portions that selected to be in the biblical canon was in fact the word of God. And it seems that there are many gnostic works which claim, but are not the word of God. So what is the "scripture" in this verse? I have heard teachings on the Rameh and the Logos, but don't have time to dig back into that wonderful distinction at this moment. Maybe I'll return to it a bit later.
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4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound [9] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
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6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
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More good stuff....need more time to chew on it...