Paul’s mention of persecutions and sufferings in the previous section leads him to add the statement that persecution is inevitable for Christians as they live in a world characterized by increasing wickedness.

Indeed (Greek kai; compare New American Bible, Revised “In fact”) connects this verse with what precedes, the implication being that Paul is not being singled out for persecution, but that every Christian who remains faithful to Christ will experience one kind of persecution or another, and that includes Timothy (compare Jerusalem Bible “You are well aware then”).

The plural all is more appropriately expressed in some languages as the equivalent of “everyone” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible), “anyone” (Contemporary English Version), “anybody” (New Jerusalem Bible). Desire translates a Greek verb that also means “to wish” or “to want.”

Godly translates an adverb that is derived from the word that is usually translated “religion” (so New American Bible, Revised “live religiously”) or “godliness.” See further on 1 Tim 2.2; 4.7, and elsewhere. For in Christ Jesus see 1 Tim 1.14. A godly life in Christ Jesus may be restructured as “a godly life in union with Christ Jesus” (Good News Translation), “a godly life as a follower of Christ Jesus” (Revised English Bible; compare New Jerusalem Bible “to live in devotion to Christ”), or “a godly life as a Christian” (Translator’s New Testament). Other ways of expressing verse 12 are “You are aware, I’m sure, that anyone who wants to live as a follower of Christ Jesus will be persecuted” or “You are well aware that people will persecute all those who want to live as followers of Christ Jesus.”

Will be persecuted translates the future passive of the verb from which persecution in the previous verse (verse 11) is derived.

The Greek text of verse 13 begins with a de that can be interpreted as marking a continuation (Good News Translation “and,” Revised Standard Version while) or a contrast (New Revised Standard Version “But”). If the former, the sense seems to be that persecution continues because evil is on the increase. If the latter, the sense is that, when good Christians are persecuted, they are assured of deliverance that comes from the Lord, but wicked people have no one to rescue them from their wickedness. This latter alternative, however, is less likely.

Evil men and impostors refers back to the false teachers; in fact it is possible to interpret the phrase as a hendiadys; hence “evil people who are impostors” (compare Contemporary English Version “evil people who pretend to be what they are not”) or simply “wicked impostors” (New Jerusalem Bible). Impostors translates a term that appears only here in the New Testament and which can be translated literally as “wizard,” “magician,” or “diviner.” In an extended sense it is also used of people who habitually use pretense in order to fool and deceive others; hence “charlatans” (Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Revised), “frauds.” This fits very well with the description of the false teachers in verse 6 of this chapter and with the reference to the Egyptian magicians in verse 8.

Will go on from bad to worse can be translated more or less literally as “will progress into what is worse.” For the idea of go on or “progress,” see 1 Tim 4.15, where the term “progress” is used positively to refer to spiritual advancement. In the present context, however, “progress” is used negatively to refer to the worsening situation of these evil people. Translators will do well to use here an appropriate term that has negative connotations. (In English, for example, “progress” is almost always used in a positive sense, unless irony is intended.) For worse see 1 Tim 5.8. In some languages the clause will go on from bad to worse may be expressed as “will become more evil all the time,” or even idiomatically; for example, “will become more heavy-handed than ever.”

Deceivers and deceived both come from the verb that means deliberately causing someone to regard as correct something that is really wrong; hence “mislead,” “delude” (Phillips). The text does not indicate who does the deceiving of these impostors; some suggest Satan, but more likely it is other people.

Alternative translation models for verse 13 are:
• and (or, while) evil people who pretend they are something but they are not will become worse and worse (or, become more evil all the time), as they deceive people and others deceive them.

Or:
• But evil people who….

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .