The "difficult times" will be primarily because of "difficult people" ("bad people" more than "bad times"). The coming seasons will be hard to bear and grievous because of the "difficult" people living in them as attested by a list of traits picturing mankind totally concentrated on self and in clear opposition to God. From hearts corrupted and distorted by self love flow all the other heinous sins.

Lovers of self (philautos is from phileo = have great affection for or be friend to + autos = self) means literally loving oneself, selfish, intent on one's own interests or concerned solely with one’s own desires, needs, or interests.

A close OT parallel is seen in the decadent days of the Judges when "there was no king in Israel" and the result was that when their focus was off of their true king, the Lord,

"everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Jdg 21:25-note) 

This trait appropriately heads the list since "self love" is the essence of all sin and the root from which all the other characteristics spring. The "center of gravity" of the natural man is self not Christ. We hear a lot today about how all people should love themselves no matter what their conduct is, with the hope that loving themselves will make their conduct better, but it never does. We don’t need to be encouraged to love self more but to love self less even to the point of a willingness to die to self.

Jesus was unmistakably clear on this vital point teaching that

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?" (Mk 8:34, 35, 36)

Paul echoes the words of Jesus writing that

"He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." (2Co5:15)

How tragic that many in the church are intoxicated with "love for self" rather than "death of self" turning God’s truth completely on its head. How preposterous that the source of evil (self) is now being lauded as the source of good. The fallacious false doctrine that one of the main problems that we have is that we don't think highly enough of ourselves has slithered into the church in the form of self-esteem, self-worth, self-fulfillment, positive self-image, positive thinking, etc. In the late 20th century one of the best selling secular books was blatantly titled Looking Out for Number One!.

Wayne Barber defining lovers of self adds that

phílos refers to cherished affection, an emotional type of love or relationship type of word, whereas agape is a commitment of the will. So Paul is describing a person who cherishes or is obsessed with himself. These "lovers of self" are most dangerous when they are inside the walls of the church (cf proliferation of books on "self-worth", "self-esteem", etc) Scripture to the contrary says that "that our old self was crucified with" Christ (Ro6:6-note)

Our new identity is now not found in our SELF but our identity is found in the Lord Jesus Christ and this is where our "self worth" is truly found. When we admit that we are "zero" apart from Jesus, there is something within our spirit that is set free, because it recognizes how much I depend on Him to infuse His life, character & power within us."

Quoting (Gal 2:20-note) "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…" Dr. Barber goes on to explain that "Our life is now to drawn totally from Christ's presence within us." He goes on to give an illustration of self living versus Christ living in and through us saying that "I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning and love my brother." By noon God's going to put a brother in your life you did not know existed and by 2 pm you're going to say "God I can't love this brother." And God will say "That's what I've been trying to tell you. Go back to the Cross and admit what "self" can do and then come to Me and let me love that brother through you." Christianity is not a set of rules we follow but is a Person living in us Who has moved in, taken over and set up new management. He is allowing me now to draw from Him and He is in me everything that I am not."

Barclay (critique) says that this list

is one of the most terrible pictures in the New Testament of what a godless world would be like, with the terrible qualities of godlessness set out in a ghastly series...It is no accident that the first of these qualities will be a life that is centred in self.  The adjective used is philautos, which means self-loving.  Love of self is the basic sin, from with all others flow.  The moment a man makes his own will the centre of life, divine and human relationships are destroyed, obedience to God and charity to men both become impossible.  The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement but the obliteration of self. 

MacArthur comments that

"Under sacramentalism, the church replaced God; under rationalism, reason was god; under orthodoxism, god was sterile, impersonal orthodoxy; under politicism, god was the state; under ecumenism, god was uncritical fellowship and cooperation among nominal Christians; under experientialism, god became personal experience; and under subjectivism, which still reigns in much of Christendom, self has become god."

The18th century preacher Samuel Johnson said,

“He that overvalues himself will undervalue others. And he that undervalues others will oppose them.”

Self-love alienates men from God and from each other. Self-love is the supreme enemy of godliness and of genuine friendship and fellowship with the Creator.

LOVERS OF MONEY: philarguroi: (Lk12:15; Ro1:29; Col3:5; 2Pe 2:3;14,15; Jude11, 16 Rev 18:12,13)

"Lovers of money" (philarguros is from philos = loving or friend + arguros = silver, money) describes a person who is "fond" of money, avaricious (greedy of gain = excessively acquisitive especially in seeking to hoard riches) and implies obsessive acquisitiveness especially of money. This form of covetousness naturally flows out of a selfish heart and is “a rot of all kinds of evil.”  This trait would naturally follow "self love" as it indicates the means for the gratification of self. The only other use in the NT describes the arrogant Pharisees as "lovers of money." (Lk 16:14)

Wayne Barber defines "lovers of Money" as

"prosperity seekers – they pursue and cherish money. A person working overtime to get wealthy qualifies as a lover of money. It doesn't matter if you are wealthy or not. The key is what is your motivation and how you got there. A lover of self will love money because money is what does for self what humanly speaking nothing else can do. Whereas Christianity seeks to put self on the Cross, money builds self up in the world's eyes. Application: How do you handle money? This will tell you where your heart is "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Mt6:21-note) And we can find this in the ministry – "Name it and Claim it", "Get right with God and get rich." This message works in America but try preaching it in Romania. This message is like poison which will start with the dead ones and move eventually into the living ones and paralyze the things that God is wanting to do."

A proper historical context helps understand this mention of "lovers of money", for Timothy's work lay in Ephesus, perhaps the greatest market in the ancient world. In those days trade tended to flow down river valleys and; Ephesus was at the mouth of the River Cayster commanding the trade of one of the richest hinterlands in all Asia Minor. At Ephesus some of the greatest roads in the world met including the great trade route from the Euphrates valley which came by way of Colosse and Laodicea and poured the wealth of the east into the lap of Ephesus. It is not surprising that Ephesus was called "The Treasure-house of the ancient world" the epitome of materialism and prosperity in the ancient world and thus the kind of town where a man could so easily lose his soul. And so Timothy is warned of "difficult" people who love money not God.

In this universe there is God, and there are people and things. We should worship God, love people, and use things (discriminately, wisely). But if we start worshiping ourselves, we will ignore God and start loving things and using people. And this is a sure fire formula for a miserable life, but it sadly characterizes most of America today & even many who call themselves "Christians". The worldwide craving for things is just one evidence that people’s hearts have turned away from God.

BOASTFUL: alazones: (Ps10:3; 49:6; 52:1; Is 10:15; Acts 5:36; Ro1:29, 30, 31; 11:18; 2Th2:4; Jas4:16; 2Pe2:18; Jude16)

"Boastful" (alazon) describes an arrogant individual who exaggerates or is disposed to exaggerate their own worth or importance in an overbearing manner. In his boasting he overstates the limits of truth, stressing the fact to magnify himself in his attempt to impress others. Selfish people are naturally boastful. If you want to know whether somebody loves themselves, then just listen to who they talk about.

"Boastful" refers to verbally boastful and is the characteristic of a person with a depraved mind. If you have a "sound mind" (a "healed" mind) you don't think of self in the same light as you do when you have a depraved mind. A person who is boastful is always proud of self because he thinks he deserves it. Boastful persons brag about their accomplishments, overstating the truth to the degree that it has no basis in reality. They are know-it-alls who try to deceive people into thinking they are brilliant. They love to see their names in print and their faces on television. They exaggerate their abilities, accomplishments, talents, reputations, and value to society and to the church. They are always the heroes of their own stories. Completely lacking in humility, they speak to draw attention to themselves and in their thoughts see themselves at the center of the universe. The fallen world is the source of this boastful pride (1Jn 2:16), and God stands in opposition to it (Jas 4:6). Perhaps the difference between the false teacher and the struggling Christian here is only a matter of degree or of sensitivity to the sin of selfishness as there are elements of this pernicious monster lurking in all of us.

ARROGANT: huperephanoi: (Pr 6:17; 1Ti6:4; Jas4:6; 1Pe5:5)

"Arrogant" (huperephanos from hupér = over, above, + phaíno =shine, show) literally means "to show one's self above", "to appear above."

Barclay (critique) adds

"It does not so much mean the man who is conspicuous and to whom others look up, as the man who stands on his own little self-created pedestal and looks down. The characteristic of the man who is huperephanos is that he looks down on everyone else, secure in his own arrogant self-conceit."

These men regard with contempt others whom they consider beneath them, either socially, or materially, or in natural endowments. Jesus described in a

"parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt." (Lk18:9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)

This person is proud but it is unseen. He can be praying and be arrogant and you won't know. He contrasts with the person who is boastful and who can't hide it. The arrogant person may fool you at first with humble tendencies but in the heart there is arrogance and Jehovah not only hates "haughty eyes" (Pr6:17) but is actively "opposed to the proud" (Jas4:6, 1 Pe5:5-note)

The difference between the boastful man and the one who is arrogant is that the boaster is a swaggering creature, who tries to bluster his way into power and eminence. No one can possibly mistake him. But the sin of the man who is arrogant is in his heart. He might even seem to be humble; but in his secret heart there is contempt for everyone else. He nourishes an all-consuming, all-pervading pride and in his heart there is a little altar where he bows down before himself.

REVILERS: blasphemoi: (Ps73:9 Da7:25; 11:36; 1Ti1:20; 2Pe2:12; Jude10; Rev 13:1;5;6; 16:9, 11, 21)

"Revilers" (blasphemos) describes those who rail and reproach with harsh, denigrating, demeaning insults directed against God and man alike.  These men have no fear of God because they are lovers of self. They don't want God because God threatens everything that they are. And so they use insulting, pejorative terms that put God and others down. Their inner disdain will eventually find expression in outward slander

"for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts...all these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." (Mk 7:21,23).

This sin describes those who hurl abuse at or speak abusively of others or make misrepresentations and false charges seeking to destroy the other's good name.

Barclay (critique) adds that

"the Jewish Rabbis ranked high in the list of sins what they called the sin of insult . The insult which comes from anger is bad but it is forgivable, for it is launched in the heat of the moment; but the cold insult which comes from arrogant pride is an ugly and an unforgivable thing."

DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS: goneusin apeitheis: (Pr 30:17, Mt15:6; Mk7:11,12; Ro1:30)

"Disobedient" (apeithes) literally means one who continually refuses to be persuaded (unpersuadable) and therefore continually refuses to obey.  They refuse to be  compliant or submissive.  An infrequently used word that accurately described these individuals is contumacious or stubbornly disobedient. Those who will rebel against their parents will have no qualms about rebelling against anyone else.

Wayne Barber comments that disobedience to parents is

"a "symptom" not the source. If a person is disobedient to parents follow this up the chain and you will find him disobedient to anyone who is in authority over him. Greeks had a severe penalty if a child was disobedient to parents and Roman law called it "murder" to strike a parent. In Jewish law a rebellious child was stoned! If they rebel against parents, they are in essence rebelling against God. PRINCIPLE: This symptom flows from a NON-SUBMISSIVE ATTITUDE and it begins with the attitude toward the parents and the more he grows the broader this disobedience becomes. This trait is the mark of a person who has the gangrene of ungodliness in their life and they are poison. Get away from them. When you get these folks in the church and they will not submit…look out! How are you going to lead and pastor these individuals? This person will submit to no one. The living will suffer because of their gangrene unless they get away from them."

Barclay adds that

"the ancient world set duty to parents very high. The oldest Greek laws disfranchised the man who struck his parents; to strike a father was in Roman law as bad as murder; in the Jewish law honor for father and mother comes high in the list of the Ten Commandments. It is the sign of a supremely decadent civilization when youth loses all respect for age and fails to recognize the unpayable debt and the basic duty it owes to those who gave it life."

In Paul and Timothy’s day this sin set one off as fundamentally rebellious at heart, for the attitude toward parents was understood as a reflection of a deeper attitude toward God (Ex 20:12). They set themselves above the feelings of others and the authority of their parents — not only is this extremely selfish, but it is also destructive behavior. Have you observed these attitudes in the church?

UNGRATEFUL: acharistoi:

Ungrateful (acharistos from a = without + charízomai =, to show favor or kindness) describes men who are utterly destitute of any gratitude toward God or others. They refuse to recognize the debt they owe both to God and to men. The strange characteristic of ingratitude is that it is the most hurting of all sins because it is the blindest. Lear's words remain true: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" The very opposite attitude is seen in the Spirit controlled man (Ep 5:18-note, Ep 5:20-note)

"always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father."

Wayne Barber comments on grateful versus ungrateful noting that the root word for acharistos

is "grace" (charis). How can I give "grace" to God? The only ones who can be truly grateful are those who have experienced the grace of God and once you have experienced it, you are so awed and filled with it that you want to give it back to Him (cp 2Ti1:2-note "I thank God" literally = I have grace to God). The person described here by Paul is UNGRATEFUL, never willing bow down and submit to the Lord Jesus. If they had been they would have received God's grace and been grateful. You don't have grateful people who are ungodly. Ungrateful people refuse God's grace - this is not that they couldn't (receive grace) but that they wouldn't! It's rebellion – they refuse to bow down in the presence of God. This person may buy the "cheapest fire insurance policy" they can and be willing to cry a few tears so that they can "get into heaven" but they are not willing to bow down to Jesus Christ...You can join the church and miss Jesus a mile." Ungrateful people are gangrene and poison.

MacArthur has an interesting comment

"The person who elevates self above all others will feel he deserves everything good he receives and therefore feels no need of gratitude for it. Although he may not put it into words, the ungrateful person despises the very idea of grace, which denotes goodness received that is undeserved. This is a particularly noxious sin to God, whose wrath is revealed against sinners for being unthankful" (Ro1:21).

UNHOLY: anosioi:

Unholy (anosios) from a = without + hósios = consecrated, hallowed, holy, righteous, unpolluted with wickedness) pertains to that that which is in opposition to God or what is sacred. It means ungodly and without regard of duty toward God or toward man and carries the idea not so much of irreligion as of gross indecency.  In other words this man not only breaks the laws of God and society, but even breaks the unwritten laws of common decency. To the Greek it was anosios to refuse to bury a corpse. It was anosios for a brother to commit incest by marrying a sister or a son a mother. The man who is anosios offends the fundamental decencies of life. The unholy person is driven by self-love to gratify his lusts and passions of whatever sort, as fully as possible with no thought to propriety, decency, or personal reputation.

Barclay has this note on anosios: