Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
All Commentaries on 2 Timothy 3:5 Go To 2 Timothy 3
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
You heard just now, when that reading was read, that Simon Magus was baptized and yet did not lay aside his evil mind. He had the form of the sacrament, but the power of the sacrament he did not have. Listen to what the apostle says about the godless, “having,” he says, “the form of godliness, while refusing its power.” What is the form of godliness? The visible sacrament. What is the power of godliness? Invisible charity. .
