II Timothy 3, The Last Days

Paul has described the consistency of the pastor rooted in Scripture and truth.  Now he turns towards a longterm view of his work and the age to come.

2 Timothy 3: 1-9, The people of the last days

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power. 

Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

Paul sees the last days as stretching from the ascension of Jesus on to the return of the Messiah.  Paul warns of people who pretend to be godly but have no real spiritual depth.  Shallow but attractive, Paul warns Timothy away from people like them.  He lists two examples from the days of Moses and has listed others from his own life elsewhere in this letter.  It would be tempting to try and list similar people today, but that is an easy game and misses the point.

2 Timothy 3: 10-13, Persecution and growth

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,  persecutions, sufferings--what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Spiritual depth includes persecution of some type. Paul has many many examples from his own life and alerts Timothy.

2 Timothy 3: 14-17, But you will continue and grow
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,  and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Scriptures of which Paul speaks here is the Old Testament.  He has committed himself to studying those scriptures and is convinced that they are "God-breathed" -- a valuable message from God sent to guide and train Jesus-follower.