PHILETUS fī le’ təs, fĭ lə’ təs (Φίλητος, G5801, beloved). Named with Hymenaeus as representative teachers of false doctrine, doubtless of a Gnostic variety, which undermined the Christian faith (2 Tim 2:16-18). Paul warned Timothy to avoid such teaching, which spreads destructively “like gangrene.” Their basic doctrinal error was the claim that “the resurrection is past already.” They denied a bodily resurrection and allegorized the doctrine, turning all such teaching into figure and metaphor. They held that the resurrection took place in the lives of believers when they arose from ignorance and sin to a knowledge of God.

See also Hymenaeus.