Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Timothy 3:15
And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
15. from a child ] Lit. from a babe; the word occurs four times in St Luke’s ‘Gospel of the Infancy,’ ch. 1 and 2, and again Luk 18:15; Act 7:19.
thou hast known ] Lit. ‘thou knowest,’ the perfect having this present force, and the Greek idiom in a phrase like this using the present where we use the perfect definite. The meaning is that there has been a continued knowledge present always ‘from a babe’ and present now. So in Joh 15:27, ‘ye are, i.e. have been, with me from the beginning,’ cf. Winer, iii. 40.
the holy scriptures ] Lit. ‘the sacred writings’ of the Old Testament. It was a requirement of the Rabbis that a child should begin to learn the Law by heart when five years old. ‘Raf said to Samuel, the son of Schilath, a teacher, “Do not take the boy to be taught before he is six years old, but from that year receive him, and train him as you do the ox, which, day by day, bears a heavier load.” Philo, a contemporary of our Lord, says, “They are taught, so to speak, from their very swaddling clothes by their parents, masters and teachers, in the holy laws, and in the unwritten customs, and to believe in God, the one Father and Creator of the world,” ( Legal. ad Caium, 16). At the age of thirteen he became a “son of the Law,” and was bound to practise all its moral and ritual requirements.’ Geikie, Life of Christ, i. 173.
The original word for ‘scriptures’ is used of Moses’ writings Joh 5:47, where Westcott well points out that it ‘appears to mark the specific form rather than the general scope of the record’ which is denoted by the word used in 2Ti 3:16.
which are able ] Present participle, in harmony with the present sense of ‘thou hast known,’ and marking the abiding continuous power of the Holy Scripture.
to make thee wise ] The verb occurs here only in N.T.; its participle in 2Pe 1:16, ‘cunningly devised’; the tense is aorist according to the proper use of the aorist, to give the idea of the verb in its most general form, ‘the scriptures have this capacity of making wise.’
through faith which is in Christ Jesus ] See note on 1Ti 3:13; the clause belongs to the verb ‘make wise,’ not to the noun ‘salvation.’ The doctrine and scheme of Christianity is required to illuminate the precept and history of the Old Testament. ‘In vetere Testamento latet novum, in novo vetus patet.’ Ellicott quotes Hooker, Eccl. Pol. i. 14. ‘The Old did make wise by teaching Salvation through Christ that should come, the New by teaching that Christ the Saviour is come.’ Cf. also Art. vii. in the English Prayer Book, ‘The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures – That is, the Old Testament; for the New Testament was not then written; see the notes at Joh 5:39. The mother of Timothy was a pious Hebrewess, and regarded it as one of the duties of her religion to train her son in the careful knowledge of the word of God. This was regarded by the Hebrews as an important duty of religion, and there is reason to believe that it was commonly faithfully performed. The Jewish writings abound with lessons on this subject. Rabbi Judah says, The boy of five years of age ought to apply to the study of the sacred Scriptures. Rabbi Solomon, on Deu 11:19, says, When the boy begins to talk, his father ought to converse with him in the sacred language, and to teach him the law; if he does not do that, he seems to bury him. See numerous instances referred to in Wetstein, in loc. The expression used by Paul – from a child ( apo brephous) – does not make it certain at precisely what age Timothy was first instructed in the Scriptures, though it would denote an early age. The word used – brephos – denotes:
(1)A babe unborn, Luk 1:41, Luk 1:44;
(2)An infant, babe, suckling.
In the New Testament, it is rendered babe and babes, Luk 1:41, Luk 1:44; Luk 2:12, Luk 2:16; 1Pe 2:2; infants, Luk 8:15; and young children, Act 7:19. It does not elsewhere occur, and its current use would make it probable that Timothy had been taught the Scriptures as soon as he was capable of learning anything. Dr. Doddridge correctly renders it here from infancy. It may be remarked then,
(1) That it is proper to teach the Bible to children at as early a period of life as possible.
(2) That there is reason to hope that such instruction will not be forgotten, but will have a salutary influence on their future lives. The piety of Timothy is traced by the apostle to the fact that he had been early taught to read the Scriptures, and a great proportion of those who are in the church have been early made acquainted with the Bible.
(3) It is proper to teach the Old Testament to children – since this was all that Timothy had, and this was made the means of his salvation.
(4) We may see the utility of Sunday schools. The great, and almost the sole object of such schools is to teach the Bible, and from the view which Paul had of the advantage to Timothy of having been early made acquainted with the Bible, there can be no doubt that if Sunday-schools had then been in existence, he would have been their hearty patron and friend.
Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation – So to instruct you in the way of salvation, that you may find the path to life. Hence, learn:
(1) That the plan of salvation may be learned from the Old Testament. It is not as clearly revealed there as it is in the New, but it is there; and if a man had only the Old Testament, he might find the way to be saved. The Jew, then, has no excuse if he is not saved.
(2) The Scriptures have power. They are able to make one wise to salvation. They are not a cold, tame, dead thing. There is no book that has so much power as the Bible; none that is so efficient in moving the hearts, and consciences, and intellects of mankind. There is no book that has moved so many minds; none that has produced so deep and permanent effects on the world.
(3) To find the way of salvation, is the best kind of wisdom; and none are wise who do not make that the great object of life.
Through faith which is in Christ Jesus; – see the Mar 16:16 note; Rom 1:17 note. Paul knew of no salvation, except through the Lord Jesus. He says, therefore, that the study of the Scriptures, valuable as they were, would not save the soul unless there was faith in the Redeemer; and it is implied, also, that the proper effect of a careful study of the Old Testament, would be to lead one to put his trust in the Messiah.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures] The early religious education of Timothy has been already sufficiently noticed; see 2Ti 1:5, and the preface to the first epistle. St. Paul introduces this circumstance again here for the confirmation of Timothy’s faith. He had learned the doctrines of Christianity from a genuine apostle; and, as Christianity is founded on the law and the prophets, Timothy was able to compare its doctrines with all that had been typified and predicted, and consequently was assured that the Christian religion was true.
Able to make thee wise unto salvation] The apostle is here evidently speaking of the Jewish Scriptures; and he tells us that they are able to make us wise unto salvation provided we have faith in Jesus Christ. This is the simple use of the Old Testament. No soul of man can be made wise unto salvation by it, but as he refers all to Christ Jesus. The Jews are unsaved though they know these Scriptures, because they believe not in Christ; for Christ is the end of the law for the justification of all that believe.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And that from a child; from thy infancy, by the instruction of thy mother Eunice, and thy grandmother Lois, 2Ti 1:5.
Thou hast known the Holy Scriptures; thou hast had a notion of the writings of Moses and the prophets, the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, for at this time no others were written.
Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation; which Holy Scriptures (without the help of the writings of Plato or Pythagoras, or any other pagan philosophers) have in them a sufficiency of doctrine to make thee, or any other, wise enough to get to heaven.
Through faith which is in Christ Jesus; but not without a faith in Christ Jesus, receiving him as thy and their Saviour, besides a faith assenting and agreeing to those holy writings as the revelation of the Divine will.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. from a childliterally,”from an infant.” The tender age of the first dawn ofreason is that wherein the most lasting impressions of faith may bemade.
holy scripturesThe OldTestament taught by his Jewish mother. An undesignedcoincidence with 2Ti 1:5; Act 16:1-3.
ablein themselves:though through men’s own fault they often do not in fact makemen savingly alive.
wise unto salvationthatis, wise unto the attainment of salvation. Contrast “folly”(2Ti 3:9). Wise also inextending it to others.
through faithas theinstrument of this wisdom. Each knows divine thingsonly as far as his own experience in himself extends. He whohas not faith, has not wisdom or salvation.
which is inthat is,rests on Christ Jesus.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures,…. And therefore must know that the doctrines he had learned were agreeable to them; and so is another reason why he should continue in them. The Jews very early learned their children the holy Scripture. Philo the Jew says w, “from their very infancy”; a phrase pretty much the same with this here used. It is a maxim with the Jews x, that when a child was five years of age, it was proper to teach him the Scriptures. Timothy’s mother being a Jewess, trained him up early in the knowledge of these writings, with which he became very conversant, and under divine influence and assistance, arrived to a large understanding of them; and it is a practice that highly becomes Christian parents; it is one part of the nurture and admonition of the Lord they should bring up their children in: the wise man’s advice in
Pr 22:6 is very good. From hence the apostle takes occasion to enter into a commendation of the sacred writings; and here, from the nature and character of them, calls them the
holy Scriptures; to distinguish them from profane writings; and that because the author of them is the Holy Spirit of God; and even the amanuenses of him, and the penmen of them, were holy men of God; the matter of them is holy, both law and Gospel; and the end of writing them is to promote holiness; the precepts, promises, and doctrines contained in them are calculated for that purpose; and even the account they give of the sins and failings of others, are for the admonition of men: and next these Scriptures are commended from the efficacy of them:
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Men are not wise of themselves; they are naturally without an understanding of spiritual things; and the things of the Spirit of God cannot be known by natural men, because they are spiritually discerned; particularly they are not wise in the business of salvation, of which either they are insensible themselves, and negligent; or foolishly build their hopes of it upon their civility, morality, legal righteousness, or an outward profession of religion: but the Scriptures are able to make men wise and knowing in this respect; for the Gospel is one part of the Scriptures, which is the Gospel of salvation, and shows unto men the way of salvation. The Scriptures testify largely of Christ, the Saviour; and give an ample account both of him, who is the able, willing, suitable, complete, and only Saviour, and of the salvation which is wrought by him; and describe the persons who do, and shall enjoy it: not that the bare reading of the Scriptures, or the hearing of them expounded, are able to make men wise in this way; but these, when accompanied with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, are; when he who endited the Scriptures removes the veil from their eyes, opens their understandings, and gives them light and knowledge in them: and then may persons be said to be wise unto salvation, when they not only have a scheme of it in their heads, but are in their hearts sensible of their need of it, and know that there is salvation in no other but in Christ; and when they look to him for it, to his righteousness for justification, to his blood for peace, pardon, and cleansing, to his sacrifice for atonement, and to his fulness of grace for a continual supply, and to him for eternal life and glory; when they rejoice in him and his salvation, and give him all the glory of it: the apostle adds,
through faith which is in Christ Jesus: wisdom to salvation lies not in the knowledge of the law the Jew boasted of; nor in the works of it, at least not in a trust and confidence in them for salvation; for by them there is no justification before God, nor acceptance with him, nor salvation: but true wisdom to salvation lies in faith, which is a spiritual knowledge of Christ, and a holy confidence in him; and that salvation which the Scriptures make men wise unto, is received and enjoyed through that faith, which has Christ for its author and object; which comes from him, and centres in him, and is a looking to him for eternal life.
w De Legat. ad Caium, p. 1022. x Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
From a babe ( ). Only here in the Pastorals. This teaching from the fifth year, covering the whole of Timothy’s recollections. See Mr 9:21 , from a child.
Thou has known (). Present active indicative, progressive perfect reaching from a babe till now. Would that Christian parents took like pains today.
The sacred writings ( ). “Sacred writings” or “Holy Scriptures.” Here alone in N.T., though in Josephus (Proem to Ant. 3; Apion 1, etc.) and in Philo. The adjective occurs in 1Co 9:13 of the temple worship, and in contrast to in 2Cor 3:6; Rom 2:29 and in Joh 5:47 of Moses’ writings, in Ac 28:21 of an epistle, in Ga 6:11 of letters (characters). In Ephesus there were that were (Ac 19:19), not .
To make thee wise ( ). First aorist active infinitive of , old verb (from ), in N.T. only here, and 2Pe 1:16.
Which is in ( ). Common idiom with the article, “the in.” The use of the Scriptures was not magic, but of value when used “through faith that is in Christ Jesus.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
From a child [ ] . Mostly in Luke. o P. Only here in Pastorals. See on 1Pe 2:2. Comp. Mr 9:21, ejk paidioqen from a child.
The holy Scriptures [ ] . Note particularly the absence of the article. Grammata is used in N. T. in several senses. Of characters of the alphabet (2Co 3:7; Gal 6:11) : of a document (Luk 16:6, take thy bill) : of epistles (Act 28:21) : of the writings of an author collectively (Jas 5:4 7) : of learning (Act 26:24, polla grammatra much learning). In LXX, ejpistamenov grammata knowing how to read (Isa 29:11, 12). The Holy Scriptures are nowhere called iJera grammata in N. T. In LXX, grammata is never used of sacred writings of any kind. Both Josephus and Philo use ta iJera grammata for the O. T. Scriptures. 142 The words here should be rendered sacred learning. The books in the writer’s mind were no doubt the Old Testament. Scriptures, in which Timothy, like every Jewish boy, had been instructed; but he does not mean to designate those books as iJera grammata. He means the learning acquired from Scripture by the rabbinic methods, according to which the Old Testament books were carefully searched for meanings hidden in each word and letter, and especially for messianic intimations. Specimens of such learning may be seen here and there in the writings of Paul as 1Co 9:9 f.; 1Co 10:1 f.; Gal 3:16f.; Gal 4:21 f. In Act 4:13, the council, having heard Peter’s speech, in which he interpreted Psa 118:22 and Isa 28:16 of Christ, at once perceived that Peter and John were ajgrammatoi, not versed in the methods of the schools. Before Agrippa, Paul drew thc doctline of the Resurrection from the Old Testament, whereupon Festus exclaimed, “much learning (polla grammata, thy acquaintanee with the exegesis of the schools) hath made thee made (Act 26:24). To Agrippa, who was” expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews “(Act 26:3), the address of Paul, a pulpil of Hillel, was not surprising, although he declared that Paul ‘s reasoning did not appeal to him. In Joh 7:15, when Jesus taught in the temple, the. Jews wondered and said : the;” How knoweth this man letters? ” That a. Jew should know the Scriptures was not strange The wonder lay in the exegetical skill of one who had not been trained by the literary methods of the time.
To make thee wise [ ] . Only hero and 2Pe 1:16;. See note there on cunningly devised. To give thee understanding of that which lies behind the letter; to enable thee to detect in the Old Testaments. books various hidden allusions to Christ; to draw from the Old Testaments the mystery of messianic salvation, and to interpret the Old Testaments with Christ as the key. This gives significance to the following words through faith which is in Christ, Jesus. Jesus Christ was the key of Scripture, and through faith in him Shripture became a power unto salvation. The false teachers also had their learning but used it in expounding Jewish fables, genealogies, etc. Hence, their expositions, instead of making wise unto salvation, were vain babblings; profane and old wives ‘ fables (1Ti 4:7; 2Ti 2:16). Const. through faith, etc., with make wise, not with salvation.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And that from a child” (kai hoti apo brephous) “And that from a babe in truth,” as commanded in the Law of Moses, Deu 6:6-7; Pro 22:6; Eph 6:4.
2) “Thou hast known the holy scriptures” (hiera grammata oidas) “Sacred letters thou doest perceive,” the Holy Scriptures, Joh 5:39. A trustworthy standard of right and wrong, unbreakable, Joh 10:35.
3) “Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation” (ta dunamena se sophisai eis soterian) “The ones (scriptures) being able to make thee wise with reference to salvation;” Pro 1:22-23; 1Pe 1:8-11; Rom 1:16.
4) “Through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (dia pisteos tes en Christo lesou) “Through faith (placed) in Christ Jesus,” Joh 1:11-12; Act 16:31; Eph 2:8-9; Gal 3:26.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15 And that from (thy) childhood This was also no ordinary addition, that he had been accustomed, from his infancy, to the reading of the Scripture; for this long habit may make a man much more strongly fortified against every kind of deception. It was therefore a judicious caution observed in ancient times, that those who were intended for the ministry of the word should be instructed, from their infancy, in the solid doctrine of godliness, that, when they came to the performance of their office, they might not be untried apprentices. And it ought to be reckoned a remarkable instance of the kindness of God, if any person, from his earliest years, has thus acquired a knowledge of the Scriptures.
Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation It is a very high commendation of the Holy Scriptures, that we must not seek anywhere else the wisdom which is sufficient for salvation; as the next verse also expresses more fully. But he states, at the same time, what we ought to seek in the Scripture; for the false prophets also make use of it as a pretext; and therefore, in order that it may be useful to us for salvation, it is necessary to understand the right use of it.
Through faith, which is in Christ Jesus What if any one give his whole attention to curious questions? What if he adhere to the mere letter of the law, and do not seek Christ? What if he pervert the natural meaning by inventions that are foreign to it? For this reason he directs us to the faith of Christ as the design, and therefore as the sum, of the Scriptures; for on faith depends also what immediately follows.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES
2Ti 3:15.
TIMOTHY was a child of peerless future. He was not born unto money, to tread the earth with the air of one who feels his superiority over his superiors because his father was rich. So far as we know, he was not nobly born in the sense that his parents were among the titled, or even of the most honorable of names. He had not whereof to boast as Paul did, that he was from pure stock, of an honored tribe, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, for we read that he was the child of one of those mixed marriages against which God had spoken and the strictest Jews always protested, and do, until this day.
Timothys father was a Greek, while his mother was a Jewess; and, from what we know of her instruction as a mother, she seems to have kept her faith and to have been zealous in her attention to the Holy Scriptures.
Such a mother is the rarest bit of good fortune that ever blessed the youthful years of any mans life. Better a humble home, an obscure name, scant comforts, with pious parents, than a mansion, full coffers, great titles, profusion of luxuries, without them.
But not every boy, bred under the tender hand of a good mother, receives from her life as much as Timothy brought from the home where Eunice was queen. There are many tender, loving, solicitous mothers who neglect the Scriptures themselves partially or wholly, and send out their children into the tempestuous sea of life, at last, without the infallible compass, the invaluable chart of Gods Word hid in their hearts. Such children enjoy not the better fortune they should have brought from the dear old home, and such run greater risks of eventual and eternal shipwreck than any father or mother ought to be willing to impose upon the precious, priceless souls of the same.
It ought to be remembered also that the father and mother of this age have a better Bible from which to teach their little ones than Eunice ever enjoyed. The Holy Scriptures in which Timothy was learned, were the Old Testament only. To be sure, it was Gods Word, as certainly inspired as the New, if Paul is authority, or Jesus may be believed. But while its truth was great enough to make a man wise unto salvation and lead him to Christ, it was related to the finished Bible as the dawn is to the hour of noon.
The mother of this day has a perfect Bible in which to instruct her own and by which to guide them, while Timothys mother had a truthful yet an unfinished, an incomplete one. That fact must be considered in the application of our text to the people and the time in which we live.
But these thoughts lead us to specific lessons which this text would teach.
First, this text suggests to parents
A GRAVE AND GREAT RESPONSIBILITY
Youth is the time of all times in which to begin the study of Gods Word, and parents are the teachers of all teachers who must inspire the little ones to read the Scriptures and stimulate them to something like earnest study of the same.
The father and mothermost often the mother determine not only what shall engage the hands of the children, but also what will occupy their minds and fill their hearts in the first few years of life. The clay in the potters hand is scarce more subject to his will and plastic for his work than tender youth is capable of impressions from a mothers thought and life. If the potter is careful to put into the senseless clay the ingredients that will make it valuable when it is fired, and fixed in hardness at last, how much more solicitous the parent should be to introduce into young peoples lives those things that tend to develop stable character. Search the world as you please. Descend into the depths; ascend into the heavens; take the wings of the morning and search the sea and land, and in them all you will find no other such an ingredient for formative character, as the Holy Scriptures. That parent, then, who allows his own to grow up to young manhood and womanhood without a knowledge of the Word is not, cannot be guiltless in the sight of the Lord.
The estimate that children set on the Scriptures is determined largely by the emphasis that the parents have laid on the necessity of knowing them. No wonder that Timothy knew them. They were the daily meat and drink of his devout mothers soul. Timothy would not have been surprised to have gone into the house and found the Bible on his mothers knee.
The times upon which we have fallen know more about the Word than they do of the Word. There are not a few teachers now that talk of it and teach about it, instead of talking from it and instructing people out of it; and there are not a few homes where the eight dollar Book has been a centerpiece for many summers, to be dusted once a week, and read only when religious company appeared.
Let no one think that these things are unobserved by the children. A Christian father was telling me a few days since, how, when he asked the blessing on the food which some friends were about to enjoy with him, his little four-year-old looked from his plate as he finished and remarked, Papa prays longer when company comes.
They make note of our actions, and they decide with accuracy what interest the parents take in the Word by the emphasis they see laid on its study.
Dr. Kerr B. Tupper once wrote to our Baptist Young Peoples Union relating the tradition of the siege of Troy of three thousand years ago, when the conquering Greeks permitted the subjugated inhabitants to save each one that single article of property that was most dear to him. neas, hearing this proclamation, took his household gods and bore them away with triumphant joy. Tupper says, Were that tradition to repeat itself in history today and the privilege be granted every genuine believer to save one thing most highly prized by him, both because of its intrinsic value and its immortal influence, the truest wisdom would dictate a peculiar choicenot gold, nor silver, nor civic honor, nor military fame, nor matchless eloquence, nor profound learning, but a certain little Booka Book ancient and artless, elevating and ennobling, durable and Divine, even the infallible Word of God.
Tupper was right! But isnt there a better thing to do with the Bible than to preserve it? We need feel no solicitude about its loss. It cant be destroyed. Fire and water and the elements of earth and air have all been employed in the effort to stamp it out of the world, but the history of that attempt is the record of ignominious failure.
What we need to do is not to preserve it, but to use it; to thumb its pages until they are stained and worn, but their lessons are learned for self and taught to others. At present that is the way for you to treat Gods Word. If Eunices Bible had been preserved as new after twenty years, Timothy had gone out from that home at last as ignorant of its precious and eternal truths as many a son of today is because his father has left it untouched and his mother has only dusted its lids with a superstitious care.
It is doubtful if parents can ever find a better stimulus to their childrens study of the Bible than that of example. Every tiny boy wants to do what he sees his big father about. Every little girl delights to attempt her mothers method of work or play. This inborn disposition to imitate is one of the potent factors of education which our wise Creator has nicely arranged. Parents cant afford to refuse or fail to recognize this fact and turn it to profitable account. Under its inspiration, children can be had to do many things that they refuse to commence in later years. It is that faculty that urges the small boy to cut wood, carry coal, milk the cows, harness the horses and do a hundred things that a man does not enjoy at all; that stimulates a girl to sew and sweep and wipe dishes and engage in general housekeeping before she is old enough to discover that it isnt play for the grown up women that have it to do. If by taking advantage of that inborn disposition, we set before them examples in these things that will become valuable accomplishments before they seem arduous in the least, how dare we neglect to set before the same imitators an example of studying Gods Word, an accomplishment diviner than them all?
It would be a difficult thing to find a home where father and mother loved Gods Word, but the children refused to look into it. The story is told that during the war Robert E. Lee was at home for a few days in mid-winter. He was dressed in his military suit, having on his great military boots and walking in the early morning to his barn, when he heard a little voice behind him saying, Papa, take shorter steps. Glancing back, he saw his second edition, stretching his little legs to the utmost to put down his tiny foot just where his fathers had left, in the snow, the larger print.
It is so in life! The children strain themselves to step as father did, where mother did. If we want a great Sunday School in this church we can have it. God is willing and waiting to give. But fathers and mothers, the best way in the wide world to fill up the infant class and the Junior, Intermediate and Young Peoples departments, is the way of example. If the Adult department in our school is full of fathers and mothers who study the Word with interest and willing regularity here, the other departments will overflow. If Lois and Eunice, mother and grandmother, are in this room, Timothy and all his little? brothers and sisters will be in there. Forget not the stimulus to Scripture study in example.
This text points out to all
THE INDISPENSABLE STUDY
If it were so, that no one would ever be influenced to study the Scriptures by example, still the wisdom in Gods Word is such that no soul can dispense with it.
It is the one thing without which education is always incomplete. This is an age of education. Men on every side are threading the mazes of history, attempting to sound the depths of science, and hoping to explore the whole field of philosophy and bring in a final report. But there is no such history as this which relates how God has created, ruled and redeemed a world; no such history as that which records how God and man have gotten on together, and all of this is in the Word.
As for science, it must start out with God as creator of the material and spiritual universe, and keep within these limits set by His eternal Truth.
The philosophy of all philosophies is the plan of salvation by faith in Christ, as set forth in this same sacred text. The Bible is the Book of books, and its study indispensable to the progress of the soul.
Dr. Lorimer seldom said a more eloquent thing than when in his Isms Old and New, he affirmed of this Book, All others are as stars in comparison with the sun, as the cold luster of the pole in comparison with the brilliancy of the tropics; as the opaque whiteness of the pearl in comparison with the transparent beauty of the diamond. Rosseau acknowledges its moral power; Goethe confesses its unparalleled spiritual excellence; Theodore Parker magnifies it as the purest fertilizing stream that ever flowed through our desert world; Huxley and Amberley extol it beyond any other work existing among men. From these considerations it is reasonable to conclude that He who upholds all things by the Word of His power also has conferred on us a revelation to lighten our darkness, and that in its supreme and perfected form, it is contained in the Holy Scriptures.
All education needs a knowledge of them as the key note to its music, as the final touch without which its work is unsatisfactory and incomplete. No wonder Pauls note to Timothy, Study the Word! Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. No wonder he wrote again, Preach the Word. He knew it to be indispensable.
It is the one Book in which we may become more proficient daily, yet never perfect. Some people have objected to it on that ground. They say that they dont like a book that you cant complete and leave for something higher. But why is it that we left our primer and went to the spelling book and the reader? Only because the primer was so imperfect a book. It had only the simplest tasks it fit, and only the most shallow thoughts. If its wisdom had been more extended, we might have remained in its study longer, and if it had contained all wisdom and learning, we would have had no need for more advanced books. That explains why we can never finish our study of the Bible. No man has sounded its depths of wisdom; no man has attained unto the heights of its instruction; no soul has explored its limitless fields of knowledge; no man ever will, because they are infinite. When any man does, then we will need a new Bible, not sooner. When any man shows how it could be improved, then God will bring out a new edition, but we need look for no changes until that time.
That Massachusetts man voiced the Christian thought of the Bible when upon being urged to read some infidel publications, he said, If you have anything better than the Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the prodigal son and that of the good Samaritan; or if you have any better code of morals than the Ten Commandments, or anything more consoling and beautiful than the 23rd Psalm, or on the whole, anything that will make this dark world more bright than the Bible, anything that will throw more light on the future, and reveal to me a Father more merciful and kind than does the New Testament, please send it along.
The Christian world has had this Bible in custody for 1900 years, and for 1900 years the Christians have been the scholars of the world, and have studied this Book more than any other, and yet no Christian claims to have learned the hundredth part of its wisdom. Many of them are proficient in it, but would be as far from claiming a perfect acquaintance with all its truth as Timothy was.
Thank God for a Book that opens to men the heights and depths of infinite wisdom. Who can afford to be untaught in such a Book?
Such a Book is entitled to intelligent treatment and earnest study. No man can be an intelligent student of the Word who does not bring to it a sympathetic soul. One who refuses its wisdom can easily wrench its words to his own hurt. You have heard the story of the infidel who quoted the text from Scripture, There is no God, without knowing that just back of that stood the explanatory sentence, The fool hath said in his heart! But infidels are not the only men who study texts to justify their preferred positions, and tear them away from explanatory contexts to make them excuse our faults and salve our consciences. Let us remember that proficiency in Bible study depends as much upon ones familiarity with the whole circle of truth, as the solution of geometric problems depends on an acquaintance with foregoing theorems.
Again, we would be better students of Gods Word if we put into our Scripture research the same energy that characterizes our work in other branches of wisdom. The custom is too universal of reading Gods Word with indifferent haste, and passing every difficult place as a part that is too deep for us, and hence unnecessary to be known. The same treatment of spelling books and readers and arithmetics would soon land us in pitiable ignorance. We can never be Biblical scholars unless we are willing to reread and read again hard passages, and halt before them with inquiring mind until they open their bosoms and communicate to us their deeper meaning. There are many people who leave whole sections of Gods Word wholly unread and say in excuse, I cant understand it, and I dont bother my brain with such things! Well, one can have a brain that does not bother itself with hard things, but it is a weak, sickly nerve mass and one that any head might be ashamed to carry about the world.
The most difficult passages of Holy Writ will repay any soul for all the study given to them, and many of those that seem hard to understand are rich in suggestion when you come to question them from an honest heart. Dr. Broadus has told a story in one of his sermons that well illustrates this truth. He said, Years ago when my family included servants, I used to try very hard to get the servants and the children interested in family worship. I tried the parables. I tried the life of our Lord. I tried many other parts of the Bible. Sometimes they were interested and sometimes not, and at length it occurred to me. Now I will see if they will be interested in the Revelation. That contains so much beautiful imagery. So I began and I found that the servants and children were very much interested for several days. I tried to explain a little and I could do that very well for the first few chapters, about the Churches, etc. Then we got on into the opening of the seals and the sounding of trumpets and I stopped explaining for a reason that you can perhaps conjecture. At length after many days, I was reading some of that solemn, splendid imagery in the middle of Revelation, like the unrolling of a panorama, scene after scene of wonder and power, and struggle and conflict, and hope and promise, and one day as I was reading I looked up through my tears and all the circle from the aged grandmother down to the little child, were in tears, too. You say, we didnt exactly know what it was about. Yes, we did. It was about Godabout God looking down on this world of ours, about the sorrows and struggles of this human life, and the fact that God sees it all, is watching and controlling it all. Brethren, let us have a care how we treat parts of Gods Word. A verse in our immediate context says, ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable, and God wouldnt have said all if He had meant only a part.
In this text we find,
THE SCRIPTURES ABLE TO BRING MEN TO A SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST
Everywhere in the Bible Christ is presented as the one and only hope of life and salvation, and the Scripture student will find, upon greater familiarity with this Word, that its every Book directs him to that one great fact,Christ a Saviour from sin. The sooner we understand that fact the better for us and for our use of the Word. To some men the Bible is only a system of truth, subject to possible dissection. But as someone has said, It is too much alive to admit of that, and again, if it were inanimate, it is too valuable to be put to the knife of criticism and cold examination. He would be a foolish examiner indeed who should take his compass to pieces, to study its mechanism, when at mid-sea and liable any moment to encounter a storm, or tear up his chart to learn if the material on which its lines were laid was sheep-skin or paper. It is so in our treatment of this Word of God. After we are safely on Canaans shore, and all the storms of life are past we may take Gods Word up and study its mechanism as an intellectual curiosity, but while we are driven to and fro with the storms that sweep the sea of this life, we must preserve this chart with care, and scan its lines with eager hearts, that from it we may ever look toward the Christ, the only hope of coming into the eternal haven of rest. No man who reads Gods Word to follow its direction is doomed to eventual disappointment. It will lead him to the Lamb, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. Frederick W. Farrar wrote as truthfully as eloquently when of the Bible he said, There may be mingled voices, but clear and loud among them all are heard the utterances of eternal wisdom. Other books may make you eloquent or learned or subtle; this Book alone can make you wise unto salvation. Other books may fascinate the intellect; by this alone can you cleanse the heart. In other literatures may trickle here and there some shallow runnels from the unemptiable fountain of wisdom, and even these alas, turbid too often with human passions, fretted with human obstacles, and choked at last in morass or sandbut in this Book majestic and fathomless, flows the river of the water itself proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb.
But the man who discovers the Way of Life, set forth in this Book must look for it with the clarified vision of faith. God has hidden this highway from the eyes of those who, in the worlds judgment, are the wise and prudent, and revealed them to the babes of faith. Many men who judge themselves most competent to understand and interpret this Word, are living in a spiritual gloom that converts its simplest letters into strange and misleading characters. You remember Hawthornes pen-picture of Richard Digby who despised the love of sweet Mary Goff, and in his indifference to her pleas, opened his Bible and sought to forget her presence by his studies therein. But Hawthorne says, The shadow had now grown so deep, where he was sitting, that he made continual mistakes in what he read, converting all that was gracious and merciful to denunciations of vengeance and unutterable woe. It is often so with the men who read it in the thick shadows of their unbelief. The Word of God tormented the French infidel, Voltaire, and made his last hours an awful agony. But that same Word led a little French girl into the light and enabled her to do a work that moved Heaven to gladness, and one that will live, lending glory to Christ after the sun has gone out from heaven like a spark smitten from the anvil and all of the stars are dead. This child got a Testament at Grand Ligne school. Her parents were Romanists, and for twelve years she dared not take the precious Book from her trunk lest they should find her at its study. Then she married, and, in the freedom of her own home, fished it up and commenced the study. In 1866 her brother said of that Testaments effect, Through that little Testament given to Julia at school thirty-five years ago, and in answer to the prayers of Madame Feller that followed it, our families, numbering eighty-five souls in all, are in the light. Brethren and friends, shall we not give more study to the Word that opens the Way of Life?
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(15) And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures.The Greek words translated from a child should be rendered, from a very child, as the word denotes that Timothys instruction in the Holy Scriptures began at a very early and tender age.
The holy scriptures.Literally, the sacred writings. The Scriptures of the Old Testament are here exclusively meant. The expression writings for the Scriptures is not found elsewhere in the New Testament; it is, however, used by Josephus.
Two powerful arguments have been here used by the Apostle to induce Timothy to remain steadfast to the great doctrines of faith, and neither to take anything from them or to add anything to them. The first presses upon him the source whence he had learned them. He, better than any one, knew who and what St. Paul was, and the position he held with his brother Apostles, as one who had been in direct communication with the Lord Himself; and the second reminded him of his own early training, under his pious mother. He appealed, as it were, to Timothys own deep knowledge of those Old Testament Scriptures. St. Pauls disciple would know that the great Christian doctrines respecting the Messiah were all based strictly on these Old Testament writings. Timothy had a double reason for keeping to the old paths pointed out by the first generation of teachers. He knew the authority of the master who instructed him; and then, from his own early and thorough knowledge of the Scriptures of the Jews, he was able to test thoroughly whether or no his masters teaching was in accordance with those sacred documents.
Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.The present participle rendered by which are able is noticeable, being here used to express the ever-present power of the Scriptures on the human heart. The Holy Scriptures had not completed their work on Timothy when, in his boyhood, he first mastered their contents. It was still going on. Wise unto salvation marks the glorious end and destination of the true wisdom which is gained by a study of these sacred books. Other wisdom has a different goal. In some cases it leads to power, fame, wealth; but this wisdom leads only to one goalsalvation. The last clausethrough faith which is in Christ Jesuspoints out the only way to use these Scriptures of the old covenant so as to attain through them the goal of all true wisdometernal salvation. They must be read and studied in the light of faith in Jesus Christ. Those (Old Testament) Scriptures, he (St. Paul) granteth, were able to make him wise unto salvation; but, he addeth, through the faith which is in Christ (Hooker, Ecc. Polity, i. 14, 4). Faith in Jesus must be the torch by the light of which these ancient prophecies and types must be read.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. And This Christ history derived from the original witnesses was fully in accord with the Old Testament, in which Timothy’s childhood was indoctrinated.
Holy Scriptures The Old Testament, either in the Hebrew, or in the Septuagint translation thereof into Greek, or both. For although Eunice’s husband was a Greek, the old Bible ruled in her system of education.
Are able With thy proper use of them.
To make thee wise Being, as they are, predictive, both by spoken prophecy and by sacrificial ritual, of the true Saviour.
Unto salvation From Jewish, pagan, and Gnostic error, from sin, condemnation, and death.
Through faith Since it is only as our faith embraces them that they are powerful in us.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And that from a babe you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.’
And the reason he can be so confident in what has been taught to him is because of its source. For from his cradle he has known ‘the sacred writings’, a name given to the Jewish Scriptures as evidenced by Josephus and Philo. And it is they which are able to make him ‘wise unto salvation’ through faith in Christ Jesus, for they point to Christ, and bring Christ home to the heart in such a way that Timothy has been able to become one with Him by faith, and now continues to experience Him continually. For in the end the source of salvation is not the Scriptures, it is the One to Whom the Scriptures point. The value of the Scriptures is that they reveal Christ to the heart. They are a pointer to Christ. And so salvation is to be found ‘in Christ Jesus’, that is by being united with Him in His death and resurrection (2Ti 2:11-12; Rom 6:3-4).
But we may ask, why does Paul here refer to the Scriptures using the description ‘the sacred writings’. The first reason is because he wants to stress that what he is speaking about is the written word. He wanted Timothy to remember how he had read these sacred writings from an early age. They had been the means by which he had learned to read, and had metaphorically cut his teeth on them. And they had been a source of truth to him throughout his childhood, finally bringing him to His acceptance of Jesus Christ. The second reason may have been in order to contrast the source of Timothy’s faith, which was ‘the sacred writings’, with the source of the faith of the false teachers, which was philosophical arguments and theories, and mystical experience. The ancient world put a great value on ancient writings, especially sacred ones in which was to be found the wisdom of the ages. So he wanted Timothy to recognise that there was nothing newfangled about what he believed. It had come down to him in written form from many men of God, and had on it the seal of many generations.
‘Wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.’ The phraseology and the thought is typically Pauline. ‘Unto salvation’ is a favourite expression (Rom 1:16; Rom 10:10; compare 1Pe 1:5), while ‘in Christ Jesus’ is at the root of his theology (nearly thirty times in Paul, nine times in the Pastorals, and once in 1Pe 5:14). For salvation ‘in Christ Jesus’ was what his message was all about.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Ti 3:15 . ] Most expositors, including Wiesinger, Plitt, and Hofmann ( Schriftbew . I. pp. 675 f., and so also in his commentary), assume that and are co-ordinate sentences giving the reason why. In justification of this irregular construction, Bengel directs us to Joh 2:24-25 ; Act 22:29 ; but wrongly. [54]
Beza, on the other hand, gives the right construction by making on dependent on : sciens a quo didiceris, teque a puero sacras literas novisse. This, too, de Wette (van Oosterzee agreeing with him) adopts, correctly remarking that usually denotes not only knowledge, but also reflection.
] , Mar 9:21 : . Chrysostom: ; comp. Antip. Th. 32: . stands first because it is emphatic; it points back to . In order that he may continue in what he has learned, Timothy is to remember his teacher, and also that he has known the holy Scriptures from childhood.
] This name for the O. T. only occurs here; in Joh 7:15 without ; the more usual name is at , with and without . De Wette’s conjecture is quite arbitrary, that the author of the epistle was also thinking here of some writings of the N. T.
] is present and not preterite (“quae poterant,” Bengel); it tells us of a permanent characteristic of the O. T. (de Wette, Wiesinger). is equivalent to sapientem reddere; to explain the word as synonymous with is inaccurate. When joined with it is usually taken in the sense: “teach the way to holiness;” but, as Paul adds . . ., which cannot be joined immediately with (= .), but belongs to , that interpretation is here unsuitable; he who has faith is already on the way to , or rather is in possession of the . We must therefore adhere to the full signification of ; so that he is speaking here not of the first instruction in salvation, but of the ever deepening knowledge of it, how that furthers the (so, too, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, Plitt).
. ] comp. 1Ti 3:13 . Wiesinger rightly remarks that these words are not to be taken as giving the means immanent in the Scriptures, but “contain the necessary condition attached to the use of the O. T.” (de Wette). Hofmann asserts that . only denotes an instruction, “giving complete acquaintance with salvation;” for “in order that Timothy might remain in what he had learnt, it was only necessary for the Scripture to teach what he knew.” But what any one already knows does not require still to be taught to him; and instruction leading on to knowledge ever more complete, does not hinder him from abiding in what he has already learnt. According to Hofmann, is to be joined with , because as he strangely enough asserts “instruction by means of faith is a chimera” (!).
[54] Hofmann, in regarding the appeal to Act 22:29 as appropriate, overlooks the difference of construction in the two passages. In Act 22:29 , two sentences beginning with are dependent on , whereas here the first independent sentence would be expressed by a participle ( instead of ), to which a sentence beginning with is made co-ordinate. This irregularity of construction is manifestly not removed by Hofmann’s remark, that the first sentence gives an additional fact, the second furnishes a reason.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2256
THE EARLY KNOWLEDGE OF TIMOTHY
2Ti 3:15. From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
IN seasons of heavy trial it is of great advantage to have had a long acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures and the principles of religion. A novice is apt to be astonished, and to wonder that a change so favourable as that which he has experienced, (from a brier to a myrtle-tree [Note: Isa 55:13.],) should excite nothing but enmity in those around him. But a person conversant with the word of God, and established with his grace, has counted the cost: he knows what he is to expect: he knows what others have experienced before him; and the very storms which threaten his existence, serve only to confirm him in the truths he has professed. In this view St. Paul encourages Timothy to hold fast the profession of his faith without wavering, and to continue in the things he had learned, without being intimidated by persecutors, or deceived by seducers [Note: ver. 1215.].
From his words we shall consider
I.
The early knowledge of Timothy
He was acquainted with the Holy Scriptures
[By the Holy Scriptures we must understand, not merely the words, but the doctrines, of Scripture. Doubtless Timothy was acquainted with our fall in Adam, and the consequent depravity of our nature. He knew also the true scope of all the sacrifices as pointing to that Lamb of God who was to take away the sin of the whole world. Nor could he be ignorant of the necessity of divine influences, in order to a renovation of our hearts, and a restoration of the soul to the Divine image.
But it was not a theoretical knowledge even of these things which would have satisfied the mind of the Apostle: it must have been a practical and experimental knowledge of them. He must have felt and bewailed the plague of his own heart: he must have relied on Jesus as his only hope: he must have been renewed in the spirit of his mind by the power of the Holy Ghost: in short, he must have been a new creature in Christ Jesus, or else the Apostle would never have thought his knowledge a proper ground of congratulation.]
These he knew from a child
[It is generally thought that children are incapable of understanding the mysterious truths of the Gospel. We readily acknowledge that these truths exceed the capacity, not of children only, but of the wisest philosopher; for the natural man cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned [Note: 1Co 2:14.]. But God can give a spiritual discernment to children, as well as to adults; and, supposing this to be given, there is nothing in the Gospel which a child may not understand as well as an adult. Children may have their affections exercised on things proper to call them forth. If God discover to them that they are sinners, and obnoxious to his wrath, they may fear his displeasure: if he shew them that he has provided salvation for them in Christ Jesus, they may hope in his mercy: if he reveal his pardoning love to their souls, they may rejoice in his salvation. The difficulty lies, not in feeling suitable emotions, but in having a practical conviction of those truths which are calculated to excite them. This practical conviction none but God can give; and he is as able to give it to one as to another. Indeed God does prefer those who are babes, in knowledge at least [Note: 1Co 1:26-28.], and sometimes also in years; for David says, that God had ordained strength, and perfected praise out of the mouth of babes and sucklings [Note: Psa 8:2. with Mat 21:16.]; and our blessed Lord made it a matter of joy and thanksgiving, that his heavenly Father had hid divine things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes [Note: Mat 11:25.]. Do we desire instances of early conversion? Josiah sought the Lord at eight years of age [Note: 2Ch 34:3.]. Samuel was devoted to him at a still earlier period of life [Note: 1Sa 2:18; 1Sa 2:26.]. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mothers womb [Note: Luk 1:15.]. But, if there were no other instance upon record, it would be sufficient that we are told, that Timothy knew the Holy Scriptures from a child.]
We shall, with the Apostle, congratulate Timothy, if we consider,
II.
The excellency of that knowledge
It was able to make him wise
[Wisdom is that which is most of all coveted, and for the attainment of which no expense or trouble are accounted too great. Now the wisdom contained in the inspired volume infinitely surpasses all that can be collected from other books. It shews us what we were in our original formation, and what we now are. It shews us wherein the chief good consists, and how we may attain it. It shews us every thing, whether good or evil, in its true light, and enables us to form the very same judgment respecting it that God himself does. It teaches us how to fill every station and relation of life to the greatest possible advantage. It even draws aside the veil of heaven itself, and exhibits to us God in all his glorious perfections. It reveals to us the three persons of the Godhead, co-operating in the work of mans salvation, and executing distinct offices for our eternal good. What is all the boasted wisdom of philosophers, when compared with this?]
It was able to make him wise unto salvation
[All wisdom that stops short of this is only splendid folly. How vain will the wisdom of philosophers or statesmen appear, when once we are entered into the eternal world! Nothing will then be of any value, but that which led us to the enjoyment of God, and to a meetness for glory. Then the excellency of Scripture knowledge will appear in all its brightness.
But it must be inquired, How is it that the Scripture effects this? Is there any thing meritorious in the knowledge of its truths; or any thing which by its own power can save the soul? The text informs us respecting these things, and points out the precise way in which the Scriptures make us wise unto salvation. Christ is the only Saviour of sinful man. His obedience unto death is the only ground of our hope.
But how are we to be interested in him? There is but one way; and that is, by faith. He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life.
From hence then it may be seen how the Scriptures make us wise unto salvation. They reveal Christ to us as the Saviour of the world. They commend him to us under every image that can convey an idea of his suitableness to our wants, and his sufficiency for our necessities. They hold forth the promises of God to those who believe in Christ; and encourage us by every possible argument to rely upon him. In this manner they work faith in our hearts: and by that faith we become interested in all that Christ has done and suffered for us.
Thus, in ascribing our salvation to the knowledge of the Scriptures, we do not derogate from the honour of Christ; since it is only by revealing his work and offices to us, and by leading us to depend upon him, that they become effectual for this blessed end. But at the same time we put an honour on the Scriptures, to which no other book has the smallest claim. Other books may be channels for conveying divine knowledge; but the Bible alone is the fountain from which it flows. The knowledge therefore of the Bible is of supreme excellence; and the earliest possible attainment of it is of unrivalled importance.]
This being a very instructive record, I propose to shew,
III.
The instruction which his attainment of it conveys to us
Surely it affords us matter
1.
For inquiry respecting ourselves
[I ask not, whether the same thing can be affirmed of you, as having taken place from your early childhood; but whether it is true concerning you at this moment? Do you know the Holy Scriptures, and the great leading doctrines contained in them? Do you know them practically and experimentally, so as really to feel your lost and undone state and to be fleeing to Christ as your only refuge and to be devoting yourselves to him as his redeemed people? Have you in relation to these things the very mind of God, bringing you into a conformity to his blessed will? Possess what ye may, you have not attained to true wisdom, if you possess not this state of mind. No other wisdom than this will avail to your salvation: and, if you lack this, you will, to all eternity, lament and bewail your folly. I entreat you then to examine carefully whether ye be living a life of faith in the Son of God, who has loved you and given himself for you? Is your daily walk with God such, that the Apostle Paul would pronounce with confidence respecting you the testimony which he thus confidently bare to his beloved Timothy? Dear brethren, I beseech you, prove your own selves; and pray God to set his seal to the truth of this change as wrought in you, and as exemplified in the whole of your life and conversation!]
2.
For direction respecting others
[Parents, does not this record speak forcibly to you? Here you have an evidence that children are capable of receiving all the blessings of salvation, supposing they be taught by you, and taught of God also. Without the Divine blessing, even Paul might plant, and Apollos water, in vain: but the labours of a Lois and an Eunice [Note: 2Ti 1:6.] shall not be lost, if God be pleased to accompany them with his Holy Spirit to the soul. Remember, a responsibility attaches to you for their souls, similar to that which belongs to your minister in reference to your souls. I pray God, that your children may not have to reproach you in the day of judgment, and to trace it to you, that they were left to perish for lack of knowledge.
And, young people, tell me whether you do not envy Timothy the distinction here given him? Have you not in your own consciences a conviction, that his was true wisdom, and that in attaining the knowledge of salvation through a crucified Redeemer, you best answer the end of your being. Lose not then the present opportunity, before the cares and pleasures of life have hardened your hearts, and seared your consciences as with a hot iron.
To people of every age this record speaks forcibly, and says, Labour by all possible means to convey to those around you this knowledge which proved so great a blessing to this happy youth [Note: If this be delivered as a Sermon for Missions, or for Charity Schools, or Sunday Schools, or Infant Schools, an appropriate line of Exhortation must be here added, to shew what has been done, or may be done, and how richly success in one single instance will repay for all the efforts that can be used.] ]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Ver. 15. And that from a child ] Gr. , from a suckling. As all children, so those especially that are dedicated to the work of the ministry, should be betimes inured to Scripture learning. See Trapp on “ 1Ti 4:6 “ The story of Mistress Elizabeth Wheatenhall, daughter of Mr Anthony Wheatenhall, of Tenterden in Kent, late deceased, is very memorable. She being brought up by her aunt, the Lady Wheatenhall, before she was nine years old (not much above eight), could say all the New Testament by heart; yea, being asked where any words thereof were, she would presently name book, chapter, and verse. Timothy was so sweet a child, that if that had not been his name, it might have been his surname, as Vopiscus saith of Probus the emperor. (David’s Love to God’s Word, by Mr Stoughton. Epist. to Reader.)
To make thee wise ] Gr. , to wise thee, that thou mayest wise others, as Dan 12:3 . The same Hebrew word signifieth, 1. To understand; 2. To instruct others; 3. To prosper.
To salvation ] He is the wise man that provides for eternity. And when all the world’s wizards shall very wisely cry out in hell, Nos insensati, We fools counted their lives madness; they shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, Dan 12:3 . Sapientes sapienter descendunt in infernum.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ti 3:15 . : dependent on . For the change of construction, von Soden compares Rom 9:22-23 ; 1Co 14:5 . Timothy’s knowledge of things divine was derived not merely from persons, but from sacred writings; and, perhaps, as Theophylact notes, the two points are emphasised: ( a ) that the persons were of no ordinary merit, and ( b ) that his knowledge of Scripture was conterminous with the whole of his conscious existence. He could not recall a period when he had not known sacred writings. This is the force of the hyperbolic .
: sacras litteras, sacred writings (R.V.). For this use of see Joh 7:15 , and Moulton and Milligan, Expositor , vii., vi. 383. The force of this peculiar phrase is that Timothy’s A B C lessons had been of a sacred nature. The usual N.T. equivalent for the Holy Scriptures (A.V.) is or (once , Rom 1:2 ); but St. Paul here deliberately uses an ambiguous term in order to express vigorously the notion that Timothy’s first lessons were in Holy Scripture. is found in Josephus, Antiq . Prooem 3 and x. 10, 4, and elsewhere. Cf. ( 2Ma 8:23 ). There may be also an allusion to of the false teachers which were not . See on next verse.
; instruere, cf . Psa 18 (19):8, , . Also Psa 104 (105):22, 118 (119):98. The word is chosen for its O.T. reference, and also because of its strictly educational association.
: a constant Pauline phrase. See reff.
: to be joined closely with . Cf. de Imitatione Christi , iii. 2, “Let not Moses nor any prophet speak to me; but speak thou rather, O Lord God, who art the inspirer and enlightener of all the prophets; for thou alone without them canst perfectly instruct me, but they without thee will avail nothing. They may indeed sound forth words, but they do not add to them the Spirit. They shew the way, but thou givest strength to walk in it,” etc.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
from. App-104.
child. App-108.
holy. Greek. hieras. Only here and 1Co 9:13.
Scriptures. Greek. Plural of gramma. See Joh 7:16. The usual word for the “Scriptures” is graphe, 2Ti 3:16 .
make . . . wise. Greek. sophizo. Only here and 2Pe 1:16.
unto. App-104.
through. App-104. 2Ti 3:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ti 3:15. , and) Even after the death of Paul, Timothy is the more bound to the Scripture. Paul does not bind Timothy to himself alone, but enjoins him who, however grown up, was his son in the faith, to use the Scriptures. They ought to consider this, who are so devoted to their teachers, under whose training they have been once for all brought up, that they admit nothing beyond their circle which is afterwards presented to them from Scripture. Sometimes slothful over-fulness of the mind and , self-complacency, creep over men under the name of stedfastness (steadiness) and sobriety.- , from childhood [a child]) Tender age is best adapted for , being made faithful (assured), so that faith may be impressed upon it, diffusing firmness throughout the whole life.- , the sacred Scriptures) the books of Moses and the prophets. For these existed when Timothy was a child.-, thou hast known) by the instructions of thy mother, ch. 2Ti 1:5.- , which were able) The force of a preterite redounds from thou hast known, to the participle. This ability (of Scripture) expresses (its) sufficiency and perfection.-, thee) in such a way as if they were written for thee alone.-, to make wise) A grand expression. The antithesis is , folly, 2Ti 3:9.- , to salvation) thy own and that of others.- , through faith) He who does not believe, does not receive wisdom and salvation. Through is construed with salvation.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Ti 3:15
and that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation-[These words are corrective and explanatory of the foregoing assertion, indicating the only means whereby the salvation in question can be attained; provided we superadd faith in Christ Jesus, who is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth. (Rom 10:4.) Thus we are drawn from the letter of the law to its spirit in the gospel. (Joh 5:39-40; Joh 5:46.) The apostle here grants that the Old Testament Scriptures were able to make him wise unto salvation, but he adds]:
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.-[Wherefore, without the teaching of the New Testament that Christ hath wrought the redemption of the world, which redemption the Old Testament did foreshow he should work, it is not the Old Testament alone which can perform so much as Paul claims who presupposes this when he magnifies that so highly. Of the intent of the Old Testament as compared with that of the New Testament, the general end of both is one, the difference between them consisting in this: the Old Testament did make wise by teaching salvation through the Messiah that should come; the New Testament, by teaching that Christ the Savior is come, and that Jesus, whom the Jews did crucify and whom God did raise again from the dead, is he.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
salvation
(See Scofield “Rom 1:16”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
from: 2Ti 1:5, 1Sa 2:18, 2Ch 34:3, Psa 71:17, Pro 8:17, Pro 22:6, Ecc 12:1, Luk 1:15, Luk 2:40
the holy: Dan 10:21, Mat 22:29, Luk 24:27, Luk 24:32, Luk 24:45, Act 17:2, Rom 1:2, Rom 16:26, 1Co 15:3, 1Co 15:4, 2Pe 1:20, 2Pe 1:21, 2Pe 3:16
which: Psa 19:7, Joh 5:39, Joh 5:40, Act 10:43, Act 13:29, Act 13:38, Act 13:39, 1Pe 1:10-12, 1Jo 5:11, 1Jo 5:12, Rev 19:10
Reciprocal: Gen 18:19 – command Exo 35:29 – the Lord Num 3:15 – General Deu 4:6 – this is your Deu 17:19 – General Deu 31:12 – men 1Sa 1:28 – he worshipped 1Ki 18:12 – from my youth Psa 34:11 – Come Psa 49:3 – mouth Psa 71:5 – my trust Psa 111:10 – a good understanding Psa 119:9 – by taking Psa 119:24 – my counsellors Psa 119:99 – for thy Psa 119:130 – it giveth Psa 147:19 – showeth Pro 1:2 – General Pro 2:7 – layeth Pro 4:4 – He Pro 14:8 – wisdom Pro 18:15 – General Pro 22:20 – General Pro 28:26 – but Pro 31:1 – his Pro 31:28 – children Son 8:2 – who Isa 8:20 – the law Jer 8:9 – lo Dan 9:2 – understood Mat 19:15 – General Mat 20:2 – he sent Mar 10:14 – Suffer Mar 12:24 – Do Luk 11:36 – the whole Luk 16:29 – have Joh 15:16 – that your Joh 20:30 – General Act 8:28 – and sitting Act 16:1 – which Act 16:2 – was Act 17:11 – and searched Rom 2:18 – being instructed Rom 3:2 – because Rom 16:19 – yet 1Co 1:30 – wisdom Gal 3:8 – the scripture Eph 1:13 – the gospel Eph 6:4 – but Col 2:3 – In whom Col 3:16 – the word 2Th 2:13 – belief 1Ti 5:10 – if she have brought 2Ti 1:3 – whom 2Ti 3:14 – knowing Jam 1:21 – which 1Pe 1:5 – through
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A GOOD CHARACTER*
From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures.
2Ti 3:15
If your friends were to be asked what they thought was the most hopeful thing about you, what would they say? He is open-faced? He is truthful and honest? He is a quick, intelligent, studious boy? He is a kind, gentle boy? All very good. But St. Paul tells Timothy, his son in the faith, what he thought to be the most hopeful thing about him, and he does not mention one of these things. What he does mention may surprise us.
I. It was the fact that he had been taught the Bible from his childhood.Think, now, that was the most hopeful thing the Apostle found in the young man Timothy. You, perhaps, will feel more thankful for Sunday-school and home training in the Bible than for anything else in your lives. Let us, in imagination, go to Derbe, and see the little family, the mother, the grandmother, and little Timothy. No spelling-books then; no reading-books. Timothy actually learned to read from the Bible; and before he could read he was taught to repeat verses from the ancient rolls.
II. We may be quite sure that Jesus learned to read out of the Bible.The first sentence He was taught to repeat was taken from the Book of Leviticus. His mother taught Him, and He used to repeat Bible sentences to her. When He was five years old Jesus went to the synagogue school; but there they had no books but the Bible, and, perhaps, some about the Bible. When He was twelve, He found His way to the Bible school that was held in the Temple. Jesus, like Timothy, knew the Scriptures from His childhood.
III. See the results.When temptation came to Jesus He was ready armed and shielded. And what was it made Timothy the most helpful of St. Pauls friends? Surely it was the knowledge of Holy Scripture he had gained in His childhood, and increased in maturer years, like Timothy. Be like Jesus.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ti 3:15. From a child has the same meaning as “from my forefathers” (chapter 1:3). The thought is that he had been reared in the spiritual surroundings that are mentioned here and in chapter 1:5. Holy scriptures refers to the Old Testament, for the New had not been written when Timothy was growing up. Able to make thee wise. The Old Testament was the law for salvation with the Jews, it being the one that was in force during that age. And its use as a source of wisdom or information was still available for the evangelist, even though he had become a disciple of Christ; and that is one reason that volume was preserved unto the Christian Dispensation (Rom 15:4). However, the wisdom that was possible through the Old Testament would not alone bring salvation, now that Christ has put an end to that law “for righteousness” (Rom 10:4). Hence Paul adds what is necessary for Timothy (and all others) to do that he might be saved, namely, accept the faith (the New Testament system) which is in Christ Jesus.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Ti 3:15. The holy Scriptures. The Greek noun is not that usually employed in the New Testament, but answers rather to sacred literature (Act 26:24). It is used, however, of the Old Testament books by Josephus.
Which make thee wise. The English is literal enough, but the Greek implies somewhat more of systematic education.
Through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The addition is remarkable. St. Pauls experience had taught him that without that faith the study of the sacred writings might lead only to endless questionings and logomachies. Targums and the Talmud remain as if to show how profitless such a study might become.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
That truth is the Scripture – the same Scripture that brought Timothy salvation.
Again, when I was in Bible College I envied those that had grown up in Christian homes. When studying I found that I was on the bottom of the food chain as far as learning went. I had no idea what I was trying to do with assignments. I didnt know the main men of the Bible, I didnt know the flow of Scripture, I didnt know how to live the Christian life all those things I was lacking many others had in full measure.
I was told by one of the faculty members that I had the lowest Bible knowledge score in the history of the school.
Timothy was raised on the word a fact I am sure he understood and appreciated.