2 Timothy 3:10-17

10: Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,
11: persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 
12: Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
13: But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 
14: You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 
15: and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16: All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 
17: so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

*** 

In contrast to what Paul just said about Jannes and Jambres and others who oppose God, Timothy had followed Paul’s teaching, conduct, purpose, faith etc. He had even followed his persecutions and sufferings, such as what happened to him at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra (Acts 13:50, 14:5, 19). At Lystra Paul was stoned and left for dead. Lystra was where we first heard of Timothy three years after that stoning (Acts 16:1). Yet we know he was already a disciple at that time, so Timothy was well aware of all that happened there, and the persecutions Paul endured. Yet Paul pointed out that the Lord rescued him out of them all.

Paul wanted Timothy to understand that everyone who pursues a godly life in Christ will be persecuted. It’s useless to try and avoid, we would just end up compromising our faith and setting ourselves up to fall away. Paul warned Timothy that evil men and imposters would get worse. They are deceived themselves and deceive others. Yet once again, he contrasted Timothy from these men and said for him to continue in what he had learned from childhood—the sacred writings which give the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ. Follow that, not the distorted words of false teachers.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is the standard by which we teach, correct, and train. Through Scripture we are equipped for every good work. It was written by men who probably never realized their writings would be considered Scripture. It was written from a variety of perspectives, various levels of revelation, over a considerable period of time, but it is all God inspired. It wasn’t, in all cases, a word for word dictation, but the thoughts, concepts, ideas, phrases, words and so on were inspired by God and He arranged for their compilation and acceptance as Scripture.

Scriptures lead us to faith in Christ. Through the gospel we come to a personal belief in Him and an acknowledgement of His sacrifice for us, to cleanse us from our sins. Through faith in His shed blood, we become righteous before God. Yet we don’t stop there. We must learn His ways and grow in the knowledge of Him. We must draw closer to Him and get to know Him intimately. We must arm and equip ourselves with the Word of God which is what will withstand the enemy’s attacks, as well as take back the ground he’s stolen. In Scripture we find hope and strength to maintain our faith through whatever might come our way.



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