We have seen that the subject of 2 Timothy is the inoculation against the decline of the church. In this message we shall consider the antidote of the inoculation, which is the divine Word. In 2:16-26 we have the spread of the decline and in 3:1-13, the worsening of the decline. We praise the Lord that in 3:14-17 we have a wonderful, heavenly, divine, spiritual, and rich antidote. As we shall see, this antidote is the divine word of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the God-breathed Scripture which is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness and which completes the man of God and fully equips him for every good work.
Second Timothy 3:14 says, “But you, continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned.” The things which Timothy learned of the apostle and was assured of were the vital portion of the content of the New Testament, which completed the divine revelation (Col. 1:25). Hence, he had the practical understanding of a great part of the New Testament. These were the things he had learned from Paul and which he had been assured of by him.
The word ministered by Paul was the completing word of God’s revelation, the main part of the New Testament. Verse 14 indicates that from Paul Timothy received the proper knowledge of the New Testament and became assured of it, even though at that time the New Testament was not complete as a written volume. Timothy was granted the central revelation of the New Testament.
In verse 15 Paul goes on to say, “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.” In addition to the knowledge of the New Testament, Timothy also had, from his childhood, a good foundation in the knowledge of the Old Testament. He was one who was fully perfected and equipped to minister the word of God, not only in caring for a local church, but also in confronting the increasing decline of the church.
Together verses 14 and 15 refer to both the Old Testament and the New Testament. By knowing the sacred writings from childhood, Timothy was familiar with the Old Testament, and from Paul he gained a proper knowledge of the central part of the New Testament. Therefore, Timothy had a proper understanding of the Bible as a whole. Today all the saints in the Lord’s recovery, especially the young people, need the understanding of the Word of God, an understanding of both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Home | First | Prev | Next