I think this section of 2nd Timothy (3:10 – 17) is all about continuing in the faith or continuing to follow Jesus when the world around us seems to be headed for certain destruction.
The apostle Paul is on death row for preaching the gospel, this letter to young Timothy is his final will and testament, and the urgency of what I think is his central theme “remaining faithful until the very end” (4:6 – 8) seems to ooze out of every word. He wants young Timothy and every believer who reads these words, to remain faithful until the very end when we walk into the perfect presence of Jesus in Heaven.
But remaining faithful until the very end is no easy thing to do. Especially in light of the fact that “evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (3:13) not to mention the other fact that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (3:12). The evil we see in this world is only getting worse and if you want to follow Jesus, you will experience suffering and persecution.
With that in mind, Paul tells Timothy “But as for you, continue” (3:14). Despite the fact that you will suffer as you continue and despite the fact that evil people will continue to become even more evil, you must continue, you must not give up, you must not tap out, you must keep going, you must keep doing what you are doing, you must keep following Jesus faithfully until the very end.
And God, in his kindness, did not give these words, about continuing in the faith, through the apostle Paul without providing some very practical ways in which we can continue. His first very practical instruction for continuing in the faith was to remind Timothy and us that we need an example like the apostle Paul to model our lives after; we need someone in our lives that has godly character, that has experienced suffering and persecution, and that will constantly remind us of the truth of God’s Word (3:10 – 13). Every one of us needs to have that godly mentor who has walked the path of suffering with their character intact who continues to speak the truth of the gospel to us.
But having a mentor is not enough if you are not clinging to God’s Word yourself. If you are not clinging to God’s Word yourself, then you are only riding the coattails of someone else’s faith. Doing that is like trying to drive a car to an important destination without all the tires on the front of the car. We need a godly mentor on the left side, and we need God’s Word on the right side to get to our destination. Without both, a godly mentor and God’s Word, you and I will not continue faithfully until the very end. Look at the text with me…
2 TIMOTHY 3:14 – 17…
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
So, in the verses before us, we find the apostle Paul reminding young Timothy and us about the central importance of clinging to God’s Word as the life source behind our ability to continue. He is basically saying: “Continue faithfully until the very end by holding onto the Bible”. But how do you and I hold onto the Bible?
#1: REMEMBER WHO TAUGHT YOU THE BIBLE (VV. 14 – 15)
When it comes to holding onto the Bible, the subject of who taught it to us is tied to what they taught us. The who (who taught us) reminds us of the what (what they taught us). This is why Paul tells Timothy that you must “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (3:14 – 15).
Simply stated, I think Paul is more concerned with helping Timothy to remember what he has been taught from the Bible, but he knows that young Timothy and you and I will remember what we were taught as we remember who taught it to us. Timothy had been taught the Bible by his mother and his grandmother and the apostle Paul (1 Tim. 6:11 – 21; 2 Tim. 1:3 – 7, 13; 2:1 – 2).
Upon remembering who had taught him the Bible, Timothy would be helped to remember the Gospel of Jesus Christ that had saved him. Timothy had not been trained in the Bible simply for head knowledge; he had been taught the Bible so that he could see the one main point of the entire book: Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Reading the Bible with anything less than the goal of understanding how Jesus is the main point, is a useless discipline that produces lifeless disciples. Thankfully, Timothy was taught the Bible by some very faithful people who held the message of Christ as the center of their teaching.
This is what you and I need more than anything else: Biblical teaching that holds the message of salvation through faith in Christ as the point of our learning. You and I must hold onto the Bible if we are going to continue faithfully until the very end and one of the ways we hold onto the Bible is by remembering who taught it to us so that we can remember what they taught to us.
#2: REMEMBER THE AUTHORITY AND THE POWER OF THE BIBLE (VV. 16 – 17)
There are a lot of voices that compete for our attention in this life. Social media is constantly chattering, the news is always flashing headlines, friends and acquaintances are always reaching out, TV shows, movies, games, and a flood of other voices are constantly talking. For the most part, we will not find anything in all those voices that will strengthen us to continue following Jesus until the very end.
Only the Bible has the authority and the power to strengthen our heads, our hands, our feet, and our hearts for the journey that we are taking with these crosses over our shoulders as we follow Jesus. This is why the apostle Paul reminds Timothy that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (3:16 – 17). The Bible is authoritative and powerful because it is God’s perfect Word.
The Bible was breathed out by God’s very own Spirit, through human authors so that the perfect person of God and the perfect will of God, in Christ Jesus, would be revealed to us so that we may be transformed into the people that God has called us to be. Simply stated, The Bible is what we are called to teach. The Bible is what rebukes us in our sin. The Bible is what corrects our sin. The Bible is what trains us to trust in Jesus. The Bible is what equips us to become more and more like Jesus.
2 Peter 1:20 – 21 says that “…no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Bible is not the creation of mere mortal men. The Bible is God’s very own words written by men as the Holy Spirit enabled them to write as he breathed through them.
If the Bible was anything less than God’s perfect words written by the Holy Spirit, through men, then it would be untrustworthy and open to a myriad of human reinterpretation, which has been the problem since the Garden of Eden where the Serpent questioned the trustworthiness (the authority and the power) of God’s Word with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3). The fact that God’s Word is perfect, helps us to rest assured that his promises can be taken to the bank because his promises are his word, and his word is authoritative and powerful.
Hebrews 4:12 – 13 says that “…the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” God’s Word does exactly what it promises to do; it cuts deeply into the places that no one else can get into and it exposes the darkest parts of us to Him who has promised and is able to heal and to restore what is sick and sinful and broken within us.
God’s Word is authoritative and powerful for the job of making disciples who continue until the very end. This is why I say that you and I must hold onto the Bible if we are going to continue faithfully until the very end. One of the ways we hold onto the Bible is by remembering its authority and its power to reveal the perfect person of God and the perfect will of God for our lives in Christ Jesus so that we might be transformed into the image of Jesus.
APPLICATION…
So how do we apply what we have just learned? We have just learned that we must continue until the very end, enduring suffering and persecution as evil people go from bad to worse. And we have also learned that we must hold onto the Bible if we are going to continue faithfully until the very end and the way that you and I hold onto the Bible is by remembering who taught it to us so that we can remember what they taught us and in doing so we are reminded of the Bible’s authority to govern our lives as well as its power to transform our lives as it points us to Jesus. But how do we apply these truths?
Now whenever I think about the people who taught me the Bible, and I think about what they taught me and what they continue to teach me, as well as the various ways that I have personally witnessed the authority and the power of the Bible to transform my life and point me to Jesus, I think of the many teachers who have taught me Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 is a fascinating passage of Scripture that is roughly 176 verses long! I am pretty sure that it is the center of the entire Bible, it is the longest chapter in the entire Bible, and it is all about the Bible. In fact, David, the author of Psalm 119, uses a number of words and phrases to refer to God’s Word over 174 times in those 176 verses. In other words, Psalm 119, references The Bible in nearly every one of its 176 verses. Suffice it to say, Psalm 119 is all about the Bible and the really cool thing is that David references the Word of God as the promise of God roughly twelve different times throughout Psalm 119 (119:38, 41, 42, 49, 50, 58, 76, 81, 82, 116, 123, 133, 139, 140, 148, 153, 154).
But what exactly was the promise that David was referring to and how does that promise point us to Jesus? I think that the promise that David is referring to is the promise of God that is found in 2 Samuel 7:16 where God promises David that, “your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” God literally promises that David’s kingdom and his bloodline will be eternal.
David’s response to God’s promise is a prayer of gratitude in 2 Samuel 7:21, 28 where he says “Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it… And now, O LORD GOD, you are GOD, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant”. David’s throne and bloodline would last forever, and the realization of that promise gave David strength and caused his heart to be full of gratitude.
Later on in the Bible, many years later, the prophet Isaiah builds on God’s promise to David when he says that “a child will be born to us, a Son will be given us, and the government will rest upon his shoulders… there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it with justice and righteousness, from then on forevermore” (Isa. 9:1 – 7). So, the prophet Isaiah understands that God’s promise to David was the promise that the Savior of the world would sit on David’s throne forever.
Then if you flip forward to the gospel of Luke, you find the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:31 – 32 building on Isaiah’s prophecy by explaining to Mary that her son, Jesus, will be the fulfillment of God’s promise to David and that he “Will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his forefather, David”.
CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, the Word of God is God’s promise, and God’s promise to David was brought to life in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the word of God, Jesus is the promise of God in the flesh, Jesus is the manna that came down from Heaven, and Jesus is the Word of God who sustains all things (Jn. 1:1 – 4, 14; 6; Matt. 4:1 – 4; Col. 1:15 – 23).
God’s Word is his promise, and his promise is none other than Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and returning for his bride to make all things new once and for all! This is what Paul wants Timothy to hold onto as he continues following Jesus until the very end. When we hold onto God’s Word we are holding onto Jesus as the Word who has become flesh, who is our crucified, risen, and returning Savior, who has been victorious over Satan, Sin, and Death.
We must continue until the very end, enduring suffering and persecution as evil people go from bad to worse. And if we are going to continue faithfully until the very end, then we must hold onto the Bible and the way that you and I hold onto the Bible is by remembering who taught it to us so, that we can remember what they taught us and when we remember what we have been taught in the Bible we are reminded that the Bible possesses the authority to govern our lives because it is powerful to transform our lives as it points us to the promise of the crucified, risen, and returning Christ. The Bible really is all about the bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the hope of Heaven in the person and work of Jesus Christ. When we hold onto Jesus, we hold onto the Bible! – Amen!
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).