We, like Timothy, live in “difficult times” (2 Tim 3:1) and the situation will probably get worse. How can we live and serve the Lord in such a hostile environment? The Scriptures give us this stability and His word makes us adequate to the task in four ways.
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:14-17).
By learning it from others
By giving us wisdom
By working in my life
By our relying on it
By Learning It From Others
Timothy is commanded to continue learning and become convinced of what he was taught. He had to keep being in God’s word.
The impact of God’s word was greatly influenced by those who taught him, including his mom, grandma, and Paul.
We cannot underestimate the way our lives can make our teaching really come alive and help others.
By Giving Us Wisdom
Wisdom is applied knowledge or insight in action.
How do we know that the Scriptures are really from God? They can be tested for truth and validity (Deut 18:21-22). They have an inherent, self-validating quality of God’s voice (Jer 23:28-29, John 7:46). They have a supernatural way of speaking to us and changing us (Heb 4:12).
The canon of the New Testament (what books should be included in the Scriptures) was a process of recognizing God’s word that became very evident right from the beginning. Later councils affirmed what was already clear of which books should be called Scriptures.
God’s word leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Salvation is all-encompassing for the believer with past, present, and future elements. We trust fully in Christ as Savior and Lord.
God’s word points us to Jesus as its goal and fulfillment.
By Working In My Life
The Scriptures are God-breathed and share His characteristics of being holy, eternal, true, powerful, unchanging.
How were they written? 2 Pet 1:20-21 says that men were moved by the Holy Spirit and spoke from God. God’s word is a perfect combination of God enabling and giving His word but dressing it in the style and language of the writers.
So in the end we can enjoy all the characteristics of human writing but it is all completely true in all it teaches as it is from God.
God’s word is authoritative so we put ourselves under it and let His word interpret itself. We should not impose our own systems on it so we do not put ourselves above His word.
“His Words.”
The text we have today is very reliable, based on thousands of manuscripts. Variants have no appreciable effect as we can tell in the vast majority of the cases, which ones were the original. No doctrine is based on variants.
God’s word teaches us (gives principles), reproves us (shows us things we do or think wrongly), corrects us (how we should think and act), and trains us in righteousness (gives endurance and long-lasting change).
By Our Relying On It
We can be men and women of God as we learn and apply His word.
It shapes our character and identity.
It makes us adequate and fit and sufficient, like being in good physical shape.
It equips us with tools to get the tasks done.
No wonder Paul stressed God’s word to Timothy and us so we can stand and serve in a world that seems so unstable.
How can you continue to learn and become convinced of God’s word?
