2 Timothy 3:14-15 But continue you in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them;… I. WHAT THE HOLY SCRIPTURES CAN DO. "Make thee wise unto salvation." Exceedingly high praise: can be affirmed of no other book. Were the Bible a book to teach men the art of becoming rich, many would read it who now refuse; all "that will be rich" would then study their Bibles as diligently as their ledgers. If it taught men to be philosophers, another class would read it more than they commonly do. If it were a mere road book, many would consult it who now do not as they pursue the road of life. But the Bible proposes to make men rich towards God, wise unto salvation, pilgrims on the way to heaven. It teaches the best means of attaining the best end; and that is true wisdom. II. HOW THE HOLY SCRIPTURES PRODUCE SUCH GREAT EFFECTS. "Through faith which is in Christ Jesus." The Scriptures do not work as a kind of charm. It is not by having the Bible in the house, nor in the school, nor in the church; but it is by having the Bible in the heart, its contents heard, read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested — that they make us "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." The infidel can read them and scoff; the poet can read them and only admire their sublimity; the historical student can consult them only as ancient records; the formalist can read them just to get through a certain stated portion; yea, wicked persons have read them for bad purposes — to copy the sins which the Scriptures hold up to abhorrence. Of all such it may be said that the Word preached or read "did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." The Word profits when we hear as Lydia heard," whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." Therefore the study of the Scripture should always be connected with prayer for Divine grace. III. THE ADVANTAGE OF KNOWING THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, IF POSSIBLE, EVEN FROM EARLY YOUTH. "From a child"; there is the time when Scriptural instruction should begin. The word here rendered "child," denotes childhood in its infantile stage. To early education, blessed of God in His own time and way, the Church has owed some of her greatest ornaments. Augustin, who made a noble stand for the gospel in the fifth century, always attributed his conversion to the prayers, the tears, and the instructions of his mother, . God, in fact, appears to have remarkably honoured Christian mothers, whether they stood singly, or were supported in their endeavours to imbue their children's minds with Holy Scripture. Dr. Doddridge, one of the most eminently pious men among the in this country, used to relate that his mother taught him the histories of the Old and New Testament before he could read, by the aid of some Dutch tiles in the chimney of the room where they usually sat; and her religious instructions were the means of making good impressions upon his mind that were never obliterated. (J. Hambleton, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; |
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