Creator, Father, King #84

You have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

AS HE SAT IN a dark, lonely, Roman dungeon near the end of his life, the apostle Paul wrote to his dear friend, Timothy. Paul likely met Timothy some twenty years earlier on his first missionary journey as he passed through the Galatian city of Lystra.

Timothy had a strong heritage in the faith. His Jewish grandmother and mother were Christians who had taught him the Old Testament. Timothy had either come to know Christ at a young age through their witness or later through Paul’s ministry (2 Timothy 1:2, 5). Paul took Timothy on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:1) and tasked him with strengthening various churches throughout the Roman Empire.

But now, as Paul faced imminent execution (c. AD 64–67), his mind turned to encouraging his protégé to remain strong in the faith by remaining faithful to Scripture. Here’s what he wrote in 2 Timothy 3:14-15:

As for you, 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 (ESV, emphasis added).

Those words ring as true today as they did in the first century AD!

What’s It Mean?

There are lots of books that will make you smart. Dictionaries and thesauruses will help increase your vocabulary. School textbooks will increase your learning in specific subject matters. Encyclopedias will expand your general knowledge in a variety of topics. And cookbooks will help you learn, uh, how to cook.

But there’s only one book in the whole world that is “able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” That’s God’s Word—the Bible.

No other religious book can do this—not the Koran, Book of Mormon, or any other supposedly sacred text. Why? Because no other book is “breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16, ESV). As such, only the Bible is inerrant, infallible, and eternal—revealing God’s full plan of redemption for sinners through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Take a cue from Paul. “Continue in what you have learned” and soak up the life-giving words of Scripture, “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”!

Now What?

Check out James 1:21, which is similar to today’s verse.

Did You Know?

Paul wrote the entire letter of 1 Timothy to equip Timothy to lead the church in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3).