Sunday School | 2 Timothy

Introduction

Alex must run around with them right here. Barbara, Susan. Get them all out. Okay. So it looks like this. Second Timothy, Leanne needs it, bro, over here. Alright. So you guys, what is second Timothy? Do you know why we're doing second Timothy now? Do you know? We did not do first Timothy last week, but it's a good guess. We did Mark last week, okay?

Second Timothy is Paul's last letter. It's the final thing that Paul added to the canon, and so I saved it till now. It's the last letter of Paul. We're not done, but it's our last Pauline epistle. And you guys, we're close actually. Somebody asked me what do we have left? Do you have a sense of what we have left? What we haven't done? We haven't done Hebrews. We haven't done Revelation. I'm saving those for the very end, Hebrews and Revelation. What else are we missing? It's hard to notice what you don't have. Right? We haven't done did somebody say Psalms? Did somebody just say that? We're not doing the Psalms. Okay. We haven't done first John, second John, third John. We haven't done Hebrews or Revelation, and I think that's it. I might be wrong. I'll have to check my notes, but I think that's all that's left.

So what we're going to do today, we're gonna close out Paul's epistles, which is kind of no small thing. And then we'll do first John, second, third John, and then Hebrews and Revelation. Hebrews I gotta tell you the truth, like, these things take a little while to pull together. Hebrews and Revelation are gonna be a nightmare. It's gonna take so long. So I might stall a little bit. We might do a little review or something because I might need a little more time to get those things ready. So but it's all coming. So we're but tonight or today rather, it's just gonna be second Timothy.

The Context of Second Timothy

What do you know about second Timothy other than the fact that it's the final letter that Paul wrote? You know anything about this grand letter to Timothy? What do you got here? Eric?

It's very personal. Okay. That's good. And there's maybe a couple of touches to the personalness of it. First of all, who's it written to? Timothy. Timothy. Right? Did you notice this? All the letters in the New Testament that are named after somebody are named after the author. John wrote John, James wrote James, Peter wrote Peter, except Paul wrote so many letters that we name his after the recipients. Right? It's just a little different kind of inversion of the way it's formulated. But he wrote to Timothy.

And who is Timothy to Paul? His son of the faith. That's a great way to phrase it. Right? Timothy is his favorite. Timothy is the one he's most invested in. He loves all these people. There's a million people that Paul commends and that he adores. He loves the Thessalonians, all kinds of folks. But Timothy is his guy. Timothy is the one to whom he's going to entrust his mission, actually in this very letter. And so Timothy is both incredibly personal, very close to Paul. But what's the other reason that the letter has such a personal vibe? Do you know? Chris?

Is it because of his own persecution? Yes. Absolutely. Now Paul has been, Chris just said, is it because of Paul's own persecution? Paul's persecution frankly pervades all of his letters. I mean, the time he's always in prison. If you read through the book of Acts, there's so much suffering in his life. When he writes Philippians, that's one of his jail epistles. He's literally in prison when he writes it. And so there's a little bit you're like, well, I mean, so what about that? He's in jail all the time. He's pretty used to it. But this time, Paul has an impending sense of his own death. And he is sad, he is lonely, and so he's writing out of a place. It's a pretty tender letter. He's writing to someone who's very close and important to him at a time he is pretty discouraged. Now he's also filled with faith and optimism. We'll look at this kinda funny little double-mindedness to that. But it's a very tender letter. So yes, Eric, you're exactly right. What else do you guys know about second Timothy? Chris.

It's alright. It's got a verse that can be used whether correctly or incorrectly about election. Endure all things for the sake of the elect. Is that it? Or God? Oh, okay. Yes. Okay. So Chris says it has a passage that can be used correctly or incorrectly about election. Okay? Which feels like a little provocative framing that. I would say what it is is, for my money probably it is the most insightful passage on how salvation works. Do you remember, like, years and years ago, there used to have this, I don't know, just call it a doll, but this model of the human body and it was called the visible man. Anybody old enough to remember that? It was like a human being without any skin and you can see like, you know, the musculature or the organs. Or remember this thing?

All the old people remember this, okay? There is a passage in this thing that is like the visible salvation. Normally you just say, oh, look, that person became a Christian, but they've got all their skin on. But there's a passage here, we'll look at it in a minute in second Timothy where it's like they peel the skin back and now you can see what's actually happening. It's like lifting the hood of the car. It's like, oh, that's what's actually done. I can see the particulars of what you're doing. It's really very extraordinary.

And I would say it's one of the most central passages to understand how salvation works. So yes, we will look at that for sure. Anything else? Second Timothy, what you know about it? Or what you love about it? Anything? Then I'm gonna tell you everything. Okay. No. Yep. I think that because Paul is facing his own death. Yeah. And he sees beyond and he sees what's going on in the world. Well, he's entrusted. It's like he's handing it off to Timothy, and he's giving you instruction of what is most important.

This is important. Yes. Okay. Ellen's exactly right. Okay. This is the passing of the baton. Not only does Paul know that he's dying, that his life is drawing near to an end, it's where he has this famous sense of I've finished the race, I've kept the faith, fought the good fight. He's like, I did it. But it's kind of the to thee from failing hands we throw the torch. He is passing the baton to Timothy to say finish the game. And it's within that context as he's calling to finish the game that it actually gives all sorts of context to the why he talks about the things that he talks about. There are things here that we have taken from second Timothy that have been really defining characteristics of how ministry gets done.

If you have a campus crusade background as I do or maybe a Young Life background, if you've ever been in a place that really is very focused on the making of disciples, one of our absolutely central passages is from second Timothy. It's second Timothy 2:2. Have any of you guys memorized second Timothy 2:2? This is like pounded into your head. I've read it, seen it, written it, talked about it, sketched it 9,000,000,000 times.

The things that you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses and trust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.

This is the essence of what Paul is communicating to Timothy is that you can hear four generations. There's Paul, then there's Timothy, then there's reliable men, and then there's others. And this notion that Paul was basically at this strategy. Paul's dying and he can't share the gospel with very many more people. But someday there's gonna be a bunch of you in Roanoke. How are we gonna get it? How is he gonna telegraph the gospel from, you know, whatever this is, A? '69 or something, whatever Paul is, I don't even know what year Paul dies. But in the first century all the way to the other side of the planet, 2,000 years later, the answer is second Timothy 2:2. Tell it to somebody and tell them to tell somebody and tell and build into the very gospel mechanism the passing on of this.

This notion that the gospel came to you on the way to somebody else—that is embedded in second Timothy. This is how the job is gonna get done. We're not only reconciled, but necessarily we are reconcilers. And so this is, I'm done here. I'm passing the baton. You're gonna have to get the job done. And not just Timothy, but Timothy's Timothy's And Timothy's Timothy's Timothy all the way down to you. And the gospel came to you as well on the way to somebody else. Okay. Very, very good.

Major Themes of Second Timothy

Okay. One more thing before I start walking through this more orderly. Second Timothy, anything you're sitting on? Two Tim. Two Tim. Okay. Let's take a look. Go to the start of it.

There are three, I've preached. I did an overview sermon on this. Some of this might feel a little bit review. It's been a while. There's three primary buckets that you could organize Timothy's or Paul's content of this letter. Right? They are suffer for the gospel, take the hit, it's gonna be hard, just stay in the game.

Number two, the false teachers are coming. And number three, I'm sad and lonely. If you read through the book, you'll see these things recur over and over and over. They are the three primary strands to the book. So things like this, he says, for this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through laying out of my hands.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

Do you know why? Do you guys remember? This is a little bit of first Timothy. Why does Paul's communication to his dear protege Timothy often kinda have this buck up, be a man, go after it, don't be a sissy vibe to it? You know what was going on with Timothy? He is not bad. He was just young.

You got it. So in when Paul writes to Timothy, Timothy is the man. He is faithful. He is just the best. But he's young. And it's hard to be like a 28-year-old rebuking a 46-year-old. Right? It is hard to be young going after this. And so when he writes to Timothy, he's very often gonna have this thing, but he's also gonna tell him things like, don't be ashamed, join with me in suffering, guard the deposit, be strong in the grace, endure hardship. Endure everything. Be prepared in season and out of season. That means be ready to go when it's easy. Be ready to go when it's hard. And there's gonna be a lot of hard. But it's worth it, Timothy, so stay in the game.

So if you go through, if you read Timothy this week, second Timothy, watch for that. You might highlight these passages. And then you might even think in your own life, okay, right now, today, are we in season? Well, not we. Are you? Is it in season or is it out of season? There will be moments when the wind is at your back and the opportunities are so rich. I was just talking to one of my former fellows, Jason Pelletier. He's teaching. He's a professor at High Point University. And it is in season for Jason right now. He's having so much fun. And he started a new campus ministry at a school. And in all his career, in his ministry, all these things, his wife is pregnant with her second kid. And he just feels the wind at his back. It is in season and he's making good use of the opportunities. It's just so fun to listen to him. But you and I both know it will not always remain so. Right? There's gonna be a time where somebody on the administration of the university starts giving them grief and they're gonna have to make a different set of decisions. They gotta figure out like, and that's how it is. Timothy is telling us, like, it can be easy days. It can be hard days. Stay in the game no matter what.

The major theme throughout this book is suffering for the gospel. The false teachers are coming. You need to be ready. Prepare your people.

And then finally, as Eric was alluding to, Paul is suffering terribly. It's been just a miserable time. What are the things can you remember from knowing second Timothy, why is Timothy so discouraged at this moment? Do you know that, like, what's been going on for him in particular that is puts him in such a low spirit?

Did I say Timothy? I meant Paul. Thank you, Gina. What's going on for Paul that's that has him so low? Lily?

In part, he's isolated. Yes. He was under house arrest. You know, his friends were sick. Yep. And now he's just deadserly alone. And everyone just left him except for Timmy and Mark, I guess. And he's just he's kinda desolate. That's Lily's exactly right. Paul is isolated. He's lonely. Go to chapter four. In fact, you can just go in your actual Bible to chapter four. I want you to see this as he plays out. Let's see, where will we even start? Start at verse nine. Hear this.

Do your best to come to me quickly. For Demas, Demas, I don't know how to say his name. Because he loved this world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Cresson has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you because he's helped me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. Oh, when you come, the cloak of Levi at Carpus at Troas, because he's freezing to death, and my scrolls, especially the parchment.

Then it goes on. Alexander, the metalworker, did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him because he strongly opposed our message. And then verse 16, at my first defense, no one came to support me, but everyone deserted me. You feel the vibe of this? Everyone deserted me. In verse 16. Alexander's messing things up. Some guys, he sent Tychicus away on mission. That's not a bad thing. But he's still lonely. Right? Christians and Titus are gone again, on mission. But it's still lonely. Just ask Quig what it's like to plant a church and have all these families that you love leave. Right? It's a good thing. We rejoice in it. But we miss them when they're gone. Right? And then some of them have bailed. Demas has deserted me, gone to Thessalonica. Everyone's. So Paul has experienced an enormous amount of loneliness. And the thing is, you guys, when he's in this, it's not only that he's lonely. It's not just that he doesn't have a friend to play cards with or something. But the question is, is the mission going to succeed?

Right? What is Paul's most detailed description of his own suffering? That's not in second Timothy. Where would you go if you wanted to see the highlights of all that Paul has suffered?

Acts. You can watch it happen in Acts, but where does he describe it? Second Corinthians. Excellent. Second Corinthians is exactly right. Do you know what? He's beaten with rods. Yeah. Exactly. You know where that is? Go to chapter 11.

Go to second Corinthians 11. Second Corinthians 11 is Paul's primary like list. Just listen to it. But don't zone out. I want you to hear the end of the list. Okay? So he says, we'll start at verse 23. So second Corinthians eleven twenty three. He's talking about all these other kind of his competition in some sense. Are they servants of Christ? I'm out of my mind. He's like embarrassed to do this. I'm out of my mind to talk like this. I'm more. Then he says, I've worked much harder, been imprisoned more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I've been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and danger from false brothers. I've labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I've known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked. And then, look at his clincher. Okay? That's a pretty good list. Right? Here's the biggie. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin and I do not inwardly burn? What he's saying, all the things that I suffer, and it's a pretty good list. The worst thing about it all is that I lay in bed at night thinking, are they gonna walk with him? Are they gonna stay faithful? Are they gonna preach the gospel? Will the multitudes who don't yet know Christ hear how sweet he is in a way that is winsome and compelling and meaningful to them? Or is all of this suffering for nothing? And as he's writing this final letter to Timothy, he's like, everyone in the, he's says in the province of Asia. That's a big, that's a lot of people. Right? Everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me. And he's experiencing as he's writing this the overwhelming sense of man, I have laid it all on the field. And how's the story gonna go? And it's in that moment he says, Timothy, it's on you. Take it. Take the baton and finish the job. You feel this? This is a very significant letter. And the good news is that Timothy is faithful. In fact, do you guys know what the biggest evidence we have that Timothy was faithful? It's a funny little thing. It's not in second Timothy. Beyond the fact that the gospel made it to us, okay? There's that. You could just say, well, the story continues. But do you know within the scriptures, the biggest evidence that Paul that Timothy got the job done?

Revelation chapter two. Yes, Gary. That's exactly right. Expand that. Gary said, Revelation chapter, well, I would say chapter one and two and three, but yes. What what are you saying? The letter that Jesus told John to write to the church at Ephesus. Yes. Very good. So if you guys go look and not only that letter, if you go to the first three chapters of Revelation, some of you have like a print Bible, some of you, you know, old-fashioned types. And if you have a map that shows you the letters to the church that where all these cities are, it you know what I'm talking about? And there's seven letters to the churches in Revelation. Galatia isn't on there. Right? It's not like all of these normal Pauline places. What you find is this semicircle of churches that are — it's Ephesus and then this ring around Ephesus. And the general presumption is that those churches, these are late churches. Right? Revelation's written near the end of the game, we're probably all church plants from Ephesus. Timothy's at Ephesus. They did the job. They were faithful there. And then you see this next concentric ring. It's kind of like, you know, wheat. So there's the church of Ephesus and then others around. It's a circle of churches that Timothy helped to finish. And they finish it. And the gospel continues to spread. So Paul's last kind of passing of the baton, it actually worked.

But as he lay dying, he's saying things like, he's gonna say—oh, I lost my page. He's gonna say, oh, here we go. That's right. That's right. He's gonna say at the very beginning of chapter four, here it is. Here's the baton. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who will judge the living and the dead in a view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge.

Preach the word. That's the job. Be prepared in season, out of season, correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction.

He's calling him to do it. And then he's gonna say, after the whole thing is done, in verse 18 or we'll start in verse 17, the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength despite all the misery, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and he will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever.

Paul believes that God has given him the success that he intended to give him, and he's gonna bring him all the way home. He's still a little nervous about things. Timothy, get it done. But his ultimate faith is that God is gonna prevail. And as we read this letter, I think, I want I want to feel and I hope that you will feel that he is passing the baton to you. That this reality of the gospel being preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations before the end comes is just as active today as it was when Paul wrote the letter. He's inviting us to join in this job, believing that we, filled with the Spirit, will do what he's called us to do.

Application and Final Thoughts

That's what this letter is about. Catherine. A special part for me is when he says, please bring mom to me because he has been so helpful in my ministry. That's encouraging to me because of the restoration. Yes. Faithfulness. If someone has proved helpful, if someone has been faithful, even in the midst of suffering, Paul points to that. That's a very encouraging note.

Let me see. I listed here for you cast of characters. I've told you before that there cannot be anyone in this room as bad as me at noticing names in stories and narratives. Like, literally, and it’s just the worst thing that’s been true my whole life. I just skip all proper nouns when I read. And that leaves you with such an outrageous deficit. Okay? So when I read stories, I'm always getting confused because I'm like, who is this again? I just don't log all the names. Okay? I have to like force myself to pay attention to who is this character.

And if I'm watching a movie, I don’t know anybody’s name. So it's just like the blonde guy or that girl with the limp, whatever. And when you do that, that’s bad in all stories but really bad in the scriptures. These characters that are described here, over and over again, they're described in other books. If you can notice, oh, oh, oh, this is the same person that was mentioned here, and mentioned here, when you can take all of these letters and push them back into where they fit in the story of Acts or when you recognize Mark is also John Mark—his name is John Mark, just can’t give him a name, buddy. When you can link those things together and catch and weave through, you realize this is actually a coherent story. And these are real people up for whom real things are happening. So be better than I am at the name thing and notice that Titus who goes to Dalmatia is the same Titus that goes to Crete. How does this work out? Because every once in a while, there are absolute gems when you realize, oh, oh, oh, this guy was this guy. That’s amazing.

Romans 16 is a great place to mine for names. There's so many people that he mentions. But very often at the end of his letters, he'll do these. Don't skip them. Like someday just get curious and start seeing where these things go. Okay? Scott, do you know anything about this Alexander about? No. He's just some bad news. Let me see. I don’t think—hang on a second. Let me go real quick. Kelly, he shows up in First Timothy as well? Yeah.

Here it is. First Timothy 1:20. So here’s the context. First Timothy 1:20 says, I’m gonna butcher these weird names. We’ll start in verse 18. Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith with a good conscience.

Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

When he uses that language, Scott, of handing him over to Satan—do you know what that means? You know what we mean when we say that? How does one hand somebody over to Satan? Would you like to know how to do that? We all would, wouldn’t we? What does that mean?

Is it exclusionary knowledge? Yeah. You’re exactly right, Liz. It’s basically excommunication. That if you're gonna function like a non-believer, we’re gonna affirm that you’re not a believer. So what that tells us is that he once was part of the community of believers. He was part of this gathered body, but he became so abusive and so difficult that Paul excommunicated him. And I’m guessing that Alexander didn’t like that very much, right? And he made it difficult on him.

We have those two touch points. I don’t know more than that. Alright? Alright. Was there another hand? Did I miss something? No, no, no. Okay. What is it? Okay. So then here’s the last thing I want you to see. We already said this, but he believes his death is near. This is not typical of Paul. It’s not his standard mode of being. He’s often suffering, but he’s also suffering and expecting future ministry.

I just listed a couple of things. He talks about his suffering—here from Romans and Philippians and First Timothy. This is new. What’s happening in second Timothy is different. He really is, like, it’s time to land the plane here, right? And so you gotta take it. But here are the three things, these little points I didn’t budget my time very well for. How salvation works. Here’s our visible man. Watch what is happening. It’s stunning. It’s surprising. I wouldn’t have known this if Paul didn’t write it.

Look what he says here at the end of chapter two. He says, the Lord’s servant must not quarrel. Okay? Now when he says that, you gotta know, he’s actually referring to, he’s alluding to the servant songs from Isaiah. There are four passages in Isaiah describing this Messiah who would come.

Isaiah 42 and 49, 50, 53, which you probably know, Isaiah 53, this suffering servant.

What Paul is doing is saying what Jesus was, we will become. We are going to be like him. We are his servants. But then he describes how we, the servants imitating the Messiah, are to behave. Listen to this.

The Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

This is about as close as Paul is gonna get to giving rules for elders and deacons in second Timothy. Right? He really doesn’t. We have lists in First Timothy, we have lists in Titus. Here he simply says, you gotta be kind, able to teach, not resentful. And watch this. Those who oppose him—that is, unbelievers—people who are pushing back against the spread of the gospel. Those who oppose him, he must gently instruct in the hope that God will grant them repentance.

That should be a showstopper right there. Because the one thing that is required of us, if we’re gonna come to Christ in faith, is that we need to repent. And what Paul is revealing is that even that is a gift.

Have you ever experienced that? Like, your ability to soften your own heart and realize that you’re in sin is like… Don’t have the lever for that. But he says, yeah, I know. Me neither. But God who is merciful doesn’t only accept the repentant, but he grants the repentance.

Which is really, really humiliating if you pause for a second. But it’s also really good news. So we are to be kind. We are to instruct gently. We are to teach. We are not to be resentful. And we do all these things in the hope that God grants repentance. And what happens from that is that these opposition people—opposition is led to a knowledge of the truth. That they come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Now, some of you grew up, we all very few of us grew up Anglican. Most of you grew up Baptist, Presbyterian, and we all find our way to Holy Spirit. So you probably have different starting points to this. There is a prevailing idea that human beings have a free will, that we can do whatever we want to do. And those two statements are not the same thing. Do we have a free will? Absolutely. Can we do whatever we want? That’s the only thing we are able to do.

Heroin addicts are free to take heroin. Right? And sinners are free to sin. We have a constrained freedom. We function within our nature. Fish are free to swim, and sinners are free to sin. But it is incredibly difficult, yea, even impossible, to do otherwise. Until God, in his mercy, sets us free. And Jesus says, if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.

But we begin this game where we are the, the Bible never affirms that human beings are ultimately free. It says that we're slaves. We're slaves to sin. Go through Romans six; it’s so clear that we are in slavery to sin.

And what Paul is describing here in this visible man passage is that God grants repentance to the unrepentant and grants freedom to slaves. We are—you are not doing your will, you are doing Satan’s will prior to this freedom. This is what he’s describing here as what the great non-Calvinist songwriter Charles Wesley said:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night. Diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

What Paul is describing here is how salvation works. It is God acting upon enslaved persons to grant them freedom. He acts upon unrepentant people to grant them repentance. We could look at the same thing in Ephesians 2, in Peter’s writings—that even faith itself is a gift.

And what Paul is describing here is the radical, humiliating, monergistic act of God. He is the actor; we are the acted upon. We are to walk around this world having been set free because if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.

We who have been set free, we who have become repentant, we to whom he has granted faith, should never look down on those that don’t have faith. Faith’s a gift. Right? And we, who are the recipients of such a bounty of undeserved love, mercy, grace, should move towards those that have not yet received that gift with kindness, with gentleness, with clarity to instruct.

And we do it all in the hope that God would use those things to grant repentance. That God would lead them out of this trap of the devil, who’s taken them captive to do his will. This should be our demeanor toward not just lost people in general, but toward our very opposition. Right?

It's an incredibly insightful passage about how the game works. And it’s easy to forget it. It’s easy to forget that you were given repentance, that you were given faith, that you've been set free, and to look down your nose at others. But woeful to us if we forget that we live and we are living by grace.

Dig it? Amen. Really important.

Success of the Mission and the Nature of Scripture

Okay. Next thing, success of the mission. Already hit this briefly. God's word is not chained.

I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation.

Paul believes in the success of his ministry. He just knows it’s gonna hurt. He just knows it’s gonna be really hard. He just knows that everywhere he goes, there will be a revival, but the revivals are purchased by riots. So we preach, we take the hits, we suffer believing that God’s purposes will prevail. And that he is the one, the God who is sovereign over the end is sovereign over the means. And he has decided that this gospel will spread through the suffering of his people. And that’s just the deal. So sign up whatever inconvenience, whatever cost you bear. That’s what we’re doing.

And then finally, because we're almost out of time, this — second Timothy has one of the most important passages on the nature of the scriptures. It is what is the word that Paul invents here to describe the scriptures?

God-breathed. Theo-nustos.

He makes up a term—that the Bible is breathed by God. When I speak to you, all I’m doing is breathing. But I’m forcing my breath through a series of interrupters to phonate and articulate and do all these things. He's saying that God's word is Him breathing. It is spoken by Him, to be received by us, by faith.

And so if you go through that passage, second Timothy 3:16, that whole section there says:

Continue in what you’ve learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it. How from infancy you’ve known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Here’s the line:

All scripture is God-breathed, theonistos, and is useful for teaching, rebuke, and correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

And it is because we believe that that is true that we think it’s worth making it our point, making it a point to read this thing. I want to know what it says. I want to learn it. I want to memorize it. I want to study it. I want to talk about it. I want to apply it because I really don’t think it’s simply some letter written by some guy who’s sad in prison, but it is from God to you. It’s filled with treasure for you to find.

Conclusion

Alright. Second Timothy. Ready? So read it this week or if you want to get ahead of the game, we’ll be in first John next week. Thanks for coming.