Lock (W.), The Bible and Christian Life, 179.
Momerie (A. W.), Inspiration and other Sermons, 1.
Moody (A.), The Message of Salvation, 83.
Moore (E. W.), The Promised Rest, 203.
Paget (F.), The Spirit of Discipline, 174.
Palmer (E. R.), The Development of Revelation, 15.
Randolph (B. W.), Christ in the Old Testament, 1.
Robarts (F. H.), Sunday Morning Talks, 184.
Ryle (H. E.), On Holy Scripture and Criticism, 1, 170.
Shelford (L. E.), By Way of Remembrance, 133.
Shillito (E.), Looking Inwards, 80, 85.
Simpson (J. G.), Christian Ideals, 127.
Sinclair (W. M.), Christ and Our Times, 49.
Stuart (S. A.), Children of God, 11.
Vaughan (C. R.), Sermons, 45.
Cambridge Review, viii. No. 184 ; xxi. No. 536 (G. F. Browne).
Cliristian World Pulpit, xxxviii. 257 (J. J. S. Perowne) ; xxxix. 298 (J.
Clifford) ; xl. 275 (W. Briscombe) ; liii. 241 (R. F. Horton) ; Iv.
27 (D. M. Ross) ; Ixxi. 88 (R. F. Horton) ; Ixxiii. 309 (S. Chadwick). Church of England Pulpit, Ixii. 2 (W. P. Roberts). Expository Times, ii. 54 (J. J. S. Perowne).
904
The Use of Scripture.
But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them ; and that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness : that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.— 2 Tim. iii. 14-17.
1. There is scarcely any passage of Scripture over which fiercer, more dusty, and more profitless battle has waged than over this. And yet it is a very simple affirmation ; certainly not intended by its writer for polemical purposes, but resting upon indisputable experience, and intended for practical uses. The Apostle is addressing a practical exhortation to Timothy, a young preacher of Christianity. He urges him to give no heed to evil men and seducers, who, deceiving and being deceived, would wax worse and worse. He is to continue steadfast in the Christian things which he has been taught, and of the truth of which he has been convinced, especially remembering of whom he had learned them ; referring possibly to himself as having been Timothy's Apostolic instructor, but more probably to Timothy's mother, Lois, and his grandmother, Eunice. That the tender memories of his education in childhood are thus invoked seems to be indicated by the words that follow : " From a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." The great profit to Timothy of this early instruction in the Scriptures is further affirmed by a state- ment of the general value of the Scriptures in the nurture of the spiritual life. So the object of the writer is simply to affirm the value or profitableness of Scripture in the religious culture of the life. The Scriptures will instruct him, and discipline him, and j)erfect his qualification for living a godly life.
-o6 THE USE OF SCRIPTURE
2. The words apply primarily to the Old Testament. This appears not only from the fact that at the time when they were written the New Testament was still incomplete, and the writings which existed could hardly have acquired the recognized authority implied in this connexion by the term " scripture " {ypoc(pr]), but also from considerations arising out of the context. The Scriptures which Timothy, " the son of a Jewess which believed," whom Paul " took and circumcised " at Lystra, had known from a babe could only have been those of the Old Covenant.
3. The changes introduced by the Eevisers in this passage have provoked some sharp criticism. They have been assailed not merely as pedantic and unnecessary, but as indicative of unsoundness in the faith. But in truth, it may be fairly argued that the Eevisers' rendering goes beyond, rather than falls short of, the Authorized Version, in its assertion of the inspiration of Scripture. " Every Scripture inspired of God " refers plainly to the collection of sacred books of which St. Paul had already said that Timothy was acquainted with them from his earliest child- hood. Every one of these sacred writings, he continues, each portion of that Divine library, as being full of the breath of God, has its purpose in teaching, controlling, or guiding, or disciplining Ihe life, that the man of God, the Christian prophet, may be thoroughly equipped unto all good works.
4. The';e is the assertion, then, that the Scriptures are in- spired, and there are two reasons given for their Inspiration — tiist, that they may make us wise unto salvation, and second, lliat they may make the man of God complete — in other words, the Scriptures are profitable for Eedemption and for Sanctifica- tion. So we have —
I. Inspiration.
II. Eedemption.
III. Sanctification.
2 TIMOTHY III. 14-17 207
I.
Inspiration.
" Every scripture inspired of God."
1. By inspiration we are to imderstand that influence of the Spirit of God upon the writers of the Old Testament, by which they were empowered to teach such spiritual truths, and in such measure as was necessary for the religious welfare of those whom they addressed. Inspiration does not imply that the writers were lifted altogether above the level of their contemporaries in matters of plainly secular import. Marvellous as is their historical accuracy, it does not imply supernatural infusion of knowledge on subjects lying within their own observation. They were the faithful witnesses and recorders of the things which they them- selves had seen and heard.