15. From a child (azo Bpépous). Mostly in Luke. °P. Only here in Pastorals. See on 1 Pet.ii. 2. Comp. Mk. ix. 21, é« madic0ev from a child.
The holy Scriptures (éepa ypdupara). Note particularly the absence of the article. Dpdadppara is used in N. T. in sev- eral senses. Of characters of the alpharet (2 Cor. iii. T; Gal. vi. 11): of a document (L. xvi. 6, take thy bill): of epistles (Acts xxviii. 21): of the writings of an author collectively (J. v.47): of learning (Acts xxvi. 24, roAAd ypadupara much learning). In LXX, émiordpevos ypaupara knowing how to read (Isa. xxix. 11,12). The Holy Scriptures are nowhere called fepa ypduwarain N. T. In LXX, ypdupara is never used of sacred writings of any kind. Both Josephus and Philo use Ta iepa ypdupara for the O. T. Scriptures.* The
* Joseph. Ant. Proem. 3,4; x. 10,4. Philo, Vit. Mos. 38, 89; De Praem. et Poen. § 14; Leg. ad Gat. § 29.
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words here should be rendered saered learning. The books in the writer’s mind were no doubt the O. T. Scriptures, in which Timothy, like every Jewish boy, had been instructed ; but he does not mean to designate those books as fepa ypap- para. He means the learning acquired from Scripture by the rabbinic methods, according to which the O. T. books were carefully searched for meanings hidden in each word and letter, and especially for messianic intimations. Speci- mens of such learning may be seen here and there in the writings of Paul, as 1 Cor. ix. 9f.; x.1f.; Gal. ii. 16f. ; iv. 21f. In Acts iv. 18, the council, having heard Peter’s speech, in which he interpreted Ps. exvili. 22 and Isa. xxviii. 16 of Christ, at once perceived that Peter and John were aypduparot, not versed in the methods of the schools. Before Agrippa, Paul drew the doctrine of the Resurrection from the.O. T., whereupon Festus exclaimed, “much learn- ing (woAda ypadupara, thy acquaintance with the exegesis of the schools) hath made thee mad” (Acts xxvi. 24). To Agrippa, who was “expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews” (Acts xxvi. 3), the address of Paul, a pupil of Hillel, was not surprising, although he declared that Paul’s reasoning did not appeal to him. In J. vii. 15, when Jesus taught in the temple, the Jews wondered, and said : “ How knoweth this man letters?” That a Jew should know the Scriptures was not strange. The wonder lay in the exe- getical skill of one who had not oo trained by the literary methods of the time.
To make thee wise (ce codicar). Only here and 2 Pet. i. 16. See note there on cunningly devised. To give thee understanding of that which lies behind the letter ; to enable thee to detect in the O. T. books various hidden allusions to Christ; to draw from the O. T. the mystery of messianic salvation, and to interpret the O. T. with Christ as the key. This gives significance to the following words, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ was the key of Scrip- ture, and through faith in him Scripture became a power unto salvation. The false teachers also had their learning,
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but used it in expounding Jewish fables, genealogies, etc. Hence, their expositions, instead of making wise unto sal- vation, were vain babblings; profane and old wives’ fables d Tim. iv. 7; 2 Tim. ii. 16). Const. through faith, etc., with make wise, not with salvation.
16. All Scripture (vaca ypapy). Better, every Scripture, that is, every passage of Scripture. Scripture as a whole is ai ypapat or ai ypapat aya. ‘Iepd is never used with ypady. T'pady is the single passage, usually defined by this, or that, or the, or which saith.*