ἱερὰ γράμματα: sacras litteras, sacred writings (R.V.). For this use of γράμ- ματα see John vii. 15, and Moulton and Milligan, Expositor, vii., vi. 383. The force of this peculiar phrase is that Timothy’s A B C lessons had been of a sacred nature. The usual N.T. equi- valent for the Holy Scriptures (A.V.) is at γραφαί or ἣ γραφή (once γραφαὶ ἅγιαι, Rom. i. 2); but St. Paul here deli- berately uses an ambiguous term in order to express vigorously the notion that Timothy’s first lessons were in Holy τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα is found in Josephus, Antiq. Prooem 3 and x. 10, 4, and elsewhere. Cf. παραναγνοὺς τὴν ἱερὰν βίβλον (2 Macc. viii. 23). There may be also an allusion to γράμματα of the false teachers which were not ἱερά. See on next verse.
σοφίσαι: instruere, cf. Ps. xviii. (xix.) 8, ἣ μαρτυρία Κυρίου πιστή, σοφίζουσα νήπια. Also Ps. civ. (cv.) 22, cxviii. (cxix.) 98. The word is chosen for its O.T. reference, and also because of its strictly educational association.
εἰς σωτηρίαν : a constant Pauline phrase. See reff.
διὰ πίστεως : to be joined closely with σοφίσαι. Cf. de Imitatione Christi, iii. 2, ‘Let not Moses nor any prophet speak to me; but speak thou rather, O Lord God, who art the inspirer and en- lightener of all the prophets; for thou alone without them canst perfectly in- struct me, but they without thee will avail nothing. They may indeed sound forth words, but they do not add to them the Spirit. . . . They shew the way, but thou givest strength to walk in it,” etc.
Ver. 16. In the absence of any extant Greek MS. authority for the omission of καί before ὠφέλιμος, we may assume that the early writers who ignored it did so from carelessness. The sentence then