Training Days

and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  2 Timothy 3:15

Childhood – The next verse is the famous one.  “All Scripture is inspired by God.”  Of course, lifted from the context, the statement about inspiration is reshaped to fit contemporary theology.  That’s why we need this verse first.  Before we get to the doctrine of inspiration, we need to have the context of life-long training.  When Paul says that Timothy already has a long history with the sacred texts, there is only one book that fits the bill – the Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament.  What Paul says about those sacred writings should cause us to take a serious step backwards.

The first thing that we acknowledge is that Timothy never knew the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke or all the rest of the New Testament authors from childhood.  Since those documents didn’t exist, it’s simply impossible that Paul has them in mind.  What Timothy knew was the Tenakah, the collection of the books that make up the Hebrew Bible.  Paul’s use of the Greek word, brephous (a newborn), makes this pretty obvious, doesn’t it?

Then we come to the second “obvious” conclusion.  Paul says that Timothy’s exposure to the Hebrew Bible is able to give him the wisdom he needs to lead him to salvation through faith!  What?  I thought that the Hebrew Bible was a religion of works’ righteousness.  Didn’t the Jews attempted to appease God with works?  The Old Testament is based on rules.  Only the New Testament presents the “salvation by faith” message.  Right?

Apparently the answer is “No.”  Paul himself, the author of those great letters about salvation by faith alone, says right here that the Hebrew Bible teaches salvation by faith, not works.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that men and women won’t misunderstand and distort the teaching.  That same kind of misunderstanding and distortion can happen today – and it does with any form of legalism, even if the words are about membership and tithing instead of about sacrifice and temple worship.  What Paul makes absolutely clear is this:  the real basis of salvation has never changed.  God’s plan is the same, from Abraham to John.  When Jesus expounded the Scriptures to the men on the road to Emmaus, He demonstrated that the Old Testament was a “faith only” document.  That’s exactly what Paul says here.

This verse, coming before the famous one, is too often neglected.  But what it says is crucial.  It says that the Tenakah is sacred, inspired and absolutely consistent with salvation by grace alone.  That means, among other things, that the entire sacrificial system cannot be about salvation.  The sacrificial system is about something else.  The sacrifices do not save.  They never did and they never will.  Whatever is going on with the sacrifices, it isn’t about salvation.

So, this verse should cause us to ask a very penetrating question.  If the sacrificial system isn’t about salvation, then what is it about?  And if it’s about some other aspect of my relationship with God, then why don’t I follow it today?

Training days.  Oh, how they disturb our nice, tight assumptions.

Topical Index:  Salvation