Trusted Sources, Part 2

If you don’t mind, I’d like to revisit the same Bible passage that the previous article discussed, and look more closely at another point.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:14-15 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/2ti.3.14-15.NIV

Building upon the previous article’s discussion about how those who taught Timothy the truth had also earned his trust, let’s also consider how the Scripture also helped Timothy appreciate the truth about Jesus. The “Old Testament” books of the Bible, as they are often called, are what Timothy would have had access to when he was younger, but this didn’t save him directly. The Law couldn’t save any of us, because we were each too weak to keep it perfectly. However, those Scriptures still served key purposes, and continue to do so today:

For one thing, the Scriptures provided wisdom. Yes, we find formal wisdom in books like the Proverbs, but we can become wise from the entirety of the Bible. Even from just those that Timothy had access to (i.e., books of the Bible written before Jesus’ ministry), we can learn about where we came from, what God is like, why things are broken, what we should be doing instead, and what God’s people looked forward to receiving from Him in a Messiah.

Wisdom from the Scriptures also leads to salvation. This isn’t just pure academic knowledge. What we learn from the Bible isn’t merely facts and figures (although there are plenty of both in the Bible). If knowledge is facts and wisdom is knowing what to do with the facts, then the wisdom from the Bible helps us understand how to process our reality, and it helps us know what we should do in order to live out our purpose and restore our relationship with a perfect, holy, loving, and wise God, both on this earth and in eternity.

That salvation isn’t through checking boxes or living a good life, though: salvation comes from faith. When we couldn’t save ourselves (as the Law showed us), we had to look to someone greater (i.e., God). Then, we had to trust Him. We had to have faith in Him that He is exactly who He has revealed Himself to be, and that His salvation was sufficient for us.

And, that faith had to be placed in the only Person who could save us: Jesus the Christ. No one else lived perfectly to earn the right to spend eternity with God, and so no one else could give that right to us in exchange for taking on the punishment that we deserved: not just the terrible physical death that Jesus suffered on the cross, but separation from God the Father, Himself.

This is why Timothy carried on Paul’s legacy, and his mom’s and grandma’s legacy, and Jesus Christ’s legacy. Rather than Timothy being swayed by persuasive talk or a flashy sign or a TV commercial telling him to “CALL NOW!”, Timothy saw the testimony of the truth in those who taught him the truth, and he found God’s truth in Scripture. Timothy was prepared with wisdom to know how to spot the truth and what to do with the truth, and he was ready to receive and to act upon the truth when it was shared with him.

In fact, David Faust (within the study guide, cited below) refers to conviction. Timothy didn’t just believe whatever he was told (versus those described in 2 Timothy 3:6). He was convicted of the truth.

So, how about you and me? Do we have a foundation that allows us to discern wisdom and truth, resulting in faith and salvation? For those who started “from scratch”, having learned about Jesus and the nature of God later in life, it’s not too late, though. We each follow our own path to learn and grow. Only the unchanging God and the truth that He provided are constant from each of us to the next.

From Sunday School lesson prepared for April 6, 2025

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