2 Timothy 3:16

2 Timothy 3:16

Unity of Plan in the Old Testament.

I. The most cursory glance will show us that the Old Testament is divided into four parts the Pentateuch, the historical books, the poetical books, the prophetical books, and I may say at once that I regard the Song of Solomon as the climax of the whole; all that precedes leads up to it, all that follows flows from it. It is a mountain summit, where you may see Jesus only in His transfiguration glory: a Pisgah height where the Moses of the law gives up the ghost, and whence, gazing down the vista of prophecy, you may see the good land which God has prepared for His people; or, varying the metaphor, I see the river of life, whose sources are in eternity, in the Pentateuch, dashing down the crags of Sinai and of the law; in the historical books, meandering through the broad plains of history; in the poetical books, rushing through the narrow rocky bed of personal religion, until it flows into this lovely little Loch Katrine of the Song of Solomon, and thence flows forth in fuller volume through the prophetical books until it loses itself at last in the ocean of eternal love. In the Pentateuch God appeals to man's conscience; in the historical books, to man's intellect; in the poetical books, to man's heart, and in the prophetical books He opens to men the future.

II. In the Pentateuch God appeals to man's conscience; in the historical books, to man's intellect; and he is bidden to survey human history, and see whether it is not always well with them who fear the Lord, and ill with those who reject Him. The historical books, for the most part, run in pairs, in which the positive and the negative side of this truth is put before us. In Joshua and Judges God is brought before us as the Deliverer, and we are asked to examine the history of the children of Israel from this point of view. In I. and II. Samuel God is regarded as the King; in I. and II. Kings we are asked to trace the history of those who revere and those who despise God's prophets; in I. and II. Chronicles the same period of history is examined, but from a different point of view namely, the reverence which different kings showed, or neglected to show, for the public worship of God.

III. In the poetical books we come to personal religion; in the prophetical books the future is spread out before you, and, gazing down the avenue of the prophets, the Lord will not hide from you those things which He is about to do; but, in spite of sin, failure, and rebellion, you will see the purposes of God remaining true, until, in the last chapter of the last of the minor prophets, you see the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in His wings, and you wait on the tiptoe of expectation for the opening of the New Testament, when the dayspring will arise and the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

E. A. Stuart, Children of God,p. 11.

Dogmatic Truth our Heritage.

By the "mystery" St. Paul here seems to mean a knowledge, Divine in its source, concealed and kept back for a time, but now imparted, or as we say, revealed. Now this Divine knowledge is chiefly summed up under two heads, according to the subject on which it treats. It treats, firstly, of God as teaching us concerning Himself; and secondly, of human nature, man as related to God.

I. The mistaken complaint of many at present is not so much that God has not given enough knowledge in revealing the mystery of godliness, but that He has given too much. They claim, that is, to set it aside wholly or in part, as involving a needless restriction on the free action of the mind, or to remould and alter it, as clashing with some conclusions of human wisdom. The forms of error are endless, and shift with the shifting phases of the human mind. But truth in its relation to them is older than them all, and stands fast through them all, and will doubtless survive them all, as it has already survived many. Thus the best, nay the only possible complete defence against error lies in active living convictions of the truth.

II. Repeatedly in Scripture is the Gospel faith spoken of as something held in common by all Christians. It is not matter of opinion, of deduction, or of induction. God's truth is given for all alike. He makes himself known in Christ, not to a priestly coterie but to mankind. Therefore the Church has educated the nation: men of the purest lives and brightest gifts have thought it their highest privilege to trim the lamp of Divine truth. And before literature was diffused, and access to comments, or indeed to Scripture itself was common, the creeds of the Church did their work in keeping alive a saving knowledge amongst the people, and yet remain as standards of doctrine, and compendiums of Scripture truth. No term of science conveys to our minds what it ought, until we draw out all that it implies: and thus when we wish to be exact in our statements we are forced to be somewhat cumbrous in our terms. Men submit to this in science, but they seem to fret against it in theology; and then they reproach it as being dogmatic, without considering that this is the necessary characteristic of truth Divine in origin, and dealing with subjects to which human experience cannot reach.

H. Hayman, Rugby Sermons,p. 8.

References: 2 Timothy 3:16. R. Thomas, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xii., p. 261; H. W. Beecher, Ibid.,vol. xxviii., p. 97; F. W. Farrar, Ibid.,vol. xxix., p. 88; H. Wace, Ibid.,vol. xxxvi., p. 241; J. Clifford, Daily Strength for Daily Living,p. 373; F. W. Farrar, Everyday Christian Life,p. 143.