2 Timothy 3:15

A GOOD CHARACTER*

‘From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures.’

2 Timothy 3:15

If your friends were to be asked what they thought was the most hopeful thing about you, what would they say? He is open-faced? He is truthful and honest? He is a quick, intelligent, studious boy? He is a kind, gentle boy? All very good. But St. Paul tells Timothy, his son in the faith, what he thought to be the most hopeful thing about him, and he does not mention one of these things. What he does mention may surprise us.

I. It was the fact that he had been taught the Bible from his childhood.—Think, now, that was the most hopeful thing the Apostle found in the young man Timothy. You, perhaps, will feel more thankful for Sunday-school and home training in the Bible than for anything else in your lives. Let us, in imagination, go to Derbe, and see the little family, the mother, the grandmother, and little Timothy. No spelling-books then; no reading-books. Timothy actually learned to read from the Bible; and before he could read he was taught to repeat verses from the ancient rolls.

II. We may be quite sure that Jesus learned to read out of the Bible.—The first sentence He was taught to repeat was taken from the Book of Leviticus. His mother taught Him, and He used to repeat Bible sentences to her. When He was five years old Jesus went to the synagogue school; but there they had no books but the Bible, and, perhaps, some about the Bible. When He was twelve, He found His way to the Bible school that was held in the Temple. Jesus, like Timothy, knew the Scriptures from His childhood.

III. See the results.—When temptation came to Jesus He was ready armed and shielded. And what was it made Timothy the most helpful of St. Paul’s friends? Surely it was the knowledge of Holy Scripture he had gained in His childhood, and increased in maturer years, like Timothy. Be like Jesus.