2 Timothy 3:15

τὰ ἱερά. The rec. text has the article, following AC*D2cEKLP; it is omitted by Tischendorf and WH as by אCbD2*G17. It may have come in from the τά a few words further on. Lachmann and Tregelles put it in brackets.

15. καὶ ὄτι, and that, not ‘because’; ὄτι depends upon εἰδώς.

ἀπὸ βρέφους, from a babe; cp. 2 Timothy 1:5. It was the custom to teach Jewish children the law at a very early age, and to cause them to commit parts of it to memory.

τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα οἶδας, thou hast known the sacred writings. The reading (see critical note) is uncertain; if we omit the article before ἱερά, it would be necessary to translate ‘thou didst know sacred writings,’ γράμματα being used as at John 5:47; John 7:16. But τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα is a quasi-technical expression in Philo (Vit. Mos. III. 39 and Fragm. in Exod. Mangey’s ed. II. 657, and cp. de Vit. cont. 3) and in Josephus (Ant. Proem. 3 and 10:10. 4) for the Scriptures of the Old Testament[520], and, when this is borne in mind, the manuscript attestation to τά seems amply sufficient.

[520] Of Christian writers, the first to apply this phrase to the N.T. is Clement of Alexandria (Strom. I. 20 § 98); he is also the first to call the N.T. θεόπνευστος (Strom. VII. 16 § 101).

This is the only place in the N.T. where the epithet ἱερός, sacer, ‘hallowed’ or ‘sacred,’ as contrasted with profane (a quite different adjective from ἅγιος, sanctus, ‘holy,’ which points to the work of the Divine Spirit), is applied to Scripture; but it is frequently so applied both before and after the Apostolic age. Cp. e.g. 2Ma 8:23, τὴν ἱερὰν βίβλον, and Clem. Rom. § 53 τὰς ἱερὰς γραφάς &c.

τὰ δυνάμενά σε σοφίσαι εἰς σωτηρίαν, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. The present participle δυνάμενα expresses the continuous and abiding power of Scripture; it is not only fitted σοφίζειν νήπια (Psalms 19:8), but it is as valuable to Timothy the bishop as to Timothy the child: cp. Psalms 119:98. The words εἰς σωτηρίαν are important, as clearly expressing the kind of wisdom which Scripture supplies. The significance of the O.T. is not that it contains an account of the creation of man or the history of the fortunes of Israel; its aim is not knowledge, whether scientific or historical, but wisdom, and that εἰς σωτηρίαν. σωτηρία, the Salvation of man, is the final purpose of the whole Bible. On this great theme it tells enough to make men wise; it contains “all things necessary to salvation” (Art. vi.), and so candidates for the priesthood are required at ordination to declare in the words of the Apostle their persuasion that “the holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” “If we be ignorant,” say the Translators of our A.V. to their readers, “they will instruct us; if out of the way, they will bring us home; if out of order, they will reform us; if in heaviness, comfort us; if dull, quicken us; if cold, inflame us. Tolle, lege; tolle, lege.”

διὰ πίστεως τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. Faith in Christ Jesus (see 1 Timothy 3:13) is the instrument, as it were, through which the σωτηρία, expounded in Scripture, may be grasped. And this limiting clause provides at once the link between O.T. and N.T., so that what St Paul said to Timothy about the O.T. may also be applied to the N.T., “the difference between them consisting in this, that the Old did make wise by teaching salvation through Christ that should come, the New by teaching that Christ the Saviour is come” (Hooker, E. P. I. xiv. 4).