But thou hast fully known— Having in the preceding verses described the apostates of the last days, and shewn how much the wicked Judaizers made way for that apostacy, the apostle here, by way of opposition, proposes his own example and doctrine, that Timothy might observe and follow them: to incite him to which, he appeals to his many and great sufferings, as proofs of his sincerity; and he not only intimates that Timothy had been instructed by one who had sufficient attestations to his apostolic character, but that the true Christian revelation was agreeable to the scriptures of the Old Testament, with which Timothy had been acquainted from his infancy, and which might still be profitably read, if carefully compared with, and made subservient to the true Christian revelation. In this view the study of them would not lead him aside, as it did the Judaizers, but would help to make him a proper and perfect instructor of mankind in the Christian religion.

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