II Timothy 3:10-17
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted… (v. 12) I have often contrasted the life that Carol and I live with the life that Mark and Tommie Bruner have. Mark and Tommie are constantly beset with problems (yes, some of their own making) and we’ve wondered if Mark and Tommie were “suffering” this verse 12 above, that they were doing God’s work in Czechia and Satan was working overtime against them. I had this conversation with Mark one day about this contrast between their life and ours. I was surprised at Mark’s response, that Carol and I were following the Lord and that we were being blessed accordingly. I certainly don’t see Mark as one of those “health and wealth” preachers, so his words to me were very encouraging. (My Study Bible pointed out four other New Testament references where this principle was repeated, including Jesus’ own words in Matthew 10:22 and John 16:33.)
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it… (v. 14) An interesting item – my ESV translation points out that “whom” in the Greek is plural in this usage. I had read this verse as coming from Paul and was referring to Paul, especially after Paul’s own comments about his steadfastness in verses 10 and 11. But the plural “whom” must also include Timothy’s mother and grandmother, Eunice and Lois (v. 1:5), and others throughout Timothy’s spiritual growth.
…the sacred writings … are able to make you wise for salvation… (v. 15, edited) My editing emphasizes, but does not change the nature of the verse, that these sacred writings make us wise for salvation, but do not guarantee our salvation. Our salvation did not come until Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul had to be referring only to Old Testament scriptures since many (or most) of the New Testament portions of the Bible had not yet been written. So Paul is saying what we hear so well in our Avanza Jesus Storybook Bible, that the whole of the Bible refers to Jesus. It’s one complete, entire story, all pointing to one end, to one man-God, Jesus. GLORY!!
Slava Bohu!
I too pondered on v. 12, that all who lead a godly life in Christ will be persecuted. We Christians in America don’t know a lot about persecution, to the point that IMHO we misuse and water down that word to cover inconvenience, fear for a loss of Christians’ being in the majority, and sometimes feeling socially ridiculed. Persecution is a social or civic situation of being put in jail, killed, homes destroyed, tortured, serious stuff for believing in Jesus and not denying Him. Jesus was awfully (awesomely?) radical in caring for the poor, the widow, the prisoner, the marginalized, and awfully harsh on the pious churchgoers who weren’t open to the spiritual changes required in responding to His call that the kingdom is here, with Him.
Fred, I am thinking that you, me, the Bruners are experiencing the devil’s tricks and deceptions to cause us pain and inconvenience, to distract us from our focus on God (more like The Screwtape Letters), not persecution per se. Maybe I am off on that.