2 Timothy 3:10-17

3:10-15 | Paul warns Timothy that standing for truth and living for Christ comes with a price. Yet if one’s life is built on the Holy Scriptures rather than the shifting values of the day, adversity will only reveal the riches of true faith. For those who do not build their lives accordingly, crises will reveal their bankrupt faith.

3:10 | Longsuffering and perseverance both refer to enduring patience, although the former suggests patience with people while the latter speaks to patience amid one’s circumstances.

3:11 | Paul’s deliverance from Timothy’s hometown, Lystra, and other places where he suffered persecution – places that Timothy knew well (Acts 13:14, 51; 14:6, 21; 16:1) – would have reassured young Timothy of the Lord’s ability to deliver him out of hardship. Afflictions are physical problems.

3:13-15 | The mature and stable Christian is characterized by an intimate knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and a life that lives this out day by day (Titus 1:19).

3:16-17 | God’s Word is profitable for all things – evangelism (James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23; 2 Pet. 1:4), education, exhortation, encouragement, and enabling people in righteous living. God’s people need nothing else. Yet they must invest – studying and applying its wisdom – to receive any dividends! In reproof and correction, errors in doctrine, conduct, and attitude are revealed. Christians must never shut off or override this divine warning system – heeding the instructions in the Word can prevent disaster in their lives.

3:16 | The whole Bible is God’s final authority for life and ministry. Because it is God-breathed (given by inspiration), it is authoritative, without error (inerrant), and infallible (it always tells the truth).

3:17 | It is not enough to believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God if it does not accomplish its purpose in transforming us. The impact of Scripture is that it makes people complete and thoroughly equipped – spiritually proficient, prepared, and productive, and able to accomplish every good work that God desires. Man of God is a specific, biblical term for those who preach.