"While evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:13-15).
Paul has just finished saying that those who desire to live a godly life will draw the ire of those who do not share that desire. He goes on to say that evil men and charlatans are in a downward spiral, going from bad to worse. The process by which this happens is the process of lying and being lied to. Ungodliness, like godliness, is organic and grows. The moral condition of man is not static. On that basis, Paul urges Timothy to continue in what he has learned and believed. Both godliness and ungodliness are resources that compound with interest. We grow up into salvation, or we grow down into damnation. Timothy is reminded that he was given a good start, and that he had been acquainted with the Scriptures from childhood, the sacred writings that are able to make a young man wise in the matters concerning salvation. But this "head start" is not treated as a supplement to faith -- salvation is still through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. The issue is that the the human heart is so averse to grace, and so prone to develop workarounds to grace (some of them in the name of grace) that it is always wise to begin instructing children in the ways of grace early.
Cordially in Christ,
Douglas Wilson
"You will not find the warrior, the poet, the philosopher or the Christian by staring in his eyes as if he were your mistress: better fight beside him, read with him, argue with him, pray with him" C.S. Lewis
Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho
No comments:
Post a Comment