2 Timothy 3:10-17

The Voice

Paul challenges Timothy to be prepared. Hard times are coming. Things will go from bad to worse, he warns, because pretentious, hostile, hateful, and betraying people are out there. He tells Timothy to stay away from them and to continue to look to Paul’s example, enduring in love and recalling how Paul himself has followed Jesus. For if Jesus was persecuted, then what should His followers expect for themselves? In the midst of this warning, Paul encourages Timothy.

¹⁰You have been a good student. You have closely observed how I have lived. You’ve followed my instructions, my habits, my purpose, my faith, my patience. You’ve watched how I love and have seen how I endure. You have been with me ¹¹through persecutions and sufferings—remember what they did to me in Antioch? In Iconium and Lystra? I endured all of it, and the Lord rescued me from it all! ¹²Anyone wishing to live a godly life in Jesus the Anointed will be hunted down and persecuted. ¹³But as for the wicked and the imposters, they will keep leading and following each other further and further away from the truth. ¹⁴So surely you ought to stick to what you know is certain. All you have learned comes from people you know and trust ¹⁵because since childhood you have known the holy Scriptures, which enable you to be wise and lead to salvation through faith in Jesus the Anointed. ¹⁶All of Scripture is God-breathed; in its inspired voice, we hear useful teaching, rebuke, correction, instruction, and training for a life that is right ¹⁷so that God’s people may be up to the task ahead and have all they need to accomplish every good work.