2 Timothy 3:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What does this mean? As the prophet David exhorted, “Do not envy evildoers” (Ps 36:1), so Paul exhorts: “Continue in the things you have learned and that have been entrusted to you.”

He does not simply say, “what you have learned,” but “what has been entrusted to you,” that is, what you have firmly believed.

What, then, have I believed? That such is life. Do not be troubled if you see something contrary to what you believe. Abraham also saw something contrary to his faith, yet he was not troubled at all.

He heard, “In Isaac your seed shall be called” (Gen 21:12). Meanwhile he received the command to sacrifice Isaac. Yet he was not troubled and did not doubt.

Therefore let no one be scandalized by evil. Scripture foretold it from of old.

Be unchanging, he says, and do not emulate evildoers or envy those who work lawlessness (Ps 36:1). You did not simply learn, but were assured, that is, you received the teaching with conviction. Therefore, even if you see something contrary to what you were assured of, do not be troubled. Abraham heard that "in Isaac your seed shall be called" (Gen 21:12), yet he was not troubled when he received the command to sacrifice him. "Knowing by whom you were taught." The Apostle Paul presents two incentives for Timothy to remain unshaken. First, he says, you learned not casually from just anyone, but from Paul, and this is the same as from Christ; ...

This is why people never fully and rightly learn by themselves the mysteries that belong to the inner life with God. Not even the help of the holiest men, nor even the assistance of holy angels, suffices if one is not taught by God from God (Jn 6:45).

Bodily medicines, applied to men by other men, help only those to whom God grants health. He can heal without medicines.

Although medicines are ineffective without God’s help, people still use them. In every case, the diligent providing of them is regarded as a work of mercy and piety.

So also the aids of instruction given to the soul help when God Himself makes them useful. If He had wished, He could have given man the Gospel itself not from men and not through man.

Therefore, amid all the joyless circumstances in the life of an honest Christian, and amid all the seductive speeches and exhortations of malicious teachers, Timothy, and with him each of us, must abide in the Orthodox and saving teaching given to him by Christ Himself and His Apostles.

In every age many intricate teachings circulate about important religious questions. These concern, for example, the formation, antiquity, and purpose of the world.

They speak of man’s origin from a higher breed of apes, of Christianity’s supposedly low and unsurpassed position among other religions, and of future religions that are allegedly better.

But remain in what you learned from me and in what was entrusted by God through a spiritual man. You know from what sort of men you learned.

Read the divine Scriptures more often. Let the sacred book never fall from your hands. Learn what you yourself teach. ... Let your deeds not disagree with your speech, lest during your church discourse someone silently ask you: Why do you yourself not do what you teach others? A pampered teacher is one who speaks about fasting with a full belly. Even a robber can denounce covetousness. In a priest of Christ, face, mind, and hands must agree with one another.

"But you remain in the things which you have learned and which have been entrusted to you." Firmly preserve the teaching whose truth you have learned by experience. The Apostle expressed this by the words: "which have been entrusted." Timothy was an eyewitness of apostolic miracles and himself performed many such things. Then the Apostle also points to the trustworthiness of the teacher, thereby making the teaching firmer. "Knowing from whom you learned." He reminds him that Timothy himself was raised in piety.

“But you continue in the things you have learned.” Do not envy evildoers (Ps 36:1), but continue in the teaching that I handed down to you.

“And the things that have been entrusted to you.” For you not only learned, but confirmed this teaching in yourself by deeds. Or this means: you believed, and believed with full conviction, and no temptation should shake you.

From of old, from the very beginning, the devil has mixed falsehood with truth and evil with virtue. God commanded the first people good. The devil appeared with a promise of divine dignity for them.

Cain was with Abel. The sons of men were with the chosen sons of God. Ham was with Japheth, Pharaoh with Abraham, Ishmael with Isaac, Esau with Jacob, and the sorcerers with Moses.

He charges Timothy to remain firm and unshaken in what he learned and what was entrusted to him. That is, he is to remain in the dogmas of the Christian faith and in the Gospel ordinances which he learned, came to know, and was assured of.

You have, he says, O Timothy, two things that strengthen you in this saving perseverance. These are the holiness of your teacher, “knowing from whom you learned them,” and the knowledge of divine Scripture, “and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings.”

This was truly sufficient for the strengthening commanded to Timothy. As Paul’s disciple and follower, he saw all his labors beyond human measure, his great contests of faith and virtue, the miracles performed through him, and the gifts of the All-Holy Spirit dwelling in him.

"Knowing from whom you learned," that is, from Paul himself. Paul reminds him of this, showing that it is the greatest praise for a teacher when his disciples walk the path he indicated. Likewise, following this or that teacher lays certain obligations upon the disciple's life.

A particular explanation from the section “Guiding instructions in the fulfillment of pastoral duties” (2 Tim 3:14-4:1-6).

Let us briefly repeat the content of this section. In it the holy Apostle Paul offers his disciple Timothy encouraging motives, first, to teach others firmly in pure Christian doctrine, and second, to teach it to others tirelessly.

In the first respect two motives are set forth: “know from whom you learned” (2 Tim 3:14), and “that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures” (2 Tim 3:15-17).

For preaching activity, three motives are suggested. First, on the day of judgment the pastor will have to give account to God for his flock.

Firm standing in the faith depends greatly on awareness of the purity of its sources. For Timothy these were the living guidance of Christ’s Apostle Paul and the sacred Scripture of the Old Testament, which he had studied from youth.

Undoubtedly this was together with those traditions concerning the coming of the Savior that lived in the best representatives of Israel’s expectation, and which the holy Apostle Paul later explained to him.

The Apostle also brings into view the importance of the ministry entrusted to Timothy.

Yes, Timothy must suffer for the truth, not being deceived by the visible success of the false teachers. He must firmly preserve the apostolic teaching, of whose truth he is fully convinced. The Greek ἐπιστώθης, from πιστόω, means "I establish" or "I assure." He also knows well the pure origin of this teaching.

“But you continue.” Be unshaken and firm. In what? In “the things you have learned,” emathes, and “the things entrusted to you,” epistothes.

That is, continue in what you received not by memory alone, but with heartfelt conviction, in what you were persuaded of and made certain of almost to the point of touch.

“Be unchanging,” he says, “and do not envy the evildoers, nor the man who prospers in his way and does lawlessness” (cf. Ps 36:1, 7). “You did not simply learn, but were assured. You received the teaching with conviction” (Theophylact; see the same in Chrysostom and Oecumenius).