2 Timothy 3:17

2 Timothy 3:17. That the man of God. This, in technical language, is the final cause of the inspiration of Scripture

the reason why God has thus made it profitable. The ‘ man of God' is used here, as before in 1 Timothy 6:11, as a half official term, as in 1 Kings 13:1; 2 Kings 6:6; 2 Kings 6:9, to indicate the work of Timothy as a prophet and evangelist.

Perfect. In the sense of being complete at all points. The participle ‘ thoroughly furnished' is in the Greek formed from the same root, so that the effect answers to that of the English, ‘that the man of God may be complete, completely equipped.' The explanation which has been given of this verse refers it primarily to the work of Scripture in fitting the minister of Christ, such as was Timothy, for his appointed work. But it is obvious that the work is not limited to this, and that this is the end for which Scripture was given in relation to each individual soul. It is obvious that St. Paul refers chiefly, many would say exclusively, to the Scriptures of the Old Testament; and it may well be believed that he had no thought at the time that this letter of personal counsel and strong emotion would come under the category of the Scripture of which he thus speaks. We need not, however, limit the word to this meaning. Other ‘writings' or Scriptures were beginning to be known as such, records of the Gospel history (1 Timothy 5:18), records of prophetic utterances (Romans 16:26; 2 Peter 1:20), some of St. Paul's own Epistles (2 Peter 3:16). The fact that the word had gained this wider range explains St. Paul's addition of the qualifying adjective, not ‘ every Scripture' absolutely, but ‘every God-inspired Scripture,' as though giving a test by which that inspiration might be recognised.