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You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
  • KJV And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
  • BSB From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
  • NKJV and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
  • NASB and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

From childhood Timothy has known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make him wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Scripture leads to salvation as it points to Christ.

Overview

Timothy was raised on the Old Testament Scriptures, which Paul says can make one 'wise for salvation.' Crucially, this saving wisdom comes 'through faith which is in Christ Jesus,' for the Scriptures find their fulfillment and goal in him. The verse affirms both the saving purpose of Scripture and its Christ-centered focus.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 29

  • Ps 119:98–99Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for your commandments are always with me.
  • Luke 24:45Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.
  • Prov 22:6Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
  • 2 Pet 1:20–21knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation.
  • Matt 22:29But Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.
  • 1 Cor 15:3–4For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
  • Luke 24:27Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
  • 2 Tim 1:5having been reminded of the sincere faith that is in you; which lived first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also.
  • John 5:39–40“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
  • Luke 2:40The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
  • Ps 19:7Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s testimony is sure, making wise the simple.
  • Acts 10:43All the prophets testify about him, that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive remission of sins.”
  • Luke 24:32They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”
  • Rom 16:26
  • Rom 1:2which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
  • Ps 71:17God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works.
  • Prov 8:17I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.
  • Acts 17:2Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
  • 1 Sam 2:18But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.
  • Dan 10:21But I will tell you that which is inscribed in the writing of truth: and there is no one who holds with me against these, but Michael your prince.”
  • Rev 19:10I fell down before his feet to worship him. He said to me, “Look! Don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.”
  • 2 Chr 34:3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images.
  • Acts 13:29When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb.
  • 2 Pet 3:16as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
  • Acts 13:38–39Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins,
  • 1 Jn 5:11–12The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
  • 1 Pet 1:10–12Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
  • Eccl 12:1Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
  • Luke 1:15For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 2 Timothy videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 2 Timothy 3:15YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 2 TimothyMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Christ Jesus 'abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel' — the risen Lord whose word and kingdom endure to the end.

How 2 Timothy 3:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.