II Timothy 3:10-11

In verse 10 the teaching begins to become very direct and forceful in regard to what Timothy's responsibility is going to be in this time. If it is fit for Timothy, it is instruction for you and me because we are much closer to the end than Timothy ever was.

I am going to insert the word "my" in verses 10 and 11. It does not actually appear in the Greek, but I just want to emphasize it, because I want to point out that what Paul is talking about here is a problem that existed within the church during Paul's time, and it continued to get worse and worse. When we get into the apostle John's writings, which were written about thirty years later, we find that what Paul talked about had advanced to a very great degree of heresy.

The apostle John built much of the book of I John around the very thing Paul is talking about in II Timothy 3:10-11 because of the way John begins his epistle. He is saying, "Remember where you got the truth." That is exactly what Paul is saying here.

Paul is pointing out to Timothy where learned the truth. It was through the apostle Paul. That is exactly what John did later. He said to these people, without saying it directly, "Where did you get the truth?" He is saying, "Let me remind you where you got the truth." The reason he is saying this is because false teachers were infiltrating the church, and they were coming up with doctrines that were different from the ones that had been taught by the apostles.

In some cases they may have been overtly different. In other cases they were skewing off to the side, but they were going in a direction that the apostles could very clearly see was taking people away from the way of God. So he points Timothy back to where Timothy got the truth. Timothy got the doctrine from Paul. He had Paul's example in all parts of Paul's life.