human
(ἱερὰ γράμματα) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The usual expression is
gpt
(αἱ γραφαί); and once (Rom. i. 2) we have
human
(γραφαὶ ἅγιαι). Here both substantive and adjective are unusual. The adjective occurs in only one other passage in the New Testament, a passage which throws light upon this one.
gpt
Know ye not that they who perform the sacred rites, from the sacred place get their food? (_Speaker's Commentary_, on 1 Cor. ix. 13.) And just as in that passage
human
are the Jewish sacrifices, and
gpt
the Jewish Temple, so here
human
are the Jewish Scriptures. It is utterly improbable that any Christian writings are included. How could Timothy have known any of these from infancy? Even at the time when St. Paul wrote this farewell letter, there was little Christian literature, excepting his own Epistles; and he was not likely to speak of them as