Who is the man of God
in II Timothy 3:16-17?
Paul wrote those words to Timothy, the first bishop of the church at Ephesus (see the subscript for II Tim 4:22). Three books of the New Testament were written to pastors, so they are called the Pastoral Epistles, I and II Timothy and Titus. The specific context of the words is those called to preach the word (II Tim 4:2), Jesus Christ’s bishops-pastors-teachers, all synonyms. Are all in the church called to teach? No (I Cor 12:28-31)! God gave the Bible primarily to the men He chose and called to be teachers, no matter what testament you check (Deut 17:8-12; Ezra 7:6; Neh 8:1-8; Mal 2:7; Titus 1:5-9). Studying the Bible the way Jesus Christ ordained is a full-time job that cannot tolerate any distractions (I Tim 4:13-16; II Tim 2:4,15).