Motherhood: An Anchor Against Apostasy

This post is dedicated to my mother and grandmother.

-----“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:14-15).”
-----Paul encourages Timothy to continue in the truth in light of the ones from whom he has learned it. The word “whom” is in the plural and thus must refer to a group of people. Matthew Henry identifies them as the apostles. Others identify them as Eunice and Lois, Timothy's mother and grandmother (1:5). The former explanation does not fit well because the context would, if referring to apostolic teaching, at most point to Paul and not to a plurality of apostles. However, Eunice and Lois is very appropriate as they were the ones who taught Timothy “from childhood.”
-----These verses are part of Paul's warning against false teachers who would rise up within Timothy's life, most likely as part of the great apostasy that would precede the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:2,3,11). Paul contrasts the lives of these wicked men first with his own life, and then, in the above verses, with the lives of Eunice and Lois. While the false teachers had lives characterized by wickedness, Timothy's mother and grandmother were apparently women of godly character.
-----How blessed are these women that the Apostle would commend their lives as an anchor for their boy's faith. When parents live lives of holiness in reliance on the gospel they guard against apostasy in their offspring. This is by the grace of God through the faith of His people as they trust that the Lord “keeps covenant... with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9).” Conversely, we may know that a person might drive their offspring to apostasy through an unfaithful life.
-----This should help Christians strive confidently (“with faith”) in the kindness of God. One should live in such a way that, when one's child is older, he can see stark contrast between his parents' lives and the lives of false teachers. Then that child will clearly see the folly of false gospels and cling to the sacred writings that have nourished him since infancy.