Cheryl Schatz

I believe this to be true. Timothy knew what Paul meant because they were close to the situation and this was a personal letter to Timothy. I also believe that it was written for our benefit and for our instruction. If it had been a personal letter alone without benefit that we can derive from trying to make sense of some of the key verses (1 Timothy 2:15 for example) then God would not have included it in scripture. As such, even these hard passages are there for a purpose and God inspired them in the way that they were written. They definitely are hard passages but I sincerely believe we can compare Paul to Paul and use his own writings to understand what we were meant to understand. We were never meant to understand who the exact problem people were, but there are underlying principles that are very helpful for us today. To that end we need to work hard to study to show ourselves approved. Don, I believe that you have tried very hard to do that and you are to be commended.