Paul says to his close friend Timothy: "But continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them, and that from a child you have known the holy scriptures (OT), which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2Tim. 3: 14-15).

The only scriptures in existence when Timothy was a child were the pages of what we call the Old Testament, which are able to make us wise unto salvation -- through faith -- in Christ Jesus.

Not many ministers today would make that claim. Paul did.

Good point, wopik.

I think that even those who would argue for a strict point of salvation through explicit faith in Christ could concede Paul's point that the Hebrew Scriptures helped one come to a wisdom which predisposed one to accept the Gospel and its saving power. In other words, the O.T. Scriptures enabled a wisdom that led to faith.

Hence, the Jerusalem Bible puts it: ". . . ever since you were a child you have known the holy scriptures--from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."

And the New American Bible: "Likewise, from your infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, the source of the wisdom which through faith in Jesus Christ leads to salvation."

Maybe this is the point you were making, too?

And, of course, Karl Rahner, SJ went much, much further, as did Vatican II re: the salvific efficacy of the other great traditions (salvation, to be sure, rendered through Jesus Christ).

pax,
jb