Note 25 at 2 Tim. 3:17: The English word "perfect" came from the Greek word "ARTIOS" which means, "complete" (Strong). It is often used to refer to maturity or sufficiency (see ref. g). Paul is saying that God's Word will make us complete, mature, sufficient for every good work. This is a powerful statement.

Many people teach that God's Word isn't enough to complete our growth. They say we have to suffer, and be tried to attain maturity. That's not what this verse is saying. God's Word is capable of making us perfect in every area.

Is that to say that we learn and are perfected ONLY through God's Word? Certainly not! Most of us do learn by hard knocks. God's Word is able to complete us in every area without those heartaches if we would let it do its work. We can either learn through God's Word or we can learn by our mistakes. The choice is ours. The better choice is to learn through God's Word (see note 8 at Rom. 5:3, p. 769).