2 Timothy 3:14–17
Some context: The Apostle Paul is once again in prison. His days on earth are numbered, but he’s been thinking about his protégé, a young man named Timothy. Timothy is the pastor of the church in Ephesus and Paul is writing to him because he’s concerned.
There were things happening in the church that were causing Timothy discouragement. There was dissension among some leaders. There were false teachers who were gaining ground. It appears that young Timothy was intimidated and being pressured to back off of his commitment to the truth or even to quit.
Not only were there pressures from within the church but living and serving Jesus in the city of Ephesus had its challenges. Biblical truth was literally a foreign concept. Earlier in this letter, Paul describes the moral and spiritual condition of the culture; lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, lovers of pleasure, etc.
Timothy needs to know that when he stands to preach that it’s a message of truth. He needs to be confident that the scriptures are true, that they are authoritative, and that they indeed come from God. I think we need that today. In a day with so many opinions on so many debatable issues, we need truth upon which to base our lives.
So, hear what the Apostle Paul writes:
The source of Scripture
In verse 16 Paul writes, “All scripture is God breathed.” Paul is stating the fundamental truth about the source of Scripture: it comes from God. The scriptures are the inspired word of God.
We need to be careful here because the word “inspiration” has various meanings. When it’s used to describe how we got our Bible there are several things that “inspiration” doesn’t mean:
It’s not natural inspiration.
It’s not simply a high level of human achievement. You can look at a great painting or hear a great speech or listen to a great song and it’s obvious that the artist or the orator were inspired. But that’s not what we’re talking about when we say that the scriptures are inspired. The Bible is not a collection of writings by highly skilled authors.
Inspiration is not only in the thoughts of the writers.
God didn’t just inspire a writer with some ideas and then they wrote their own words and thoughts to convey those ideas.
In 1 Corinthians 2:13 Paul writes, “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” These words are the words that are taught by the Spirit. Inspiration is not just about the concepts but in the words used to express the truths and concepts.
Inspiration is not just the act of God on the reader.
Some people believe that inspiration is determined by the reader so that as you read there are verses that inspire you. While that may happen to you, there may also be times when you feel nothing upon reading the Bible. When you feel nothing, it’s still inspired.
God-breathed
There are other ideas about inspiration but think about inspiration as “God breathed.” God has given us a written record. The Bible is 66 separate books written by 40 different authors who wrote over a period of 1600 years.
Each one reached the point that God intended, and God directed the free choice of the author to write down the words of God. The human authors were not automatons whose will was taken over by God. God literally selected the words out of the author’s life and personality and vocabulary and emotions. The writers put pen to papyrus, but they were carried along by the Holy Spirit to where they needed to go.
Note the words “all scripture.” In verses 14 and 15 when Paul refers to the scriptures that Timothy knew from infancy it’s a clear reference to the Old Testament.
So, what about the New Testament? Did the writers know they were writing scripture? We’re not certain but here’s what we do know: In 2 Peter 3 he is defending the Apostle Paul’s writings as authoritative. He writes this, “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort” and then this, “as they do the other scriptures.” Peter recognized Paul’s letters to be on par with the Old Testament scriptures.
The power of Scripture
In verse 15 Paul reminds Timothy how from infancy he had known the Holy Scriptures “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” We know from Chapter 1:5 that Timothy’s mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, were committed followers of Jesus. Paul describes them as having “sincere faith.”
From infancy on these two-woman had trained Timothy in the scriptures. We know that his dad was a Greek speaking Jew who was not committed to the scriptures. But his mom’s and grandma’s influence had conveyed faith in Christ to this young man.
If you boil down the message of the Bible to its basic message it tells the truth about humans and the truth about God. Humans are sinful and need a Saviour. God came to our rescue through Jesus’ death and resurrection. He is our Saviour. That’s it.
The message of the Old Testament is that humankind is sinful and incapable of rescuing ourselves. The Old Testament law only confirmed human’s inability to live a perfect life. The message of the New Testament is that a Saviour is here to rescue us.
The usefulness of the Bible
This God-breathed book is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
Teaching
Teaching focuses on the Bible as giving us the truths we need to live our lives as our Designer intended. The Bible teaches me not only about salvation but about money and about marriage and about how to treat people and how to resolve conflict and more.
Rebuking
Rebuking sounds harsh, but it really means “confronting my wrong ideas, attitudes, and behavior.” All of us carry misconceptions and distortions about God and ourselves and life. Those need to be confronted and changed.
Correcting
This is similar to rebuking, but it focuses more on behaviour. All of us wander off the path of life. The scriptures bring us a course correction.
Training in righteousness
The word “righteousness” means right living. I need to be trained in it. It doesn’t come naturally. The Bible provides the necessary training for me to live right.
So that
Paul then adds a “so that.” If you embrace the scriptures for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in right living you will be thoroughly, completely, fully equipped to live a purpose-filled life.
All scripture is God breathed—that’s it’s source. It’s also what brings me to salvation. And when I embrace it and live it, I live out the Designer’s will and purpose.
— Notes from Pastor Marvin Wojda’s sermons on February 12th & 13th, 2022.
CLICK HERE to watch the sermon on YouTube.