All of Scripture for All of Life
The Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture
Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God…”
All means all. There are people nowadays who will try to poke holes at the reliability or relevance of Scripture. Academics who think the Bible is just for a bunch of uneducated simpletons and should be dismissed altogether; activists who think the Bible can be used to justify their political position but otherwise ignored; spiritualists who think the Bible can be used as a feel-good motivator but not as a life-corrector.
Earlier in this chapter, Paul warns Timothy against such people. “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1–5).
There have always been and will always be opposers to God’s word. Since the Garden, when the Serpent asked: “Did God really say?” There will always be attempts to doubt the word of God, but they were and remain unsuccessful.
Paul first warned Timothy, but then he affirmed him. “You, however, have followed my teaching…” (3:10). There is a contrast between those who doubt God’s word or abuse it to suit their selfish desires and those who trust God’s word and use it for conformity to Christlikeness.
We cannot be selective with Scripture. It is all or nothing. And Paul says, “All of Scripture is breathed out by God…”
The phrase “breathed out by God” is actually one word in Greek. Some of you may know it. Theopnuestos—which means God-breathed. If you scan through the Greek NT, the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT), or any non-biblical ancient text, you will not find theopnuestos anywhere. Greek scholars agree that Paul created this word by squeezing two words together: Theos meaning God; think of theology. And pneo (ne-o) meaning breath (or to blow); think of pneumonia. The reason I’m spending time here is because of the uniqueness of this word. All of creation was spoken (or breathed out) by God; humanity was given the breath of life; and here, Scripture is breathed out by God.
Because of that, the Bible is both authoritative and sufficient. It is much more than that, but these two attributes will help shape our understanding of Scripture, which is the foundation for the Christian life and this church body.
Scripture is authoritative because of the one who authored it. Since Scripture is God’s word, it holds the same gravity as God himself. Think of it in earthly terms. If we are citizens of a state, we are subject to the laws of that state, dictated by the rulers of that state. But the authority extends only as far as the sovereignty of the ruler. I am not obligated to obey Governor Newsom because his jurisdiction ends at California’s border. God, on the other hand, is sovereign over all. Therefore, his word is authoritative for all.
Scripture is sufficient because of the one who spoke it. Since Scripture is God’s word, it carries the same capacity as God himself. Does the Bible say everything about everything? No. It never claims to or attempts to. But what it does reveal is everything we need pertaining to life and godliness. If Scripture was man-breathed, it would be insufficient because we lack wisdom and knowledge and goodness. There is information that we did not have and implications that we have not considered. But God, lacks nothing. His word is sufficient because he is perfectly capable to tell us whatever we need to know for salvation and sanctification. Spurgeon once wrote, “Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.”
So, Scripture is not only breathed out by God which is an ontological claim (explaining what it is), but it is also profitable which is an economical claim (explaining what it does).
The Four Uses of Scripture
Paul continues in 3:16, “All Scripture is… profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
We are given two beliefs (teaching and correcting) and two behaviors (training and reproving).
Let’s move through each of these briefly:
Teaching: Scripture tells us what to believe. This is a very good thing because I am so ignorant. There is so much that I don’t know. Seriously. Yet, God, in his perfect wisdom, has written down everything I need to know. One of the men discipling me taught me the Ezra 7:10 principle which is: Learn, live, give. “Ezra set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” We must study to learn, learn how to live, and then go out and give. In every area of life, God’s word holds authority and has sufficiency to teach us what we don’t know. So, we should make a habit of opening the word with the expectation that we will learn something from it. God teaches us.
Correcting: When we believe something wrongly—which is inevitable for us all—God’s word corrects us. A funny and necessary verse is Proverbs 12:1, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” Why is that? Well, if you care about knowledge, and you are misinformed, you should want to be corrected. But if you would rather stay in your ignorance, because you hate correction, well… Proverbs 12:1 says you’re stupid. And boy am I stupid. But here’s the good news: We don’t have to be. Scripture is full of anticipated corrections. It’s like a “how-not-to manual” for the Christian life. God corrects us.
Training: Scripture tells us how to behave. It gives us positive instruction for the Christian life. Psalm 119:9, 11 tells us, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word… I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Scripture is beneficial because the holy and sinless God teaches us how to live a life that is pleasing to him and better for us. And since we are unrighteous by nature, the only way to learn is to turn to the only righteous one—Christ. 2 Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” God trains us.
Reproving: When we behave wrongly—which again, we all will—God’s word reproves (or rebukes us). In the same way that it corrects wrong thinking; it can also correct wrong living. We’re like the Romans 7 man who does what he shouldn’t and doesn’t do what he should. There are wrong ways to live, which I’m guilty of that, but there is a right way to live that God reveals to us through his word. Proverbs 16:25 warns, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” God’s word offers guidance for how we ought to behave. Our way leads to death, but his way leads to life. And in our folly, we choose death. But in God’s kindness, he reproves us and brings us back to life.
The Bible speaks to every area of our lives: how to believe, how not to believe, how to behave, and how not to behave. It provides a full spectrum of instruction so that we can glorify God through our thoughts and behaviors, our emotions and actions, what we do and do not do.
All of Scripture for all of life.
