Apostle Paul writes, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
The word “Scripture” refers to the written Word of God, or the spoken Word of God written down as testimony for many generations of both believers and unbelievers.
The verse above states two things about Scripture: (1) it is God-breathed and (2) useful -it is for use….
It is interesting that the first reference to God breathing is in relation to the creation of Man in Genesis 2:7, “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” It means that God’s breath is the breath of life, or the breath of God is life-imparting. It turned the Man who was dust only into a “living being” or living soul….
It is also interesting that we read in John 20:22, “And with that he [Jesus, or Emmaneul, God with us] breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'” Now, some theologians describe Jesus’ breathing on disciples as “prophetic symbolism” for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2: Note verse 2, “Suddenly a sound of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. “
For the purpose of this message, however, suffice it to say that the expression “God’s breath” is a metaphor for the creative power of God (Holy Spirit) seen in Genesis in relation to the old creation and in the New Testament in relation to new creation….
Accordingly, it is significant that our verse describes “all Scripture” as God-breathed to highlight both (1) the divine source and (2) the divine power it has.
Let’s hear what apostle Peter says in the same vein in 2 Peter 2:29-30, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy [spoken word of God] of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Also, Hebrews 4:12 highlights the divine power of the Scripture: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Please note that the nature of “all Scripture” is what makes it useful. The bible says, all Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
It is important to note that the expression “the man of God” refers to the new man or new creation who is to be trained in all righteousness in order to be thoroughly equipped for every good work -just like a child is born and brought up to become mature and responsible by parents’ teaching, rebuking, correcting and training. The same is done by God for the new creation through “all Scripture”.
I hope we can begin to understand the critical role of Scripture in this context. It means that without “all Scripture” the new creation would not be trained in all righteousness and, therefore, would be wanting when it comes to good works!
It also means that we could explain crises in churches and Christian families on the basis of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 as suggesting a departure of the leadership and parents from “all Scripture”, becoming selective instead…, or failure to use the Scripture to teach, rebuke, correct and train members and children in all righteousness.
