2 Timothy 3:16 - God Breathed Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

Message: God Breathed Scripture

Time: Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy 4 years into Timothy's ministry at the church of Ephesus. Paul wrote  this letter from a dark and damp Roman prison cell, just before his beheading in AD 67. Paul wrote again to this young leader in the church at Ephesus to provide him encouragement and fortitude in the face of difficulties and trials.

What the Lord is Saying:

Preface - The revelation of God comes to us as natural and special revelation. The creation testifies of who God is and the Word of God speaks directly to us about the way of the Lord - salvation. With the death of the apostles God's revelation to man ended. We have all that we need though in the Holy Scriptures.

Paul sets forth that All Scripture is inspired (or breathed out) by God. I prefer the word breathed out because it sounds more complete. The Greek word for breathed out is theoneustos and it is the only time this word is used by the Apostles. Thus, Scripture has a unique of coming forth to man and nothing but Scripture is the Word of God.

Even as God breathed out all of God's word, he did through different writers and each writer, in a way gives a unique personality to the words that he pens. Nevertheless these words of Scripture are as spoken of by God and so we can think of them as God's word.

All scripture -- all Canon - is God's Word, yet at the time of the writing scripture consisted of the words primarily of the Old Testament. The Greek word for All is actually better translated as every. I like every because it seems more specific to each Scripture. The Canon of Scripture did not come together until the 5th century. There were many leaders and theologians from the death of Christ up to the Canon that enumerated the inspiration of the words of Scripture - men like Clement, Bishop of Rome, A.D. 70-96, Polycarp of Smyrna, A.D. 108, Ignatius of Antioch, A.D. 107, Barnabas of Alexandria, probably A.D. 140-160, Justin Martyr, A.D. 140-150, Athenagoras, A.D. 160-180, Irenœus, A.D. 180, Tertullian, A.D. 200, Clement master of the Catechetical School of Alexandria, A.D. 199-200, Hippolytus of Portus, A.D. 218, Origen, A.D. 230. 

It is important to remember that all Scripture is breathed and spoken by God. We can never play cafeteria with our Bible, picking things we like and passing on other words. It is an all or nothing approach because once we start picking and choosing, how do we decide what is right.

Promise: We do not know exactly how God moved the human authors of Scripture to give us His Word, but we can still trust it and to know God's will for us, we turn to the Scripture for divine authority and inspiration. 

Prayer: God, thank You for speaking to me in the way you have. You are perfect in your presentation and may I remain excited and plugged in to always read and study Your Word. Thank you for the faithful men that have come before me who you always moved in to determine the Canon of Scripture. To think that this occurred 1600 years ago is amazing to me, but it also reminds me Lord that you do not change. You are the same yesterday, today and forever.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.