If we are going to start a study on exactly what we believe as Christians, it has to start with the single place from where all of our beliefs must come. It must start in the very word of God itself…the Bible!
What makes the Bible different than any other book? There are lots of books out there. There are lots of books out there about Christianity and Jesus, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit. There are even lots of books about the Bible itself. I was once told an interesting truth that we would all do well to remember. This is my phrasing of it:
A piece of paper will lie still long enough for anyone to write anything on it.
Scott Jackson
There are thousands upon thousands of books out there. There are millions upon millions of articles, blogs, posts, and stories out there. What makes the Bible different? The Bible is different because the Bible has proven itself true over and over again. The Bible has proven itself to be the very authority and origin of history and archeology. The Bible has proven itself to be the very authority and origin of human nature and psychology. The Bible has proven itself to be the very authority and origin of wisdom and guidance. We may get into some of these things as we go, but that isn’t the core of this study. We could spend years talking about all the ways the Bible has proven itself. I encourage you to do that on your own some time. But for now, in this study, we will move along in the knowledge that all of that is true. What we really want is to talk about how the Bible is the guide to all truth as a Christian. We want to talk about how the Bible guides what we believe and how the Bible guides how we live.
If the Bible is the origin of all we believe, then the best and only place to start is with what the Bible says about itself. Let’s start with that well known verse everyone quotes about the Bible.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)
Other translations replace the phrase is given by inspiration of God with “God-breathed” or “breathed by God”. Our word inspire means exactly that. It comes from Latin and means to breathe into. All Scripture is God-breathed. Scripture is the very breath of God. I hope this makes you take a step back and look at the Bible in a wholly different way. It is not just good instructions, or good history; it is life.
Let’s break this passage down. It says quite a bit. We will probably spend more time on this one verse than any other, but I believe it is important to lay this foundation. So let’s look at some key points:
- All Scripture – We need to start with the word Scripture. The word Scripture literally means the written word, not the spoken word. And it is qualified by the word All. All literally means All. All Scripture, or the entire Bible, is God-breathed. Therefore, everything we believe must come from the written word of the Bible. And, it must come from the whole Bible, not parts of it. The entire Bible, All Scripture, is God-breathed. It is one cohesive portrait or tapestry given to us by God.
- Profitable for Doctrine – Doctrine simply means that which is taught or learned. The Bible is the source of what we teach and what we learn. The 12 Disciples were called Disciples simply because they were students. They learned what Jesus taught, and Jesus taught them the Bible (Luke 24:27). We don’t need to go anywhere else, nor can we, to learn about God or to know God.
- Profitable for Reproof – Literally this means “good for proving things”. The Bible is all we need to prove the things of God. The Bible is all we need to prove what is true. It is the only place we must go to find proof of what we believe. But our word proof means more than just to show something is true. It really means to test and show by result of the test that something is true. The Bible is the test of all things. If you think it is true, it must be tested by the Bible to show it is true.
- Profitable for Correction – The Bible is the place we must go to first correct ourselves. This means we must correct our understanding of things by testing that understanding in the light of the Bible. We must be willing to let the Bible correct us. We must be willing to let the Bible correct our beliefs. After correcting ourselves, we can then use the Bible to correct others that are errant.
- Profitable for Instruction in Righteousness – The word used for Instruction in Righteousness in the original Greek is actually the word for chastening. It really means to correct like you might correct a child with a punishment to remove bad behavior and replace it with good behavior. It is the uncomfortable kind of correction meant to improve us morally and change outward behavior, not just correct us intellectually.
- Complete and Thoroughly Equipped – The Bible is all we need to be complete and to be completely equipped. If you don’t know the word of God, you are not equipped to do anything, you are not whole, you are not capable of doing the things of God. If you don’t know the word of God, your doctrine is wrong, you can’t test things to see if they are of God, you can’t correct yourself or others from false belief. If you don’t know the word of God, you can’t be corrected of sin. If you don’t know the word of God, you are not completely equipped to do the work of God.
This very small passage in an instructional letter from the Apostle Paul to a young pastor Timothy is packed with a lot of meaning and understanding. It is full of fundamental truth. That truth is that the word of God is the breath of God. It is the very thing we need to live as Christians. We must come to the Bible for inspection, for direction, and for correction.
In His Service,
~ Scott
Bottom Rower 