The Inspiration of Scripture

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable…
2 Timothy 3:16a

Shortly before his martyrdom, Paul writes his second letter to Timothy to instruct and strengthen him in the face of the hardships ahead. Sensing, it seems, Timothy's weakness under attacks from within the church and persecution from without, Paul urges him to be strong and to preach the Word. This verse opens an extended line of thought on the use of the Word in Timothy's pastoral ministry as its chief and sufficient instrument. The ground for this, and the confidence in its result (its "profit"), lie in a term found nowhere else in the New Testament: "breathed out by God".

When we hear the word "inspiration", we think of works of art and of their authors seeking inspiration in the created order around them. But the word used in the original says nothing about the author's subjective inspiration. On the contrary, it shows that Scripture was literally "breathed out" by God. The breath of God's Spirit so directed the authors of the Old and New Testaments that what they proclaimed and wrote down conveys exactly the message they received from God. This guidance extends even to their choice of words, guarding the text from errors and omissions.¹ At times God literally gave the human authors specific words, but more often He used their minds, vocabulary and life experience to produce a perfect and inerrant Revelation.

How often, in our everyday use of the Bible, do we pay attention to the nature of the texts in front of us? Is the dryness of my attitude to God's Word, and of my work with it, connected with my losing sight of its nature? There is a direct link between the nature of Scripture and the profit we receive from it. Our attitude, our approach to study, our method – all of this should be determined by the nature of Scripture, yet in our weakness we can ignore this reality. It is easy to affirm the truth of inspiration in words and still leave it out of account when we open the Bible. Subjectively, a wrong attitude robs us of that profit, and may even lead us to neglect a remarkable means of grace, the Word of God.

Heavenly Father, help me today to see Scripture as it truly is – the Word breathed out by You.