“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
These two verses contain great truths about God’s word. We will be spending several days unpacking this verse together to learn together to glean truths about the relationship between God’s word and the follower of Christ.
As we have been talking about the last several days, God’s word is indispensable to the Christian. It is impossible to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus, without knowing what God’s word says. How will you know who or how to follow if you don’t know who Jesus or God is? God’s word is indispensable to the Christian.
The first thing we are told about God’s word is that it is God-breathed.
What does that mean?
The Greek word is a compound word of God and breath. This was a way of saying that these words are inspired by God.
Check this out. When the Bible speaks, it’s God speaking. That’s what it means to be God-breathed.
The breath of God has theological significance: Go back to Genesis and the creation of Adam and Eve. God formed and shaped the man out of the ground, but the man did not come alive until…until what? Until God breathed on the man.
God’s breath is God’s Spirit. God’s breath is the Spirit of life. Nothing has life – a life that never dies, a life that never decays, a life that is abundant – without God’s Spirit.
“All Scripture is God-breathed…”
- When the Bible speaks, God speaks
- The word of God is the Spirit of God that gives life
God’s word is indispensable to the disciple of Christ.
Praxis: Faith in Action 