Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been looking at 2 Timothy 3:16 and suggesting that though some will pluck it out of context and use it to ‘prove’ that the Bible is the inerrant word of God in all its detail this verse in fact can be used to do no such thing. Last week I looked at the word God-breathed and the previous week I considered which Scriptures it was referring to. Today it would be good to ask what the verse has to say about the purpose of Scripture.

Useful not sufficient

The NIV has it thus: it is ‘useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’. Let’s take the word ‘useful’ to begin with. The Greek is ophelimos and can be translated by ‘valuable’ or ‘profitable’ as well as ‘useful’. On its own it’s hardly a strong word, as pointed out by my friend Mark Lowe in a comment on a previous post. Paul uses it on another two occasions in his letters. It has the general meaning that something has ‘gain’ when used. In arguing against the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura some Catholic websites point out that ophelimos does not mean ‘sufficient’, in the sense that nothing else is required. And in that they are quite correct. So while Paul is saying that you would gain by studying the Scriptures, he is not saying that you need not turn anywhere else.

Training in righteousness

Now let’s ask what you would be gaining in. The verse itself is quite clear – you would gain by being taught, trained, corrected and rebuked. Also clear is the subject in which you would be taught it – righteousness. The context also makes this clear. In verse 15 Paul says that the ‘sacred writings’ would give Timothy ‘wisdom that leads to salvation’. And in verse 17 he speaks about the ‘man of God’ being ‘equipped’ for his work. Since this is a reference to Timothy’s work as a ‘minister’ then we may safely assume that Paul is talking about serving Christians in a spiritual capacity here. Indeed, the context of the whole letter – written to give the young Timothy advice and encouragement as he navigates through the choppy waters of serving a church in a pagan world – it could be said that Paul is telling him that the Hebrew scriptures could be very helpful as his spiritual and moral guide.

As indeed they are and as is the collection of books we know as the New Testament. They are highly valuable, uniquely valuable even, but they form only one part of our armoury. We have other tools to help us – not least our own access to God. But then Paul never suggested anything else.


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