God's Word does something

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work".

2 Timothy 3:16-17

In verse 16 Paul lays out the rest of what it means that God’s inspired Word is fully sufficient for the whole Christian life. Paul begins talking about sufficiency with the reason God’s Word is sufficient. It is God’s inspired Word. A big word that simple means; All Scripture is from God and God gives all Scripture from Himself. As our translations say; God breathed. Paul in the original Greek word is telling us that the Bible is the very breath of God, God breathed, God spoken, God written (with human authors), and God’s idea.

This means Paul is saying all scripture is sourced in God. God pours himself, his very essence into the Scriptures. Just like our breath is part of us, so the breath of God, the Bible, is part of who He is. If I would go and eat a lot of onions, you would tell me I have onion breath. You could tell what I ate by my breath. I am revealing something about me by the breath that comes out of my mouth. The same is even more important when it comes to the breath of God. Paul is saying with this one word, God himself pours who he is, reveals his character, tells the reader of himself, in the Bible because it comes from the very mouth of God. Paul is telling us that the Bible is God’s story of love for and to us. Paul is instructing us that this Bible is sourced from, revealed, poured out, from God into the lives and hearts of those who listen and digest it. Paul wants us to catch the nature of Scripture because this is what makes it sufficient to his godly life.

Paul begins to build up the sufficiency of God’s Word from the nature of its inspiration. Paul says that all Scripture is useful or profitable for 4 important actions. Before we jump into the 4 specific things, think about the line. All Scripture is useful. Paul in his writing, God in his breath, tells us that all of Scripture has a 4-fold purpose. All Scripture is beneficial, which means this is not a book that is to be place on his shelf and let dust grow on it. The Bible does something. It takes action. When the Bible is used, it is sufficient to accomplish its purpose from its inspired author. All Scripture has a useful purpose, which carries the truth that the Scriptures must be read, studied, learned, digested, saturated into our souls, and given a place in the godly life to form a person. Paul wants us to live a godly life, which is formed by the purpose of all of Scripture flowing from the breath of God himself into the soul of the child of God. So again, what is our relationship and dependence level with God’s sufficient Word?

One of the writing styles of Paul is to include a prepositional phrase at the end of a thought but have the prepositional phrase point back to the entire thought. Paul unpacks the 4-fold purpose of God’s breath with the thought of righteousness, looking at the end of the flow in verse 16. The idea of righteousness is a whole sermon in itself. But let me explain a little to help us understand what Paul is saying. We were created to glorify and worship God. We as God’s children, were redeemed and saved to glorify and worship God. God saved us so we could again glorify and worship Him. Glorifying and worshiping God in one sense is making the name of God right and living a right life. We could say that righteousness is making the name of God and the worship of God right by living a right life, pleasing to God. This is a basic picture of righteousness, but it helps gives us the picture of righteousness in this text.

Paul is telling us that God’s Breath is useful for teaching what is right, the first action of the four. Teaching is the first action the Word of God takes upon God’s children. The Bible teaches us what is right and what to do to live rightly. Think through that for a moment. A purpose of the Bible is to teach us to live rightly and make the name of God right in a sinful and broken world. The idea of teaching here brings with it the word, doctrine (truth that is learned). All the truth we need to learn, is made clear in the Bible. Everything we need to know about God, sin, humanity, salvation, the end-times, the Holy Spirit, or the church is made clear in the Bible. And this means, the Bible alone is sufficient for right knowledge of God. There is nothing more we need to know about doctrine, outside of God’s Word. We just need to be learners and students of the Word, because it is our perfect teacher. The Bible is our sufficient “professor”.

The second sufficient action of God’s Word is rebuking what is not right or we could say it like this, “rejects a life that does not make the name of God right”. Think about this truth of Scripture. Not only does the Bible teach us perfectly, it also disciplines us perfectly. The Bible is clear with what is sin and what is not. The Bible points out what is wrong, how the devil deceives, what it means to live an ungodly life and attitudes we need to remove from our heart. The Bible perfectly rebukes our evil desires and is the perfect rule book for life. We tend not to think of God’s Word in this way, but just as it does positive work on our lives, it also rebukes and removes the negative in our hearts.  The Bible is our sufficient “paddle”.

Paul gives another negative aspect of Scripture when he says that God’s breath is useful in correcting into becoming right. Again, we could say this as, “The Bible corrects and steers us back to a life that is right and makes the name of God right. When we lose our way or when sin takes us away”. The picture of steering something is important. Like a rudder on a ship. When we humbly submit and follow God’s Word, it both keeps us on the path to a godly life and it corrects us when we walk off the path. Not only is the Bible our rule book, it is also our guide book and map to a life worshipping God rightly. The Bible is our sufficient “compass”.

Which leads Paul into the 4^th aspect of God’s Word and its training to stay right. This aspect of Scripture is Paul’s letters to the churches in a nutshell. Paul understands that the Christian life, a life of godliness, is a battle. This is why he encourages and instructs his brothers and sisters what to do and what to say right. And Paul loves to use sports images. This image is like a coach, training schedule, or work-out app. The Bible makes and keeps us healthy. The Bible keeps our spirits and hearts strong for God. The Bible is like a blower on the fire of our hearts, aflame for God. When we run the race of the Christian life, the Bible alone is what we need to succeed in winning the race and running the Christian journey in such a way that God is pleased. The Bible is our sufficient “trainer”.

The Bible teaches us what is right, rebukes us when we do not do right, corrects us back into what is right, and will keep us in the right if we obey and follow it. Simply put the Bible helps us to perfectly make the name of God right and worship Him. That means when we have problems, are confused, sin, or do not get it, it is not the breath of God’s problem, it is our problem for not obeying and understanding God’s revealed character to us. The Bible is sufficient for everything we need as a Christian. Once more with feeling this time, what is your relationship and dependence level with God’s sufficient Word?

But Paul does not just stop with the sufficient purpose of God’s Word, he shows the results in a person’s life as they holds fast to this very Word. Paul builds off the 4-fold actions of the Bible in verse 17. Paul gives the results that will take place when the Bible is kept and held to. Paul wants us to catch that God did not give us His breath just for fun. There is a purpose in the fourfold action God’s sufficient Word takes. And what is the result that Paul gives us? The man of God will be formed, complete and equipped for the work of God.