God-Breathed in Context

In our Sunday School class for middle school girls, we have been studying how to study the Bible. The Lord has blessed us with two fruitful weeks of study as the girls have learned basic facts about the Bible’s history as well as its physical layout. We’ve practiced using not only our table of contents but also our concordance.

We put our newly learned Bible studying lessons into practice with 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and the Lord taught me a couple awesome facts about the text that I had not previously noticed.

Looking just at 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we asked,

What is the purpose of Scripture?

Verse 16 teaches us that it is “profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, [and] for training in righteousness.” God’s Word has the power to encourage us but we may not feel encouraged through absolutely every passage and reading. Some days, God’s Word will convict us of our sin and call us into action.

Why should we read Scripture?

Verse 17 says, “so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” God does not leave us alone to figure things out for ourselves. He has provided us with His Word so that we can be prepared to show His love in all circumstances. Our good works will not save us but they will visually represent the change in our hearts.

At this point, we looked at the verse in a slightly bigger context.

2 Timothy 3:12, “In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

How many of those who want to live a godly life will be persecuted? Scripture tells us ALL. That included the Apostle Paul when he wrote these words and us today as we read them. The level of persecution will vary depending on each person and his or her situation, but it’s promised to all of us to some degree.

2 Timothy 3:13, “Evil people and imposters will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

How important is Scripture, really? We’re told here that the days are getting worse, not better. More teachers will keep coming and try to manipulate Scripture to deceive and confuse us. They will take verses out of context to twist them for their own use. As people of God, we must have a strong foundation for the words in the Bible and test every teaching we hear so that we will know whether or not it aligns with God’s Word.

2 Timothy 3:14, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from childhood you have known the Sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Many of us are blessed to say that we came to faith in Christ as a child. We must fight to cling to the Word of God and its message.

What can Scripture really teach us? It gives us “wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” In context, how much more beautiful is the phrase in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is God-breathed? God inspired every word of it; we can have a ready defense when deception comes. We can live a godly life and stand firm when persecution comes. And we can find salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Praise the Lord for breathing life into the words in our Bible.