Let’s look at 2 Timothy 12-17. I am reading from the ESV. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 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 complete, equipped for every good work.
The apostle Paul is nearing the end of his life and the end of his ministry; but Timothy is a young pastor, who still has many years of ministry still before him. So, Paul is writing him and encouraging him to press on, to stay faithful, to take courage, to live righteously, and to preach the Word, in season and out of season. Paul tells Timothy, in verse 12. “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”. So, he needs to realize that and commit himself to be faithful to God’s Word and with God’s Word in whatever comes his way; because it is God’s Word that makes God’s people wise unto salvation. Timothy was raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord learning the sacred writings, the Old Testament. And through the Old Testament Timothy came to know Christ. So, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:16, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” A Pastor and teacher needs to keep a close watch on himself, his preaching, and his teaching. He needs to stay faithful and steadfast, because that’s the way God will use to save those who hear him preach.
Breathed out by God
In the first part of verse 16 Paul says that, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” So, not just the Old Testament, but even the words of the New Testament are sacred Scripture that have been breathed by God. But, what does it mean that Scripture is God breathed?
The Word of God tells us. In Psalm 33:6 it says, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.” Genesis 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” God spoke the heavens and the earth into existence. The breath of God is directly tied to the words of His mouth. Just as we breath out as we talk; God breathed forth His Word in creation, and also breathes through His Word. The writers of scripture were used by God to give us His inerrant Holy Word. 2 Peter 1:21 tells us, “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”. When He says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God,” God is telling us that all of Scripture is truly His Word. It is God speaking and we should receive it with reverence, confidence, and joy. Through God’s Holy Word, He makes us wise unto salvation.
We also see in the first part of verse 16, that God breathed means God spoke; God spoke forth His Word. And because God is God; His Word is powerful, sufficient, and life giving. By His Word He created the heavens and the earth; and He breathed it all out of nothing. God’s Word is powerful and sufficient; nothing needs to be added to it or taken away from it. God’s Word creates and it recreates. Martin Luther the great reformer said, “God created the world out of nothing, and so long as we are nothing, He can make something out of us.” God’s Word can make His people wise unto salvation, because in it the gospel is revealed and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Scripture is the holy, powerful, inerrant, all-sufficient, saving, life giving Word of God. And since it it’s spoken forth by the holy, perfect, good, and infinitely glorious God of the universe, it too is complete and good. God’s Word is inerrant and infallible just like the God who b
