The scriptures’ purpose. [2Ti 3.15-17]

2 Timothy 3.15-17 KJV

15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Most of the time, when Christians memorize this passage, they only memorize verse 16, the bit about scripture being inspired, and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. They might also memorize verse 17, which says this’ll prep us for good works. But seldom do they include verse 15, which is a huge mistake.

I’ve heard more than one preacher pitch the question, “What’s the scriptures for?” and then launch into 2 Timothy 3.16: It’s for doctrine! And reproof!—or as the New International Version puts it, rebuking!—and man alive do they love to rebuke this evil, evil world and all its sins, and throw proof texts at this world as if our pagan world is somehow gonna be convicted by sayings from a book it considers massively out of date. Never you mind that Paul wrote this passage to Timothy, a Christian, and that it’s about us Christians rebuking ourselves for our own selfish behavior, and reminding us to follow Jesus for once.

It’s for correction! It’s for instruction in righteousness! And again—it’s for Christians to self-correct; it’s for Christians to work on being on being righteous, although a better translation of δικαιοσύνῃ would be justice. It’s not about us being good, although we absolutely should be good, and the scriptures do teach us the difference between good and evil, and push us towards goodness. It’s about doing the right thing to God and others, and being fair-minded and equitable in a cruel world which upholds social Darwinism and worships Mammon.

But these preachers skip verse 15 altogether, and completely miss Paul telling Timothy, plain as day, what the scriptures did for him. They made Timothy “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 1Ti 3.15 KJV. The scriptures taught him how to be saved.

And that is what the scriptures are for. What the bible is for. Doctrine, rebuke, correction, and justice, make very little sense, and have very little lasting impact, when they’re not in the context of how God saves us and adopts us as his children, and is making his temple and an everlasting kingdom out of us.

Doctrine is for us Christians—because pagans aren’t gonna follow it! Rebuke is for us Christians—because pagans dismiss it. Correction is for us Christians—because pagans don’t think they’re wrong and need correction, and unfortunately way too many Christians believe the very same thing. And training in justice is for us Christians, because pagans think justice is about putting criminals in prison, executing rapists and murderers… and giving free passes to the wealthy and famous because somehow these qualities are rewards for them being better and smarter people, and again, that’s just social Darwinism talking. God taught us better than that, but social Darwinists have convinced many a Christian that perhaps we, just by being Christian, are also some of those better and smarter people, and maybe we deserve some free passes too. Maybe we should get to take over the country or something. “If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine,” Lk 3.7 promises Mammon, and Christians who can’t tell the difference between it and Jesus are perfectly happy to bend the knee. ’Cause they might know their bible verses, but they’re missing the context.

But I digress. We learn this stuff from the scriptures, and practice it, because we’re a saved people. Because Jesus called us forth from our cruel world, forgave us, showers us with infinite blessings, and makes a new nation out of us; a nation that’s marked by the good works he wants us to do for others. We don’t do those good works just because the bible says; we do it because we’re sharing those blessings. And if those whom we’ve helped bless, wanna know how to likewise be saved… well if you’ve memorized verse 15, you know that’s why we have the scriptures in the first place.

It’s not a comprehensive list of what the bible’s for.

Years ago I had my Christian-school students memorize verse 16, and had ’em learn it in the New Living Translation, because the KJV’s 500-year-old vocabulary was going over their 10-year-old heads. They objected, ’cause the KJV translation is much shorter. “No,” I told ’em, “I want you to know what it means.” If they wanted to re-memorize it in the KJV when they were older, that’s perfectly fine. And if you wanna memorize it in an easy-to-understand version, that’s also perfectly fine.

2 Timothy 3.16 NLT

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

The scriptures teach us how to be saved, and these four things.

TEACH US WHAT’S TRUE. Namely about God. There are all sorts of ideas floating around about God, and most are guesswork. By comparison, the stories in the bible are based on actual God-experiences, actual self-revelation from God himself. Jesus in particular reveals God, which is why we Christians focus so very much on Jesus. So when in doubt, compare with the bible.

REALIZE WHAT’S WRONG. The first principle of theology is “I am wrong; Jesus is right.” We humans have gone wrong, and often don’t know why, or what, or how. Most don’t even know we’re wrong. More than a few Christians think Jesus makes us right about everything, or that if we follow our churches’ faith statements we’re theologically right, and that’s all that’s important. But rightness isn’t just understanding theology. There’s a right way to do everything—and we need to recognize when we’re not following the right way. Read that bible and find out whether you’re on the right path.

CORRECT IT and DO WHAT’S RIGHT. The bible doesn’t detail every right path—’cause everybody’s different, and sometimes my right way isn’t your right way. But all the different right paths have a lot of things in common. Obviously Jesus has gotta be on the path. And humility. And repentance. And obedience. And the Spirit’s fruit. We learn about all that stuff in the bible. Do the right thing in whatever way works best for you, but always do it in a way which honors God, loves Jesus, and keeps our fellow Christians from stumbling. Ro 14.5-19

But if we’re not familiar with our bibles, we won’t know which is which. We’ll assume the way our church does things, is the way every Christian oughta do it. Or we’ll assume we have the freedom to figure things out for ourselves when God in fact wants us to follow certain specific steps and practices. All this is why we Christians keep telling one another to read bible, and learn what’s right.

All these things of course hinge on the one word in verse 16 that empowers it: Inspired. The English word inspire originally meant “to breathe in”—you inspire, then breathe out and expire. (Which now means “die.” Language evolves, y’know.) It implies God breathes into whatever he inspires: The scriptures are inspired because God got involved in the writers’ lives, interacted with them, and everything they wrote is a result of this relationship. The scriptures are accurate descriptions of God, tested by time and confirmed by the experience of billions. We would all do well to learn from it—and by putting this verse into our brains.