Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Timothy · About this commentary
God-Breathed
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, · WEB
One word says where Scripture came from, and four say what it is for — ending in a person fit for work.
Every Scripture is God-breathed. The word is theopneustos G2315, and it occurs nowhere else in Scripture. Its parts are God and breath, and the passive form matters: the writings are not described as inspiring but as breathed out. The origin is in God rather than in the reader's experience of them.
That pairs with the other great statement on the subject, which comes at it from the human end — holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit 2 Peter 1:21. One text says where the words came from; the other says how they got onto the page.
Then four uses, and they fall into two pairs. Teaching and reproof concern what is believed — establishing it and correcting it. Correction and instruction in righteousness concern how life is lived — setting it straight and training it forward. The middle two are unwelcome, and the letter puts them in the same list as the others without apology.
Verse 17 gives the purpose, and the measure of Scripture's sufficiency is a person rather than a doctrine: that the servant of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Equipped is the word for a ship provisioned for a voyage or a workman's tools laid out.
settled What this mark means