{"id":621,"date":"2007-10-01T13:18:38","date_gmt":"2007-10-01T20:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbcbeacon.wordpress.com\/?p=621"},"modified":"2007-10-01T13:18:38","modified_gmt":"2007-10-01T20:18:38","slug":"theopneustos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2007\/10\/01\/theopneustos\/","title":{"rendered":"theopneustos"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Kim<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the Apostle Paul makes a remarkable statement regarding the words of Scripture. He writes that \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God (\u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work\u201d (NASB). What is the nature of this divine inspiration and what relevance does this have for us today?<\/p>\n

The phrase \u201cinspired by God\u201d is actually from a single Greek word, \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 (theopneustos). It is a compound adjective comprised of the noun \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2 (god, God) and the verb \u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5\u03c9, (I am blowing), which gives the idea of something being God-breathed. Amazingly, \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 occurs only once in the entire New Testament and is unique to 2 Timothy 3:16. While words and ideas are often repeated several times in Scripture for emphasis, the rarity of word usage is a significant consideration as well.<\/p>\n

The translation rendered as \u201cinspired by God,\u201d in the NASB and others is misleading as it gives the impression that God inspired the biblical authors to write Scripture, when the language is clear that it is the Scripture itself that is \u201cinspired by God,\u201d literally God-breathed. As an adjective (God-breathed), it describes and gives quality to the noun phrase (all Scripture) that it modifies. It therefore asserts something about the noun, namely that all Scripture has the quality of being God-breathed. To correctly understand the doctrine of \u201cinspiration,\u201d it is important to grasp the fact that God did not \u201cbreathe into\u201d the biblical authors or their writings, but rather that all Scripture has been \u201cbreathed out\u201d by God. Although He used divinely appointed individuals to record His Word, God is the originator, source and ultimate author of all Scripture. The same breath that spoke the universe into being and gave life to Adam is the breath from which the Scriptures were brought forth.<\/p>\n

What this means for us today is that as we hold our Bibles in our hands, we can have confidence that we are holding the very word of God. It means that we can place our faith in the Scriptures because all of it has been breathed out by God and reflects His wisdom, not the wisdom of this world. Since all Scripture is God-breathed, all of it possesses His authority to the extent that to disobey God\u2019s Word is to disobey God Himself.<\/p>\n

It means that everything in the Bible is important and all of it must be obeyed, not just the parts that we pick and choose. God\u2019s word is our spiritual sustenance, that\u2019s why Jesus said, \u201cMan shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God\u201d (Matthew 4:4). Thankfully, every word that has proceeded from the mouth of God has been recorded for us in the Scriptures for us to know, to study, to believe, to obey, and to live out. God didn\u2019t just speak to an original audience thousands of years ago in the ancient near east. God is still speaking today through His eternal, inerrant, God-breathed Word; the question is, are you willing to listen?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Kim In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, the Apostle Paul makes a remarkable statement regarding the words of Scripture. He writes that \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God (\u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-word-study"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}