HOW SHOULD WE THEN BREATHE

To say what is, is, and what is not, is not, is true. And to say what is, is not, and what is not, is, is false. – Aristotle

All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that we (believers) would be well equipped for every good work. When researching the ancient creeds and confession that have been preserved and affirmed for over a thousand years, one will rarely find any mention of doctrine or theology as it relates to this verse. Was it the most obvious and understood tenet of the Christian faith or simply not an issue in those times? Concerning famously historical creeds, it was not until the Westminster Confession in 1646 that the topic of the inspiration and inerrancy of scripture was considered notably creed worthy. Interestingly enough, after a millennia and half of silence during confession, the doctrine of inspiration appears at the top of one of the most famous confession of the Christian faith in Article I.

Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.

II Timothy is a letter written by the Apostle Paul as a prisoner in a Roman prison, to Timothy a pastor in Ephesus approximately AD 62-66, just before Paul died. II Timothy is a letter in a group of letters known as the Pastoral Epistles, which address issues of pastoral duties, defending the faith especially against false teachers while also strengthening the believers, and encouragement.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…
It is hard to imagine that such a seemingly obscure verse in the middle of a letter to a seemingly obscure pastor could be the keystone for modern Christian theology. The first step is to understand what the verse is saying by understanding what the words in the verse mean. There are three Greek words or compounds that we will look at first: Pasa, graphē, and Theopneusto.
Pasa - does it mean all or every, and what is the difference? I am not a Greek Scholar so I will not attempt to answer the question, but just relay to you that Paul Feinberg makes a short and simple case for use of the word every over all indicating that every part of the graphē is the subject of the verse.
Every Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…
The next word is graphē which is used over fifty times in the NT and is always found to mean the one thing – the sacred writings. Though the verse in question does refer to both the New and Old Testament, it is likely that initially when Timothy thought of sacred writings he thought of the Law of Moses.
Every Sacred writing is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…
Theopneustos is the compound of two Greek words, Theos (god), and pneo (breathe), which is usually translated, inspired or god-breathed. So what does pasa graphē Theopneusto then mean? Are we to understand that every sacred writing is god-breathed and therefore profitable or that every sacred writing that is inspired is profitable? And what does god-breathed mean regardless of the correct wording? To clarify, it is the words of scripture, and not the authors that are God-breathed, which is like saying that the words of scripture that God breathed is like the speech of God. Second, though it may sound redundant the text is saying that every sacred writing/scripture is inspired, which is quite different than saying some sacred writings are inspired and some are not. It must then follow, that if words were precisely given/breathed by a Holy God, then it is reasonable to believe that they are true and perfect and thus authoritative. So then the question of what is scripture is the next appropriate question, because as one can clearly see the canonical texts that are available are certainly not perfect, but the original Autographa were, which we no longer have. Knowing this, what authority does the “Bible” now retain? I will deal with this thought quickly, but not extensively, while the original texts were inerrant, preservation of the text was not. This is not to say that the text is negated, in fact, textual criticism has been a friend to those who view the Bible as a thoroughly retained document, still allowing it to be considered authoritative and wholly true.
Every Sacred writing that God breathed into is literally the speech of God, which is to say that every word in Scripture is His, and since God is Righteous, His word is perfect and is therefore useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…
As Christians we can be confident that we do have access to the words of God, we can be confident that His word is in fact righteous and useful, and excellent for correcting and instructing us as we walk with Christ. It is reasonable, as believers, for us to believe that though we live in a fallen world, God has revealed to us through His Son and His Word all that we require for this life. It is right for us to rest in Him and breathe easy.