Commentaries:
This verse could be updated using synonyms for some of these words: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for conviction [something that we know for certain], for correction [or restoration, to get us turned around, healed in mind and spirit], for training in righteousness."
John W. Ritenbaugh
Image and Likeness of God (Part 1)
All Scripture is indeed inspired, but we do not necessarily find all Scripture inspiring. There are many reasons for this, but the reality is that we tend to avoid portions of it. For some it might be the long lists of "begats"; for another it might be ancient history; and for a third, prophecy. Some parts of Scripture are more valuable to us at one time than another. However, it is certainly true that all of it is valuable according to our circumstance, and God has made it available when needed if we will tap into it. As He says, we are to live by God's every word.
In an overall sense, the Bible is about government: God's, man's, and the self's. It shows how man rejects God's government through sin; how man's rule over others is abusive; and how man needs to learn to govern himself, or nothing will ever work for the good of all. Yet, it is also a book about faith, hope, love, and deliverance from our desperate circumstances, for each of these is important in how one responds to or uses government.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Offerings of Leviticus (Part One): Introduction
So the Scriptures are profitable for the purpose of reproving and correcting us!
But how many people are even willing to be corrected when they are in error—to be reproved for the wrong things they do? People simply do not like to be corrected. They love praise—they like flattery—but reproof and correction they surely hate!
Now we can see why it is so difficult for people to understand the Bible and to agree on just what it says. The Bible is God's great spiritual mirror. It shows up every flaw in our thinking, reveals every spot on our characters. It pictures us as we really are—as God sees us, not as we like to think we are, or as we like to have other people look upon us.
"For the word of God," we read in Hebrews 4:12, "is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword"—it cuts deep, and it cuts both ways—"and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Yes, it opens up and exposes our innermost thoughts.
When little children do things that are wrong—that have been forbidden—do they usually admit it freely and frankly? Or do they usually deny it as long as possible, then try to cover it up, excuse it, justify it, or place the blame on somebody else?
We are all only little children grown up. When our heavenly Father speaks to us, through His Holy Scriptures, and reproves, rebukes, or corrects us, we usually do not like to admit our errors, our faults, our wrong ways.
And so men began, centuries ago, to interpret the Bible. As a result, the Word of God has become twisted, wrested, perverted, with almost every false and counterfeit meaning imaginable being read into it.
Why Study the Bible in the Space Age?
At the time Paul wrote this, "all scripture is inspired of God, and is profitable" referred to the Old Testament. Paul probably did not know that what he was writing would become Scripture.
At its worst, saying that the law—or any portion of the Bible—is "done away" could be spiritually suicidal. At the very least, it will hinder growth because a person will not be thoroughly furnished to all good works. It is similar in principle to a student attending school who ignores certain selected sections of the textbook on the basis of his own perception of what he needs.
I recall from my own school days expressing the opinion that I could not see why we had to study ancient Greek, Egyptian, or Roman history. I could not see what good I would ever get out of such courses, but others, much older and wiser, insisted that the history we were taught included teaching in these areas. My narrow point of view was that of an immature kid who did not understand what is required to produce a well-rounded citizen of the United States of America.
In a similar manner, but with far greater accuracy and consequences, there is nothing extraneous in God's Word. We are to live by every Word of God (Matthew 4:4). If God is all-wise and all-powerful, if everything that He does is in love, and if He is working out a purpose that is in our best interest (that we might live forever with Him), why would God even give a body of laws—which Jesus said would never pass away until all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:18), and which Paul wrote is spiritual, holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12)—if God did not intend that its letter and/or spirit should be used for all time? God does nothing without meaning, so the law is included in Scripture for the sake of Christians.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 15)
It is essential that we look at the Old Testament as a Christian book that was purposely written with the Christian in mind.
It is easy for us to think of the Old Testament as the book of Judaism and that Christianity's roots are in Judaism. In fact, this idea is readily accepted in the "Christian world," but it is not true—not true in the least, except that there are some shared beliefs. If it were true, its modern-corollary would be that Christianity's roots are also in paganism, because some of the concepts that pagans have are also shared with Christianity. That, incidentally, is what a large church of God group has claimed in its writings about the holy days—that they actually derive form paganism.
The truth is that Judaism is a corruption of the religion God gave to Moses. It, too, was syncretic: part pagan, part truth, bound together by their own reasoning. In many places, Jesus corrected and railed against the Sadducees, the scribes, and the Pharisees. He said directly that they had rejected God's commandments to keep their own traditions. God's commandments are in the Old Testament; the Jews' traditions are not, and they are what the Jews lived by. Therefore, how can we say that Judaism came out of the Old Testament? God called the people out of Judaism to bring them into Christianity, just as today God is calling people out of a syncretic Christianity in order to bring them into true, biblical Christianity.
If Judaism really were God's religion, why did He not fix it from within? The period between the Testaments—between Malachi and Matthew—covered roughly 400 years in which a great deal took place. The record of Judaism during that time, particularly the history of the high priests, is much like that of the Papacy during the Middle Ages.
True Christianity's roots are in the truth of God—not only in the Old Testament, but also in the New. Judaism, though, rejects the New Testament, claiming the Old Testament as their book exclusively, and that perception is very strong to all. This world's Christianity claims the New Testament as its exclusive domain and virtually—and practically—ignores the Old Testament.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 16)
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Paul has just given Timothy a heads up on how he would be able to face the things that would come upon him. Basically, he says, "Ground yourself in the Bible, for out of it will come the strength to do these things." We should not limit it strictly to the words of the Bible, per se, but also to the spirit and inspiration behind them. Obviously, God would be with him if he would do these things, but the constant inspiration and help that he would need would come out of Scripture. By these things he would be able to remind himself of the truth and grow in it. He would be corrected by it, instructed by it, reproved by it. All of these things are necessary to mold the faithful minister. The Bible is where his nose needs to be at all times, so that he has the proper foundation, motivation, inspiration, and resource for everything he does.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Itching Ears
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Luke 2:25
Luke 2:30-32
Luke 2:36-38
Luke 16:27-31
Luke 16:29-31
Acts 2:2-11
Revelation 1:3
Revelation 11:4
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