What Scriptural Inspiration Really Means...at least to me.

Scripture Verses that Caught My Attention today: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

Observation: This often-quoted verse is, in my opinion, sometimes taken too seriously and, other times, not seriously enough.

Application: Personally, I believe these two verses wholeheartedly—but in a different way than some might assume. Yes, I believe that all Scripture is inspired by God—that those who wrote it were ultimately driven by divine influence to pen their thoughts and understandings of God’s role in the universe and humanity’s role in relation to this God. I also believe that those who chose which ancient writings to include in the Holy Scriptures we have today were in some way divinely led.
And yes, I believe that all Scripture is “useful” for the reasons described. But my definition of “useful” is rather broad—much more so than those who read the Bible more literally would probably be willing to appreciate.

Here’s a short case-in-point. I’m not sure what caused the author of 2 Timothy to refer to some “women” as “silly” and “overwhelmed by their sins and swayed by all kinds of desires” (2 Timothy 3:6). Surely those are characteristics of ALL humankind at one point or another! But the passage is still useful many ways, one of which might be that it helps us to see how even the ancient people of faith (including the Biblical writers) were not immune from their own culturally conditioned biases that at times influenced how they understood and practiced their faith. And I think part of Scripture’s “inspired” status includes the hope that we would see such things and realize that the same is often true for us. When we do make these kinds of connections we can see that the Scriptures really to come to ‘life’ and do teach, reproof, correct and train us for righteousness.

Yes, sometimes even the most obscure verses are the most useful. And that’s yet another reason why it’s not hard for me to believe that the Scriptures are inspired in the first place.

Prayer: Thanks, Lord, for the way that you continue to speak even today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: 2 Timothy 1-4)