The whole Bible is God's Inspired Word and is Profitable to All Believers "All scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for discipline in righteousness: that the man of God may be fit, outfitted for all good works." (II Tim. 3:16, 17, improved translation.)
This text is one of many selected for special attack by moderistic mistranslations mutilating the message of God's written word. As is usually true in comparison of controverted translations of doctrinal portions of scripture, so here the King James version is essentially right and most of the modern revisions are greviously and wickedly wrong. Most abominable in contradiction of immediate context and of the uniform teaching of scriptiure is the substitute of "every scripture" for "all scripture."
Every true Bble student knows that in the New Testament the word "scripture (Gr. graphe), whether singular or plural, is never used in any other sense than of what are called in the verse preceding our text "the holy scriptures" literally "the holy letters" (Gr. grammata).
Attempts of modernistic mistranslators to make "scripture" in this text include uninspired writings represent either gross ignorance or deliberate deception.
With much pretense of great learning, advocates of the "every scripture" rendering refer to a "rule" of Greek syntax that the Greek word "pas" in the singular and without the definite aticle must be translated "every" rather than "all."
Every preacher ought to know enough Greek at least be able to check up on the frequently false claims of pseudo-scholarship.
When "All" Means "All" Certainly there can be a great difference in English between "all" and "every." Which word should be used to translate Greek "pas" must be determined from context, and not merely from some supposed "rule."
Note just a few examples of other occurrences in the New Testament of the same word with the same syntax where "pas" is and ought to be translated "all" rather than "every."
Matthew 2:3 -- "all Jerusalem," not "every Jerusalem."
Matthew 3:15 -- "to fulfill all righteousness," not "every righteousness."
Matthew 28:18 -- "all power" (or authority), not "every power."
Acts 2:17 -- "all flesh," not "every flesh "
Acts 5:23 -- Officers found the prison shut in "all safety," not "every safety"
Acts 28:31 -- Paul preached and taught with all confidence," not "every confidence."
Divinely Inspired Our text, therefore says and means exactly what the true people of God have believed and known through the centuries: ALL scripture, as the word is used in the New Testament, is divinely inspired, or more literally, "God-breathed."
Included in this scripture are all the "holy letters" which Timothy knew from childhood, and now also the writings in what we know as the New Testament.
Peter assures us that holy men of God did not write for us their private interpretations according to their own will, but spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The same apostle which classifies the inspired epistles of Paul with "the other scriptures." (II Peter 1:20, 21; 3:15, 16.)
"The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven time." (Psalm 12:6.)
"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him." (Proverbs 30:5.)
"Let God be true, but every man a liar." (Romans 3:4.)
Profitable For Teaching God is not the author of the confusion (I Corinthians 14:33) that prevails in professed Christianity today. If all the people who claim to worship God would only trust and obey His word, we should not be plagued with such a multitude of so-called Christian but contradictory denominations. Better yet, we should be poured the sorry spectacle of interdenominational hypocrisy dishonoring God with attempts to unionize on the basis of believing the least truth possible.
What can a man believe? To the questions and problems of life and death for time and eternity, only infallibly inspired scripture, the God-breathed word, can provide final and satisfactory answers.
"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is pure, making wise the simple." (Psalm 19:7.)
Quoting David again: "I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation." (Psalm 119:99)
So profitable is the scripture for teaching!
For Reproof "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither comcth to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." (John 3:20.)
"The word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it." (Jeremiah 6:10.)
Indeed, "the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12.)
For all who will be "doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22), the scripture is proven to be profitable for reproof.
For Correction Not only does the scripture rebuke us for being wrong; it also tells us how to get right. Recognizing an error is one thing; correcting it is another: the scripture is profitable for both.
"Through thy precepts," wrote David, "I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way." (Psalm 119:104.)
"Ye are clean," Jesus told His disciples, "through the word which I have spoken unto you." (John 15:3.)
Whatever may be wrong in our lives, we need not continue in error: the God-breathed scripture is profitable for correction.
For Discipline KJ translation says "for instruction in righteousness." The word for "instruction" or "discipline" is translated "chastening" and "chastisement" in Hebrews 12:5-8.
Solomon reminds us that "A reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool." (Proverbs 17:10.)
It is therefore a mark of wisdom to receive discipline from the word of God, that we may avoid more severe chastisement.
Fit and Fitted Out The grand purpose in view of which all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable is "that the man of God may be fit, outfitted for all good work." Or, in KJ translation, "that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (Singular for "work" in the Greek.)
No doubt "man of God" refers especially to preachers, but in a broader sense every saved man ought to be a man of God and zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14.) To be fit and fitted out as a servant of God he must know and heed and profit from the scripture received through holy men from the breath of God.
============== [From Ashland Avenue Baptist paper, January 21, 1972, pp. 1, 3. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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