II Timothy 3:16-17 Notice that it says that scripture is “profitable” for teaching. And Catholics agree with this point. What it DOES NOT say is “sufficient.” Saying something is profitable is synonymous with “useful”, not “complete.” Let’s begin by looking at these two verses in the Greek New Testament. I have all the major Greek tests in my library. The one that I will translate from is the Stephens 1550 text. I choose it simply because it is the oldest of all the different texts that I have. You will agree with me that II Timothy was originally written by Paul in Greek, won’t you? All scripture God breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for discipline which in righteousness; that complete may be the of God man, to every work good fully fitted. Let’s begin by looking at verse 15-“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Quite obviously Paul is referring to the Old Testament as well as the books of the New Testament that had been written at that time. Therefore, Timothy was no novice to the Scriptures. “All scripture God breathed” The Greek word translated God breathed occurs only in this passage. This clearly indicates that all of the Scripture owes its origin and contents to the divine breath of God and was transmitted to men through the Holy Spirit. The Apocrypha is not “God breathed” and is therefore not to be included in the sixty-six books of Scripture. In this particular thread, the Apocrypha is not open to discussion and we will not comment on it any further. As a result of these “holy men of old” being moved upon by the Holy Ghost, their writings were without error or infallible. “profitable” Since all Scripture comes from God, it is therefore profitable (useful or beneficial). No this does not in and of itself declare the Scriptures to be sufficient. “for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for discipline which in righteousness” We are simply told the many uses of Scripture. “that complete may be the of God man” The Scripture is sufficient by itself to make the man of God complete. Everything that man needs to know about God, about salvation, about theology, about living a life that is pleasing to him and about doctrine is found in the Scriptures. “to every work good fully fitted” Elsewhere in II Timothy 2:15 we read, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” So then, if I as a truly saved individual (one who has experienced Biblical salvation by grace through faith alone) desire to be a fully equipped believer, all I need can be found in the Scripture. I have all kinds of resources at my disposal even Roman Catholic doctrine and theology books and the book of Canon Law among others. Yes, I have a library full of commentaries some of which date back to the 1800’s. These commentaries are an excellent source of historical information. However, none of these make me perfect or completely fitted to do the work of the Lord, only the Scriptures. When the Bible is examined with the understanding that Scripture always reaffirms Scripture, we can conclude that Scripture is all we need. We certainly do not need the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church to interpret scripture for us. We do not need papal bulls or decrees to establish the meaning of Scripture for us either. Our Catholic friends have a gross misunderstanding of what we Bible believing Christians mean by the term “Sola Scriptura.” We believe that the Scripture is all we need in matters of faith and practice. However, that does not mean that we totally reject the teachings of the early church leaders nor do we reject oral tradition. However, we just do not place the same value on these as we do Scripture. The Scripture is our final authority and not the others.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 13:24:35 +0000
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