Christians look to the Bible as an inspired source and norm for their beliefs. It is no accident that Christians —along with Jews — were long ago designated as “people of the Book.” In a very special sense the Bible has a shaping influence on Christian beliefs, and moral ideals, and conduct. The United Methodist Church, for example, says: “…Scripture is the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine.” The original Articles of Religion of the United Methodist Church — drawn from the Anglican Articles of Religion as edited by John Wesley — states:The Holy Scriptures containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

And — since I mentioned the United Methodist Church — John Wesley himself had some very strong opinions about the importance of the Scriptures for the life of faith. Christians commonly speak of the Bible as authoritative and inspired — though interpretations may differ about what those words mean or what they entail. One way of stating this is to say the Bible is authoritative in the life of Christians because it is inspired by God. And the one Scripture passage most commonly cited in defense of this is 2 Timothy 3:16, 17:

πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος καὶ ὠφέλιμος πρὸς διδασκαλίαν, πρὸς ἐλεγμόν, πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν, πρὸς παιδείαν τὴν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, ἵνα ἄρτιος ᾖ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος, πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἐξηρτισμένος.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (NIV 2011.)

We cannot allow the argument for the authority and inspiration of the Bible to rest on this one verse alone — of course — but since this verse seems so clear and explicit, it has been cited more than any other. This is certainly a helpful summary of the role the Bible plays in the life of the church — and of the individual Christian. But, how far can this passage be pressed? How much is really entailed by this language?

It is natural for emphasis to fall on the word θεόπνευστος: “inspired” (or as in the NIV) “God-breathed.” At first glance, the derivation of the word seems to give it a clear meaning. It is a compound word: “God” (θεός) + “breathed” (πνευστος). While this is commonly translated “inspired,” the NIV insists on the more literal translation. There is no doubt in my mind that this word is intended to denote the idea of something inspired by God in such a way that it conveys a message from God. In the Theological Lexicon of the New Testament Spicq says:

To express the sacred nature of the Scriptures, their divine origin, and their power to sanctify believers, perhaps St. Paul coined the verbal adjective theopneustos, ‘breathed, inspired by God.’

So, this is apparently not a word picked up from the surrounding culture. This is a term Christians used to describe their confidence in Scripture. It may even be a term coined by the apostle himself as a way of expressing what role Scripture is to play in the Christian community.

There is a parallel idea in 2 Peter 1:21 – “…ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἁγίου φερόμενοι ἐλάλησαν ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι” (“…carried along by the Holy Spirit, people spoke from God”).

So far, so good. It seems that very high claims are made here about the Bible and its role in the life of faith. True enough. But, what is it here that the apostle says is “inspired”? It is πᾶσα γραφὴ, all Scripture. What is this? This passage comes from a time when the New Testament as we know it had not yet been collected together. The early church depended upon the apostles’ teaching (see Acts 2:42). But, they also looked to the Scriptures — what Christians today would call the Old Testament. Just as in Judaism, the Old Testament scriptures were considered authoritative and inspired — they conveyed a message from God. So, we can be sure this passage refers to the Old Testament as γραφὴ, Scriptures.

Now, let’s consider, what form or edition of the Scriptures (γραφὴ) are they talking about? It seems clear that the Scriptures being discussed here are the Greek translations of the Old Testament — commonly known as the Septuagint (LXX). Why do I think this? Because very few Jews even knew Hebrew well enough to read the Hebrew Bible — the common language of the Jewish people in those times was Aramaic, not Hebrew. The Septuagint was originally written because Hebrew was already dying out long before the days of Jesus and the apostles. The Septuagint essentially replaced the Hebrew Bible in those times. When New Testament authors cite Old Testament passages they cite them from the Septuagint. The New Testament writings were written in Greek — obviously to Greek-speaking people. The form of the Scriptures that these people would have had available to them — and the one they could read and understand — was the Greek translation.

So, yes, high claims to inspiration are being made in 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 and in 2 Peter 1:21. But whatever γραφὴ may be discussed in 2 Timothy — okay, maybe some apostolic writings, maybe the Hebrew Bible — it certainly refers to the Greek translation of the Old Testament — the Bible of the early Church.

But, the Septuagint is often a rather free translation of the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint contains books not in the Hebrew Bible (like Tobit, and The Wisdom of Solomon, etc.). Major additions are made to some Old Testament books in the Septuagint: Esther is longer, and Daniel is longer. (Conservative Protestants who want to make exalted claims for the inspiration of Scripture built on this passage and the meaning of θεόπνευστος, may be inadvertently constructing an argument for the inerrancy of the book of Tobit!)

Furthermore, how much weight should rest on the fact that the compound word θεόπνευστος means “God-breathed”? Many compound words like the English word “chairman” don’t have a meaning that can be determined solely from “chair” + “man”. So, how much of the nature of the Bible’s inspiration can be deduced from 2 Timothy 3:16, 17? Not much, I think.

We have a great affirmation here about the practical usefulness of Scripture: “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness“; but, not too much about the nature of its inspiration. The passage cannot be pressed too far. So, this doesn’t get us as far as some might suppose.

Is there another way of looking at the idea of Biblical inspiration? Is there another approach? What about looking through the Bible for those (rather few) passages where the Biblical authors themselves reflect on what they are doing? This might give us more of an inside story on the nature of Biblical inspiration. We might ask: what view of inspiration and authority of Scripture are implicit in various passages of the Bible itself. How did the earliest Church Fathers view the inspiration and authority of Scripture?

But, over-reliance on 1 Timothy 3:16, 17 is just not going to work.