Growing Church Leaders

However, the authority we revere is not a mere tradition of our ancestors. It is the very Word of God that both complements and challenges our human teachers:

{2 Timothy 3:15} and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

For Paul and Timothy, Holy Scriptures probably meant the Greek Septuagint (which roughly corresponds to our Old Testament), since that is from what the New Testament usually quotes. But since those scriptures do not actually mention Christ Jesus by name, how exactly can they make Timothy wise for salvation through faith?

The first key is probably the phrase "make wise" (sophizo, as in the word "philosopher"). While the Old Testament does not convey explicit information about Jesus, it provides the necessary wisdom to understand salvation, by teaching Timothy the nature of faith.

A general pattern exists here: while the Bible may not answer every question, it provides answers to the essential questions. This includes not only theological concepts, but everything needed for a comprehensive worldview that shapes how we approach all other questions and answers. This is known as the sufficiency of Scripture, the doctrine that we need no other authoritative revelation but the Word of God to accomplish His purposes.

To be sure, we believe that God still speaks to us today; however, all such post-biblical revelation is explicitly subordinate to Scripture. Contrast this with the New Testament, which we believe supersedes and completes the Old Testament in a way that modern revelation does not. Conversely, we disagree with Muslims and Mormons, who claim their holy books supersede the New Testament.

The second key word in verse fifteen is "able" (dunamai, as in the word "dynamo"). Paul claims that Scripture itself—with the help of the Holy Spirit—is able to make us wise. Even though Timothy is reading the Bible in translation without an external authority to provide explanations, God can use Scripture alone to communicate His plan of salvation. This doctrine is known as the clarity of Scripture, and it is central to Protestant Christianity.

To be sure, this does not mean that everything is immediately clear to everyone; Scripture itself affirms that some concepts are not only difficult to understand (cf. 2 Peter 3:16), but they require disciplined study to rightly discern (cf. 2 Timothy 2:15), and they are veiled to unbelievers (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:3). The point is that the central facts are accessible to "ordinary people, who approach [truth] in faith and humility."

So, what are the essential uses of Scripture? A good list is the one that follows:

{16} All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness

This famous verse contains a wealth of sophisticated insight. The first gem is that scripture is God-breathed (theo-pneustos, as in the word "pneumonia"). This unique term captures the dual nature of Scripture in that it originates from God but is expressed by men:

{2 Peter 1:21} for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

In many ways, this concept mirrors the dual nature of Christ Himself, who was fully God yet fully man. Just as the church has had to maintain that paradoxical tension against heresies which stress one aspect of Chris's nature and deny the other, so too are there two opposing errors we can make in regards to Scripture.

The first erroneous view of the Bible is to see it as simply as a collection of sixty-six books by diverse human authors expressing their personal perspectives on the nature of religion. The Bible is much more than that; it is a living entity ordained by God, faithfully reflecting what He did, said, and felt, not some collection of man-made myths. In a very real sense, it is the words of God Himself, which is what we mean when we speak of the authority of Scripture.

At the same time, we must resist the temptation to think that the Bible was dictated by God to robotic scribes. The various books of the Bible reflect the culture, language, and personality of their human authors, while remaining faithful to the direction of God's Spirit.

This is why it is possible to translate Scripture into modern languages. All translations are of necessity imperfect human artifacts. However, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, they can still communicate—and we can perceive—the essence of God's intent, the God-breath behind the original human authors.

The end result is that we must approach Scripture with humility, recognizing on the one hand that God desires to use those words to communicate with us, while still acknowledging that our present understanding of them is but an imperfect mirror of God's original thoughts...

The importance of hearing God is why Paul explicitly links the inspiration of Scriptures with its usefulness for the following:

• Doctrine
• Reproof
• Correction
• Instruction in righteousness

...these four topics speak directly to Scripture's core purpose:

{17a} that the man of God may be complete

We do not study Scripture as a religious ritual; we study it in order to become complete human beings. And what does that mean?

{17b} thoroughly equipped for every good work.

A mature person is someone whose mind, body, heart, and soul are set apart to do every good work God calls them to do. In other words, a mature person is holy!