Memory Verse Day 20: The Nature of the Scriptures

I’m going to try to finish off my memory verses, after an unexpected month’s break.  We finished verse #19 last time, so it’s time for verse #20.

In this verse the ESV takes the more literal route by saying that all Scripture is breathed out by God.  The Spanish uses the more familiar term "inspired".

Of course, both are saying the same thing.  The Bible is God’s Word.

We are often told that the Bible of the Apostles was the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures.  And that’s true – sort of.  One thing I learned as I taught the study Where did the Bible come from? is that a lot of the Bible was accepted as Scripture very early on.  Yes, some of it took form over a period of time, but others were recognized almost right away as God’s Word.

A familiar example is another 3:6 – in 2 Peter… There are some things in them [Paul’s letters] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

That’s right, Peter recognized the letters of Paul as Scripture.

You see, Scripture isn’t a collection of books as much as it is what Paul said to Timothy – something inspired by God, breathed out by God.  It doesn’t matter what part of it you’re talking about.  It doesn’t matter if you only have the Old Testament or New Testament – anything that God breaths out is Scripture.

And there’s something else here that’s easy to miss.  Paul isn’t saying that people were inspired.  God didn’t inspire Paul, or Moses, or Peter, and then let them go at it.  God inspired the words themselves.

So don’t let someone tell you that King David may have been very holy and inspired but he was still human so he made mistakes when he wrote stuff like the Psalms.  No, it’s the words that are inspired.  The Scripture itself.

To quote Peter once again – For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2Peter 1:21)

They spoke from God.  Yes, God used their personalities and human circumstances.  The words didn’t float down from Heaven on a cloud.  They express the realities of the day, and the real thoughts of human beings.  But God intervened – and men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So this verse goes on to explain the nature of Scripture, no matter where you find it or what books you have.  It’s useful – for teaching, reproof, correction, and for training in righteousness.

Why?  Because the words themselves are from God.  They are powerful, wise, life-changing – because that’s the way God is.

If you’re following along, here are all 30 verses, 3×5 card size, pdf format, in Spanish versions NBLH and RV60:  Set 1, Set 2, Set 3