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Scripture Reading: 2 Timothy 3:10

Paul’s 2nd Epistle to Timothy, chapter 3, verse 10.

Paul’s Charge to Timothy

10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

[1]

SERMON:

Today it is often heard that we cannot accept the Bible as anything more than a book containing some history, poetry, mythology and other human writings about God. Some liberal theologians will say it does contain the Word of God and that we can learn something about God from the Bible. Some say we cannot use the Bible as rules of faith and life. But that is not what the Bible teaches, and it is certainly not what we as people of Refrmed faith believe:

Westminster Confession: par 1:

2 Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, which are these:

OF THE OLD TESTAMENT—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

OF THE NEW TESTAMENT—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles, Epistle to the Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Epistle to the Hebrews, Epistle of James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, The Revelation.

All which are given by inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life.

The other Reformed Confessions have similar statements: for example the Belgic Confession:

Article 5: The Authority of Scripture

We receive all these books and these only as holy and canonical, for the regulating, founding, and establishing of our faith.
And we believe without a doubt all things contained in them-- not so much because the church receives and approves them as such but above all because the Holy Spirit testifies in our hearts that they are from God, and also because they prove themselves to be from God.

For even the blind themselves are able to see that the things predicted in them do happen.

Yes, reformed churches indeed believe that the Bible is a special book, and the Bible teaches us that about itself. What is so special about the Bible? Well the passage that we read, especially in verses16-17 says it all. Let me read it again:

Timothy had known the Scriptures from childhood, so he knew that all Scripture was inspired by God. When Paul spoke all Scriptures, he was primarily referring to the books of the Old Testament, because that was complete at that time. But the scope of Paul’s statement would certainly include the four Gospels and Paul’s own writings. All these books were certainly considered authoritative enough to be read at in church meetings. In 2 Peter 3:15-16 we read ….

So it is clear according to Peter, that Paul’s writings were classified as “Scriptures”.

Now back to our text. Paul affirms that the Scriptures were inspired by God. A better translation that is closer to the Greek is probably “All Scripture is God-breathed”. This tells us that every word in the Bible (it says all Scripture) was breathed out by God. So although the words were written down by men, they came from God. My brother and sister, and if anybody else tells you differently, the Bible teaches us that it comes from God! This was affirmed by the apostle Peter. Listen to 2 Peter 1:21:……….

Paul’s words in our text reminded Timothy, an indeed also us, that because Scripture is inspired – and infallible – it is also useful. The Bible is not a collection of stories, fables myths, or merely human impressions about God. It is not a human book. Through his Holy Spirit, God revealed his person and his plan to certain believers, who wrote down this message for his people. This is process that we call “inspiration.” The writers wrote from their own personal, historical and cultural contexts. And although they used their own minds, talents, languageand style, they wrote what God wanted them to

Timothy was one of the first second-generation Christians: he had become a Christian, not because of an evangelist preached a powerful sermon, not because of the church that he attended, but because he was taught the Scriptures by his Mother and grandmother since childhood. We can expect that for Timothy the Holy Scriptures were primarily the books that today make up the Old Testament

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[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids