Marie’s daily verse: He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless (Isaiah 40:29).

DAILY DEVOTION, January 10, 2024

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

What exactly is the Bible? Paul gives us insight in this verse concerning the origin of Scripture. The Bible is God-inspired. The word Paul uses here is unique, appearing only in this verse. He says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.”  This does not mean that God somehow overruled the human authors. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter – – – they wrote Scripture through their personalities and vocabularies. The miracle is that God breathed into the finished product so that we have in Scripture the Word of God. The Bible has two authors, God and man.

God’s breath (Spirit) was active when the Bible was written so that the end product is infallible, inerrant, the very Word of God. If any human error crept in, Paul is mistaken about the Bible being inspired by God. God does not inspire error!  If we say, the Bible is a mixture of divine truth and human error, who determines what is true and what is false?

I believe God was actively working in the authors’ lives so that when they wrote their words, they were writing God’s Word. Paul does not say that some Scripture is inspired. He uses the word “all,” which means “all!”

Of course, we humans who read the Bible are error-prone and are capable of misapplying and misunderstanding Scripture. This verse should caution us to read carefully and prayerfully. We are on holy ground when we hold the Bible in our hands. Read with humility.

Father, I thank You for giving us Your Word. I don’t want to depend on fallible humans to teach me about You, nor do I trust myself to understand You correctly. I praise You for giving us an inspired book we can trust to bring us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I thank You that the Bible has led me to Jesus and salvation. In His holy name, I pray. Amen.