Warfield on 2 Timothy 3:16 -- The Scriptures Are God-Breathed, Giving Them Their Supreme Value

The following comes from B. B. Warfield’s article, “Inspiration,” originally written for The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia in 1915. The article was republished in 1948 by Presbyterian & Reformed in the Warfield volume The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, and was re-titled “The Biblical Idea of Inspiration” (131-166).

After pointing out that the Greek word θεόπνευστος (theopneustos) does not mean “inspired by God” (“breathed-in” or “inspirational”), but “breathed out by God,” Warfield fleshes the meaning of 2 Timothy 3:16 in “The Biblical Idea of Inspiration” (133-134). He is emphatic that Paul’s assertion here must frame how we understand the divine origin and supreme importance of Scripture.

(1) 2 Tim. iii. 16: In the passage in which Paul makes this energetic assertion of the Divine origin of Scripture he is engaged in explaining the greatness of the advantages which Timothy had enjoyed for learning the saving truth of God. He had had good teachers; and from his very infancy he had been, by his knowledge of the Scriptures, made wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The expression, “sacred writings,” here employed (ver. 15), is a technical one, not found elsewhere in the New Testament, it is true, but occurring currently in Philo and Josephus to designate that body of authoritative books which constituted the Jewish “Law.” It appears here anarthrously [without the article] because it is set in contrast with the oral teaching which Timothy had enjoyed, as something still better: he had not only had good instructors, but also always “an open Bible,” as we should say, in his hand. To enhance yet further the great advantage of the possession of these Sacred Scriptures the apostle adds now a sentence throwing their nature strongly up to view. They are of Divine origin and therefore of the highest value for all holy purposes.

Warfield is clear that the origin of Scripture—breathed forth by God—gives Scripture its authority as the Word of God. This, in turn, is why Scripture has the “highest value” for all holy purposes— which is the reason why the Bible is commonly described as our “only rule of faith and practice.”

He then describes possible renderings of Paul’s term, and points out that all of Scripture (both Old and New Testament books—all canonical books) have a divine original (the creative breath of God) thereby eliminating all “canon with the canon” schemes.

There is room for some difference of opinion as to the exact construction of this declaration. Shall we render “Every Scripture” or “All Scripture”? Shall we render “Every [or all] Scripture is God-breathed and [therefore] profitable,” or “Every [or all] Scripture, being God-breathed, is as well profitable”? No doubt both questions are interesting, but for the main matter now engaging our attention they are both indifferent. Whether Paul, looking back at the Sacred Scriptures he had just mentioned, makes the assertion he is about to add, of them distributively, of all their parts, or collectively, of their entire mass, is of no moment: to say that every part of these Sacred Scriptures is God-breathed and to say that the whole of these Sacred Scriptures is God-breathed, is, for the main matter, all one. Nor is the difference great between saying that they are in all their parts, or in their whole extent, God-breathed and therefore profitable, and saying that they are in all their parts, or in their whole extent, because God-breathed as well profitable. In both cases these Sacred Scriptures are declared to owe their value to their Divine origin; and in both cases this their Divine origin is energetically asserted of their entire fabric. On the whole, the preferable construction would seem to be, “Every Scripture, seeing that it is God-breathed, is as well profitable.” In that case, what the apostle asserts is that the Sacred Scriptures, in their every several passage - for it is just “passage of Scripture” which “Scripture” in this distributive use of it signifies - is the product of the creative breath of God, and, because of this its Divine origination, is of supreme value for all holy purposes.

Warfield notes that these God-breathed books do not include a list of which writings are breathed forth and therefore authoritative. He discusses canonicity elsewhere, in an essay entitled “The Formation of the New Testament Canon,” written in 1915 and included as an appendix in The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible. The point made here is that because these books are God-breathed they are most valuable and important to Timothy, and therefore to all of God’s people in the ages to follow.

It is to be observed that the apostle does not stop here to tell us either what particular books enter into the collection which he calls Sacred Scriptures, or by what precise operations God has produced them. Neither of these subjects entered into the matter he had at the moment in hand. It was the value of the Scriptures, and the source of that value in their Divine origin, which he required at the moment to assert; and these things he asserts, leaving to other occasions any further facts concerning them which it might be well to emphasize. It is also to be observed that the apostle does not tell us here everything for which the Scriptures are made valuable by their Divine origination. He speaks simply to the point immediately in hand, and reminds Timothy of the value which these Scriptures, by virtue of their Divine origin, have for the “man of God.” Their spiritual power, as God-breathed, is all that he had occasion here to advert to. Whatever other qualities may accrue to them from their Divine origin, he leaves to other occasions to speak of.

The God-breathed books (our Bible) tell us all we need to know for faith and godly living.

The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible was the first theology text I was assigned to read—and one I think all Reformed seminarians should tackle early-on in their seminary education. There is much here for those willing to tackle it.

P & R has recently released a new edition of Inspiration and Authority with a cleaned-up type face and fonts, and with archaic language modernized. I highly recommend it: Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible.