Ecclesiastes 7-9, Psalm 46, 2 Timothy 3
Ive listened to many sermons about 2 timothy 3:16. The focus is on Scripture. “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” That verse rightfully sets up God’s word as a special gift to us. But it’s, verse 17 that gives us the reason.
What is the benefit of having God’s ordained and infallible word at our fingertips? In a word; complete. 2 Timothy 3:17 says that the word is breathed out so that we can be “complete.” What does that mean, exactly? Let’s first consider the Greek translation. In his book, Shaped by the Word, M. Robert Mulloholand Jr. describes it this way.
The Greek word is a beautiful one it is the word artios, meaning that which is perfectly suited to its nature. If you when to a fruit bowl and found what you considered to be a perfect apple, you would call it artios. It would be everything an apple ought to be. it would possess the essence of “appleness.”
“Everything that an apple ought to be.” You know what that is, right? When you choose that apple, it has just the right color. When you hold it, it has a certain firmness, such that you can almost taste it before you bite it. When you do bite it, there is a crispiness to it and it’s juice pours from the corner of your mouth. It’s perfect and complete, living out its life exactly the way that it was created to do.
That is our calling in 2 Timothy. To allow God’s word into our heart so that we can be formed, fitted and equipped to do exactly what God created us to do.