"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work".
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“Ikey, no!!!”
That was the sound that sent me and Lindsey running into the bathroom a few days ago. We had left our two youngest kids, Isaac and Katherine, in the bathtub while we worked on the dinner dishes, but now we found ourselves rushing to see what had gone wrong. When we made it to the bathroom, we saw the source of the commotion: Isaac, age 2, had dropped a book in the bathwater. And while we were ready to scold Isaac for what he’d done, I think Katherine put it best: “That’s not what the book is for!”
That simple exclamation got me thinking this week about how we interpret the Good Book, God’s Word. There are many teachers in this world—I would be so bold as to call them false teachers—who use the Bible primarily as a bludgeon against their enemies. For them, Scripture is primarily a collection of proofs that God is on their side and that he hates the same people they hate. Their agenda comes first, and the Bible is the divine tool used to justify that agenda.
But here’s the thing: that’s not what the book is for.
Scripture tells that all Scripture, from the Law to the Prophets to the Gospels to the Epistles, is inspired by God. More specifically, it is “God-breathed,” given to a series of writers through the Holy Spirit. While humans did the writing, the Lord gave the message.
Why? For “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.” God gave us the Bible to help with our sanctification, not to fuel our holy wars. God’s Word is given so that we might be “equipped for every good work,” so that we will have the theological foundation to bless others in Jesus’ name.
When the Bible helps you grow in faith in Christ, you are using it as intended. When you read it for ethical instruction, so that you will know how to share the gospel in word and deed, your aim is true. When the written Word of God leads people to the Word made flesh—Jesus, the Son of God—we see its purpose fulfilled. The Bible is God’s revelation of himself to humanity, it is a treasure of ethical teaching, and it offers us truth in a world of lies.
It is the Spirit’s sword, not yours. It is God’s Word, not mine. And the criterion by which we interpret it is not our own opinions or agendas, but Christ—for ultimately, it leads us to him. That’s what the book is for.
