“All scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Every Christian should agree about a few things when it comes to the Bible: that it is inerrant, that it was written down by men who were chosen, inspired, and guided by God, and that it is just as useful and needed for believers today as it was for the Israelites and Jews in the times it was written originally.
There are some, however, who seek to twist the word of God into something it’s not, and even more who read the word but are unable to understand it and how it should apply to them.
Indeed, there is, as always, an attack against God and His word found in the so-called “Progressive Christianity” movement. They seek to change the Bible’s tenets and morph the true and inerrant word of God into a book meant to satisfy the world’s desires. They read the Word of God, not as a manual for our behavior or a way to understand the world, but as an influence to be twisted into whatever they feel fits current culture the best. It’s dangerous to them and to anyone who gets caught up in it.
But even true believers sometimes fail to understand God’s truth as they should. The Bible is a difficult book to read and apply to yourself. None of us can do it perfectly. However, God, as always, provides us with a method to help us grow closer to Him.
If you’ve ever struggled reading the Bible and wondering how to apply passages of scripture, you need look no farther than the verse at the beginning of this blog: 2 Timothy 3:16. It gives us four ways that every last verse in the Bible can be used: to teach, to rebuke, to correct, and to train in righteousness.
“Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
I want to be clear here, too. Passages of scripture are not to be used as an either/or application in this manner. While I can’t speak to Greek sentence structure, I know that God’s word and meaning will be maintained for us to understand how He intended it, and the English meaning here is crystal clear.
In English, we have two forms of series or lists. One of them is an either/or list (it has no name, but for the sake of reducing word waste, I’ll call it a separative list), and the other is an additive list.
Separative lists include the conjunction “or” to separate items from one another, indicating that the items in the list are exclusive from one another. Each item in a list following this word becomes its own one word list. To put it simply, a separative list, such as, “you may have steak or chicken or pork for dinner,” means that whichever you choose, you may not pick the other options. Instead of one list with three items, you end up with three lists with one item.
The additive list includes the conjunction “and.” Each item that comes after this word in a list is added to the list. To put it simply, an additive list, such as, “you may have steak and chicken and pork for dinner,” means that all options can be chosen at the same time. You have one list with three items.
You might be thinking, “Hold on a second, there. Neither of those words appear in the list in 2 Timothy 3:16.” And you are, of course, correct. But what does appear is a comma. In English, commas are always additive, taking the place of the word, “and.” To have a separative list, you must have the word “or” included somewhere, else it defaults to being an additive list. And that’s what I’m getting at here.
If you’re struggling to learn from scripture, it is perhaps because you are being too narrow in your application of it. Instead of simply trying to find how scripture is rebuking your sins or correcting your behavior, think about how it can teach you about God, rebuke your sins, correct your behavior, and train you in how to do better.
The stories in Genesis are more than just stories. Each one of them serves to teach you a lesson about God’s character, rebuke sinful behavior, correct that behavior, and train you in how to behave in the future, it just depends on you to look for each of those things.
Take the story of Joseph, for example. The story teaches us about God’s commitment to His people, His loyalty, and His compassion for those who are mistreated. It rebukes the behavior of Joseph for being too proud in his place in his father’s heart and bragging to his brothers, which you can see in his punishment carried out by his brothers who sold him into slavery. That serves to correct proud behavior. But his brothers are rebuked as well for the revenge and anger they gave into. Their struggles and their shame served to teach both them and us a lesson, correcting that behavior. And, just as Joseph’s life as a slave trained him to be righteous and serve God, it does the same to us, training us to rely on God and do what we know is right even when circumstances don’t look like they’re going our way.
So, if you’re struggling to find meaning in God’s word, if you’re failing to find a way to apply it to your life, read it with 2 Timothy 3:16 in mind, keeping in mind that all four of these lessons are found in each and every passage of scripture. You’ll start to see the old stories and laws still hold quite a bit of knowledge and wisdom where you used to see only dusty words of boredom.