2 Timothy 3.16-17 Seeing God's Breath - Q

ESV                                                                                          October 7, 2007

Seeing God’s Breath?

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Introduction: Normally you cannot see anyone’s breath.   But if they breathe on you, you might be able to feel or even smell it.

          Yet there are those wondrous times of going outside on a crisp winter  morning when as you exhale the warm air from your lungs and the droplets of water vapor appear as a mist before your eyes and then dissipate in the wink an eye.

While in a similar vain you cannot see God because He is a Spirit He has revealed some general characteristics of Himself to you in creation as it proclaims in:

Psalm 19:1-6: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, 5which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.

          And God has chosen to much more specifically reveal Himself to you in His Holy Word the Bible.  It is here that He has given you all that you need to know to be saved and to live as His obedient child.

It is in the Scriptures that He even declares that of all things you can see His breath!  So turn with me to 2 Timothy 3:16-17 where He describes this fantastic phenomenon to you!

I.  Not Only Can You See God’s Breath, But You Can Read It As It Is His Word!

A. 2 Timothy 3:16a All Scripture is God-breathed

1. God's Word, the Scripture is inspired or God-breathed:

a.      Inspired is how many bibles translate this truth but it is not what is meant in the original languages.

b.     Because normally, inspired pictures someone who sees a beautiful sunset and then writes a moving poem or love song.

c.      An accurate description is expired: a breathing out by God.  The words of scripture are the actual words that God wanted you to have, he breathed them out for your direction and benefit.

d.     That is to say, it is as much God's word as if it were audibly from His own mouth.  If you were literally to hear God's voice, He would say nothing more, nothing less, and nothing different from what He has said in His book, the Holy Bible.

e.      It is to be read, heard, and obeyed as fully as any literally breathed out words of God would be.

2.     Bible Scholar: E. J. Young:

a.     Paul is not asserting that Scripture is inspiring, true as that may be, nor is he declaring that something has been breathed into Scripture.

b.     What he is saying is something quite different; what Paul is maintaining is that the Scripture itself is God breathed.

c.      That which God breathed forth from His mouth is Scripture.

d.     To put the matter in slightly different terms, Scripture is the Word, which God has spoken, the product of divine breath.

3.    2 Peter 1:20-21, Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.  21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

II. God Has Shown You His Breath, His Word, To Use!

1. 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

1.     Do you the understand the wonder of what is revealed here for you, as you have been given all that you need “to get right with God?”

a.     Teaching: that is doctrine - “what is right”

b.     Rebuke: that is conviction - “what is not right”

c.      Correction: that is restoration - “how to get right”

d.     (Disciplined) Training in righteousness: “how to stay right”

                                           i.            Psalm 119:9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.

III.  God Has Allowed You To See His Breath, His Word, In Both The Old And New Testaments!

1. 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

1.      As the Apostle Paul speaks of the Scriptures at this point the New Testament had not been given entirely so that he is mainly describing the Old Testament.

1. Psalm 19:7-14 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.

1.     Pastor John MacArthur gives you a preview of what you should spend more time looking at for yourself:

a.     Here, there are six titles for Scripture.

                                           i.            The Law of the Lord, the statuettes of the Lord,  the precepts of the Lord, the commands o the Lord, the fear of the Lord and the ordinances of the Lord.

b.     There are six characteristics of Scripture:

                                           i.            It is perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure and sure.

c.       There are six benefits of Scripture:

                                            i.            It revives the soul, makes wise the simple, gives joy to the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures forever and a final one, and produces comprehensive righteousness.

d.     The phrase “of the Lord” is repeated six times.

                                           i.            Lest there be some confusion about who is the author.

                                         ii.            It is redundant.  Six times the covenant name of Yahweh, the covenant name of the Creator/God is used.

                                      iii.            Here then is God’s own testimony to God’s own revelation in Scripture, God’s witness to the sufficiency and the adequacy of His Word.

IV. God Has Given You His Word To Thoroughly Equip You To Follow Him!

A.    2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

1.     Thoroughly equipped: “ready to do right”

     B. Three times and in three ways in this verse Paul has emphasized the sufficiency of the Scriptures so that you won't miss the point.

1.     The scriptures equip you for each task God gives to you.

a.     They are capable, fitted, complete, proficient.

b.     If you feel inadequate, it is not because the Bible is inadequate but simply because you do not know your Bible adequately.

2.  The Scriptures thoroughly equip you.

a.     To thoroughly equip you, so that you are completely furnished

i.       Before a ship would set sail, all contingencies on the journey would be considered, and supplies to meet each would be stowed on board (i.e. extra canvas from which to make new sails should the original sails be damaged) the ship would be "thoroughly rigged out”.

i.       Mere men, of course, cannot foresee every possibility, and so their best plans often end in shipwreck.  But God, the omniscient one, who knows the end from the beginning, controls every contingency of history.  When, therefore, He rigged out His men of god for their work, He neglected nothing.  In the pages of Scripture are stowed every principle you might need to perform your tasks.

3.  The Scriptures thoroughly equip you for every good work.

a.     It is true that the Scriptures do not contain everything.  They are    not a textbook for electrical engineering, shipbuilding (unless you are building an ark), aeronautics, or a hundred and one other disciplines.

b.     But they are entirely adequate as the textbook for living, and for changing our lives to conform to God's requirements. Your attitudes and actions, beliefs and behavior, desires and duties.

c.      Your problem is not that you do not have enough of what you need to change in the Bible, but that you do not have enough of the Bible in you.

V. Your Session, The Elders Of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Desire That You Have And Use The Best Possible Equipment, The Bible, For Your Journey This Side Of Heaven.

A.    2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

1.     For quite awhile we have been using as a Pew Bible the New International Bible or the NIV and they have served us well, but have become well worn and are really not the best equipment we can use.

a.     The NIV is a Dynamic Equivalent or Functionally Equivalent translation as many of the bibles since the 1950’s have been.

b.     This method was developed for missionaries to translate the bible to a new group of people who have never read the bible.

c.      The idea is to seek the original thought or idea of the writer.

d.     But without the obligation to reproduce or express the exact words that were used in the original languages of Hebrew and Greek.

2.     We are replacing the NIV Bibles with the ESV, English Standard Version Bibles.

a.     There desire was to translate the individual words of the of the original Hebrew and Greek texts into their English counterparts.

b.     The ESV stands in the tradition of translation begun by William Tyndale in 1526 and continued by the King James Version (1611), the Revised Version (1885), the American Standard Version (1901), the Revised Standard Version (1952, 1971), and the New King James Version (1983).

c.      The goal of translations in this tradition has been faithfulness to the language of the original texts as well as dignified beauty in the English translation.

3.     Listen to these helpful comments from Pastor John Piper when his church made the switch.

a.     I praise God that we have the Bible in English.

b.     If there could be only one translation in English, I would rather it be my least favorite than that there be none. (WCF – “vulgar”)

c.      God uses every version to bless people and save people.

d.     But even though the weakest translation is precious, and is used by God to save and strengthen sinful people, better translations would be a great blessing to the church and an honor to Christ.

e.      I believe that there are “Four Convictions At Stake”:

                                           i.            A more literal translation respects the original author's way of writing. It is a way of honoring the inspired writers.

                                         ii.            Translators are fallible and they may mislead the English reader if they use unnecessary paraphrases to bring out one possible meaning and conceal others.

                                      iii.            A more literal translation gives preachers more confidence that they can preach what the English text says with authority that it reflects what the original Greek or Hebrew text says.

                                       iv.            A more literal translation which preserves ambiguities that are really there in the original keeps open the possibility of new insight by future Bible readers.

f.       Piper goes on to say:

                                           i.            I do not claim that the ESV is without its own level of "paraphrasing."

                                         ii.            Some will always be necessary. And there will always be disagreements about how much is necessary.

                                      iii.            I am simply arguing that the ESV is the best balance available of readability and literalness.

                                       iv.            I hope that it becomes the standard for the church.

Conclusion:  We Desire To Use The Most Accurate Bible Possible To Get The Clearest Look At Jesus Our Savior And Sovereign That We Might Follow Him, God’s Living Word!

A.    John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

B.    John 14:9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

C.    Hebrews 1:1-3 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.