Sufficient and Profitable (34)
a. Modes of Application
Other than what we can derive from the broader context, Paul immediately lists several things for which Scripture is useful and profitable.30 He says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." The word "for" (pros) appears before each of the items listed in verse 16, but the NIV omits this. That part of the verse literally says, "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (NASB).
We have already dealt with the triple emphasis on Scripture's sufficiency in verse 17 – it is an unmistakable declaration that the Bible is the all-sufficient tool for ministry. It is enough to address every need. Here we will turn our attention to the four items in the second part of verse 16.
Scripture is useful "for teaching." The word appears also in 1 Timothy 4:6, 13, 16, and 6:3. As it is "a technical term in the [Pastoral Epistles] for the doctrinal formulation of Scripture,"31 another good translation is "doctrine," which is how the word is often rendered. Here it refers to the positive task of teaching the biblical doctrines, or the system of truth that God has revealed in Scripture. It is the positive exposition of the whole counsel of God. As Gordon Fee notes, this is the minister's "primary responsibility."32
If the Scripture is merely "useful" for teaching, then the possibility remains that it needs to be supplemented with something else that is also useful for teaching. But Paul does not allow such an inference, since in this verse he declares that Scripture is useful for teaching and other things, so that the man of God may be complete, and fully equipped for every good work. In other words, the Bible is not only "useful" for teaching, but it is also sufficient and complete, containing all that is necessary for the teaching ministry.
There is also an essential relationship between the utility and sufficiency of Scripture with its inspiration and authority. Scripture is useful for teaching not only because it contains sufficient doctrinal information, but it is also sufficient in another sense, namely, that it is "God-breathed," and therefore speaks with ultimate authority. Thus the Scripture is useful and sufficient for teaching because, if the Bible asserts something, it is God's word on the subject, and that settles the matter. No additional confirmation is required, and any extra-biblical evidence cited as support would in fact carry an infinitely inferior authority, so that its rational value would be negligible.
Notes
30 Also see 2 Timothy 4:2: "correct, rebuke and encourage." I have given an exposition of this in Preach the Word.
31 William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2000), p. 570.
32 Gordon D. Fee, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus (Hendrickson Publishers, 1988), p. 279.
(to be continued)