October 26 2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
I'm not sure I can count the number of times that I have quoted or at least referenced this passage. How important this truth is for the believer. The Scriptures, the Bible, it is the word of God. And like God himself it is timeless and it is true. That's not to say that every word of the Bible is to be understood literally. They are clearly are things such as Jesus parables, or language that is clearly figurative. Yet this figurative language delivers a timeless truth, just as does the non-figurative language.
This timeless truth is centered in the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the good news of salvation that God has given us in Christ. It is the revelation that God is love and that this love is shown to us especially in the incarnation of the word of God as men, Jesus Christ to be specific. It is further revealed in his life of seamless obedience to God's law for sinful man, and also his suffering death and resurrection to rescue all of mankind from sin and death by gods grace through faith in him.
Certainly there are other elements in this story. God creating man in his own image, having created the world for Amanda to live in. How God placed man in a perfect world where there was no suffering sorrow or death. And of how men rebelled against God and brought sin and sorrow and death into our world.
There is the promise of the Savior, the development of that promise through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, through Judah and David, and finally to the Virgin Mary. All of this is God's truth, God's love in action.
There is also God's law, the 10 Commandments, which help us to see our sin and to desire a savior. And then which also after God has brought us to faith, to guide him direct us in living a life of loving service to our neighbor.
Yes, all scripture is God breathed. It is given in love, just as Christ himself who is the word become flesh also was given in love to suffer and die for my sin, the sin of the world.
I think you do you God for your word of truth which reveals your love for me in Jesus Christ and the salvation this is mine because of him. Help me to always hold fast to your word. Help me to hunger for it, to grow in it, to trust in it, and to follow it. In Jesus name. Amen.
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