November 14 – Scripture Alone

2 Timothy 3: 6 – 17  (NLT)

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

Here is the version found in The Message. “There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.”

Over the past month, Pastor Brian has been preaching about the major doctrine that was proclaimed in the Reformation. We often associate the Reformation with October 31, 1517, the date Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of a church.  Over the next two weeks, we going to look at those “Solas” and how they impact our everyday lives. We’ll begin with Scripture Alone. Here is a section from the Presbyterian Church of Canada’s doctrinal statement called “Living Faith”. It is an excellent definition of what the phrase “all scripture is inspired by God” means.

“The Bible has been given to us by the inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life. It is the standard of all doctrine by which we must test any word that comes to us from church, world, or inner experience. We subject to its judgment all we believe and do. Through the Scriptures the church is bound only to Jesus Christ its King and Head. He is the living Word of God to whom the written word bears witness. The Holy Spirit gives us inner testimony to the unique authority of the Bible and is the source of its power. The Bible, written by human hands, is nonetheless the word of God as no other word ever written. To it no other writings are to be added. The Scriptures are necessary, sufficient, and reliable, revealing Jesus Christ, the living Word.”

Let’s look at today’s verses again:

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

It tells us:

  • What is true
  • It helps us figure out what we are doing wrong
  • It helps us to make the corrections
  • It teaches us what is right behaviour
  • It prepares us to do great things – “every good work”

There are so many ideas floating around in Canada today about how to behave and what to think. Politically, people are loud about their stance on the far right or the far left. We live in a world where people move from country to country. Socially, we have very mixed cultures in our communities. It’s more difficult today to figure out what we need to believe, and how to behave in various situations. 

But that is what the Bible does for us. It “is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true”. It’s so important for us to read, think and pray about what we read in our Bibles. I know you are reading this devotion, and it’s based on scripture verses. But perhaps, it might be good for you to choose a book of the Bible and starting reading it through slowly. I’d suggest Philippians is a good one to start with. You might not have time every day to read some verses. But, stop and think about when you could set apart 15 minutes to read a few verses. Before you read, ask God to show you what those verses say about your life and the things you are facing right now. You might even stop at one verse because it spoke to you personally.

God’s Word is inspired. It can influence and motivate you to be the person God created you to be.

Our song for today is Word of God Speak by MercyMe.