What does θεόπνευστος (inspired by God) actually mean?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this passage of NT Scripture. And it seems to be that it is not as clear as I once took it to be. There are numerous questions that have come to mind, each of which deserves a well thought out, well researched and, as much as possible, objective response. Simply, "It means what it says," is not an answer, because the following questions are an effort to try to better understand exactly what it says. I will be work on the responses, but here are some of the questions that can, rightfully, be asked.

“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17 NRSV)

“πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος καὶ ὠφέλιμος πρὸς διδασκαλίαν, πρὸς ἐλεγμόν, πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν, πρὸς παιδείαν τὴν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, ἵνα ἄρτιος ᾖ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος, πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἐξηρτισμένος.} (2 Timothy 3:16–17 AGNT)

Notice that in the above caption, the person who wrote this equated "all Scripture" with the Bible when, in fact, "the Bible" as a collection of at least 66 individual "books" did not exist. Substituting "the Bible" for "all Scripture" in this passage is known as an "anachronism" -- definition: a person, thing, or idea that exists out of its time in history, especially one that happened or existed later than the period being shown, discussed.

1. What is “all scripture”? What books/texts/traditions does “all scripture” include at the time that 2 Timothy was written (conservatively in the mid-60s CE; less conservatively in the late 1st c. CE or early 2nd c. CE)

• The canon of the OT was probably not really solidified until the later part of the 1st c. or early 2nd c. CE. 
• Even then, who chose those texts? Were they the same for the Jews as for the Christians?
• For the NT, the canon was in great flux and the source of much disagreement until the end of the 4th c. CE.

2. What does “inspired” or “God-breathed” really mean? This is the only use of θεόπνευστος in the NT. Does it mean “inerrant”? Does it mean “verbal, plenary”? How can we know?

3. What are the other uses of γραφὴ, which literally means “writing,” in the rest of the NT? What did the authors of the NT books understand “the scriptures” to be?

4. What are the references to γραφὴ in the Hebrew Bible? What do these references tell us about what the authors of these books understood “the scriptures” to be?

5. Can we say with confidence that “all scripture” is equivalent to every word contained with the 39 OT books and the 27 NT books of the Protestant Bible? Is it every word of these 66 books is θεόπνευστος? And, if so, what does it mean that God breathed these writings?

6. What about the other books of the Pseudepigrapha and/or Apocrypha, some of which the early Christians, some NT authors and the early Church Fathers regarded as “scripture”?

7. Does “all scripture is God-breathed” necessarily mean that every word of the 66 books books of the Protestant Bible come to us directly from God through the authors will absolute perfection and that they have been accurately and perfectly preserved and are accurately translated into the hundreds of languages over the centuries?

It is not that God couldn’t do any or all of the above in any way he chose, but rather the questions of whether or not he did that and how, remain, for me unclear. These are the questions, however, that I plan to respond to in future posts.

Musings of a Skeptical Believer

For me, an authentic faith involves, even necessitates, being skeptical.

My experience over the last 15 years has convinced me, both in community with other Christians and in my personal engagement with God through the Scriptures, that biblical faith is, of necessity, a questioning faith. If I only have true faith (i.e., a saving faith) when I am certain and sure of everything, then I must admit that I am in serious trouble.

Certainly, when we look at our heroes of faith in the Bible, we see times when they trusted God so implicitly and completely that they acted with incredibly boldness and courage! And I am both convicted and inspired by such examples of undoubting faith. However, I believe that these were moments in a life of faith, mountaintops of faith, but that such faith was not their every day experience. In fact, I see that the most usual display of faith was my biblical heroes’ willingness to engage God with their objections, questions and doubts—time when they hesitated, because they were perplexed, frustrated and disappointed. This, too, is real faith and a true part of living faithfully for God in this world. You see, they trusted God enough to believe that he would accept their questioning, sometimes to a degree that we would even call “struggling.”  So, I have come to accept that I am a skeptical believer.  That’s not just OK…it is preferred. I think real faith trusts enough to engage with God in Scripture about those things we don’t understand, don’t like and even disagree with. I personally believe that for a period of time in my Christian life, I turned off my brain because I thought that true faith meant convincing myself to believe, to agree and to comply. 

Yet as I look at the Bible, I see God inviting me to question him, to straightforwardly express my doubts, my concerns and even my disagreements. God knows I have them, so why act as if I am ready and willing to be unquestioningly compliant. That doesn’t mean that I’ll get an answer to every question or come to a place where I understand and/or agree with everything that’s in the Bible. Abraham struggled with God at times. Job certainly questioned God and even challenged him. The writer of Ecclesiastes even expressed that God has laid a heavy burden on humankind. Many psalms express doubt, discouragement and frustration even to the point of confronting God with why he hasn’t kept his promises! I’m encouraged by these, and other, examples. A living faith is a questioning faith, a struggling faith, a striving faith, and even, at times (no matter how contradictory this sounds), a doubting faith. There are some things that are in the Bible about which I am agnostic—I don’t know and maybe will never know in this life.

I am far from being a perfect dad, but I do believe that I love my children. If they asked for a fish, I would not give them a stone. From the time they could talk, I told them that I wanted them to bring up their questions, their concerns and even their disagreements. I requested just one thing: please be respectful. I didn’t always like it when they disagreed with my rules or questioned my decisions, but I knew that their honesty with me was a true sign of their trust in my love for them. If I, being evil, know how to give good gifts to my children (to quote Jesus), how much more will my Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him. I am convinced that true faith is an honest faith, that freely and respectfully bring questions, doubts and disagreements to God, and may have to live with some of those unresolved for a long time. For me, that's authentic faith.