2 Timothy 3:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

For this reason Paul first offers Timothy many consolations, and only then speaks to him of his approaching departure. He does not speak simply, but uses expressions able to console and fill him with joy.

He presents the event more as a sacrifice than as death, and more as a departure, as indeed it was, and as a passage to something better. “For I am already,” he says, “being poured out as a libation” (2 Tim 4:6).

Therefore he writes here: “All Scripture is God-inspired and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction.”

“All,” which Scripture? The one about which, he says, I have spoken, every sacred Scripture. Here he means the Scripture spoken of above, about which he said: “from childhood you have known the sacred writings.”

Therefore every sacred Scripture is God-inspired. So, he says, do not doubt it at all.

“For teaching.” If it is necessary to learn something, or if perplexity arises about something, we can learn about it from here.

If it is necessary to expose falsehood, or if it is necessary to be corrected or instructed, this too we can draw from here. It also helps toward exhortation and consolation.

“For correction,” that is, if something is lacking and something must be supplied.

But they ought to have considered that, after saying above, “you know the sacred writings,” the Apostle now says, “all Scripture.” Which Scripture? The one about which he spoke above and about which he said that it was sacred.

Therefore this is the God-inspired Scripture, and it is profitable for everything he lists afterward.

“For teaching.” It is profitable, he says, because it teaches us what we need to know. There is nothing that cannot be resolved through sacred Scripture.

“For reproof.” If it is necessary to expose falsehood, this too can be drawn from it.

“For correction, for instruction in righteousness.” If it is necessary, he says, to be corrected and to receive instruction, that is, to be brought to understanding in righteousness so as to act righteously, sacred Scripture gives you this also.

When someone has renewed and corrected the moral path of his life, he still must know how to stand firmly on the path of virtue and walk this path without deviation.

Scripture also helps and teaches this, which the Apostle called “discipline in righteousness,” that is, instruction in righteousness.

From this is revealed the full importance for the pastor of the Church of a thorough and deep study of sacred Scripture.

For all pastoral activity consists precisely in what, according to the Apostle, the God-inspired Scripture is profitable for. It consists in teaching people truth and goodness, reproving their errors and vices, correcting their morals and convictions, and instructing them, that is, strengthening them on the path of righteousness.

“In the Scriptures,” he says, “it is set forth what one must do and what one must not do. They are light for those in darkness.

Whoever knows Scripture as he should will not be scandalized by anything that happens. He bears everything courageously and finds grounds and examples for everything.

Every sacred Scripture is God-inspired. Therefore, he says, do not doubt it. If it is necessary to know something, or if perplexity arises about something, it can be learned from here.

If it is necessary to expose falsehood, this too can be drawn from here. If it is necessary to be corrected, if something is lacking and needed, this too is drawn from Scripture. Without the Scriptures it is impossible to be perfect.”

“Scripture is God-inspired and profitable, as the breathing of the all-good God, which is life-giving for every creature, especially the rational one (see Ps 103:30; Ps 118:50).

The holy prophet David depicts the soul-saving quality of the word of God in this way: ‘The law of the Lord is blameless, converting souls. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making infants wise.

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes’ (Ps 18:8-9). The usefulness of divine Scripture indicated by the Apostle accords with this.”

Saint Ephrem the Syrian advises praying before reading sacred Scripture, so as to understand its power and meaning.

“And having made prayer,” he says, “give yourself to reading. Remember that many who relied on their own judgment did not understand what they read and fell into error.

Our days pass like a shadow, and we do not notice how swiftly our Judge approaches. We must take care for the one thing needful. Your soul also needs food, without which it will die, and it will find this food nowhere except in the word of God.”

Blessed Theophylact writes: “Some ask: how did the Apostle say here, ‘every Scripture is God-inspired’? Are the Greek writings also God-inspired? Being troubled by resolving this, they translate not ‘is God-inspired,’ but ‘God-inspired,’ so that the thought would be: every Scripture that is God-inspired is also useful.

“But they should have taken into account that the Apostle says here πασα γραφη, every Scripture, after having said before ιερα γραμματα, you know the Holy Scriptures. It is self-evident that by πασα γραφη, every Scripture, he means here the same thing he previously designated by the words ιερα γραμματα, the Holy Scriptures. By this are ordinarily meant the books of Holy Scripture, or the Bible” (cf. the same in Saint Chrysostom).

“Therefore every Holy Scripture is God-inspired. For this reason, he says, do not doubt it” (Saint Chrysostom).

It is God-inspired. For, as Saint Peter testifies, no prophecy of Scripture is of its own declaration, that is, it is not spoken from itself. “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were enlightened by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:20-21).

“The Apostle distinguished Holy Scripture from human writings by calling it God-inspired, because through the Prophets and Apostles divine grace, or the Holy Spirit, uttered God’s truth” (Blessed Theodoret).

Scripture is God-inspired and useful, as the breathing of the mouth of the all-good God, which is life-giving for every creature, especially for the rational creature (cf. Ps 103:30; Ps 118:50). The holy Prophet David depicts the soul-saving power of God’s word in this way: “The law of the Lord is blameless, converting souls. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes” (cf. Ps 18:8-9).

The usefulness of divine Scripture indicated by the Apostle corresponds to this. Scripture, he says, is useful “for teaching,” προς διδασκαλιαν, because it enlightens the mind by communicating to it the knowledge of every truth needed in our condition.

“It teaches us necessary dogmas and indicates good rules of life” (Oecumenius). “It teaches what we ought to know. And there is nothing that is not resolved through divine Scripture” (Blessed Theophylact). “For what we do not know, we learn from Scripture” (Blessed Theodoret). “If it is necessary to know anything, if one happens to be perplexed about anything, we can learn about it from here” (Saint Chrysostom).

Having taught truth, Scripture also leads “to reproof.” It reproves both falsehood and an uncorrected life. “If it is necessary to refute falsehood, we can draw this too from here” (Saint Chrysostom). “Scripture also reproves our lawless life” (Blessed Theodoret).

Having reproved, it disposes and guides toward correction, both of false views and of bad habits of life. “It calls those who have gone astray, generally both in the moral and in the intellectual sense, to the right path” (Blessed Theodoret). That is, it calls them to replace wrong reasonings with right ones, and, having cast away bad habits, to turn to virtue.

“If it is necessary to be corrected or instructed, if something is lacking and must be supplied, this too is drawn from Scripture” (Saint Chrysostom).

For the one who has corrected his ways, there remains the need to know how to walk the right path without turning aside, and while advancing and becoming ever more firmly established in rightness. Scripture also trains him in this, being useful “for instruction in righteousness.”

“It trains us in every form of virtue” (Blessed Theodoret). It “makes us wise in acquiring righteousness and in doing righteous deeds” (Blessed Theophylact). It “introduces into righteousness or raises one to perfection in it” (Oecumenius).