Translation of 2 Timothy 3:16

The most common translation of 2 Timothy 3:16 is similar to the King James Version, which reads, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16 KJV). But is this really correct?

The English Revised Version of 1885 corrected this to read: “Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness.” The American Standard Version of 1901 did the same: “Every scripture inspired of God [is] also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness.”

Because of the fundamentalist backlash, the Revised Standard Version of 1952 decided to return to “All scripture is inspired by God.” They moved the correct translation to the notes, where it reads: “Every scripture inspired by God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The New Revised Standard Version did the same thing, placing it in the footnotes. The Good News Translation and the New American Bible Revised Edition also put that reading in the footnotes.

John Wycliffe, one of the first to translate the Bible into English, as early as 1382. His translation of 2 Timothy 3:16, from the Latin Vulgate, is “For all scripture inspired of God is profitable to teach, to reprove, to chastise, [for] to learn in rightwiseness.” So it is not a liberal bias. It is in the text itself that has this reading.

A few translations kept this more accurate translation. The New English Bible reads, “Every inspired scripture has its use for teaching.” A. S. Worrell translates it more literally, “Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” The Bible in Basic English gives an easy to understand, but fairly accurate version, “Every holy Writing which comes from God is of profit for teaching, for training, for guiding, for education in righteousness.”

I believe that the common translation incorrect, which is, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” I want to focus on the first three words, “All scripture is.”

First, “all” is incorrect. As J W. Roberts explains, “The rule of Greek as expressed by Souter’s lexicon is that pas as an adjective in the singular without the article means every or every kind of; in the singular with the article preceding or following it means the whole, all the; in the plural without the article it means all. Thus ‘every scripture’ is the expected translation…. Paul certainly means ‘every passage of Scripture.’”

Translations that translate it as “every” instead of “all” include the American Standard Version, Amplified Bible, Contemporary English Version, Common English Bible, Darby Translation, God’s Word Translation, New English Translation, World English Bible, and the Names of God Bible.

Next, it is important to note that the “is” is not in the Greek. It does not say “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” More literally, it says “every scripture inspired by God.” It is not declaring that all scripture is inspired by God, but rather that every scripture inspired by God “is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

One of the problems in seeing this is the translation of the Greek word graphē as “scripture.” Our understanding of scripture was a later development in church history. As Thayer’s Lexicon defines it, graphē primarily means “a writing, thing written” in the Bible. W. E. Vine explains, that graphē is “akin to grapho, to write” (Eng., ‘graph,’ ‘graphic,’ etc.), primarily denotes ‘a drawing, painting;’ then ;a writing,’” So even more literally, we could translate it, “Every writing inspired by God.”

Please note that several translations translate this as writing instead of scripture, such as Young’s Literal Translation, New Life Version, Bible in Basic English, Daniel Mace New Testament, Benjamin Wilson’s Emphatic Diaglott, Julia E. Smith Parker Translation, Jonathan Mitchell New Testament, Worldwide English New Testament.

So, probably the most accurate translation would be the Hebrew Names Version, “Every writing inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness.” In other words, there are many writings, but only those inspired by God are “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness.”

So the passage was an exhortation for Timothy to “discriminate” the writing inspired by God from “other religious writings,” explains W. E. Vine. He elaborates further, “Such discrimination would be directed by the fact that ‘every Scripture,’ characterized by inspiration of God, would be profitable for the purposes mentioned.” In other words, there are many writings, but Timothy must discern those that are truly inspired by God. How? They will be “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness.”

Another problem with the translation “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” is that Paul is not speaking of the Bible. By conservative estimates, 2 Timothy was written between A.D. 64 and 65. Only the Gospel of Mark was possibly written. There was no Gospel of Matthew, or Luke, or John yet. They came decades later. So Paul could not have been referring to the New Testament, which did not exist for hundreds of years. The exact 27 books of our current New Testament were not even listed until Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, listed them in his Thirty-Ninth Festal Epistle, in A.D. 367. The first complete Bible was done by St. Jerome in A.D. 382.

So what was Paul referring to when he wrote that “Every writing inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness”? J W. Roberts writes, “It is quite plain that it is the Jewish Scriptures which are meant.” This is clear from the context, “And that from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). It is these very writings that testify about Christ (John 5:39).

But even here we have to be careful. As the Encyclopedia Britannica makes clear, the Hebrew Canon was not closed until 100 CE when a “synod at Jabneh seems to have ruled on the matter, but it took a generation or two before their decisions came to be unanimously accepted.” This is why the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (285–247 BCE), has several additional books, such as Tobit, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and four books of Maccabees. These were not included in the final Hebrew Canon.

So let’s be clear on what 2 Timothy 3:16 does not teach. It does not teach that the entire Bible is inspired by God. It only teaches that “Every writing inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness.” This means that not all that is called scripture is inspired by God.

It is important to remember that Paul had no clue that his writings would one day become part of the New Testament. Paul was just writing to instruct his congregations and fellow workers. He had no concept of a Bible, let alone that his writing would become a part of it. After all, neither Jesus nor any of his apostles ever authorized the making of a Christian Bible. It was the heretic Marcion who first came up with the idea.

Now the church has discerned, over centuries, that the books in the Bible are “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness.” Therefore, those are the writings that they included in the canon. The canon is the list of books that the church has decided bear the mark of inspiration. Therefore, we can say that the scriptures “were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” (The Episcopal Church).

Reference:
J W. Roberts, Every Scripture Inspired of God. Restoration Quarterly Vol 5, No. 1, Article 1. https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=restorationquarterly