3:16a

All Scripture is God-breathed: The term God-breathed is a literal translation of the Greek word that older English versions translated as “inspired.” This is the only place in the New Testament that this word is used.

This word indicates that the people who wrote the books of the Bible did not merely write what they themselves were thinking. It means that they wrote the thoughts that God put into their minds. God was the source or origin of what they wrote.

Another way to translate this term is “all Scripture came from God.” Whichever way you translate this term, be sure that the word “Scripture” is the topic of the sentence.

3:16b

is useful: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as useful also means “helpful” or “beneficial.” This same word is used in 1 Timothy 4:8 and Titus 3:8.

In some languages, it may be necessary to say for whom Scripture is useful. Since Paul was writing to Timothy, he meant that Scripture was useful for Timothy and other church leaders as they would teach, correct, and instruct. If you must state the participants, use a general statement like “it is useful to us^(incl) .”

General Comment on 3:16a–b

There are two ways to interpret and translate 3:16a–b. They are:

(1) “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful….” This is the interpretation presented above. For example, Good News Translation says:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching….

See also Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Revised Standard Version, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, King James Version, New Jerusalem Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version.

(2) “All God-breathed Scripture is useful….” This second interpretation is based on the fact that there is no word in the Greek text between “Scripture” and “God-breathed.” The Revised English Bible says:

All inspired scripture has its use for teaching….

See also the footnotes in Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, NET Bible.

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Also, if the major language version in use in your area has a footnote here to show interpretation (2), it is recommended that you also include a footnote about it.

3:16c

for instruction: Paul said that Timothy should use Scripture to teach people. If you need to indicate what the Scriptures teach and to whom it is taught. You could say:

All Scripture…is useful for teaching people God’s message…
-or-
All Scripture…is useful for teaching people the truth….

3:16d

for conviction: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as conviction means “to tell people that what they are believing or doing is wrong.” When Paul used this word, he was probably thinking of the false teachers who believed and taught false doctrine. Another way to translate this word in English is “rebuke” or “reprimand.” This Greek word occurs only here and as a verb in 4:2c (translated as “reprove”) and in 1 Timothy 5:20 (translated as “rebuked”).

3:16e

correction: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as correction probably refers to correcting both wrong beliefs that people had and the wrong ways that they were behaving, and then showing them what was right. It is best to use a general term like Good News Translation does, for example, “correcting faults.”

3:16f

for training in righteousness: Paul told Timothy that he should use the Scriptures to train, or instruct, people in righteousness.

righteousness: The word righteousness includes the meaning of “doing what God says is right/moral,” or “behaving correctly/morally.” So training in righteousness means, “to instruct people how to do what is right.”

© 2003 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.