Question 5: Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God….” This shows that everything in the Bible is the word of God. But there are actually people who say that not everything in the Bible is the word of God. Isn’t this denying the Bible and deceiving people?
Answer: About the viewpoint “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” we must understand the context in which Paul said these words. At the time Paul wrote letters to Timothy's church there was only the Old Testament. The New Testament had not been formed yet and there were just dozens of epistles scattered around and kept by various churches. This shows that these words of Paul were referring to the Old Testament. The Israelites only regard the Old Testament as the Bible. The New Testament was not formed until after AD 300. Church leaders at the time held a meeting as they thought the last days were near, and that the utterances of Jesus and the epistles of the apostles should be brought together into a book, and distributed to the various churches like the Old Testament. Therefore, they compiled together the epistles written by Jesus' apostles and disciples, and following research and confirmation, selected 27 books to become the New Testament, which was later combined with the Old Testament to become the complete Bible. This is how the New and Old Testaments were formed. Further, regarding the formation of the Bible, we must also understand just who wrote it and who recorded it. The Bible has several dozen authors, but none of them said the epistles they wrote were inspired by God. if God had said all scripture is given by inspiration of God, then God should have said it via prophets, but the books of prophets contain no such words. The Lord Jesus has also never said such words. The apostles have also never said the epistles they wrote and their testimonies were all inspired by God, and moreover they did not dare to say they were God's words. This is fact! But later on, all believers in God think that all that God uttered is in the Bible, and that even though the New and Old Testament were written by men, they were both inspired by God. But have we ever thought about whether this conforms with the facts?
