All Scripture is Profitable for Teaching

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

As followers of Jesus Christ we live under the New Covenant relationship God has with his people. We are not bound by the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions of the Old Covenant, which includes the requirement of circumcision. Nonetheless, this does not mean that we are to ignore the teachings in the Old Testament as though they are not relevant at all to our lives today.

The Old Testament is rich in biblical history and poetry and in prophecy and in teachings on holiness and righteousness and on walks of obedience to our Lord and on the forsaking of our sins, much of which is still relevant to our lives today as it agrees with the New Covenant. And so the Old Testament is not to be ignored. For all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

The best rule of thumb I know of in reading all Scripture is to look at who it is written to, and the occasion of the writing, and at what is being communicated and why, and then just pray and ask the Lord to show you how you can apply the lessons taught to your life today. And some of the lessons will be used more like parables in our lives rather than as direct teachings on biblical principles and doctrines.

For example is the story of David and Goliath. We can look at Goliath as our enemy Satan, or as a huge trial we are having to go through, or as persecution we are presently up against. They are our “giants” we must defeat, but we cannot defeat them with man’s weapons, with humanistic philosophy and with trying to get even with people, etc. But we must defeat these giants in our lives only in the power and wisdom of God.

One of the main things we have to guard against is applying any promises of God to our lives which are not for us. For all of God’s promises have stipulations (requirements, conditions). Some of those conditions are directly related to the people to whom those promises are given, and some of those largely have to do with the character traits and behaviors of those people. So we need to make sure we meet those qualifications.

Many people today who are making professions of faith in Jesus Christ are not walking in the faith they profess. They have not died with Christ to sin and they are not living to him and to his righteousness, but they are still living in deliberate and habitual sin against God, but yet they want to claim forgiveness of all sins and heaven as their eternal destiny which can’t be taken away from them. But those promises don’t apply to all professers.

What did Jesus say? He said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one doing the will of God the Father who is in heaven. For many are going to stand before him one day professing him as Lord and claiming the things they did in his name, but he is going to say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” for they refused to obey God (Matthew 7:21-23).

So, all Scripture can be profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, that the person of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. But we must be diligent to read and to apply the Scriptures in the proper context and according to the New Covenant relationship we have with Jesus Christ. For then we will have the correct understanding as to how we can apply these truths to our lives.

When I Go Home

By G. M. Eldridge

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” Revelation 21:4

In the moment He appears

And the light from heaven shines,

I’ll forget ev’ry fear,

Ev’ry pain I’ll leave behind.

Then I’ll see Him as He is

And I’ll know Him as I’m known.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

Ever present is the tho’t 

That a moment waits for me

When unworthy as I am,

His glory I will see.

I will empty all my praise

Before my Father’s throne.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

If the trial I endure,

And your presence I can’t find,

Be near me, Lord, I pray,

Bring back unto my mind

That your promises are firm

And I’m never on my own.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z98Zvr1CyXg 

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