[B-Greek] The meaning of "theopneustos" in 2 Timothy 3:16 (CAUTION)

Harold Holmyard hholmyard at ont.com
Tue Jul 25 10:09:02 EDT 2006


Dear Leonard,

>>My question concerns the interpretation of  2 Timothy 3:16.  I take  
>>"theopneustos" as an attributive and active verbal adjective, so  
>>that my translation is "Every God-breathing scripture is also  
>>profitable for doctrine, etc."   I understand "God-breathing" to  
>>mean "breathing the breath of God."  In relation to God the  
>>expression "breath" is sometimes used anthropomorphically as a  
>>metonym for divine speech, e.g. Psalm 33:6: "By the word of the  
>>Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his  
>>mouth," where "the breath of his mouth" is in synonymous  
>>parallelism to "the word of the Lord."  (The metonym "breath" for  
>>speech presumably comes from the fact that humans exhale breath  
>>when speaking.)  In LXX "by the breath of his mouth" is to pneumati  
>>tou stomatos.
>>
>>Therefore "breathing the breath of God" means to speak or declare  
>>the word of God.  Paul says in vs.15, "...from childhood you  
>>[Timothy] have been acquainted with the sacred writings [OT] which  
>>are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ  
>>Jesus."  I think what Paul probably means is  "Every scripture  
>>which declares the word of God is profitable, just as the Old  
>>Testament is, for doctrine, reproof, etc."  On this interpretation  
>>"every scripture" refers to scripture other than the Old Testament  
>>which is equally "God-breathing" and profitable with the Old  
>>Testament. The Scriptures are "God-breathing" by virtue of the fact  
>>that they contain the word of God and so declare it.  By "word of  
>>God" I mean any message in the Scriptures which has God as the  
>>ultimate source, e.g. the ten commandments, the prophecies of  
>>Daniel, the Christian gospel, but not, for example, pure historical  
>>narratives of the OT.
>>
>>Is it possible to understand "theopneustos" in this way, i.e.  
>>"speaking or declaring the word of God"?
>>

HH: My mind first travels to Genesis 2, where God breathes into man and 
he becomes a living being:

Gen. 2:7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a 
living being. 

HH: The thought is echoed in Job:

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives 
me life.

HH: One sees this creative power in the use of "breathe" in Ezekiel:

Ezek. 37:9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son 
of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four 
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

HH: In 2 Tim 3:16 the idea can be that God originated the Scriptures. 
They come from Him as a creative source, but the notion that he breathed 
them out seemed interesting and helpful, based on Psalm 33:6, which 
combines the idea of creating with speaking. We know that God spoke in 
the creative acts of Genesis 1: "God said, 'Let there be light,' and 
thee was light" (Gen 1:3). Scripurtes are verbal, so creating them by 
speaking seems most natural. Thanks for pointing out the paralllelism.

HH: As to whether "all Scripture" in 2 Tim 3:16 refers to Scripture in 
addition to that in the Old Testament, this is a questionable 
proposition. Paul may intend to broaden the concept beyond the OT 
Scripture that he mentioned in the previous verse, but he could just as 
easily mean that every part of the OT Scriptures is God-breathed.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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