What Does Timothy in the NT Mean by the Greek "Theopneustos" - "God Breathed"?

A very good question has shown up on a message board I inhabit from time to time, and the answers given by BYU scholar Bill Hamblin are truly worth putting up for more people to see. I thought this was a rather down to earth, good understanding of a logical situation.

“Sargon” asked about the scripture - 2 Tim 3:16

All Scripture is God-breathed (theopneustos) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness
What does this mean? Evangelicals believe it means that the text is "inerrantly" communicated from God to man. LDS tend to interpret it to mean something more along the lines of "inspired".
Is the LDS view of scripture compatible with such strong wording by the apostle Paul? What does Paul mean by "God-breathed"?

As others noted, Paul could not have had the New Testament in mind, since it was not in existence at his day. So, the question is what is the meaning of "theopneustos"? Here is where Dr. Hamblin stepped in. “It means literally "god-breathed" = Theos + pneuma. The phrase "inspired by God" is a good way to translate it, since "in-spiration" means literally "breathed in" (as in re-spiration). There is nothing in the term that implies inerrancy. Evangelicals assume inspired means inerrant, so if scripture is inspired it is must be inerrant. However, this is, of course begging the question, which is: is inspiration inerrant.”

 

Then another gent added this

 “The HRV has the words reversed a bit, which kind of changes the whole meaning:
Every writing inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness,
I don’t know how accurate this word order is, but it tends to have a First Grand Fundamental Principle of Mormonism kind of flavor to it.”

And now Dr. Hamblin adds another very stimulating insight.

“This is the only occurrence in the NT or Septuagint. However, it is used in other Greek writings.

There's a problem with the translation you give. The Greek reads:

pasa grafē theopneustos kai ōfelimos pros
all/every writing/scripture god-breathed and beneficial for

Note that there is no explicit is in this passage, and the translation you cite dropped the and.

It could be translated a number of different ways, [with implied text inserted in square brackets].

Any writing [that is] God-breathed [is] also beneficial (which is essentially what the HRV has)
All of scripture [is] God-breathed and [is therefore] beneficial

Grafē simply means a written text, not technically scripture, but most frequently in the NT it is used to refer to scripture, but in this case it usually the article prefix hē (the writing/scripture), which it doesn't have in this passage, making it more generic and less specific in this passage. When used as scripture in the NT, it always refers to the OT.

Most importantly, however, Evangelical interpretations hinge on two assumptions, neither of which is well-founded on the text:
1- that grafē here includes the NT; it clearly doesn't, since much of the NT had not yet been written. In other words, the Evangelicals must add to the grafē to include the NT.
2- that God-breathed/inspired means inerrant.
In other words, the passage does not mean what EVs claim it means.

Thus, translated correctly does make a difference.”

So, what in the Bible is translated correctly? And here again Hamblin rises to the challenge.

“A translation is correct when it conveys the original intent of the author in a way that is properly understood by the reader. Thus no translation is correct in and of itself, but only when correctly understood.”

And finally, in this interesting thread, “TheSometimeSaint” noted this…

“I can't think of a single verse that has not undergone some type of translation. That always introduces the possibility of human error. My object is not to call into question the message of the Bible, or even its individual authors. But to show that ANY introduction of men into the text presents the possibility of error. The LDS do not believe in the inerrancy of any mortal man, or of the things he produces. That is why we have modern day Prophets to help in our understands of what it is that God wants for us.”

In all, it has just been a most educational thread on the Bible.

Comments

[James]

I'm glad you found that thread interesting, Kerry. I'm "Sargon" in that thread.

My reason for beginning the thread was that I hoped some inerrantist would step forward and offer their reasons for why "God-breathed" must be interpreted the way they do.

Unfortunately, the thread quite quickly veered off course, and so I started a new one which I think is more focused.

[Kerry Shirts]

I think you have great ideas, and am always glad to help spread them....thanks for all your great thinking you do for the rest of us to enjoy!

[Robert Boylan]

Also, note that at the time this was written, not all scripture had been enscripturated, so Protestants cannot use this to support Sola Scriptura. Indeed, Paul uses a qualitatively weak word, ophilemos. Had he desired to convey to Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, that tE grapE were formally sufficient, a la Sola Scritura, then Paul could have used stronger words, such as autokreia or hikanos.

FWIW,

Robert Boylan

[Kerry Shirts]

Good points Robert. Thanks for sharing the ideas....

[David Littlefield]

Hey Kerry!

Great post.

I understand one is Hebrew and one is Greek, but are these the same ideas in Gen. 2:7 when God breathed into Man his spirit?

Thanks,

David Littlefield

[Anthony]

Interesting! When the Lord at one time breathed on His apostles, I wonder if that action was symbolic of inspiration?

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