When an enthusiast wants to climb Everest, he has to be prepared. He can’t take the elevator down from his New York apartment, jump on a plane, and fly across the world on a whim. He has to gather the equipment he needs to successfully complete the journey.
He needs to visit an outdoors outfitter that can set him up with all the goods necessary for survival, and it is about survival. At over 29,000 feet, Everest is daunting, to say the least.
How do we outfit ourselves for the spiritual mountains we must climb? In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul points us to the best outfitter in existence.
“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 competent, equipped for every good work.”
The next question should be, what did Paul consider to be all scripture? After all, he was living out what would eventually be the New Testament. He was writing the very letters we would come to revere as the spoken word of God. There was no New Testament in Paul’s day.
The most obvious scripture Paul references was the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. We must also include the books of the Law and the Prophets. In addition, there are the lost books referenced in the Old Testament, such as the books of Gad; Nathan; Abijah; Shemaiah; Iddo; Jehu; the Kings of Israel; the Annals of King David; the Sayings of the Seers; and the Book of Remembrance.
Are we ill-equipped without these lost books, or did God consider them unimportant for our modern training? The Catholic Bible includes seven additional books not in the Protestant Bible. Are Catholics more holy than the rest of the world? The Greek Orthodox Bible has four more than the Catholic one, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible has still four more.
None of that matters. Seriously. None of it. If all we have is a scrap of scripture, and we follow it, then through the leading of God, we will be equipped for our journey with him. We will find the truth through God’s revelation. We are not a people of Law. That didn’t work. It’s why God chose a better way, to send Jesus unto us to offer us his salvation upon the cross. It’s why he died for us.
“All scripture is profitable…”
Paul hit the truth squarely on the head. All scripture is useful for equipping us to reach the mountaintops of our spiritual walk. It’s not the words written on the pages. It’s the revelation Christ gives us through the words that become our great strength in our tribulation.
The Torah, the Old Testament, or the one lived out by Jesus and Paul? Let’s just jump in. God will take it from there.
God is our spiritual guide, and he directs us through his written Word.
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