2 Timothy 3:16 and KJVO

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16 KJV)

Question; is the "all scripture" being talked about here the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, or the Bible (in its many translations) as we have it today?

If it's the latter, then wouldn't that preclude the KJV from being the "only" Word of God, since the NIV or the NASB would be come under the heading of "all scripture"?

If it's the former, then I suppose there would be room for debate.

Kenneth

 

"Scripture" here (and elsewhere in Scripture ;) ) is, as far as I can see, an addition to the scriptures, since the Greek here is "γραφη" (graphé), which means "something written; writing" (it's the same root we find in "graphics", "photographs", and is the translation equivalent of Latin "script[ur]a", also meaning "what is written down".) (Thus "Everything written is given by inspiration..." would be closer to the literal Word of God in the inerrantist sense.) And since the letters to Timothy were very likely written prior to the notion of a fixed canon of scripture, it is not at all clear that the reference is to the Bible in any sense. (The Bible, after all, as "a book", was still a couple centuries in Timothy's future.) It is not clear to me that, say, the Qu'ran is excluded from the scope of 2 Tim 3:16, if one chooses to believe that it was meant to apply to canons not yet defined. (If, of course, it meant "the TaNaKh", which is likely what the writer had in mind, well and good, but that still leaves the scripturality of the NT canon in question.)

Haruo

 

I hardly think God would include the Qu'ran and writings from other pagan religions in His Bible. Our Christian faith is based on Jesus Christ and nothing else, so it would not make sense for God to call false scriptures "good." In this passage Paul is speaking of the canon of scriptures available to his readers.

 

Graphe was a technical term for Scripture from early on. Even the preceding verse uses it this way.