“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
“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” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
This is a description of a minister’s tool chest. The “man of God” here is not a generic Christian, but rather a man called of God. Throughout the Old Testament, the man of God was the prophet, in the New, he is the man who has assumed the prophet’s mantle. He does not give fresh revelation himself, but rather is the man who has the compilation of that completed revelation in his hands. While he is not a prophet himself, he is the heir of the prophets. In other words, he is not limited by the cessation of the prophetic gift because, as it says here, he is “competent” or equipped for every good work. There is no task the minister will be called upon to perform that he is not equipped to perform through the Scriptures.
All Scripture is the breath of God, the exhalation of God. Because of what it is, the minister is fitted out for various tasks. In the first place, he has something to teach. And when he runs out of things to say, as my father taught me, he should go on to the next verse. Second, the Scriptures give him the authority to reprove someone as necessary. Third, he is equipped to correct. Reproof says, “no, not that way.” Correction says, “Go this way instead.” And last, the Scriptures enable a man to train others up in righteousness.
The man of God should always remember that Scripture enables him to do these things because of what Scripture is. If Scripture were not the exhalation of God, or if a minister comes to believe that it is not, then we are looking at a minister who has no commission, no real authority to teach, reprove, correct, or train. A man with an open Bible before him in the pulpit is a man who represents the God who is not silent. A man with a closed Bible is as much in the dark as anybody.
This is a description of a minister’s tool chest. The “man of God” here is not a generic Christian, but rather a man called of God. Throughout the Old Testament, the man of God was the prophet, in the New, he is the man who has assumed the prophet’s mantle. He does not give fresh revelation himself, but rather is the man who has the compilation of that completed revelation in his hands. While he is not a prophet himself, he is the heir of the prophets. In other words, he is not limited by the cessation of the prophetic gift because, as it says here, he is “competent” or equipped for every good work. There is no task the minister will be called upon to perform that he is not equipped to perform through the Scriptures.
All Scripture is the breath of God, the exhalation of God. Because of what it is, the minister is fitted out for various tasks. In the first place, he has something to teach. And when he runs out of things to say, as my father taught me, he should go on to the next verse. Second, the Scriptures give him the authority to reprove someone as necessary. Third, he is equipped to correct. Reproof says, “no, not that way.” Correction says, “Go this way instead.” And last, the Scriptures enable a man to train others up in righteousness.
The man of God should always remember that Scripture enables him to do these things because of what Scripture is. If Scripture were not the exhalation of God, or if a minister comes to believe that it is not, then we are looking at a minister who has no commission, no real authority to teach, reprove, correct, or train. A man with an open Bible before him in the pulpit is a man who represents the God who is not silent. A man with a closed Bible is as much in the dark as anybody.