‍“All Scripture is God-Breathed”

‍Does 2 Timothy 3:15–17 establish sola Scriptura?

  Gary Hoge

‍When asked where the Bible teaches sola Scriptura, Protestants will often point to 2 Timothy 3:15–17. For example, Kenneth Samples wrote,

‍Scripture explicitly states its inspiration in 2 Timothy 3:15–17, and its sufficiency is implied there as well. This passage contains the essence of sola scriptura, revealing that Scripture is able to make a person wise unto salvation. And it includes the inherent ability to make a person complete in belief and practice.¹

‍That’s a great passage, but does it really imply what Samples says it implies? Here’s the whole passage (including verse 14):

‍But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14–17)

‍Paul tells Timothy to continue in what he has learned

‍Notice how the passage begins. Paul didn’t simply tell Timothy to continue in the Scriptures. He told him, “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it” (v. 14). Only then did Paul remind Timothy of the Scriptures he had known from infancy.

‍That fits with what Paul had told Timothy earlier in the same letter: “the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). Taken together, these passages show Paul directing Timothy both to the Scriptures and to the apostolic teaching he had received from others and was commanded to pass on to still others.

‍Sola Scriptura could not yet be the sole infallible rule of faith

‍There is another problem with using this passage to establish sola Scriptura. Even defenders of sola Scriptura acknowledge that Scripture could not have functioned as the Christian’s sole infallible rule of faith while the New Testament was still being written and authoritative apostolic teaching was still being given orally. As Protestant apologist James White wrote,

‍Protestants do not assert that sola scriptura is a valid concept during times of revelation. How could it be, since the rule of faith to which it points was at that very time coming into being? One must have an existing rule of faith to say it is “sufficient.” It is a canard to point to times of revelation and say, “See, sola scriptura doesn’t work there!” Of course it doesn’t. Who said it did?²

‍That point is important here. Paul could not have been telling Timothy that Scripture was at that time the Christian’s sole infallible rule of faith, because authoritative apostolic teaching was still being given orally.

‍On White’s own account, then, sola Scriptura could become operative only after the period of ongoing revelation had ended. But that means something more than the sufficiency of Scripture claimed on the basis of this passage is needed to establish sola Scriptura: one must also establish that the other forms of authoritative apostolic teaching then present would eventually cease. Paul says nothing here about a future cessation of authoritative oral teaching or a completed biblical canon becoming the sole infallible rule of faith.

‍“Thoroughly equipped” does not mean “Scripture alone”

‍It is one thing to say that Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, and quite another to say that Scripture is the Christian’s sole infallible rule of faith. Nor does Paul’s statement that Scripture equips the man of God “for every good work” establish that Scripture alone is all that is necessary for that purpose. 

‍Earlier in the same letter Paul uses similar language when he says that a person who cleanses himself from what is dishonorable will be “prepared to do any good work” (2 Timothy 2:21). Obviously, Paul did not mean that cleansing oneself from what is dishonorable is all that is necessary to prepare a Christian for every good work. Language describing something as equipping or preparing a person for every good work does not, by itself, establish that nothing else is necessary.

‍Conclusion

‍Nothing in this passage says that authoritative apostolic teaching transmitted orally would eventually cease, that all such teaching would be confined to Scripture, or that Scripture would become the Christian’s sole infallible rule of faith. Whatever arguments might be made for those conclusions, they are not established by 2 Timothy 3:15–17.

‍This passage strongly affirms Scriptura. What it never establishes is sola.

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^‍1 Kenneth Richard Samples, “Responding to Objections to Sola Scriptura,” https://whitehorseinn.org/resource-library/articles/responding-to-objections-to-sola-scriptura/.

^‍2 James White, “A Review and Rebuttal of Steve Ray’s Article, Why the Bereans Rejected Sola Scriptura,” Alpha and Omega Ministries blog, April 29, 1998, https://www.aomin.org/aoblog/roman-catholicism/a-review-and-rebuttal-of-steve-rays-article-why-the-bereans-rejected-sola-scriptura/.