Learn the Value and Power of the Bible—Part 3

This is Part 3 of a 3-part series. You may read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

The Purpose of Scripture’s Power (v. 17)

When Paul says so that in verse 17, he is telling us the purpose of the Scripture that has been given to us and the purpose for the work it does that he explained in verse 16. The intent of Scripture is that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. By adequate, Paul means that we are “specially adapted”¹ to what we have been called. Scripture can meet every demand of life and every calling of God in our lives. It is sufficient and proficient to produce what is needed in every circumstance. It provides knowledge and direction for every need in ministry and life for Timothy and for every believer (every “man of God”). Scripture will never be deficient in its guidance toward the good works God has called us to in our salvation (Ephesians 2:10). Hiebert rightly summarizes the purpose and power of Scripture articulated in these verses:

Wherever it is allowed to have its intended result, “instruction by the Scripture will secure for every believer continuous, growing, inward capacity and readiness for the accomplishment of everything pleasing to the Lord” (Van Oosterzee).²

Why the Bible is Essential—a Directive

Because the Bible is sufficient and proficient to produce necessary change in the believer and because the Spirit’s primary tool in administering change in the believer’s life is the Bible, the biblical counselor’s primary tool in offering the hope of transformation and sanctification is the Bible. If the counselor is going to be effective in his ministry, he must not only know what God’s book says, but he must also know what God means by what He says in His book.

The danger for the counselor is that he might misunderstand, misinterpret, misapply, and misuse this sword that penetrates the soul of the hearer and grants life through that hearing (Hebrews 4:12–13). So here is the directive for where the rest of this section is going. We have already looked at an overview to the process of reading and interpreting the Scriptures accurately so that the workman who counsels will not be ashamed before Christ for how he has counseled (2 Timothy 2:15).

Flowing from an accurate process of reading the Scriptures is a three-step process for every counselor of the Word to use to prepare to teach his counselees. The intent is to provide essential tools to know and understand the Word of God and how to use the Scriptures not only for the counselor’s own transformation but so that his counselees will also benefit from his study and teaching and grow in Christlikeness through his teaching.

This process is often summarized around three words: observation (“what does the biblical text say?”), interpretation (“what does the biblical text mean?”), and application (“what should I do because of this biblical text?”). Those three words remind us that the Bible is given to reveal something to us, that we can discern the meaning, and that we should (and can) do something because of what it means.

Heath Lambert has told a story of going to his kitchen pantry to prepare breakfast for his children on a morning when his wife was ill, only to realize that while all the raw ingredients for a nutritious breakfast were available on the shelves, he had no idea how to transform them from ingredient to final product. So he went to a place where they could do that: McDonald’s. Then he drew an application from the events of that morning:

If you understand this story, you recognize the difference between resources and facility. I had more than enough resources in my pantry that morning to prepare a delightful breakfast for my children. The problem was that I did not have my wife’s facility to transform those resources into something consumable by my children. It is the same way with the Bible and counseling. We have more than enough Scriptural resources to assist any troubled person whom the Lord would send our way. What we often are missing is the facility to share those resources with folks who are experiencing trouble in a manner that leads to help.

The goal for the believer is to be equipped to handle the Scriptures with wisdom and accuracy, and to use and apply those Scriptures to the diverse problems of your counselees and disciples with skill and helpfulness.

Let’s not just be surrounded by copies of the Bible; let’s be equipped servants who can strategically and carefully use the Sword that has been given to us to be God’s agents in the repair of men’s souls. Let’s begin getting prepared to do that by learning the Word.

¹ Robertson, Word Pictures, 628.

² Hiebert, 102.