The Merchants | Buy Truth, Sell It Not

The modern Christian faith, in its popular expression, rests heavily on the concept of the

"Inspiration of Scripture." This idea, often held as a foundational pillar, asserts that the Bible—the entire canon, and in some cases the Bible in its translated form—is the inerrant, divinely breathed Word of God. Yet, this entire framework, which elevates a human-curated book of books over Christ himself, is arguably founded on a profound misinterpretation and potentially a deliberate mistranslation of a single verse: 2 Timothy 3:16.

The resulting belief system creates a rigid legalism that inevitably diminishes the Great Commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart... and love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-40). This elevation of text over relationship, and law over love, is the very dynamic Christ and the Apostles—especially Paul—repeatedly chastised the Pharisees for. The historical outcome of this imbalance is tragically apparent today: broken families, souls pushed away from saving faith, and a Church rendered largely ineffectual for the Kingdom of God, losing its credibility in a world capable of critical thought.

Point 1: The Mistranslation That Launched a Doctrine

The crux of the matter lies in the traditional translation of 2 Timothy 3:16 (Pasa graphē theopneustos kai ōphelimos pros didaskalian...). The familiar King James Version (KJV) rendering is:

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine...".

Scholarly examination reveals that the KJV contains multiple mistranslations and an unauthorized addition in this single verse. This deviation may well have been a calculated effort, a "deliberate mistranslation, which was foisted upon an unsuspecting Christian world" during the Protestant Reformation. - Frank Nelte

We are not intending to tackle the idea of this being intentionally mistranslated, because whether intentional or not, the fact still remains that it is mistranslated. If you are interested in looking into this idea of an intentional mistranslation, please see the article below by Frank Nelte

https://www.franknelte.net/article.php?article_id=281 Paragraph 2

The Grammatical Case Against the Mistranslation

The Greek text for 2 Timothy 3:16

does not contain a single verb. This fact alone necessitates that the thought of the sentence continues into verse 17, and the traditional translation is grammatically forced by the addition of the verb “is” as well as the blatant addition of the word “given”. The traditional reading, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," requires inserting the verb "is given," which is not present in the original Greek, to achieve a predicate statement.

The original text most accurately should read:

"Every God-breathed writing is also profitable for teaching..."

This corrected reading is based on two key grammatical insights:

The Attributive Adjective: The adjective θϵoˊπνϵυστoς (God-breathed) is an attributive adjective, meaning it describes the noun γραϕηˊ (writing). It serves as an incidental description ("God-breathed writing") rather than an additional statement ("writing is God-breathed"). This construction—the adjective following the noun, and the absence of a verb—proves that the phrase must function as a qualifier.
The Adjunctive Particle καιˊ: The conjunction καιˊ (kai), traditionally translated as the simple conjunction "and," is grammatically inappropriate here. In this context, where it is not preceded by a verb, it far more accurately functions as an adjunctive particle, meaning "also," "even," or "indeed". This adjunctive use highlights that the inspired portion of the writing is also profitable, linking the two descriptive qualities.

The Historical Motivation

The traditional rendering was largely influenced by the Latin Vulgate and the agenda of Reformation scholars. The progression of the mistranslation involved key figures:

Desiderius Erasmus and Theodore Beza "tweaked" the Greek and Latin texts, with Erasmus introducing the conjunction "and" potentially without manuscript support, and both inserting punctuation to force a predicate reading. Although there are several earlier textual critics, such as Adam Clark, who suggest the conjunction was added, there is no known evidence that this is the case. The conjunction can remain, and the interpretation is rendered correctly with it. The point being that the absence or presence of the conjunction is almost irrelevant in comparison to the addition of the verb!
William Tyndale rendered θϵoˊπνϵυστoς as "given by inspiration of God," a rendering based on the Latin Vulgate's divinitus inspirata, incorrectly introducing the verb "given".
William Whittingham (in the 1560 Geneva Bible) took the final, critical step, being the first to render the phrase as a full predicate statement and introducing the conjunction(again irrelevant unless the addition of the verb is there in which cases you must have a conjunction to link the two complete sentences) "and" to achieve "the whole Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable...".

This change was essential to the Protestant cause. It provided the doctrinal certainty needed to claim that "the whole Bible is infallibly correct" and potentially justify the use of any verse to establish desired teachings that they may have been attempting to accomplish with such blatant actions, setting the bar for what is viewed as the Word of God, far higher than God ever intended it to be.

Point 2: The Resulting Perspective Shift: The Words of God vs. About God

The corrected view resolves a major logical dilemma: Not all words in the canon are the "inspired" Word of God.

The grammatically corrected verse acts as a qualifier, pointing ONLY to the words SPOKEN by God as the ones that are "God-breathed" (theopneustos). This aligns perfectly with Christ's definitive statements about the source of life and truth:

"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

The Logical Suicide of Total Inspiration

The traditional view—that everything in the canon is the direct, proceeding word of God—is a case of logical suicide when placed next to Matthew 4:4. If we live only by His word, yet we interpret that EVERYTHING in the Bible is His word, we are forced to treat the human words of Paul's personal opinions or the words of a chronicler with the same eternal weight as the direct commands of Christ. This is not well thought out and creates a deep scriptural contradiction.

In order to establish the doctrine that the full 66 books we have today are all scripture and God breathed, leaves us having to set all logic aside and having to take leaps into circular reasoning by presupposing inspiration.

If we accept that the criteria for finding truth is “if it says it's true, then it's true”, we are left with 2 major problems.

1. This method is circular reasoning and not in any way a defensible position

2. Any writing or person that claims “I'm this” or “this is true” must ABSOLUTELY be accepted as true.

The correct perspective, however, makes this entire system align perfectly: Only the God-breathed words are the life-giving source and are divinely preserved and divinely inspired; and the rest is simply history.

Divine Preservation Correctly Applied

The idea of Divine Preservation resolves the scriptural tension and aligns with Christ's assertion: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

The Nature of God's Word: Christ defines His own words as having eternal permanence, outlasting creation itself. These are the life-giving source we are meant to live by (Matthew 4:4).
The Role of the Remaining Text: The remaining human-authored sections of the biblical canon—the histories, letters, and commentary—are not His proceeding word, but they are valuable; however, the fact again is they are simply histories, letters, poems, commentary, etc., and were never spoken of as being inspired or even preserved for that matter. The reality is, they WERE preserved, whether by divine intervention or natural human motivation is irrelevant. They were preserved and do have value, but no more than any of the early church fathers or C.S. Lewis.

Point 3: The Practical Devastation: Legalism Ruleset and a Culture of Compliance

The theological error of total inspiration moves quickly from the abstract to the devastatingly practical, creating legalistic frameworks that elevate writings that are simply human wisdom over the divine relationship.

Here are a few examples:

Marriage and Misplaced Authority

The traditional church constructs its hierarchical marriage structure on the words of the Apostle Paul, mistakenly treating them as God's direct law. Verses on the wife's submission are elevated to a system where she is expected to obey, and the husband is entitled to give orders.

This focus completely misses the far more demanding command given to the husband: "Love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). This requires the man to prefer and love his wife over himself, even unto self-sacrificial death. By misapplying the doctrine of total inspiration, the focus shifts to controlling the wife, resulting in male pride and women who are broken and abused in the logical, extreme outcomes.

Church as Institution Over Relationship

Similarly, the total inspiration doctrine elevates Paul's instructions regarding church structure and offices (pastors, elders, deacons) to divinely instituted, mandatory laws. We miss the simple relational structure Christ himself endorsed:

"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them" (Matthew 18:20). We break fellowship and argue over titles, prioritizing complex, human-defined institution over the core of the faith: loving God and loving others as ourselves.

The Monster of Compliance

When "all is inspired," a monster ruleset of compliance is created that is impossible to keep. Salvation is by faith, yet to be "good," the believer must pile on layers of human wisdom and tools: mandatory giving, perfect church attendance, daily Bible reading, and adherence to cultural taboos (music, clothing, etc.).

This system subtly, yet clearly, is BLATANT legalism. It elevates human-curated tools and wisdom over Christ and the relationship with Him as Savior, thus creating Religion and not a relationship, and, in its extreme, absolutely creates a "Christian" Cult.

Point 4: The Critical Mandate: Think, Test, and Speak Truth

The stark parallelism between the ancient Pharisees and the modern church should be alarming. Too many modern church members sit as if illiterate in the pew, allowing laziness or a lack of confidence to cause them to simply believe whatever the preacher says.

The Apostle Peter gave a foundational command: to "always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15). The word for "defense" is apologia (απoλoγιˊα), which requires each individual to think critically and ask every question for two essential reasons:

Truth is Stronger than Doubt: If you cannot ask questions for fear of the answer, the God you believe in is not God Almighty!. God, who created heaven and earth, is far stronger than your doubts, anger, or questions. Taking your fears to God is an act of true relationship, and the preacher and everyone else are secondary to your responsibility to that relationship.
Mutual Love Finds Truth: By thinking critically and having open conversations that mutually respect and listen to contrary opinions, we get closer to the truth. We are told: "Buy the truth, and sell it not." (Proverbs 23:23) You shall know the truth, "and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32)—it does not enslave you deeper. It is only the truth, not the false Protestant claim of inspiration, that can make us free.

This is the way.