Christianity and Bible Study: All Scripture is Given by Inspiration of God

All Scripture is Given by Inspiration of God for

Doctrine / Reproof / Correction / Instruction in Righteousness

(2 Timothy 3: 16)

During his Missionary Journey beginning circa 40 AD, the Apostle Paul wrote concerning these areas:

· Doctrine (Teaching Principles of Christianity) – Book of Romans (circa 64 AD)

· Reproof (Criticism / Reprimand re Various Problems) – Books of I and II Corinthians (circa 61-62 AD)

· Correction (Restoration to Upright State re Grace vs Legalism) – Book of Galatians (circa 60 AD)

· Instruction in Righteousness (Education re Attaining a state Approved of God – Books of I and II Thessalonians (circa 57-58 AD)

These were fundamental concepts for those being newly introduced to Christianity and Paul’s Gospel of Grace. They were written as a follow-up to earlier visits he had made to those small congregations of believers. Some believers were Jews he had converted. Otherwise he evangelized carnal / formerly idolatrous Gentiles. Paul only wrote to believers.

BACKGROUND:

The Book of Acts is called the “Book of Transition” because it chronicles the transition of God’s Plan for the redemption of mankind. In brief, it begins with the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ at the close of His Earthly Ministry, following His death, burial and Resurrection. Despite strong efforts by the Apostle Peter and the new disciple Stephen to convince Israel to repent for having rejected and demanding the crucifixion of their Messiah Jesus, Israel would not budge. As a result, God’s Plan to have Israel teach the Gentile world God’s Moral Law to obtain righteousness (Exodus Chapters 19 and 20) through the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12: 1-3) was not implemented.

The Ascended Lord Jesus then turned to a single Jew, Saul of Tarsus (later named Paul) who had been the violent chief opponent of Christ’s Earthly Ministry. The Lord saved him by Grace and charged him to be “the Apostle to the Gentiles.” (Romans 11: 13; Ephesians Chapter Three) Paul met with tremendous opposition wherever he journeyed. (Acts 26: 1-23; 2 Corinthians 11: 21-33) However he persevered to follow God’s Plan to bring salvation to all who would receive it. (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4; Romans 10: 9-13).

After Paul’s enemies had him falsely accused , he was delivered to Rome and placed under house arrest for two years prior to his martyrdom. During that period, he wrote what have been called his “Prison Epistles” to the remaining congregations. (Acts 28: 16-31) Those parts of our Scripture followed the same order of his teachings as noted above. Although the order is the same, the content of each requires a higher-level understanding of the Lord’s message to us:

· Doctrine – Book of Ephesians (circa 62 – 63)

· Reproof – Book of Philippians (circa 62 – 63)

· Correction – Book of Colossians (circa 62 – 63)

Hopefully these distinctions will help Bible students, Christian and others, to better appreciate another aspect of the intricacy of how the Holy Spirit has developed and organized God’s messages. Also, n conducting research for this post on my blog, I found the chart below. It was developed by the Grace Bible Church, Ft. Worth, Texas, and I highly recommend it to you.

A diagram of a book of transition

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