Every scripture is God-breathed and beneficial for teaching, for exposing wrongdoing, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be fully competent, being equipped to accomplish every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Above is a picture of my snow blower. It came with an operator’s manual to help me know how to operate it. To keep my snow blower working properly, and to keep me from being injured while using it, I must follow the instructions in the operator’s manual.
For example, the operator’s manual tells me I must use unleaded gasoline in order for my snow blower to work properly. Now suppose there is a blizzard and when I try to use my snow blower, I find that the gas tank is empty and so is my gas can. Because I can’t get to a gas station because of the blizzard, I figure I’ll use some other liquid in place of the gasoline
After looking around my house, I find a bottle of ginger ale which is a liquid that looks somewhat like gasoline. So, I fill the gas tank of my snowblower with the ginger ale.
If I do that, will my snowblower work?
No. The snow blower will not work properly using ginger ale even though it looks like gasoline. I must follow the operator’s manual and use unleaded gasoline.
The operator’s manual also warns me that I should not stick my hand into the rotary blades on the front of the snowblower to remove a clog while the snowblower is running. Otherwise, I may get my hand or fingers cut off.
What happens if I ignore that instruction and stick my hand into the moving blades to remove a clog, because I am in a hurry and think I know better?
Ouch! A painful and possibly deadly experience!
In the same way, the Bible is our operator’s manual from God – from the One who created us and knows everything about us physically, mentally, spiritually and relationally.
God gives us instructions in His operator’s manual, the Bible, about how to know Him, and how to live in order to have happy and meaningful lives. His instructions in the Bible are sufficient – they provide all the information needed to know God and to know how to live.
Unfortunately, many Christians have gradually abandoned this truth of sufficiency under the influence of modern human philosophies, psychology, and science.
Though they might acknowledge that the Bible contains some great information, they believe that current human knowledge must be added to the Bible to truly understand God and to know how to cope with the unique issues of life that we face in the 21st century.
This added human knowledge becomes additional operating instructions for living, or a new operator’s manual that replaces the Bible altogether.
Unfortunately, these added instructions are constantly changing as mankind discovers new so-called “truth”. Prior operating instructions are replaced with what are viewed as “new and improved” operating instructions, implying that the old instructions were inadequate or wrong. And of course, the “new and improved” will eventually be replaced with “newer and more improved” instructions. But, inadequate or wrong instructions are potentially dangerous, and even deadly.
As so, just as with my snow blower, if I follow them, the result will be that my life will not run right, and I may get painfully hurt in many ways. Following man’s instructions is like putting ginger ale in my snow blower or sticking my hand into the moving blades.
The Bible is God’s unchanging operator’s manual that He gave us for the purpose of showing us how to know God and how to live. There is nothing that man can add to God’s operator’s manual. The Bible is the only complete source – it has all the truth necessary for knowing God and knowing how to live. The Bible is sufficient.
Word Focus Lexicon
Lexical Form: ὠφέλιμος -ον
Transliteration: ōphelimos
Gloss: beneficial, profitable, useful
Part of Speech: Adjective
New Testament Frequency: 4
Strong’s Number: G5624 (Link to Blue Letter Bible Lexicon)
The adjective ὠφέλιμος / ōphelimos was used to describe something that is beneficial or useful because it accomplishes something. In the case of Scripture, it it beneficial for teaching, for exposing wrongdoing, for correcting, and for training in righteousness. What is accomplished is equipping the person of God for good works.
Unless otherwise noted, English translations of Bible verses are by the author from the Greek text and are not quotations from any copyrighted Bible version or translation.
Koine Foundations 
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