All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV

Sometimes it’s the small words, the insignificant words that make all the difference. Paul has been writing to Timothy, his protégé, and reviewing his conversion and growth. He reminds Timothy the place Scripture (for Timothy the Old Testament) played in his salvation and new life.

He says all Scripture is inspired. That little word “all” is crucial. ALL Scripture is inspired. Not just the inspiring words. Not just the familiar phrases. Not just the self-esteem feels good verses. Not just the ones that fit on coffee mugs, T shirts, and bumper stickers. ALL Scripture. And my point for this blog, not just the red lettered verses.

There seemed to be a trend in recent years where professing Christians claimed to be “red-letter” Christians. It seems that the thought was those red letters were the most important ones in all the Bible and the rest were optional. WE do not really need all those Old Testament laws. We do not need Paul’s all have sinned stuff. Who needs visions of falling mountains battling armies and all that other negative stuff. After all, if we are Christians, we need the words of Christ.

There are a few popular well groomed, big smile fancy church preachers that have said they don’t want all Paul’s negative words, we just want people to feel good and use Jesus words about love.

There are some huge problems with that mentality. First off is the passage quoted above. God, speaking through Paul said ALL Scripture is from God and has a beneficial purpose.

Who cares about how many rings were used to hand the curtains in the tabernacle or the type of wood used for the posts? Obviously God cared enough to let us know. Maybe he wanted us to see how intricate, and beautiful, and detailed HE was in establishing a place and time of worship that we too should take our preparations and opportunities for worship with great detail and preparation. It’s not a tailgate party. It’s an audience with the Creator-King-Redeemer. So yes the details are important. ALL the words are important. They are there for a reason.

I could also pull out all the red verses where Jesus did speak not so kind words like you brood of vipers or depart from me I never knew you etcetera etcetera etcetera. Yes, even the red letters contained words of judgement and warning.

There is another way I want to look at this, and it can also be found in the red words. In John 5, Jesus has been teaching and healing and His opponents complain for the way He makes Himself equal with the Father. And then Jesus says “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. (John 5:19-20 ESV)

While I appreciate the sentiment that people want to follow Jesus and focus on what He said, Jesus Himself says I am doing what I have seen the Father do and speak what the Father says. For me the logic would be, if the words Jesus spoke are what the Father spoke to Him, then wouldn’t everything else the Father spoke but just as important. It is a dangerous place to divorce Gods words through Moses, Isaiah, Amos, Paul or James from His words through Jesus. IS it more important, more relevant because Jesus said it?

I truly appreciate what one of my professors at Philadelphia College of the Bible said years ago. He was asked why he did not have things underlined or highlighted in his bible. His answer was that all the verses are important not just the ones I pick. Now I do not think the professor was discouraging the use of highlights and underlining. But I appreciate his philosophy.

Throughout history the Bible’s accuracy, relevance, and value have been under attack. It has been called everything from dangerous to mythical. For some it is a nice set of stories and moral lessons but not the revealed mind and word of God. What is most troubling being that in many churches the Bible is under attack at worse and marginalized at best. In the early years of the church it was determined what writings could be legitimately defended as inspired Scripture and what was not. The Nicaean Council in AD325 confirmed what had been held for hundreds of years. They did not “vote” on what books were to included or excluded. They simply confirmed what had been established by the apostles and early church years before.

Today we see movements like the red letter Christians, or the Jesus Seminar that votes on what is Scripture invade the church. We see churches saying what parts of Scripture are valid or not which leads to a redefining of everything from marriage, family, life, Christianity, church, morality ethics etc. We see churches deciding to preach on only the feel good passages of a God who is love (HE is) but not of holiness, righteousness or justice.

By doing this we have taken God off His rightful place as head and put ourselves on the throne. You may not want to admit it, but these movements have said we get to determine what is truth or not, and when Gods word agrees with us it works and when Gods word disagrees with us, we are right and God is wrong.

Some of my Bibles (I own way too many) are red letter editions. Some are not. I prefer the ones that don’t but it is a personal preference for ease of reading. That and I have noticed the red ink usually has a less clear quality print. Use whichever style you prefer. But don’t forget that God has inspired all the words and they are all profitable for us.

2 Peter 1:3 (ESV) says His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

That knowledge Peter speaks of is revealed in His word, His entire word.