Upon becoming a Christian, Paul must have given up the Pharisaical view that the Ketuvim section too was entirely inspired, but after becoming a Christian Paul adopted Jesus’ view that the “Law and the Prophets†are what have a 100% validity that will never expire. (Matt. 5:17.)
To realize this, we must observe that one of the most often mistranslated verses in the NT canon is 2 Tim. 3:16. The mistranslation gives an exaggerated sense of what the term “Scripture†(Writings/graphe) distinct from “Holy Writings†(2 Tim. 3:15, grammata) meant in Paul’s usage. The way 2 Tim. 3:16 typically reads is: “All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.â€
However, the word “is†has been put in italics or brackets in various translations because it is not found in the original Greek text. It was added to our Bible text by the translators, believing it was understood at that juncture but was inadvertently unexpressed. The American Standard Version of 1901, however, realizes this was improperly adding to Paul’s words, and drops the “is†at that point, thereby dramatically giving us a new perspective. Now we see the “is†only appears before the word profitable, but not also before “God-breathed.†The corrected translation, and the literally accurate one, is:
Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. (ASV, 1901, 2 Tim. 3:16.)
The scholar George Ricker Berry, in his Interlinear KJV New Testament (1993) likewise renders it literally as saying “Every Scripture God inspired is profitable.†Today, it is a recognized alternative rendering.
Hence, as expressed, Paul implies not every Scripture is inspired,i.e., only some places within the KEVUTIM are inspired by God. But those which are entirely inspired, i.e., the Torah and Prophets, and some portions of Kevutim, are profitable for correction, etc.
This implication means we should prefer to see Paul recognized, consistent with Jesus never affirming the entire validity of the Ketuvim section, that the word graphe we translated as “Scripture†was broad enough to include the entire Jewish canon which had one part — the Ketuvim — which at moments was inspired but at other moments was not inspired. Thus, you could have Scripture that was not God-breathed and some God-breathed — when speaking of the “Writings†(Ketuvim) section of the Jewish canon.
Hence, Paul’s statement fits precisely that understanding when we refuse to add to Paul what he does not say. By deleting the “is†where it was not expressed in 2 Tim. 3:16, we see in Paul’s language an understanding that not every “graphe†(Scripture) is inspired of God, but instead that “Scripture inspired by God is profitable,†etc. In other words, Paul is only saying “all God-breathed scripture is profitable.†This implies that if it is not God-breathed Scripture (certain Kevutim portions), then such “scripture†— even though accepted in the Writings / Scripture section of the Bible’s three-fold canon of that era — is not necessarily profitable.
