"Are You Inspired"

Okay. Somebody help me here. I’m reading 2 Timothy 3:16. It says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…”

I’m feeling a bit sensitive about that word “all.” Why? Well, just read these words from Scripture and tell me if you think they are “inspired”:

Deuteronomy 21:18, 21, “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who when they have chastened him, will not heed them…then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stone; so you shall put away evil from among you; and all Israel shall hear and fear.”

Deuteronomy 22:13-14, 20-22, “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and detests her, and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, “I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin…if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.”

Leviticus 20:9, “For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.”

Leviticus 20:10, “The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”

Deuteronomy 17:12-13 As for anyone who presumes to disobey the priest appointed to minister there to the LORD your God, or the judge, that person shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again.

Leviticus 20:27 A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death, their blood is upon them.

Exodus 31:14-15 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people. 15For six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.

Exodus 21:17 Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death. 

Leviticus 20:10 If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. 

These are but a few writings of Scripture that are conveniently left out when debating the “inspiration” of the Bible by a loving God. If all Scripture is inspired, then shouldn't we follow these? That’s why I’m asking you. Maybe you can clear it up for me.

I decided to look up the explanation of “all” in the Greek lexicon of the www.blueletterbible.com. I found this commentary:

“The words world and all are used in some seven or eight senses in Scripture; and it is very rarely that 'all' means all persons, taken individually.” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Particular Redemption, A Sermon, 28 Feb 1858). 

He was explaining how Christ did not necessarily redeem “all” people, a point that the honorable C.H. Spurgeon and I don’t agree upon. Yet I suppose if “all” does not refer to all persons, using his argument, then it probably doesn’t refer to all scriptures either. 

And that keeps the can of worms open. Who’s to decide which passages of Scripture are “inspired” and which are not? 

I suppose I’ll just have to follow the ones that point to (1) Christ, (2) good works – which is the conclusion of the 2 Timothy passage and the end result of “inspired” writings, and (3) to the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Against these, there is no law. 

Peace - PWM