Second Timothy 3:16 is a unique passage among all the books of the New Testament. This verse says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” All the words of the Bible are God’s divine breathing. This is a matter of the Spirit in our spirit. Because the Word of God is not merely for teaching, we cannot fully apprehend it by exercising our mind. The mind is not sufficient. We need to exercise our spirit to apprehend the word, because the word is spiritual breath, the very breath of God. When we read the Word, we must learn how to breathe it in, not merely to understand it. It is a wrong concept that when we read the Word we mainly need to understand it. The word of God is spiritual food and drink (Matt. 4:4; 1 Pet. 2:2; Jer. 15:16; Psa. 119:103; Job 23:12; John 6:63). It is not necessary to understand food; we need only to eat it. The Bible is not mainly for our understanding. It is for us to breathe in.
First Timothy 1:10 speaks of things that are “opposed to the healthy teaching.” Something that is healthy is related to life. We can compare healthy teaching to today’s “health food.” Health food is not something for us to understand in our mind. It is for the health of our physical life. In the same way, the healthy teachings of the Bible are not firstly teachings for the mind but nourishment for the spirit. Verse 6 of chapter 4 says, “If you lay these things before the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have closely followed.” We are nourished with the words of the faith, not merely taught by them. There is a difference between being merely taught by the word and being nourished by the word. Many Christians are only taught by the word without being nourished. We must learn to be nourished by the word of God. The word must be healthy teaching to us, not merely “sound doctrine” for the mind. Healthy teachings are for our spiritual health.
Verse 3 of chapter 6 says, “If anyone teaches different things and does not consent to healthy words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching which is according to godliness.” The living and healthy words, the words that are good for our spiritual health, are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is according to godliness. This is a matter of life, not of knowledge. Many in today’s Christianity speak of sound doctrine. It is not wrong to speak in this way but neither is it entirely right. We need the word that is healthy for life, not merely sound for our mind.
Second Timothy 1:13 says, “Hold a pattern of the healthy words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus,” and 4:3 says, “For the time will come when they will not tolerate the healthy teaching; but according to their own lusts they will heap up to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” Those with itching ears care only to hear; they do not seek the healthy word, the word that nourishes the spiritual life and is good for spiritual health. Titus 1:9 says, “Holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles, that he may be able both to exhort by the healthy teaching and to convict those who oppose,” and 2:1 says, “But you, speak the things which are fitting to the healthy teaching.” In the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, which are among the final writings of the apostle Paul, he stresses healthy words and healthy teaching. This is because at his time there were many who were teaching things that may have seemed to be good but were not healthy and did not minister life to others. This warns us to take care of our speaking. The word we speak must be healthy; it must minister life to others and be full of spiritual nourishment. The messages we give may pass on knowledge without nourishment. They may be sound but not healthy. What we need is the healthy word.
In order to have healthy teachings we must learn to exercise our spirit. If we exercise our mind when we listen to a message, we may admire the message as being an eloquent word with interesting illustrations from a good speaker. However, if we exercise our spirit, we may discern that the eloquent speaking and good illustrations are a worldly speaking without any life. Although another brother may have no eloquence and his utterance is awkward, we may sense that in his speaking there is the nourishing, ministering life. This latter speaking is not merely a “sound teaching”; it is a healthy word. If we come to the meetings to seek healthy teachings, we must exercise our spirit, not merely our mind.
We may discern and appreciate a message either in the mind or in the spirit. If we discern a message in our spirit, we will not care whether or not it is eloquent. We will care only that it ministers life and nourishment. Sometimes people appreciate a certain message simply because they are in the mind. They appreciate a good speaker that gives a good, eloquent message. However, there may be no life in that message. It may be “sound” but not healthy. In contrast, though, we have often seen certain brothers ministering in a very awkward way, but in their speaking we could sense life, nourishment, and something healthy.
We should seek the healthy word of the Bible, not merely sound doctrinal teaching. In order to apprehend something healthy from the Bible, we must learn to exercise our spirit. Whenever we read the Bible, we should pray with what we read and understand, receiving God’s word by means of all prayer (Eph. 6:17-18). To pray in this way is to exercise our spirit to touch the word of God. If we do this, we will receive not simply something for our mind but the healthy word for the nourishment of our spirit. As we saw in the previous messages, in order to exercise our spirit we first need to deal with all our inward parts—our mind, emotion, will, heart, and conscience. Second, we need to pray with petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings to God, praying for all men and in every place without wrath or reasoning and with all those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Third, we need to deal with the word of God in order to take it as healthy food. Whether we read a spiritual book, listen to a message, or come to contact the word of God directly, we must learn to exercise our spirit to receive something healthy for our spirit. We must learn to receive a healthy word, a word that is full of nourishment, not merely a sound or correct word. All day long we need the healthy word, just as our physical body needs healthy food.
Many Christians today are receiving only doctrinal teaching, not healthy food from the word. According to the medical doctors, the best way to have a long physical life is to exercise by walking and to eat properly. Every day we need to be nourished by the word as our healthy food and to exercise to “walk” spiritually (1 Tim. 4:6-7). We need to take care of the inward parts of our being, pray, and receive the healthy, nourishing word of God. This is the right way to exercise our spirit. This is dealt with in a clear, definite, and full way in the two Epistles to Timothy.