Paul’s assertion that the Scriptures are useful for rebuking assumes the authority of the Scriptures over all human opinions, including all of mine. When the Scriptures rebuke me, God is rebuking me.

When was the last time you felt rebuked? I have found that being rebuked is one of the most uncomfortable experiences imaginable. It is the emotional equivalent of being stabbed or shot. It accuses and convicts you of being out of line. Who would want that?

Yet rebuking is one of the positive usefulness-es of the Scriptures that Paul lists in 2 Timothy 3:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (verses 16–17, emphasis added)

Rebuking is not an accidental value, but one of God’s purposes in speaking the words of the Scriptures to us (along with teaching, correcting and training us in righteousness). If the Scriptures are useful for rebuking then that is one of the things I should use them for. I should expect one of the effects of reading my Bible is that I will be rebuked. When was the last time you asked God to rebuke you as you read or heard the Bible?

Being Rebuked by the Scriptures

When we read the Bible we find many explicit rebukes: Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for being whitewashed tombs, blind guides, hypocrites and more (Matt 23), he rebukes the disciples for being ‘little-faiths’ (Matt 8:26); the prophets continually rebuke Israel for being unfaithful to the LORD who saved them in their idolatry and immorality; Paul rebukes the Galatians for being bewitched by those who would return them to slavery (Gal 3:1) and he rebukes the Corinthians for thinking like infants (1 Cor 14:20). Rebuking exposes wrong thinking and muddle-headedness. It is primarily focussed on what you believe, based on how you understand. It is often sharp, to get attention and force you to see the error of your ways.

When I read a passage that has an explicit rebuke, I am forced to search my mind and heart to see whether my thinking is rebuked. Often it is, sometimes it isn’t. For a rebuke to be necessary, I must be wrong and the Scriptures must be right.

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