There are a few verses that talk about God’s breath. In 2 Timothy 3:26, Paul makes a famous statement about scripture. He says, “Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, correction, and for training in righteousness” (NET). Some translations use the more literal wording, “Every Scripture is God-breathed” (WEB). Another well-known verse describes God breathing life into Adam at creation, making him a living being.
The “God-breathed” translation of 2 Timothy 3:26 is what caught my eye to study this week, but there’s a lot more to this topic than I’d first realized. In both Greek and Hebrew, the words for breath are also connected to spirit and life. Amazing things happen when God breathes into something or breathes something out.
Life in the Word
In 2 Timothy 3:26, the Greek word translated “inspired by God” or “God-breathed” is theopneustos: theos (God) + pneo (breathe, blow). This is the only time that compound word is used in the Bible. Theos is, obviously, used frequently. Pneo is a verb that appears eight times, always in reference to literal wind blowing (Matt. 7:25, 27; Luke 12:55; John 3:8; 6:18; Acts 27:40; Rev. 7:1). In one of those verses, though, Jesus references wind to make a point about the spirit.
“Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’ The wind blows (pneo) wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (pneuma).”
John 3:7-8, NET
Pneo is the root word for pneuma, which is translated into English as “spirit” and appears 385 times in the New Testament. Usually, the word refers to God’s holy spirit or to the spirit in human beings, though it can also be translated “wind” or “breath.” If you’re like me, then this line of thought might have you thinking of a verse way back in Genesis.
The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7, NET
This is another place where God breathed into something. In the first verse we looked at, He breathed out scriptures. In this verse, He’s breathing into man and turning him into a living being. This particular Hebrew phrase “breath of life” (nishmat khayyim) only appears here, but nishamah shows up in other places as well. This surprised me; I thought the only word for spirit/breath/wind was ruach (roughly equivalent to Greek pneuma) and the only word for soul/living thing/breathe was nephesh (roughly equivalent to Greek psuche). The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament states that neshama “is frequently found in combination with ruah ‘spirit’ and seems synonymous with nepesh” (TWOT entry 1433a) (see Job 27:3; 33:4; Ecc. 12:7; Is 42:5; Dan. 5:23).
The Spirit (ruach) of God has made me,
Job 33:4, NET
and the breath (neshamah) of the Almighty gives me life.
There is life in God’s breath. Interestingly, there’s also a strong connection between life and the God-breathed scriptures. In the Old Testament, God revealed that His words bring life to people (Deut. 8:3; 32:46-47; Prov. 4:4). Jesus even quoted one of those verses when resisting Satan’s temptation, saying, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4, NET). Other New Testament verses talk about the spirit and word as living, life-giving forces (John 6:63; Heb. 4:12; 1 Peter 1:23). There’s something special and uniquely powerful about God-breathed words and the life that God breathes into humanity.
Come To the Word
As I started pondering God-breathed words, another passage that I’ve been meaning to study came to mind. This passage doesn’t talk about breath specifically, but it does talk about the words that come out of God’s mouth.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Isaiah 55:8-11, WEB
and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky,
and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth,
and makes it grow and bud,
and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
so is my word that goes out of my mouth:
it will not return to me void,
but it will accomplish that which I please,
and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
I think this passage helps us see another connection between the two God-breathed verses (Gen. 2:7 with God breathing life into man and 2 Tim. 3:26 with Him breathing out scriptures). God has breathed out His words and breathed life into us; what happens when these two God-breathed things meet? In other words, when you (who have life because God breathed into humanity) encounter the words that God breathes out of His mouth, what happens?
God says that His word “will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.” Another possible translation would be, “it accomplishes what I desire, and succeeds in what I commission it with” (NET footnote on Is. 55:11). God’s word will have the effect that He desires. But when His word comes to us, He doesn’t force us to do things against our will. If we don’t respond, His word can go prosper in someone else who’s more willing to listen. That’s what happened for the Jewish people who rejected Jesus as the Messiah (Acts 13:45-46; Rom. 11).
You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time, nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent. You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
John 5:37-40, NET
Scriptures by themselves don’t give full and abundant life. For that, we also need a relationship with the One who breathed the scriptures–with the Word of God (John 1:1-5, 14) who is also the Word of life (1 John 1:1) and “has the words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:68).
Scripture is God-breathed. Our physical lives are God-breathed. If we want eternal life, we need God to breathe into us again, making His words, spirit, and life part of us. And we need to respond to His work in us, making sure that His word doesn’t end up “void” in us because of our apathy, neglect, or hostility. By responding to God’s breathed-out words and the life He’s breathing into humanity in the right way, we strengthen our relationship with Him and participate in the redemptive, transforming work that He’s doing here on earth.
Featured image by Karl Egger from Pixabay
Song Recommendation: “I Can Hear Your Voice” by Jean Watson with Michael W. Smith
Like An Anchor 