“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). A friend of mine, who is also a seminarian at Riga Luther Academy, Latvia, shared that during a recent lunch break at work, he pulled a copy of the Psalms out of his desk and started to read. A Muslim colleague observing him remarked that he should wash his hands before touching a book of the Bible. After all, that’s what Muslims do when they pick up the Qur’an, she noted. He responded with Jesus’ teaching, that we are impure—not externally—but internally, in our heart (Mt 15:1-20 and Mk 7:1-23). But thankfully, Jesus meets us right there—where we are most unclean, he added with a smile. This led to a delightful conversation, he related. Indeed, devout Muslims greatly respect the Bible because they know that it is the Word of God. This is ironic because the Qur’an contradicts the Bible in many ways, most significantly in its assessment of Jesus, who, according to Islamic teaching, is merely a prophet—and not God incarnate. In fact, it would seem that many Muslims have more reverence for the Bible than the average Christian: a practicing Muslim wouldn’t dare place a Bible on the floor. How tragic that so many Christians claim that the Bible is not the actual Word of God but that it merely *contains* the Word of God. And so, if there are passages in the Bible that they deem unbelievable (like the many miracles) or out of step with 21st-century Western culture, they can easily shrug those passages off, claiming that they were written only by humans and not actually dictated by the Holy Spirit. My seminarian friend is so right: Jesus Christ meets us where we are unclean—in our hearts. And He has given us His very Word—He *is* the Word! (John 1:1)—which leads us to repent of our arrogance toward Him and receive His forgiveness. Indeed, “ALL Scripture is breathed out by God…”
The Tiews in Germany 