The Bible has much to say about its own purpose and authority. Among the most famous passages in this vein is 2 Timothy 3:16–17, where Paul writes, “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.” For Matthew Mullins, associate professor of English and history of ideas at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, verses like these are indispensable guides for how believers should read God’s Word. But the trouble comes, he argues, from an overly narrow conception of words like teaching, correcting, and