The term may have been in use prior to the composition of
2 Timothy. Theopneustos appears twice in the Sibylline Oracles, “a
complex and unsystematic compilation of reconstructed or fabricated prophecies
ascribed to Sibyls but largely representing the ingenuity of Jewish and Christian
compilers.” There are two collections of the oracles, one dating to the end of
the fifth century AD and the other to the end of the seventh century. However,
some of the oracles are earlier than the collections in which they appear,
though how much earlier is difficult to determine. Some could have been
composed as early as 150 CE, thereby predating 2 Timothy. In one of the
oracles, the foolish city of Cyme is said to have “theopneustic streams”
(Sibyl. 5:308). In the other, we read of the “great God better of all
things theopneustic” (Sibyl. 5:406). Theopneustos also
appears in the Testament of Abraham, a pseudepigraphical writing,
perhaps composed sometime between AD 75-125. In the Testament of Abraham20:11,
the archangel Michael and a multitude of angels place “theopneustic ointments
and perfumes” on Abraham’s corpse until the third day after his death.
Sometime between the first century BC and the second
century AD, someone composed a poem in the name of the poet Phoclides, who had
lived in the sixth century BC. The poem is known as Sentences by
Pseudo-Phoclides. Theopneustos appears in verse 129 and reads, “But the
speech of theopneustic wisdom is best.” (Poirier, trans. The Invention
of the Inspired Text, 60) However, most scholars think verse 129 was added
to the text later, perhaps even later than Origen. (Poirier, The Invention
of the Inspired Text, 58)
Theopneustos
also appears in the Anthologies, a nine-book treatise on astrology written
by Vettius Valens and composed sometime between AD 152-162. (Anthony Spawforth,
“Vettius Valens,” in Oxford Cultural Dictionary, 1547) Vettius writes
that the aether (believed then to be an all-encompassing substance, which
includes the air) exists in us and is a “theopneustic product.” (Vettius
Valens, Astrol. 9.1.37 [frag. 1764.006]) In the late second century, Clement
of Alexandria uses the term on three occasions in Stromateis (Miscellanies)
and once in Protrepticus (Exhortation to the Greeks), each to
describe Scripture. (Stromata 1.21.124; 7.16.101, 103; Protr.
9.86.2-87.2) The Lives of Carpus, Papylus, and Agathonice, 12.33-36
(circa AD 2-3 century) provides two occurrences of theopneustos. The
first refers to the Scriptures as theopneustos. In the second, Carpus,
who is a Christian, says to the Roman governor who will execute him, “What do
you want, Proconsul? To resist the truth and suppose that you will prevail in
spite of it? But if you want to give close attention to the theopneustic lessons
of the church, you will become an heir of eternal truth.” (Vitae Carpi, Papyli
et Agathonicae, Martyrium sanctorum Carpi, Papyli et Agathonicae [BJG
294]) In other words, the teachings of the Church are theopneustos.
. . .
What have we learned in the process? The Scriptures are regarded
as being theopneustos, as are the teachings of the which, which are
based on the Scriptures. Other objects, such as certain streams, ointments, and
aether can be theopneustos. The ability to interpret dreams as theopneustos.
Perhaps the closest way of describing the meaning of theopneustos is to
say te thing it describes derives from God or that God is its ultimate and
special origin. (Michael R. Licona, Jesus, Contradicted: Why the Gospels
Tell the Same Story Differently [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Academic,
2024], 181-82), 183
