Even the division by chapter are verse have nothing to do with divine inspiration. They were placed in the Bible by a translator or a transcriber to help us find our place, that's all. That is absolutely all.
Let me give you an example
I cannot count the times I have heard preachers preach from Ephesians 5:23 and thought it was a good beginning place. That's because some scribe put the words "Wives and Husbands" (NIV) just before it. Actually, it is a totally rotten starting place, because if you start there you think wives are supposed to submit to their husbands and that's that.
What if you take the "Wives and Husbands" part out and just read the flow of the text? Then the complete passage reads: "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives...to your husbands as to the Lord...Husbands (to) love your wives just as Christ loves the church."
As a matter of fact, if we complete the thought Paul is expressing, we find out that he is not even talking about husbands and wives!
"What's that?" you ask. "He's not talking about husbands and wives? Joe, have you lost your mind? What do you think he is talking about?"
I don't have to guess. Paul tells us clearly. He says, "...but I am talking about Christ and the church."
"Well, yes...mumble, mumble, mumble, he's talking about the church, but he mentions husbands and wives." Yes, he does, and if you want to pretend that's the subject, go ahead, but beware! You will be teaching heresy. If you think there's some righteous application there, OK. But be aware that you will be misusing the text. Is that what you think God wants you to do?
Paul does write those words, but if you use these verses to prove something about how husbands and wives should behave toward each other, you are too soft headed to really be reading Scripture.
Immediately following his "...love your wives..." phrase, Paul makes clear that he is using the perfect relationship between husband and wives originally intended in Genesis (that they become one flesh) to illustrate the relationship of the Bride of Christ to the Bridegroom.
I just recently heard another use of Scripture based on the afore mentioned scribe's putting the words "Overseers and Deacons" before 1 Timothy 3:1.
To begin with, most preachers, deacons and teachers skip right over verse 1, which very, very clearly says, "If anyone sets his heart on being and overseer..." It seems that inviting a person to be an "overseer" is not initiated by the church, but by their burning desire to serve in that capacity. The person "sets his heart on being..."
Secondly, the passage is not even about the overseers and deacons as prospects, it is about being very careful to place only those whose doctrine is sound into leadership positions.
The issue in Timothy's church, as revealed in the narrative, was leaders who subscribed to weird and heretical doctrines (check it out in Chapters 1 and 2). Paul addressed this topic (sound doctrine) four times in the narrative of the book, each time urging Timothy to remain steadfast in the doctrine of the birth, life, death, burial, resurrection and second coming of Christ...and nothing else...period.
Timothy is urged to remain faithful to the message that there is one God and one mediator (Christ) and that a teacher chosen must be someone committed to the "true faith" (verse 7). He is told that there would be those who were never committed to Christ and would fall by the wayside and teach things taught by demons! (Any of those teachers in your church? There have been in every church I've ever served in.)
Paul instructs Timothy to point out false doctrines (4:6ff). We are simply not to allow false doctrine to be preached or taught in the church...period. It must be called out and corrected. That might mean exposing some false teacher's teachings in order to demonstrate how and why they are false. That might mean showing how some revered conference leader is teaching false doctrines and urging our members not to associate themselves with such a conference leader.
Just because someone writes a book, that is no reason to believe or follow what they write. Many contemporary writers present their knuckle headed ideas and then go searching for some Bible verse that proves their position.
Do you remember the "Prayer of Jabez?" What a farce! What a stupid, asinine, heretical use of one part of one verse to form a doctrine of getting God to do what you want Him to do! Yet many, many preachers and other Christians fell for it, hook, line and sinker. There was not even a pretense of seeking a context of the verse, let alone substantiating it with other Scripture.
Come on, Christians! (The bold letters mean I'm yelling) Get with God's program! Let the Holy Spirit put God's Law of love and grace in your hearts, and stop this silly business of using Scripture to prove what you want it to prove!
STOP IT! (The bold capitalized letters mean I'm yelling even louder.) READ THE BIBLE AS A NARRATIVE AND FIND OUT WHAT IT REALLY MEANS (The underline means I'm just about screaming.)
Use the chapters, verses and section topics as aids. Don't think they are part of God's inspiration.
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