Does theopnustos in 2 Timothy 3:16 mean “inspired” or “inspiring”?

Translation is consistent across all modern Bible versions

Major modern versions read:

¹⁶ All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (NRSV)
¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (ESV)

The main reason for the consistency of all modern versions is the sense of the paragraph.

¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it ¹⁵ and how from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All scripture is inspired by God and is^[b] useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

An alternative reading “All inspired scripture”?

NRSV has a footnote alternative ^[b] Every scripture inspired by God is also. But it has to be said that this is not what the Greek text says. The structure is clearly every-scripture [is] god-breathed and.. the adjective follows the noun.

3:16  πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος καὶ ὠφέλιμος πρὸς διδασκαλίαν πρὸς ἔλεγχον, πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν πρὸς παιδείαν τὴν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ

The meaning of theopnustos

theo-pnustos, God-breathed, stands comparison with various similar adjectives such as theo-foretos, theo-leptos, as passive.

The entry for theopnustos in LSJ reads as follows:

• θεό-πνευ-στος , ον,
• A. inspired of God, “σοφίη” Ps.-Phoc.129; “ὄνειροι” Plu.2.904f; “πᾶσα γραφή” 2 Ep.Ti.3.16; “δημιούργημα” Vett.Val.330.19.

The two sources given in LSJ being:

• Pseudo-Phocylides 129 “tes de theopneustou sophies logos estin aristos’
• Pseudo-Plutarch, Placita Philosophorum,  5, 2, 3 p.904f. ‘tous oneirous tous theopneustous kat anagken ginesthai’

Hermann Cremer 1880 innovated the reading that theopnustos should be read “not according to its origin, but according to its effect—not as “inspired of God,” but as “inspiring its readers.””  An examination and rebuttal of the this proposal can be found for example in the section on God-inspired scripture by  Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851-1921) in The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, pp. 245-296.