The Greek adjective theopneustos (θεόπνευστος) is a compound of theos (God) and pneustos (breathed). It means God-breathed or divinely inspired and appears only once in the New Testament — in the foundational text for the doctrine of biblical inspiration, 2 Timothy 3:16. The word may have been coined by Paul.
Theopneustos is among the most theologically loaded terms in the entire New Testament. The statement that 'all Scripture is God-breathed' (pasa graphē theopneustos) establishes the divine origin of the biblical text. The metaphor of 'breathing' connects to the act of creation in Genesis 2:7 — God breathed life into Adam — and to the giving of the Spirit in John 20:22. Scripture, like the living human person, exists because God breathed himself into it. This does not mean the human authors were passive dictation machines; Peter clarifies that 'men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit' (2 Peter 1:21) — the human voice was fully engaged while being divinely borne along.