Hands 2: Reading the Bible for all it's worth

Bible Reading

2 Timothy 3:10–17 CSB

10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, 11 along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Today I want to teach about the Bible, God’s word, and I particularly want to focus on V16-17 of this passage from 2 Tim 3.

I want to ask a few questions: Firstly what is the Bible.

What is the Bible?

What does it mean that all scripture is inspired by God?

Or for that matter, what even is the Bible?

Is it a book written by God?

Is it a book that is written by people?

Is it a book that has been translated over and over, so that what we have today is basically like a chinese whispers version of what it originally said?

Is it a book that contains God’s truth? or is it a book that is true?

Is it a book that contains the word of God? or is it God’s word.

And if it is God’s word, how does that work? Is it a book written by God, or written by people? And If it was written by people and people are fallible human beings, how can we trust that what they wrote is actually good?

These types of questions have confused Christians and have diluted Christian faith over the last couple of decades. For example in 2019 a Baptist minister in the US wrote an article for USA Today, and said quote

“Being a Faithful Christian does not mean accepting everything the Bible teaches”.

[1] Oliver Thomas, American churches must reject literalism and admit we got it wrong on gay people. USA Today, Gannett Company. 29 April 2019, retrieved 22 August 2019.

Similarly the President of Union Theological Seminary in the states, an institution founded on the infallibilty of Sciptrue said she found the virgin birth to be a bizarre claim. When asked what happens when people die, she responded:

“I don’t know! There may be something, there may be nothing. My faith is not tied to some divine promise about the afterlife… I don’t worship an all-powerful, all-controlling, omnipotent, omniscient being”.

[1] https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/michael-foust/seminary-president-admits-she-doesn-t-believe-in-heaven-miracles-or-christ-s-resurrection.html

These are prominent Christians who have gotten their view of the Bible so wrong, that they actually find themselves outside of God’s kingdom.

Because here is the thing: It is essential, it is critical that we hold to the inerrancy of scripture. Our entire belief system is built on the fact that the Bible is true, completely true.

Not simply that the Bible is a book that contains the truth, but a book that is THE truth.

Now notice, we don’t believe that God wrote the Bible, but that he “breathed” it. That is where the word “inspired” comes from.

To be breathed in by God.

“All scripture is inspired by God”. Or if you have a different translation it will read somehting like “All Scripture is God-breahted”.

Now to be clear, what does this mean: We don’t believe that the Bible was written by God’s own hand. It is not like the Tablets that contained the 10 commandments, where God himself scribed the words.

But rather God inspired human writers to write down what he wanted them to write. This is clearly needed - because we know that the Bible was written over a few thousand years. There are different styles to the various parts of scripture. Different authors had different emphases etc.

IF God was the physical writer of all, this would not be the case, but we don’t beleive that. WE believe that God inspired human authors to write.

But what they wrote was inerrant - that is totally without flaw. It is precisely because God inspired them, that what they wrote, and what has been preserved, is totally without error.

This is a critical faith position. For our faith to cohere, we have to hold to this truth - because otherwise there are just some parts of teh Bible that are true. And if there are only some parts that are true, well then we can pick and choose what we believe. And if there is some passage that teaches something we don’t want to agree with, something like for example that practicing homosexuality is a sin, then we can just ignore that because in our mind, clearly that part couldn’t have come from God’s inspiration.

Without believing that the Bible is completely true, fully inspired everywhere, our entire faith falls apart. If you don’t believe in the inerrancy of scripture, you can’t actually be sure of anything.

You can’t trust that the 10 commandments are a good rule for living.

You can’t trust that JEsus actually taught people to pray the Lord’s prayer.

You can’t trust that Jesus even truly existed. I mean, if you don’t beleive in teh full inerrancy of scripture, how can you be sure of this?

Now I believe that there are very good reasons to believe in the inerrancy of scripture, other than it being neccesary for us to have faith.

I think the fact that all scripture tells the same story - that there is this golden thread of salvation that is told throuhgout the whole Bible, despite being written by a whole bunch of different people over 2 thousand years, I think this is one of the most compelling arguments that prove the Bible was God-breathed and inspired by him,

The fact that when you look at it, there really aren’t any contradictions wihtin scripture. If it was just a whole buncho f different people writing over 2 thousand years, you would find contradictions in scripture. But there really aren’t any. There are few difficulties, but really when you understand the scriptures in their redemptive historical framework, every difficulty can be relatively easily explained.

How can you have a book written by different people over 2 thousand years be entirely non-contradictory? How can you have a book written by different people over 2 thousand years be entirely cohesive, telling the same story throughout?

Well easy. All scripture is God breahted. God inspired it, and what he caused to be written down was done compeltley without error.

So to answer those questions:

The Bible is a book, written by people, inspired by God. It is completely inerrant, and is the true word of God.

What does the Bible do?

Teach, correct, rebuke, train in righteousness

Let’s read verse 16 again:

2 Timothy 3:16 CSB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

Firstly, notice that Paul who writes this letter, starts with the foundation of scripture’s God-breathed-ness.

All Scripture is God breathed and is profitable or useful.

The crux of the argument rests on the “and” there.

IF all scripture wasn’t God-breathed, it would not be useful for teaching, training, correcting and rebuking.

But since, as we just discussed All scripture IS in fact God-breathed, it IS profitable, it is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Now we are all, i hope used to reading scripture for it’s teaching.

This is pretty standard to every true christian church. The role of scripture to teach people. We need teaching, because we live in a world where truth has been distorted and twisted. So we need the inerrant word of God to teach us what is truly real.

This is as true of our society as it was for ancient christians. And the early church used the Bible for teaching. When we read of what the early church did in Acts 2, we read that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching.

Similarly we read about the Bible in Romans 15:4 and 1 Cor 10, 11.

Romans 15:4 CSB

4 For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.

1 Corinthians 10:11 CSB

11 These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Scripture has always been used for teaching true reality.

The more interesting thing for our time is the second function of scripture:

Rebuking and correcting.

Now this is basically all the parts needed to convince someone that they are sinning. The first part is taking another christian to the Word to show them, look here - this is what you are doing, and this is what God says about that thing.

To use a silly example. Say your Christian brother or sister is prone to stealing things that aren’t theirs. It is your job to take them to the Bible and to say - look here, the bible teaches you shouldn’t steal.

If this gentle correcting doesn’t work, then it goes “up” the chain, and turns into rebuke. According to the Bible it is perfectly legitimate to rebuke someone, to tell them off for doing the wrong thing. But this is to be done along the guidelines scripture gives.

We read these guidelines in Matthew 18:15-17

Matthew 18:15–17 CSB

15 “If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established. 17 If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.

Can you see how important it is to hold to the truth of scripture in this? IF you didn’t believe that the Bible was inerrantly true, then you couldn’t do this. In fact there would be no standard by which to go - look this is what the Bible says, and this is how you are living. So you shouldn’t do that.

Notice also, that this requires, by definition, that you judge the actions of the other person. We are supposed to judge others actually.

Now you’ll say, yes but what about Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 7:1–2 CSB

1 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.

We need to balance that against Jesus’s own words in John 7:24

John 7:24 CSB

24 Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.”

In both cases, Judgement is included where Christians help each other grow.

You can’t help someone else live according to what the scriptures teach, without judging their behaviour according to the righteous judgment of scripture.

this is a critical part of what it means to be part of the church.

But as one of my Growth group members noted this week - our judgement of each other should be judgement, not condemnation. We have the obligation to judge each other’s lives and measure them against scripture, so that we can be the most holy people we can be, so that we can live like God wants.

But that judgement does not come with condmenation. Condemnation only belongs to God. He is the only one who can condemn us for our sin.

So what is the difference - you judge rightly when you see your friend stealing and based on scripture you say, well stealing is one of the 10 commandments, and you shouldn’t do that.

You condemn that person, if your thought then goes further. i.e. since you steal, and I don’t I am a better person than you. You are therefore inferior to me before God. - that is condemnation.

We are all equal before God, equally condemned because of our sin whaterver it is, and if we are Christians, we are all equally covered by JEsus’ blood.

But that doesn’t mean that you don’t have blindspots which you need pointed out. It doesn’t mean that I dont have blindspots which you need to point out. But when we believe we are better than each other, based on our good works, we have gone astray.

And it is exaclty that last function - helping each other live righteously that Paul lists as the 4th function of scripture: Training in righteousness.

The Bible is a book that teaches us how to live our lives.

So the Bible is useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training in righteousness.

Now if we want to get the full scripture experience, if we want the get the most out of the bible, if we want to get maximum teaching, correcting, rebuking and training in righteousness, then we need to approach scripture correctly.

We need to learn how to read the bible to the best of our ability.

How should I read the Bible?

So then how should we read the Bible?

What comes next will be familiar to some of you, particularly if you have attended some of the training we have run here at church over the last couple of years. So consider this a healthy reminder and refresher.

First of all, we need to remember that all scripture somehow points to Jesus, reveals Jesus, or reminds us of Jesus.

Scripture is Christ centred, christocentred.

Jesus himself says this in Luke 24:26-27

Luke 24:26–27 CSB

26 Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.

Not all the things concerning himself in the scriptures, but the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

All the scriptures concern Christ.

Jesus is the context, or content of everything that happens in the Bible.

Now we might wonder then, how is it that we find Jesus in the text?

There are three kinds of ways in which we find Jesus in each text:

In a stories of redemption

In a prefigurement or type of Christ

Or in the religious systems God provided.

In a stories of redemption

Every story of redemption in scripture is incomplete in some way.

For example, when Israel is saved out of Egypt, when they are delivered during the passover, it is an amazing story of God’s redemption of his people.

But the story isn’t complete - yes Israel leaves egypt, they escape from the land of slavery, and they are established as their own nation. But the story is incomplete. Even though Israel escapes egypt, Israel carries sin in their heart. They are delivered but not completely.

So they are redeemed but not completely. Jesus is the only one who can completely redeem.

Or when David slays Goliath, we aren’t supposed to see the redemption David brings because of his great faith and think - well that’s what we are supposed to be. We are supposed to see that we are the israelietes hiding in the bushes, and we need a greater deliverer to redeem us from a far worse enemy than Goliath - Sin and death itself.

Every story of redemption points to Jesus’ greater redemption for his people.

Secondly

In a prefigurement or type of Christ

Jesus appears a number of times throuhgout the old testament in some way. When we read of a great King, it is a prefigurement of the greater king to come.

When we read of the high priest, it prefigures Jesus, the greater high priest.

When we read of the power and knowledge of a great prophet, it prefigures Jesus, the greater prophet.

Whenever we see a prophet, priest or king, they are pointers to the ultimate prophet, priest and king.

Let’ me give you an example.

When God gave the israeltes the description of the tabernacle, and he gave them the sacrificial system to atone for their sins, we see that one of the key people in this sacrificial system was the high priest.

This person was the only person in all of Israel who was allowed to enter into the innermost place in the tabernacle or the temple. The reason for this is because that is where God’s presence was. That was where God’s holiness was.

And so when we meet the high priest, who comes before God to pray for and intercede on behalf of the people, it is supposed to show us what Jesus does for us. Jesus is the great high priest who intercedes for us, his people, eternally.

So we see Christ in the prefigurements.

And finally we see Christ in the religious systems God gave israel.

Or in the religious systems God provided.

God gave Israel the whole religious system as a way to point to Jesus. When for example the sins of the people are put on the scapegoat, who is sent out of the city to die, it is supposed to point us to Jesus, who takes our sins, goes out of the city onto the cross, to die.

When we read that for sins to be forgiven, blood must be shed, it points us to the fact that Jesus’ blood flowed for us, and was shed for the complete forgiveness of our sins.

The whole sacrificial system was built so that it would point to Jesus.

So when we read particularly the books of leviticus, deuteronomy and so on, we see Jesus and what he does for us.

Now with that background in place, let me introduce you to the swedish method for studying the Bible.

Explain swedish method.

[finish explaining]

So when we read the Bible this way, we see Jesus magnified and apply him to our lives.

And so that is one way you can read the Bible for all it’s worth.

Amen