New Members Class "Confessing Christ"

A Study of the Christian Faith from a Biblical, Reformed Perspective.

My questions

1. What can prevent us from truly confessing Christ?

If we Refuse to read the Bible or accept the Bible as altogether trustworthy.

Review Questions Chapter 1

How can we know Christ? Pg.9

If we read the Bible or accept the Bible as altogether trustworthy.

We must therefore carefully examine this foundation of the Christian faith and life the Bible. Pg. 9

2. What do we mean when we speak of the Bible as “the Word of God”? Pg.9

We mean that God is the author; the word that he speaks is his Word. Just like we speak and its our Word when he speaks its his Word.

3. What do we mean when we say that the Bible is “inspired”? Pg. 9

Inspired means God Breathed when we say the Bible is inspired we mean that God breathed into the writers of Scripture his thoughts and his Words as revealed to them by his Holy Spirit.

4. What does the word infallible mean? Pg. 9 Without error.

The original writings as recorded in the Hebrew and Greek are free from all error; every word as well as every thought is true.

5. Should we believe in the Bible as God’s Word because the church says so? Why or why not? Pg.10

No this is what Roman Catholics believe That the church made the Bible or can still add to the Bible through the pope.

6. Why should we believe in the Bible as God’s Word? Pg. 10-11

Becasue of Devine Revelation. God himself testifies that the Bible is His Word.

Every letter we receive has his signature.

2000 times in the Old Testament we see “Thus says the Lord or its equivalent.

The Witness of Christ the Son of God the second person of the Trinity Testifies that the Old Testament in its entirety is the Word of God.

C. How does this assure certainty? If God is the one speaking to us through the Bible we can trust it becausse God does not lie or change his mind like sinful men can and do.

7. Did Jesus accept the Bible as God’s Word?

If so, how? He quoted the Bible extensively while he was on this earth.

Matt 4:3-10 “And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ””

Jesus would always respond “It is written” Because he believed that the Scriptures are God’s Word.

Matt 5:17-18 ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

John 10:35 “If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—”

Matt 26:54 “But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?””

John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

Matthew 16:19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.””

8. In what ways did the apostle teach that the Bible is God’s Word?

2 Pet 1:21 “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

2 Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

1 Thess 2:13 “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

2 Peter 3:15-16 “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”

Luke 10:7 “And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.”

1 Tim 5:18 “For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.””

9. What evidence is there within the Bible that God is It’s author? pg. 14

Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 53:5-6 “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

2 Peter 1:21 “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

10. If a person does not believe that the Bible is God’s Word, is it because there is not enough evidence?

John 20:30-31 “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Luke 16:31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ””

1 Cor 2:9-12 “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”