Truth of Scripture (Part 1)

Good Evening,

Tonight we will be beginning our series on our creed as it is now and what we as a church believe.

The very first statement in the creed is:

1) We Believe that the Bible is our sole authority. Whatever the Bible commands us to do, those things we do; where the Bible forbids, from those we refrain and where the Bible is silent, there is freedom of opinion.

This is a subject that we all must wrestle with in order to live godly lives as men. Is the Bible our sole authority? You might be like many people I have talked to who say that the Bible is good but it is corrupted because men wrote it. If this is our view then the Bible really holds no more authority than any other book written by men, however if it is in fact God breathed like the Greek of 2 Timothy gives then this has more authority over our lives and the way we live than any other book ever written.

The first thing we will do is look at what the Bible says about it’s authority and we will look at some of the internal evidences for this.

If I could get some one to read 2 Timothy 3:15-17, if you have the what we believe paper it is on there as well.

What does the Bible say about Scripture?

2 Timothy 3:15-17-

2 Timothy 3:15–17 “15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Then can I also get some one to read 2 Peter 1:19-21 as well.

2 Peter 1:19-21-

2 Peter 1:19–21 “19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 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.”

When we read these two sets of verses we are given this picture that the ultimate author of scripture is not man but rather that the ultimate author of these is God. So I want to look at a few definitions that would be helpful when it comes to viewing scripture as inspired by God. While these are not found in the church’s creed or statement of faith, they are found in mine and I am guessing that both Marc and Doug, as Elders, hold to these as well, but the first of these is

Definitions:

1) The inspiration of the Bible is plenary:

This means that the inspiration extends to all parts of the Bible equally. Every narrative, every Psalm, ever praise, every parable, and everything else contained in the Bible is in there by the inspiration of God. It is entirely inspired without restriction.

The second definition is

2) The Inspiration of the Bible is verbal:

This means that word, letters, tenses and other parts of speech were inspired as well. While the author’s personalities and the times in which they lived can be seen in the text, it is God’s Word and His message is what is given here. This is most readily apparent in the Prophets, when we see the word of the Lord come to them. Turn with me to Jeremiah 1 starting in verse 4.

Jeremiah 1:4–8 “4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.””

In this passage we see a back and forth between God and the Prophet Jeremiah and it is easy here to say that the words in verse 5 are the Lord’s, I mean, we see the prophet credit them to God. Even those words in verse 6, when it is Jeremiah speaking are part of God’s intended message.

1 Corinthians 2:13 “13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”

The next definition we have to look at is the inerrantcy of the Bible.

3) Inerrant-

What does it mean that the Bible is inerrant? It means that the Bible contains no factual errors. It is believed by many people, generally who have not done their research that the Bible says things that are just false, and I touched on this some on Sunday, in talking about Luke as a historian. What is funny is that there are a great many people who have come to salvation in trying to prove the Bible false. Lee Strobel and J. Warner Wallace are a couple of contemporary examples of this. This is one thing that has always fascinated me about the Bible, it is not a science book, but when it speaks of scientific things it is accurate.

We see in Job 26:7 “7 He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.” The scripture speaks of the earth floating in space 3500+ years ago when many believed the earth was supported by some thing or someone.

We see the water cycle in Amos 9:6 “6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name.” This cycle was not understood until the 17th century. Even the day of the circumcision, the eighth day, we now know is the optimal time for blood clotting in infants. That’s when the coagulating factors in the blood are at optimal levels: vitamin K doesn’t reach sufficient quantity until after day seven, and day eight is when prothrombin is the highest, reaching 110 percent of the normal level.

The next definition is infallible.

4) Infallible-

Infallibility has to do with the possibility of erring. While the inerrancy tells us it contains no errors, the infallibility of Scripture tells us it is “incapable of error.” The Bible is without errors because it is impossible for it to contain errors. What this tells us is that if we see a supposed contradiction, we must look into scripture more deeply. We have seen time and time again people bring these “contradictions,” and they are usually a misunderstanding of passages or context.

The final definition we need to look at is that the inspiration of the Bible is authoritative.

5) Authoritative-

The Bible is the sole and final authority for all matters of salvation, faith, and a life of godly living. The Bible and all that it contains are there so that 2 Timothy 3:17 “17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

It is here in the second sentence of our creed when it says, “Whatever the Bible commands us to do, those things we do; where the Bible forbids, from those we refrain and where the Bible is silent, there is freedom of opinion,” we must be careful and refer back to the first. It is very easy to say that the Bible is silent on a subject, if we are not willing to dig into scripture, and it is very easy to say that the Bible gives clear directions on things if we take them out of context.

I will give an example, the Bible never condemns abortion directly. You will not be able to look into scripture and find a verse that says thou shalt not commit abortion. However, upon careful study, we can see that the Bible is against the practice of abortion. We can find the principle that all lives are created by God and that even while in the womb the Bible considers the unborn a person, human life has an intrinsic value because we are made in the image of God, we can also see that it is wrong to shed the blood of man because we are made in God’s image, and therefore abortion is murder which is condemned in Scripture. Our Sunday school is covering topics that we can think through biblicly, even if the Bible does not directly address certain subjects.

I believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God in their original autographs. It is the final authority for all matters of salvation, faith, and godly living.

Passages to Study for Next Week

Exodus 12:21; Genesis 22:1,2; Psalm 110:4; Zechariah 3:6, 8-10; Numbers 21:8, 9; Daniel 7:13, 14; Micah 5:2; Deuteronomy 18:18; Isaiah 11:1-3; Psalm 2:6; Isaiah 40:3; Psalm 78:2

Search for a New Testament Fulfillment of each passage