The Bible & The Human Condition (3)

The Bible

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises. Article 2, EFCA Statement of Faith

Trusting the Scriptures was an important issue to EFCA founders.

Every point of doctrine and practice in the early years of the Free Church movement was submitted to the authority of the Word of God.

“Where stands it written?” was asked about issues of faith.

Since our founding fathers came from the Scandinavian countries where final authority often rested in the State and Church leaders, using the Bible as the final authority was a notable position for the EFC founders to take.

Today, we need to continue with the same spirit and principle of referring to the Scriptures for our beliefs and practices.

God has spoken

Revelation is God’s act of making Himself and His truth known to people.

He did this through nature (Romans 1:19-20; Psalm 19:1-6), through Jesus Christ when He was on earth (Hebrews 1:1-2), and through the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16).

Romans 1:19–20 NIV

since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Hebrews 1:1–2 NIV

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

Divine inspiration is the Holy Spirit’s influence on the Biblical writers to ensure what they wrote was the Word of God.

He did this without bypassing their individual personalities and styles of writing.

2 Timothy 3:16 NIV

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

2 Peter 1:21 NIV

For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

In hundreds of passages, the Bible declares or assumes itself to be the Word of God (Deut. 6:6-9, 17-18; Josh. 1:8; 8:32-35; 2 Sam. 22:31; Pss. 1:2; 12:6; 19:7-11; 93:5; 119:9, 11, 18, 89-93, 97-100, 104-5, 130; Prov. 30:5-6; Isa. 55:10-11; Jer. 15:16; 23:29; Dan. 10:21; Matt. 5:17-19; 22:29; Mark 13:31; Luke 16:17; John 2:22; 5:24; 10:35; Acts 17:11; Rom. 10:17; 1 Cor. 2:13; Col. 3:16; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 2:15; 3:15-17; 1 Pet. 1:23-25; 2 Pet. 3:15-16; Rev. 1:2; 22:18).

The Scriptures in so many ways declare that the Bible is the Word of God, that its claims are clear to anyone.

The constant assumption of the writers of the Old Testament, the writers of the New Testament, and Christ Himself is that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

For instance, Psalm 19:7-11 declares that the Bible is indeed the Word of the Lord and names six perfections with six corresponding transformations of human character which the Word accomplishes.

Jesus Christ declared that the law had to be fulfilled (Matt. 5:17-18). Hebrews 1:1-2 not only affirms that God spoke in the Old Testament to the prophets in the Word of God but to His Son in the New Testament.

The Bible can be rejected only by rejecting its constant claims to being God’s Word.

Lewis Sperry Chafer, Major Bible Themes, n.d.

Verbal inspiration means that the Holy Spirit so guided the Biblical writers that the words, not just the thoughts, are what God intended to be written.

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,”

1 Corinthians 2:13 NIV

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.

Exodus 20:1 (NIV84) — And God spoke all these words:

John 6:63 (NIV84) — The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

John 17:8 (NIV84) — For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

Plenary inspiration means all Scriptures have been inspired, not just part of them.

Old Testament seen as Scripture (God’s Word)

Matthew 4:4 NIV

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 5:17–18 (NIV84) — “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. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

John 10:33–36 (NIV84) — “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? (Jesus referred to a Psalm, and put it on par with the Law. He also based His argument on one word, ‘gods’.)

Luke 24:44 (NIV84) — He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

New Testament seen as Scripture (God’s Word)

1 Timothy 5:18 NIV

For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”

(Combines Deuteronomy 25:4, and Luke 10:7)

2 Peter 3:16 NIV

He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

(Peter calls Paul’s writings scripture.)

Without Error

We believe that the Bible is “without error in the original writings” and is fully authoritative, not only in matters pertaining to salvation and religion, but also in areas of science, history and morality where it touches on these subjects.

John 17:17 NIV

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

There are Approximations, free/indirect quotations, like/as, differing accounts/aspects

But this is not error. Often is comes down to writing style and emphasis. Proper interpretation.

Infallibility – doesn’t deceive, teaches truth

Why is it important for us to believe the Scriptures objectively “are” the Word of God as opposed to the Scriptures “becoming” or “containing” the Word of God?

Views of Inspiration

Dictation Inspiration - God dictated what He wanted written

Natural Inspiration - geniuses

Dynamic/Mystical Inspiration - inspired by not infallible

Degree Inspiration - some is more inspired

Partial Inspiration - some inspired, some not, biblical themes inspired, historical details not, OR bible is inspired in its purpose, salvation

Concept Inspiration - thoughts, not words

Barthian Inspiration -

Bible centers around Christ

Some is in error

It is the Word of God when one encounters it

Verbal/Plenary Inspiration

2 Timothy 3:16

1 Timothy 5:18 (combination of Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7)

2 Peter 3:16 (Peter referring to Paul's letters)

2 Peter 1:19, 21 - carried along by the Spirit, Acts 27:15

1 Corinthians 2:13 - spiritual thoughts and words

Consider this statement:

“I confess the infallibility and inerrancy of the Scriptures in accomplishing God’s purpose for them—to give man the revelation of God in His redemptive love through Jesus Christ.” - Ray Summers, “How God Said It,” The Baptist Standard, 4 February 1970, 12.

The words are important… This caused problems in the Southern Baptist Association. Why?

“in accomplishing God’s purpose for them…” - Partial

“love through Jesus Christ.” - Barthian

Why is it important to state that it was the original writings that were without error?

There are thousands of manuscripts that have been found. These are all copies of the originals, though some are supposed to be 1st copies of the originals. The Holy Spirit guided the authors. The copies are for the most part the same, but there are some variants. A letter changed here. A verse in a different position. Etc.

However, there are no variants that change the doctrines of the Word of God.

Isaiah 40:8 NIV

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

The Human Condition

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed. Article 3, EFCA Statement of Faith

GOD CREATED ADAM AND EVE IN HIS IMAGE

Man is a created being.

Man was created as a fully-developed, adult human being.

Genesis 1:26–27 NIV

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:7 NIV

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:21–22 NIV

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

God is man’s source of life.

Man has a material part, and an immaterial part.

Ryrie’s Basic Theology (A. Bipartite Unity)

That man is bipartite in nature is undebatable. Man is a material and nonmaterial entity, the two aspects being distinguishable. Physical death is described as the separation of body and spirit (James 2:26). Biblical dichotomy differs from Plato’s teaching that the body was perishable but the soul existed in the heavenly world of pure form or idea before its incarnation in the human body and was therefore uncreated and immortal, a part of Deity. Biblical dichotomy certainly does not teach that the body is the prison house of the soul, which is released at death to return to the heavenly world or to be reincarnated in another body. Biblical dichotomy is radically different from Platonic dualism.

Material/Body/Flesh

heart, stomach, brain, lungs, mouth…

Immaterial

Ecclesiastes 12:7 NIV

and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Spirit – Ecclesiastes 12:7

Matthew 10:28 NIV

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Soul – Matthew 10:28

Mark 7:21 NIV

For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder,

Heart – Mark 7:21

Matthew 22:37 NIV

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

Mind – Matthew 22:37

Romans 2:15 NIV

They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)

Conscience – Romans 2:15

Romans 7:18 NIV

For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

Flesh – Romans 7:18

Trichotomy / Dichotomy?

Certainly dichotomy is true - material and immaterial

James 2:26 NIV

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Trichotomy? Body, Soul, Spirit?

As seen above, the bible refers to the immaterial part in many ways. In some ways these are overlapping in different passages, so maybe a better way to understand this is like facets of a diamond. You may look at different facets, but they are all the same diamond.

Charles Ryrie, Ryrie’s Basic Theology, Chapter 32

NOTE for further discussion if time allows and is needed:

Trichotomy started with Aristotle who modified Plato’s dualism (Plato’s dualism is not the same as scriptural body and soul in that he claimed the body was bad, while soul was good and predated the body as pure form or idea, and became imprisoned in the body.), twofold division body and soul, and made it threefold: body, animal soul (breathing); rational soul (intellect). Thomas Aquinas took this trifold and developed it into trichotomy: body, soul, spirit.

Ryrie’s Basic Theology (B. Not Trichotomy (“Cut in Three Parts”))

Hebrews 4:12 seems to separate soul from spirit, thus supporting the trichotomy view. However, the verse does not say that the Word severs soul from spirit but that it pierces through to divide soul and spirit, thus exposing the innermost aspects of man. The point is simply that the Word of God leaves nothing hidden.

First Thessalonians 5:23 seems to indicate that the immaterial aspect of man is composed of soul and spirit. Trichotomists understand spirit, soul, and body in this verse as defining the parts of man; dichotomists say they represent the whole man. If these three terms are inclusive of all the aspects of man, then what place do heart, mind, will, and conscience have? Why did not Paul also include them in the list? The emphasis of the verse is on the completeness of sanctification.

First Corinthians 15:44 appears to teach a difference between the present body (a soul body) and the resurrection body (a spiritual body). But that does not mean that the spirit is superior to the soul.

Also John saw people in heaven as “souls” (Rev. 6:9; 20:4).

The spirit can partake of pollution along with the flesh (2 Cor. 7:1). Trichotomy ought to have pollution affecting the flesh and soul, not the spirit.

Fleshly lusts war against the soul (1 Pet. 2:11). Trichotomy ought to have flesh warring against the spirit, or soul against spirit.

How can the Lord command us to love Him with all our souls if the soul is world-conscious, not God-conscious? (Mark 12:30). Trichotomy ought to have the command read “with all your spirit,” but spirit is not mentioned at all in the command.

In Hebrews 10:38 soul is used of God.

Man is made up of two substances, material and immaterial. Each consists of a variety within. The many facets of the material and the many facets of the immaterial join together to make up the whole of each person. Man is rich diversity in unity.

God created man in the image of God.

No other creature has this distinction.

Image does not mean physical likeness. God is a spirit.

Image has to do with the immaterial:

Spiritual – Mark 12:30

Holiness – Ephesians 4:24

Ephesians 4:24 NIV

and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Righteousness – Genesis 1:31

Intellect – Isaiah 1:18

Communicative – Genesis 1:28

Moral Conscience – Romans 2:15

Will – Romans 7:15-25

Emotions – Mark 12:30

Creativity – Genesis 1:28

Glory – Psalm 8

Honor – Psalm 8

Authority – Genesis 1:26, 28

BUT THEY SINNED

Adam and Eve were perfect/good when God created them.

Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

God warned Adam.

Genesis 2:17 (NIV84) — but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

Adam and Eve disobeyed God.

Genesis 3:1-7 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

IN UNION WITH ADAM, HUMAN BEINGS ARE SINNERS BY NATURE AND BY CHOICE

Through Adam’s sin, sin and death entered the human race.

Romans 5:12 NIV

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

“all sinned”- past act, as if we were with Adam sinning.

In Adam, we all sinned. (Imputed Sin)

Romans 3:23 NIV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

We are all born with a sin nature. (Inherited Sin)

Psalm 51:5 (NIV84) — Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Ephesians 2:3 (NIV84) — All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

1 Peter 1:18 NIV

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,

NOTE: Transmission of Man’s Being

Preexistence - God created all human souls, which were confined in physical bodies as punishment, reincarnation (Plato, Origen, Hinduism… NOT Orthodox Christian)

Creationism - God creates at conception (Hodge)

Traducianism - transmitted along with the body at conception, Genesis 5:1-3 “This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.”

We all also sin by our own choices. (Personal Sin)

Romans 3:9-18, 23

Ephesians 2:1-12

James 3:2 NIV

We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

1 John 1:8 NIV

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Sin causes spiritual death, separation from God.

Isaiah 59:2 NIV

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Romans 6:23 (NIV84) — For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:1 (NIV84) — As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 2:12 (NIV84) — remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

Ephesians 4:18 (NIV84) — They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

Sinners are under God’s wrath.

Romans 1:18 (NIV84) — The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

Ephesians 2:3 (NIV84) — All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

Romans 2:5 (NIV84) — But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

ONLY THROUGH GOD’S SAVING WORK IN JESUS CHRIST CAN WE BE RESCUED, RECONCILED AND RENEWED

Yet because God loves those He created, He desires to have a relationship with us. Therefore, through the saving work of Jesus Christ, God provided the means—by faith—for a new relationship with Him. He sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin, to secure peace with God, and to pour out the Holy Spirit, who renews our fallen nature from within.

Romans 5:8 (NIV84) — But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:18–19 (NIV84) — Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Romans 3:21–26 NIV

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

In what way did Adam and Eve “die” when they disobeyed God? What does it mean for a person to be spiritually alienated from God and under His wrath?

In order to make it possible for Adam and Eve to willingly obey or disobey Him, God gave them a free will. If God knew a free will gave them the choice to sin, why did He create them with that ability?

How does this understanding of the human condition differ from other perspectives that you are aware of?

How do you respond to the point that “only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed”?

Memory Verses:

Genesis 1:26-27 Romans 3:23