The Necessity of Scripture

The final of the 4 characteristics of scripture

The necessity of scripture means that the bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will, but it is not necessary for knowing that God exists or for knowing something about God’s character and moral laws

Doesn’t mean:

Printed copy of the bible

or even reading of the bible

Scriptural support

The Bible is necessary for knowledge of the Gospel

Passages that emphasize salvation only comes through faith in Christ

Romans 10:13–17 “For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Reasoning:

One must call on the name of the lord to be saved

People will not call on him if they don’t believe

People cannot believe in him if they have not heard of him

They cannot hear of him unless someone tells them about Christ

Conc: saving faith comes from hearing the gospel message, and this message comes through the word of christ (preaching about him)

Seems to imply that without hearing the gospel message, one cannot be saved

children

Ordinary vs extraordinary

One of many that show salvation comes through faith alone in christ alone

John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Acts 4:12 Peter speaking on trial “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

1 Timothy 2:5–6 “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”

What about OT

looking forward in faith

Hebrews 11:13 “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”

Hebrews 11:26 “He (moses) considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”

John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.””

So the bible is necessary for salvation in the sense that one must either read or hear the gospel message of the bible

What about dreams, visions, babies, mentally disabled, etc

Ordinary vs extraordinary means

This has been a motivator for the church for missions & ought to be a motivator to us for evangelism

Necessary for maintaining spiritual life

Matthew 4:4 “But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”” (quoting deut 8 3)

Spiritual life is maintained by daily nourishment with physical food.

Not regularly consuming gods word is to our souls what food is to our body

Deuteronomy 32:47 “For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.””

1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—”

Context is God’s word

Show me a Christian who is growing in their faith and I will show you a Christian who is in their Bible

Necessary for certain knowledge of God’s will

All people have some knowledge of Gods will through conscience

basic right & wrong

Even so, it is still uncertain

Without the scriptures, we could have no definitive answers to Gods will

In the scriptures, we have clear and definite statements about Gods will

Not everything but enough to know his will

Deuteronomy 29:29 ““The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

Psalm 119:1 “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!”

Psalm 1:1 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;”

Psalm 1:2 “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

One could say that the Bible is necessary for certain knowledge about everything

Bible is NOT necessary for knowing that God exists

Can someone who never reads the Bible obtain any knowledge of God?

Can they know anything about his laws?

Yes

People can obtain knowledge that God exists and some attributes

What attributes can someone know about God without reading the scriptures?

Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

Glory, power, wisdom, beauty

Acts 14:16–17 “In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.””

Mercy, love, joy

Paul says these are plain & even wicked people recognize this evidence

Romans 1:19–21 “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

If there is a creation there is a creator

Big bang

The Bible is not necessary for knowing something about Gods character & moral laws

Romans 1:28–32 “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

Romans 2:14–15 “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them”

Knowledge of Gods existence, character, and moral law through creation is known as “general revelation”. God’s word is “special revelation”

General revelation is a great blessing to our world

Restrains evil (3 uses of the law. Reveal, restrain, rejoice)

We are totally depraved, not utterly depraved

This is why we can find “common ground” with even unbelievers who argue for the things we do (i.e abortion, sexual ethics, family, etc. In addition to opponents, we agree on basic ethics like honesty, logic, respect, etc. although we should ask what they ground their stance on)

If we can appeal to the heart and bring to surface the reality they know deep down that they have sinned against God, we can present a savior

Romans 1:32 “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

In scripture we can see the gospel of Christ, the spiritual nourishment we need to grow in christ, and God’s law and will for our lives