Is the Bible Supernatural? (010726)
Pastor Joseph Campbell
Wednesday Night • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 20:31
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Is the Bible supernatural or is it just like any other ancient book?
Your answer to that question will determine a great deal about how you view the Bible; how you approach it; how you interpret it; how you understand it; and, more importantly, the value that you place upon it especially in relation to your life.
Some of you may think that this is an absurd question; isn’t the answer obvious? It’s supernatural, of course!
As much as I would agree with you, if that is what you are thinking, that is certainly not the conclusion of the vast majority of modern day “Bible scholars.”
As I have continued to study the Bible and about the Bible, I have come to understand that: (And I quote here from, Edward F. Hills, a defender of the underlying Greek text of the King James Bible.)
There are many scholars today who claim to be orthodox Christians and yet insist that the New Testament text ought NOT to be studied from the believing point of view but from a neutral view.
The New Testament text, they maintain, ought to be treated just as the text of other ancient books are treated.
One “modern day scholar” who believed this went so far as to state that the text of the New Testament had not been as accurately preserved as the texts of other ancients books.
This has led many “modern day scholars” to go so far as to state:
“The primary goal of New Testament textual study remains the recovery of what the New Testament writers wrote. We have already suggested that to achieve this goal is well nigh impossible.” - R. M. Grant
From there, “modern day scholars” attempt to do away with the supernatural in such ways as saying (for one example) that the feeding of the five thousand by Jesus and His disciples was not really a miracle. Instead, it just set a good example of sharing which was followed by others, and soon there was food enough for everybody.
The miracles of the Bible, to these “modern day scholars,” were simply actual events which took place according to the laws of nature but, because the disciples were ignorant of these laws of nature, they believed them to be remarkable occurrences - miracles!
Why is all of this important? These “Bible scholars” are directly influencing the Christians that sit in church pews each week through preaching, social media posts, blog articles, and written books and study material.
So…
Is the Bible supernatural or is it just like any other ancient book?
There are three truths which lead me to know that the Bible is supernatural; It is not just like any other book.
The Bible is God’s Word.
The Bible is God’s Word.
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
God is supernatural. God is beyond and exceeds the power and laws of nature. He is miraculous.
Why? Because He is the Creator of all things!
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
If God is supernatural it stands to reason that God’s Word is supernatural; it is beyond and exceeds the power and laws of nature!
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
The Bible has been given to us by God.
The Bible has been given to us by God.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
“…whenever God decided it was time to communicate another part of His special revelation of divine truth,
“He chose to share it through a particular man in a specific setting.
“The selected writer received the inspired truth, and the Holy Spirit carried him along so that the man wrote down what God revealed.
“This action repeated many times - until every message that was to become Scripture had been committed to writing…”
The Book We Love: Bible History and Principles of Interpretation by Wallace Alcorn and David Drullinger page 10
“Modern Bible scholars,” who believe that the Bible should be viewed as any other “ancient” book, also downplay the supernatural origin of the Bible and emphasize the human writers. Among other things, these “scholars” believe:
Moses didn’t write the first five books of the Bible. Instead, there were 3 different, unknown, writers with a later editor who put things together long after Moses’ death.
Mark and Luke simply copied from Matthew.
The Bible has been preserved by God.
The Bible has been preserved by God.
LAMED. For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: But the word of our God shall stand for ever.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Modern day “Bible” scholars, however, would have us believe, instead:
…God had worked providentially through Tischendorf, Tregelles, and Westcott and Hort to preserve the New Testament text.
But this suggestion…would have us believe that during the manuscript period orthodox Christians corrupted the New Testament text, that the text used by the Protestant Reformers was the worst of all, and that the True Text was not restored until the 19th century, when Tregelles brought it forth out of the Pope’s library, when Tischendorf rescued it from a wast basket on Mt. Sinai, and when Westcott and Hort were “providentially” guided to construct a theory of it when ignores God’s special providence and treats the text of the New Testament like the text of any other ancient book.
But, if the True New Testament Text was lost for 1500 ears, how can we be sure that it has ever been found again?
Mark Ward, a “Bible” scholar who does not hide his disdain for the KJV in favor of modern translations, wrote:
Our major modern evangelical Bible translations are very good. Not perfect, but very good.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/nrsv-compromise-homosexuality/
Is the Bible supernatural or is it just like any other ancient book?
In contradiction to most modern day “Bible” scholars, I confidently affirm that the Bible is supernatural and…
If the Bible is supernatural…
It can do what nothing else can do.
It can do what nothing else can do.
Turn to and read Matthew 7:24-27.
Therefore…
It demands to be taken into our lives.
It demands to be taken into our lives.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night…
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…
Just as medicine must be taken into our bodies and then absorbed into our bodies so that it can have its intended affect, even so, God’s Word must consistently taken into our minds so that it, from there, can be absorbed into our hearts and thus affect our entire lives!
