Authority and Inerrancy of the Bible

Thus ‘the authority of the holy scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the word of God’ (Westminster Confession of Faith, 1. 4)…

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The biblical case for scriptural authority rests on several interconnected claims about the origin, nature, and permanence of God’s word.

The foundation begins with divine authorship. Scripture originates not from human initiative but from God himself, with writers functioning as vessels through whom the Holy Spirit spoke (2 Pet 1:20–21). This divine origin carries practical implications: Scripture equips believers for teaching, correction, and training in righteousness, enabling them to become fully prepared for every good work (2 Tim 3:16–17). The authority thus flows directly from God’s involvement in the text’s composition.

Beyond its source, biblical authority extends to the text’s permanence and reliability. God’s word endures eternally, standing firm in the heavens while earthly things decay (Ps 119:89; Isa 40:8). This permanence reflects not merely longevity but trustworthiness—the word maintains its binding force across time. Jesus reinforced this immutability by asserting that not even the smallest elements of the Law will disappear until all things reach their fulfillment (Matt 5:18), suggesting that Scripture’s authority extends to its minutest details.

Critically, biblical prophecy cannot be understood through private interpretation (2 Pet 1:20–21), implying that Scripture’s authority operates independently of individual readers’ subjective understanding. The text possesses an objective status that precedes and supersedes personal opinion.

Together, these passages establish authority as rooted in divine origin, demonstrated through practical utility, secured by eternal permanence, and protected from arbitrary reinterpretation. Authority here means not merely influence or cultural significance, but binding force derived from God’s direct involvement in Scripture’s composition and preservation.

Lexham Survey of Theology, The Bible’s Authority:

John Frame, “The Bible’s Authority,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

Authoritative words are words that impose obligations on the lives of their readers and hearers. To say that the Bible is authoritative is to say that it governs all areas of human life.

God is by nature the supreme authority in the universe, governing the lives of all his creatures. When he speaks, creatures must obey or bear the consequences of disobedience. The Bible is his word, and therefore human beings must obey all aspects of it in every area of their lives. The Westminster Confession of Faith, 14.2, says that by saving faith, “a Christian believeth to be true whatever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein; and acteth differently upon that which every particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come.”

This is not to say that the content of Scripture measures up to human standards of what is right and wrong, true and false. Rather, Scripture is itself the very standard, the ultimate criterion of what is true and right. Nor should we restrict the authority of Scripture to some narrow sphere of human life, such as religion or worship. Scripture governs the religious life, but before God all of life is religion in the sense that we are to do everything to the glory of God. Scripture is the supreme guide as to how to glorify God in all of life. So however difficult it may be in a social environment, the Christian must be bold to obey the Bible, not only in church, but in the workplace, in intellectual life, in science, philosophy, law, politics, the arts, culture, commerce, and entertainment. Believers must, of course, respect the fact that Scripture focuses on redemption rather than general culture. But that redemption itself is cosmic: the removal of the fall’s curse from all creation and the reconciliation of all things to God. The Bible’s authority extends over all areas of human life.

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Carl F.H. Henry, “Bible, Authority of The,” in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 296–300.

Bible, Authority of the: View that the Bible is the Word of God and as such should be believed and obeyed. Western civilization is in a severe “authority crisis” which is not confined solely to the realm of religious faith, nor is it specially or uniquely threatening to Bible believers. Parental authority, marital authority, political authority, academic authority, and ecclesiastical authority are all being deeply questioned. Not only particular authorities—the Scripture, the pope, political rulers, and so on—but the concept of authority itself is vigorously challenged. Today’s crisis of biblical authority thus reflects the uncertainties of civilizational consensus: Who has the power and the right to receive and to require submission?

Revolt Against Biblical Authority: As the sovereign Creator of all, the God of the Bible wills and has the right to be obeyed. Judge of men and nations, the self-revealed God wields unlimited authority and power. All creaturely authority and power is derived from that of God. The power God bestows is a divine trust, a stewardship. God’s creatures are morally accountable for their use or misuse of it. In fallen human society God wills civil government for the promotion of justice and order. He approves an ordering of authoritative and creative relationships in the home by stipulating certain responsibilities of husbands, wives, and children. He wills a pattern of priorities for the church as well: Jesus Christ the head, prophets and apostles through whom redemptive revelation came, and so on. The inspired Scriptures, revealing God’s transcendent will in objective written form, are the rule of faith and conduct through which Christ exercises his divine authority in the lives of Christians.

Revolt against particular authorities has in our time widened into a revolt against all transcendent and external authority. The widespread questioning of authority is condoned and promoted in many academic circles. Philosophers with a radically secular outlook have affirmed that God and the supernatural are mythical conceptions, that natural processes and events comprise the only ultimate reality. All existence is said to be temporal and changing, all beliefs and ideals are declared to be relative to the age and culture in which they appear. Biblical religion, therefore, like all other, is asserted to be merely a cultural phenomenon. The Bible’s claim to divine authority is dismissed by such thinkers; transcendent revelation, fixed truths, and unchanging commandments are set aside as pious fiction.

In the name of humanity’s supposed “coming of age,” radical secularism champions human autonomy and creative individuality. Human beings are lords of their own destiny and inventors of their own ideals and values, it is said. They live in a supposedly purposeless universe that has itself presumably been engendered by a cosmic accident. Therefore human beings are declared to be wholly free to impose upon nature and history whatever moral criteria they prefer. In such a view, to insist on divinely given truths and values, on transcendent principles, would be to repress self-fulfillment and retard creative personal development. Hence the radically secular view goes beyond opposing particular external authorities whose claims are considered arbitrary or immoral; radical secularism is aggressively hostile to all external authority, viewing it as intrinsically restrictive of the autonomous human spirit.

Any reader of the Bible will recognize rejection of divine authority and definitive revelation of what is right and good as an age-old phenomenon. It is not at all peculiar to the contemporary person “come of age”; it was found already in Eden. Adam and Eve revolted against the will of God in pursuit of individual preference and supposed self-interest. But their revolt was recognized to be sin, not rationalized as philosophical “gnosis” at the frontiers of evolutionary advance.

If one takes a strictly developmental view, which considers all reality contingent and changing, where is the basis for humanity’s decisively creative role in the universe? How could a purposeless cosmos cater to individual self-fulfillment? Only the biblical alternative of the Creator-Redeemer God, who fashioned human beings for moral obedience and a high spiritual destiny, truly preserves the permanent, universal dignity of the human species. The Bible does so, however, by a demanding call for personal spiritual decision. The Bible sets forth the superiority of humans to the animals, their high dignity (“little less than God”—Ps 8:5) because of the divine rational and moral image that all bear by reason of creation. In the context of universal human involvement in Adamic sin, the Bible utters a merciful divine call to redemptive renewal through the mediatorial person and work of Christ. Fallen humanity is invited to experience the Holy Spirit’s renewing work, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and to anticipate a final destiny in the eternal presence of the God of justice and justification.

Contemporary rejection of biblical tenets does not rest on any logical demonstration that the case for biblical theism is false; it turns rather on a subjective preference for alternative views of “the good life.”

The Bible is not the only significant reminder that human beings stand daily in responsible relationship to the sovereign God. He reveals his authority in the cosmos, in history, and in inner conscience, a disclosure of the living God that penetrates into the mind of every person (Rom 1:18–20; 2:12–15). Rebellious suppression of that “general divine revelation” does not wholly succeed in suspending a fearsome sense of final divine accountability (Rom 1:32).

Yet it is the Bible as “special revelation” that most clearly confronts our spiritually rebellious race with the reality and authority of God. In the Scriptures, the character and will of God, the meaning of human existence, the nature of the spiritual realm, and the purposes of God for humankind in all ages are stated in propositionally intelligible form that all can understand. The Bible publishes in objective form the criteria by which God judges individuals and nations, and the means of moral recovery and restoration to personal fellowship with him.

Regard for the Bible is therefore decisive for the course of Western culture and in the long run for human civilization generally. Intelligible divine revelation, the basis for belief in the sovereign authority of the Creator-Redeemer God over all human life, rests on the reliability of what Scripture says about God and his purposes. Modern naturalism impugns the authority of the Bible and assails the claim that the Bible is the Word of God written, that is, a transcendently given revelation of the mind and will of God. Attack upon scriptural authority is the storm center both in the controversy over revealed religion and in the modern conflict over civilizational values.

The Bible’s View of Itself: The intelligible nature of divine revelation—the presupposition that God’s will is made known in the form of valid truths—is the central presupposition of the authority of the Bible. Much recent neo-Protestant theology demeaned the traditional evangelical emphasis as doctrinaire and static. It insisted instead that the authority of Scripture is to be comprehended internally as a witness to divine grace engendering faith and obedience, thus disowning its objective character as universally valid truth. Somewhat inconsistently, almost all neo-Protestant theologians have appealed to the record to support cognitively whatever fragments of the whole seem to coincide with their divergent views, even though they disavow the Bible as a specially revealed corpus of authoritative divine teaching. For evangelical orthodoxy, if God’s revelational disclosure to chosen prophets and apostles is to be considered meaningful and true, it must be given not merely in isolated concepts capable of diverse meanings but in sentences or propositions. A proposition—that is, a subject, predicate, and connecting verb (or “copula”)—constitutes the minimal logical unit of intelligible communication. The OT prophetic formula “thus saith the Lord” characteristically introduced propositionally disclosed truth. Jesus Christ employed the distinctive formula “But I say unto you” to introduce logically formed sentences which he represented as the veritable word or doctrine of God.

The Bible is authoritative because it is divinely authorized; in its own terms, “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tm 3:16 NIV). According to this passage the whole OT (or any element of it) is divinely inspired. Extension of the same claim to the NT is not expressly stated, though it is more than merely implied. The NT contains indications that its content was to be viewed, and was in fact viewed, as no less authoritative than the OT. The apostle Paul’s writings are catalogued with “other scriptures” (2 Pt 3:15, 16). Under the heading of Scripture, 1 Timothy 5:18 cites Luke 10:7 alongside Deuteronomy 25:4 (cf. 1 Cor 9:9). The Book of Revelation, moreover, claims divine origin (1:1–3) and employs the term “prophecy” in the OT meaning (22:9, 10, 18). The apostles did not distinguish their spoken and written teaching but expressly declared their inspired proclamation to be the Word of God (1 Cor 4:1; 2 Cor 5:20; 1 Thes 2:13).

The Inerrancy Question: The doctrine of biblical authority has been subverted by attacks on its historical and scientific reliability and by allegedly tracing its teaching to fallible human sources. On the other hand, the doctrine has sometimes been unnecessarily clouded by extremely conservative apologists who have overstated what biblical authority presupposes and implies. Some conservative scholars have repudiated all historical criticism as inimical to biblical authority and distinguished “true” from “false” Christians on the basis of subscription to biblical inerrancy.

If one accepts plenary divine inspiration of Scripture—that is, God’s superintendence of the whole—the doctrine of biblical authority doubtless implies inerrancy of the content. But the Christian faith can hardly hope to advance its claims through a repudiation of historical criticism. To do so would imply that to support its position it must resort to uncritical views of history. To “higher criticism,” which is so often pursued on arbitrary presuppositions that promote unjustifiable conclusions, the evangelical must reply with sound criticism that proceeds on legitimate assumptions and yields defensible verdicts.

Evangelical Christianity should champion the inerrancy of Scripture as a sound theological commitment, one that is consistent with what the Bible says about itself. But it need not repudiate the Christian integrity of all who do not share that commitment, nor regard them as hopelessly apostate. J. Gresham Machen, a brilliant evangelical apologist of the 1920s and 1930s and staunch champion of scriptural inerrancy, wrote that the doctrine of plenary inspiration “is denied not only by liberal opponents of Christianity, but also by many true Christian men … many men in the modern church … who accept the central message of the Bible and yet believe that the message has come to us merely on the authority of trustworthy witnesses unaided in their literary work by a supernatural guidance of the Spirit of God. There are many who believe that the Bible is right at the central point, in its account of the redeeming work of Christ, and yet believe that it contains many errors. Such men are not really liberals, but Christians, because they have accepted as true the message upon which Christianity depends.”

Yet Machen never wavered in his conviction that the whole Bible is to be considered “the seat of authority.” He was convinced that the doctrine of inerrancy avoids instability in expounding authoritative doctrine and morals. He insisted that a “mediating” view of the Bible is not tenable. Modernists who claim to honor the authority of Jesus Christ rather than the authority of Scripture contradict Jesus’ teaching, since Jesus held a high view of Scripture. Moreover, the full explanation of Jesus’ life and work depended on his crucifixion, resurrection, and heavenly ministry, and derived from the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of the apostles. It is illogical to pick and choose from the teaching of Jesus during his earthly ministry only those elements that serve one’s own presuppositions. Rejection of the full trustworthiness of Scripture may finally lead one to ascribe to Jesus a life purpose different from the biblical one: that Christ died and rose bodily to be the ground of divine forgiveness of sinners.

The historic evangelical position is summed up in the words of Frank E. Gaebelein, general editor of The Expositors’ Bible Commentary: “the divine inspiration, complete trustworthiness, and full authority of the Bible.” Scripture is authoritative and fully trustworthy because it is divinely inspired. Lutheran theologian Francis Pieper directly connected the authority of the Bible with its inspiration: “The divine authority of Scripture rests solely on its nature, on its theopneusty”—that is, its character as ‘God breathed.’ ” J.I. Packer commented that every compromise of the truthfulness of the Bible must at the same time be regarded as a compromise of its authority: “To assert biblical inerrancy and infallibility is just to confess faith in (i) the divine origin of the Bible and (ii) the truthfulness and trustworthiness of God. The value of these terms is that they conserve the principles of biblical authority; for statements that are not absolutely true and reliable could not be absolutely authoritative.” Packer reinforced that argument by demonstrating that Christ, the apostles, and the early church all agreed that the OT was both absolutely trustworthy and authoritative. Being a fulfillment of the OT, the NT is no less authoritative. Christ entrusted his disciples with his own authority in their teaching so the early church accepted their teaching. As God’s revelation, Scripture stands above the limitations of human assertion.

Recent Challenges: In recent debate the authority of Scripture is compromised by some mediating scholars through their willingness to grant the infiltration of culturally dependent teaching. Some of the apostle Paul’s statements about women, or his views about a regathering of Israel in Palestine, are dismissed as reflective of the rabbinic teaching of the time and hence as evidence of Paul’s culturally limited perspective. At some points biblical teaching obviously coincides with Jewish tradition. But where Hebrew tradition was elevated into a norm considered superior to or modifying and contravening Scripture, Jesus was critical of that tradition. That the apostle Paul may at some points have taught what was also taught by tradition, historically rooted in the OT, proves nothing; at other points he was sharply critical of the rabbinical tradition.

The evangelical view has always been that what the inspired biblical writers teach they teach, not as derived from mere tradition, but as God-breathed; in their proclamation they had the mind of the Spirit to distinguish what was divinely approved and disapproved in current tradition. It is a sounder perspective therefore to speak of elements in which the Jewish tradition reflected prophetic revelation and of elements in which it departed from it. Once the principle of “culture dependency” is introduced into the content of scriptural teaching, it is difficult to establish objective criteria for distinguishing between what is supposedly authoritative and unauthoritative in apostolic doctrine. Paul’s views on homosexuality could then be considered as culturally prejudiced as his views of hierarchical authority—or for that matter of the authority of Scripture.

Some recent scholars have sought to ascribe to Scripture only a “functional” authority as an inner life-transforming stimulant, setting aside its conceptual-propositional authority. For example, Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, Paul Tillich, and Fritz Buri identify the supposed authoritative aspect of Scripture in radically divergent and even contradictory elements. All of them depart from the historic evangelical view (expounded, e.g., by B.B. Warfield in The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, 1948) that the authority of Scripture is concentrated in its disclosure of divinely revealed truths that constitute the rule of faith and morals. The “functional” view, as reflected by David H. Kelsey in The Uses of Scripture in Recent Theology (1975), rejects the finality of any of the divergent views and accepts them equally (no matter how conflicting and contradictory they may be). Claims for external authority are subordinated into a supposed internal authority that dynamically alters the life of the community of faith. In spite of its profession of nondiscrimination toward divergent views, such a theory must of course explicitly exclude the traditional evangelical emphasis on the objective truth of the Bible. But once the validity of the biblical teaching in whole and part is forfeited, no persuasive reason remains why one’s personal life ought to be transformed at all. One’s life might be transformed in alternative and even expressly opposing patterns, or conformed sometimes in one way and sometimes in another, or transformed in correlation with ideas derived from non-Christian or anti-Christian sources as readily as in correlation with ideas derived from the Bible.

The issue of biblical authority can hardly be divorced from interest in the rational validity and historical factuality of the Scriptures. But evangelicals hold that the authority of the Bible is a divine authority; not all truths and historically accurate statements fall into that category. Scripture is authoritative because it is God’s Word. The chosen prophets and apostles, some of them called by God in spite of their own indifference or even hostility—for example, the prophet Jeremiah and the apostle Paul—testify that the truth of God became theirs by divine inspiration. Judeo-Christian religion is based on historical revelation and redemption; instead of indifference to the concerns of history the Bible asserts a distinctive view of linear history alien to that of ancient religions and philosophies.

The Power of God’s Word: The Bible remains the most extensively printed, widely translated, and frequently read book in the world. Its words have been treasured in the hearts of multitudes like none other. All who have received its gifts of wisdom and promises of new life and power were at first strangers to its redemptive message, and many were hostile to its teaching and spiritual demands. In every generation its power to challenge persons of all races and lands has been demonstrated. Those who cherish the Book because it sustains future hope, brings meaning and power to the present, and correlates a misused past with the forgiving grace of God, would not long experience such inner rewards if Scripture were not known to them as the authoritative, divinely revealed truth. To the evangelical Christian, Scripture is the Word of God, given in the objective form of propositional truths through divinely inspired prophets and apostles, and the Holy Spirit is the giver of faith through that Word.

CARL F.H. HENRY — See BIBLE, INSPIRATION OF THE.

Bibliography. K. Barth, The Doctrine of the Word of God; H. Cunliffe-Jones, The Authority of the Biblical Revelation; C.H. Dodd, According to the Scriptures; C.H. Dodd, The Authority of the Bible; P.T. Forsyth, The Principle of Authority; C.F.H. Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority, 6 vols; F.J.A. Hort, The Authority of the Bible; M.G. Kline, The Structure of Biblical Authority; H.D. McDonald, Theories of Revelation; J. Rogers (ed), Biblical Authority; B.B. Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible.

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Nigel M. de S. Cameron, “Bible, Authority of The,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996), 55–58.

Bible, Authority of the: The central question that runs through the Bible is that of the authority of God. His authority is majestically displayed in Genesis 1, where the words “and God said” puncture the darkness of chaos and speak the cosmos into being. It is supremely challenged by a creature of his own making in Genesis 3: “Yea, hath God said …?” asks the serpent of the woman (3:1 KJV), and the question reverberates down through the centuries that follow, all the way to the Book of Revelation, where the Almighty God “hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS,” and “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death,” as the Lord God Omnipotent’s reign is eschatologically established and every challenge to his authority destroyed (19:16; 20:14 KJV). This is the theological context for the question of the authority of the Bible, because as God’s written (“inscripturated”) revelation its authority is the authority of God; for what Scripture says, God says.

The serpent’s question in Genesis 3 is not simply the most striking example of a challenge to the authority of God; it is the fruit of the challenge of Lucifer who as the devil stands behind, or within, the serpent. And it is the challenge that leads Eve, and then Adam, into their definitive act of rebellion. It should be noted that the serpent’s challenge “Hath God said?” is, in particular, a challenge to the authority of the word of God, a claim to know better than the word that God has spoken. This focus in the original act of sin on challenge to the authority of God in his word underlines from the outset the closeness of the connection between the person and the word of a God who is characterized as God who speaks. “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, and he ate it.… Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ ” (3:6, 13). The consequences are extraordinary.

So it is vital to understand that this doctrine, far from playing a minor role on the fringes of Christian belief, brings us face to face with the authority of God himself. What is at stake in the authority of Holy Scripture is the authority of its divine author. And, in light of the fact that every doctrine believed by the church is in turn authorized by appeal to Holy Scripture (theological proposals are grounded “according to the Scriptures,” in the words of the creed), it is no exaggeration to say that the entire structure of Christian theology stands or falls by the authority of Scripture, the major premise for every theological statement that would claim the allegiance of the canonical community that is the church of Jesus Christ. This is still widely admitted in contemporary theological discussion, both implicitly (for every theologian, orthodox or not, quotes Scripture to bolster theological argument), and sometimes in so many words.

That immensely significant fact offers the context for the realization that the doctrine of the authority of the Bible is, uniquely, reflective in character. That is, though its subject is the Bible, it is a biblical doctrine like other biblical doctrines. Yet unlike other matters of Christian belief and practice on which the Bible speaks—Christology, eschatology, the nature of God, the Christian life—we are here concerned with what the Bible says about itself. It is sometimes suggested that this invalidates the Bible’s testimony to its own authority, through it is a matter of logic that the highest authority must be its own authority. If the Bible is the “supreme rule of faith and life,” none can be higher. Moreover, the Bible’s self-testimony is pluriform and, in turn, sustained by the testimony of others; especially, the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. Let us briefly review each of these factors, because they have special relevance to the significance of the reflexive character of the doctrine.

First, the pluriform character of the Bible’s self-testimony. As we shall shortly be reminded, what we find in Holy Scripture is not some bald claim to raw authority but a collation of many testimonies on behalf of Holy Scripture as a book. The canonical claim takes the form of interlocking claims and evidences that include the phenomena of the divine speech, the particular testimony of Jesus Christ to the character of what we call the Old Testament, and the authoritative use of canonical books by the writers of others. Second, the Bible’s testimony is sustained by the use of the Bible in the church, as its authority has been recognized and found to be effective for the definition of doctrine and ethics, the public preaching of the gospel, and private devotion. Third, the chief ground of the believer’s and the church’s confidence in the authority of Holy Scripture lies in the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the Christian. That is to say, though the Scripture seems to be self-attesting, it is the divine author of Scripture, the Holy Spirit of God, who inspired the writing of that same Scripture, who is its final witness. He assures the believer that this canonical Scripture is verily the word of God written. That is, God offers his own witness to his word.

Yet the authority of Scripture is also a biblical doctrine like any other. It is the plainest of all biblical teachings, assumed as the starting point of the Bible in its role as a teaching book just as it has been assumed as the major premise of every use of the Bible since, lying behind the very possibility of biblical theology. Among the theological disciplines, “Bibliology” is both prolegomenon, part of the prelude to theology proper, and one among the articles that follow.

The Biblical Testimony: Perhaps the most striking, if often least noticed, testimony is the sustained interweaving of the direct speech of God in the text of the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. While serving as chief illustration and paradigm of revelation, the direct speech of the Creator-Redeemer resonates throughout the Scriptures and imparts its own stamp of authority to those books in which it is found. It is thus that the Book of Genesis begins with a chapter-long listing of the creative words of God, “And God said.…” Chapters 2 and 3 narrate the interlocution of the Lord God and Adam and Eve in the garden. In chapter 4 the Lord engages Cain in interrogation, and curse, and finally grace. And the pattern continues through the flood and the covenant with Noah, and into the call of Abra(ha)m and the long account of the patriarchal discipleship (and the later historical books). In Exodus this narrative leads to the giving of the law on Sinai, and alongside the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God, we read the mass of first-person instruction that became the basis of the civil and ceremonial practice of the Hebrews. The prophetic books, of course, consist in large measure of discourse from the mouth of God. As we later read, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways” (Heb. 1:1).

In the New Testament there is some similarity, especially in the Book of Revelation, which repeatedly records the words of God. But there is also a fundamental difference: On page after page of the four Gospels, the incarnate Son of God speaks in human flesh the words of God. “In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:2). As is so apparent in a red-letter testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record the very words of Jesus in an extensive fashion.

Of course, it is possible to conclude that such claims to divine authority in particular portions of Holy Scripture need not extend to the whole. A general regard for the trustworthiness of Scripture is all that is needed to sustain the divine authority of sayings placed in the mouth of God. Indeed, is not the implication of “Thus says the Lord” that those other sayings recorded by the prophet fall short of divine authority? Should not the quoted speech of Jesus of Nazareth be taken to have an authority to which the letters of Saul of Tarsus could never aspire?

As it happens, the Scriptures themselves tell another story. For the teaching of Jesus Christ extends to the question of bibliology. This is evident in all four Gospels, and the evidence is overwhelming. In John 10:34 we read that Jesus said “The Scripture cannot be broken.” In Mark 12:36, of Psalm 110, he states that David is speaking by the Holy Spirit. One of the most significant of all the many New Testament uses of the Old is found in Matthew 19. We read: “Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?’ ‘Haven’t you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”?’ ” (4–5). The importance of this reference lies in the fact that in Genesis 2:24, where we find this statement about leaving parents to become one flesh with a wife, the comment is simply attributed to the narrator. It is Jesus who puts it into the mouth of the one who “made them male and female.” And the implication is strong: that what Scripture says, God says, whether Scripture places it in the divine speech or as narration and commentary.

The second thread of internal testimony within Scripture may be traced through apostolic use of other canonical books. There is of course extensive New Testament use of the Old in a manner consonant with that which we find in the teaching of Jesus. In 2 Peter 3:15–16 we find this principle carried through into the New Testament Scriptures themselves, as the writings of the apostle Paul are placed on a level with Holy Scripture: “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. 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.”

The Use of Scripture in the Church: The central place of Holy Scripture in the life and history of the church in every age offers telling evidence of its authority. We do not believe its authority stems from the teaching of the church. But we note the authority which Scripture has, from the start, exercised in all the churches, as believers in the first century and the twentieth have done homage to the written Word of God as rule for their minds, their hearts, and their lives. Here we unite the devotional and doctrinal use of Scripture, its place in preaching, private reading, the great doctrinal controversies, and the anguish of the believer persecuted or bereft who turns to the Word of God for comfort from God himself. It is through Scripture that God has ruled the mind and heart of the church and the Christian.

The Testimony of the Holy Spirit: Central to Christian confidence in the authority of Scripture lies the conviction that behind every argument and experience that lead the believer to trust the Bible there is another witness to be discerned; that of God the Holy Spirit, himself inspirer and interpreter of Scripture, as he testifies to that Word of God. We have noted that it is not possible for a supreme authority to find final testimony in anything lesser. So it is in God only that Scripture can be attested. As Calvin puts it, “For as God alone is a fit witness of himself in his Word, so also the Word will not find acceptance in men’s hearts before it is scaled by the inward testimony of the Spirit. That same Spirit, therefore, who has spoken through the mouths of the prophets must penetrate into our hearts to persuade us that they faithfully proclaimed what had been divinely commanded” (Inst. 1.7.4).

The near-universal acceptance of biblical authority in the church, liberal and conservative alike, is not coincidental. It draws our attention to the character of the church of Jesus Christ as a canonical community—the people of the book. Yet one implication of this wide assumption that theology should be done “according to the Scriptures” is that the tail comes to wag the dog; because it is necessary to justify theological proposals with reference to Scripture, persons of all theological persuasions seek to find some way to connect their conclusions, on whatever ground they may have been reached, with Scripture. This has led to growing uncertainty about what it means to say that the Bible has authority. To what does that authority extend? Several points of focus have emerged in this discussion. The task of contextualizing the teaching of Holy Scripture in the cultures of every century has demanded the best scholars and exegetes at the disposal of the church. It also raises the question of the extent of biblical authority. Does it indeed extend to the Pauline condemnation of homosexuality? Growing disagreement among evangelicals has focused on issues of hermeneutics, and the nature of authoritative inspiration—whether it implies inerrancy. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy is widely accepted as a consensus statement of the biblical position, and begins with an affirmation that “recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.” That is to say, acknowledgment of the authority of Holy Scripture is no mere pro forma indication of respect, but involves confidence in its inerrancy. “The following Statement affirms this inerrancy of Scripture afresh, making clear our understanding of it and warning against its denial. We are persuaded that to deny it is to set aside the witness of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit and to refuse that submission to the claims of God’s own Word which marks true Christian faith.” The heart of the confession that follows is found in this paragraph: “Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises.”

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T. Bradshaw, “Authority,” in New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic, ed. Martin Davie et al. (London; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press; InterVarsity Press, 2016), 89–91.

AUTHORITY:

Christian theology makes the simple claim that *God, the author of all created reality, is the source of true authority in creation. The creative Word or Wisdom of God has given his creation forms of authority reflecting divine right and justice, as for example the authority of just law is attributed by the apostle Paul to God (Rom. 13) for the order and protection of society. Authority in this sense is mediated in the created order in many ways (e.g. J. Calvin, Institutes, I. iii. 1–3; II. ii.17), including human reason and sensitivity to beauty in the cosmos: great works of art are said to have an authority, which some theologians attribute to the ‘mind of the Maker’, as Dorothy Sayers entitled one of her books. Moral authority, likewise, is acknowledged in people and systems of government which reflect integrity, truth and justice, all ultimately having their source in God. All forms of human authority are, however, corruptible, as is evident, for example, in the biblical narratives of kingship; and even church authorities can fall into the direst of sin. Sociology of authority points to charismatic authority, and to institutional authority, a description not incompatible with theological analysis; in fact, *Weber took his inspiration from charismatic prophetic authority becoming ‘routinized’ into institutional authority in the early church.

Christian theology understands divine authority as self-defined by *Jesus Christ, his life, death and resurrection. Therefore the criticism of *theism, that it presents an authoritarian deity of pure power evoking a terrified submission, cannot be true of the God who was in Christ reconciling the world to himself by the *cross. Divine authority cannot be separated from divine love, which seeks to evoke covenant or communion by responsive love; this is truly ‘the omnipotence of love’ (J. Oman). The reconciling death of Jesus unites *love with justice in revealing and upholding divine authority and holiness in human history. Here God speaks his final authoritative word to humankind—indeed to the cosmos—the saving act of the divine Word renewing creation and all authorities. The authority of God is revealed as Christlike rather than domineering. The authority of God is also an eschatological reality, breaking into sinful and idolatrous history, conquering the false gods of brutal authoritarian power, propaganda and deception by the *kingdom of God, revealed in Jesus and still to be wholly fulfilled, the church being the beloved, if fallible, covenant partner of Christ in history.

The *Spirit of God brings home the divine authority in human hearts, working through human will and consent, a theme expounded by *Calvin in terms of ‘the internal testimony of the Spirit’. Divine authority is therefore no dry objective reality facing us only with challenge and summons, but a life-giving movement in which we participate: ‘God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father!” ’ (Gal. 4:6). Worship of God the Father is the ultimate expression of our acknowledgment of divine authority, a matter of joy and love, of being caught up into the life of God. There is no need therefore to overbalance in the direction of lifeless objectivity nor of disordered subjectivity in seeking to know divine authority.

The risen Christ is Lord of the church, the canonical Scriptures informing the church and the world of this Lord, his historical and theological significance; these *Scriptures themselves being guided and inspired by the Spirit in such a way as to reflect the divine patience with human historical character and circumstance, charting the history of the covenant as like a river rather than an artificial canal blasted through rock with mathematical and mechanical force (J. Oman). The authority of God works with human creaturely resources rather than by pure external power. The Scriptures are authoritative over the church as well as in a sense being products of the people of God, inspired for particular purposes, acknowledged by the community as such and recorded faithfully. The Scriptures give the church direct access to the preaching and teaching of the apostles and prophets, whose voices therefore can and do speak now in the church, mediating the authority of Christ with clarity and power, teaching the ‘apostolic’ message to the church today. Karl *Barth spoke of the ‘threefold form of the Word’—Christ as the ‘revealed Word’, the proclamation of the church as the ‘preached Word’ and the Scriptures the ‘written Word’—arguing that these three coalesce in the Spirit again and again in the church. Few would disagree with this, but might wish to add that the truth of the written word stands as true and authoritative in a way that avoids the charge of ‘occasionalism’ or a Kantian epistemological dualism of faith and unfaith, that is to say, the text seems to become true in the moment of faithful reading. For Barth, that is the moment of inspiration when the Spirit brings the words to life as revelation.

Debates about the categories most apt to describe the inspired and authoritative Scriptures (‘inerrant’, ‘infallible’, ‘reliable’, for example) have served to underline the key importance of the Bible in the church, and theology as the basic authority in terms of the ‘order of knowing’, always pointing beyond itself to God, the role of Scripture. Scripture mediates the authority of God to the church and the world, a fundamentally ‘personal’ authority, wholly reliable and inexhaustibly rich, as witnessed by its challenge and interest from generation to generation; the Scriptures are never summarized so as to become redundant. The wide and deep range of literature, inspired and forged by the Spirit in human crises and triumphs, speaks of God’s nature and purposes for the human race. This authoritative teaching is public *truth, not just for a special elite of initiates, and so all are called to attend to the message, bringing all their questions with them.

Church tradition, seeking to clarify and serve scriptural teaching about God’s self-revelation, remains subject to the authority of Scripture and is not an extended mode of the canon bearing equal status. Likewise, the authority claimed by some theologians for contemporary cultural experience must be carefully discerned in terms of the witness of Scripture, especially in terms of ethical questions. The authority of individual desires or drives, for example in debates over sexual *ethics, must be related to the gospel summons of true humanity being defined in Christ. The church will never be free from debates concerning the interaction of contemporary questions and scriptural principles.

Politically, too, claims to absolute authority by the *state represent a form of false authority equating to idolatry and in need of the clarity of the criterion of the scriptural witness to Christ as Lord. The authority of God relates to creation as well as church. It is therefore to be seen as applicable to issues of culture and politics; indeed it was the realization of God’s authority over political authority that led reformers such as Wilberforce in Britain to campaign for the abolition of the slave trade.

The church will never be free of contested questions arising from clashes of Christian authority with problems of *culture, and must be constantly aware of the danger of being blinkered by traditions to the radical claims of Christ mediated through Scripture and stimulated by the Spirit. In this regard the challenge of *postmodernism to authority in the form of text with a given meaning always requiring ‘deconstruction’, or established institutional authority needing to be regarded with suspicion as disguised power play, is interesting to Christianity. On the one hand, postmodern deconstruction brings down Enlightenment ‘idols’ such as rationality and morality (Nietzsche) or ‘sexuality’ (Foucault), but on the other hand, it has no place for the authority of God nor a final purpose to the endless ‘text’ of human existence. Christian theologians influenced by postmodernism have rejected ‘onto theology’, that is, a doctrine of a dominating deity over against the world and not participating in it, representing power rather than Christlike authority.

The authority of God mediated in Christ and the Spirit is a personal kind of authority rather than a mode of rigid rules and regulations, the issue over which Jesus clashed with the Pharisees. This is not to say that divine authority is unclear or relativist, but rather that its manner accommodates graciously to human conditions and characteristics, speaking to us through Jesus and drawing us into the life of God by the Spirit. This authority is ultimately purposive: to bring us to the glory of the kingdom and fulfil the goal of the cosmos in all respects.

Bibliography: H. Arendt, ‘What Is Authority?’ in P. Baehr (ed.), The Portable Hannah Arendt (London, 2003); P. T. Forsyth, The Principle of Authority (London, 1952); C. Gunton, Enlightenment and Alienation (Basingstoke, 1985); O. O’Donovan, Resurrection and Moral Order, pt. 2 (Leicester and Grand Rapids, 1994); H. E. W. Turner, The Pattern of Christian Truth (London, 1954); J. B. Webster, Word and Church (Edinburgh, 2001).

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2 Tim 3:16–17

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Pet 1:20–21

knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 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.

Ps 119:89

Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Isa 40:8

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Matt 5:18

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—

Heb 4:12

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

1 Pet 1:25

but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Matt 24:35

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Prov 30:5–6

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

Deut 4:2

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.

Rev 22:18–19

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

John 17:17

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Ps 19:7–11

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Rom 15:4

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

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.

Josh 1:8

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Isa 55:10–11

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Matt 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.’ ”

Luke 16:17

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

Ps 119:160

The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

John 5:39

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,

Acts 17:11

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Rom 10:17

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Col 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

1 Cor 2:13

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Neh 8:8

They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

Ps 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Ps 12:6

The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

Num 23:19

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Mark 7:13

thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Luke 24:27

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:44–45

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

John 7:17

If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

2 Cor 4:2

But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

1 John 2:5

but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

Ps 119:142

Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.

Ps 119:151

But you are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are true.

Ps 119:172

My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right.

Jer 23:29

Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

Rom 1:2

which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

1 Cor 14:37

If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.

Gal 1:11–12

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Eph 6:17

and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

1 Tim 4:13

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

2 Tim 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Titus 1:9

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

James 1:21–22

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

1 Pet 2:2

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

Deut 8:3

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Ps 119:11

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Ps 119:130

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

Prov 30:5

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Isa 8:20

To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

Deut 18:18–19

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

1 Kings 22:14

But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.”

Jer 1:9

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

Ezek 3:4

And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.

Matt 22:29

But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Mark 12:24

Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?

Luke 4:4

And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”

John 2:22

When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

John 8:31–32

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Acts 18:28

for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

Rom 16:26

but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

1 Cor 15:3–4

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

2 Thess 2:15

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

1 Tim 6:3–4

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,

2 Pet 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.

Ps 119:138

You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.

Ps 119:144

Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live.

Prov 22:20–21

Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge, to make you know what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?

Deut 6:6–9

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deut 17:18–19

“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,

Deut 31:11–13

when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Josh 8:34–35

And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

2 Chron 34:21

“Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

Ps 93:5

Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.

Ps 111:7–8

The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy; they are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.

Ps 119:86

All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me!

Ps 119:152

Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever.

Ps 119:160

The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

Isa 30:8

And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.

Jer 15:16

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.

Jer 36:2

“Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today.

Dan 10:21

But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.

Matt 15:3–6

He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.

Mark 13:31

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Luke 21:33

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

John 12:48

The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

Acts 20:27

for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

1 Cor 4:6

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

2 Tim 4:2

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

Heb 1:1–2

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

James 1:18

Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

2 Pet 3:2

that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,

Exod 24:3–4

Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Deut 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.

Deut 30:10

when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

1 Sam 15:23

For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

2 Kings 17:13

Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

2 Chron 36:15–16

The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Neh 9:26

“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.

Ps 119:140

Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.

Ps 119:167

My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.

Prov 13:13

Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.

Isa 34:16

Seek and read from the book of the Lord: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the Lord has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.

Jer 26:4–6

You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.’ ”

Matt 4:7

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Matt 4:10

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.’ ”

Luke 11:28

But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

John 14:23–24

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

John 20:31

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.

Acts 2:42

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Rom 4:3

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

1 Cor 10:11

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

Eph 3:3–4

how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,

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.”

Heb 2:1–3

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,

1 John 5:13

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Jude 3

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Exod 17:14

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

Deut 31:24–26

When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.

2 Sam 22:31

This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

Ps 18:30

This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

Ps 119:9

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Ps 119:128

Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way.

Ps 119:168

I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.

Prov 8:8–9

All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.

Isa 8:16

Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.

Jer 30:2

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.

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.

Matt 22:31–32

And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”

Mark 7:8–9

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

Luke 8:11–15

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Luke 10:26

He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

John 5:46–47

For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

John 15:3

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

Acts 8:32–35

Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

Acts 24:14

But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,

Rom 3:2

Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Rom 9:17

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

1 Cor 2:10–13

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. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Gal 3:8

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

Eph 1:13

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

1 Tim 3:15

if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

Heb 10:7

Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”

Exod 31:18

And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Lev 26:46

These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai.

Deut 4:5–6

See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

Deut 11:18–20

“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

Deut 32:46–47

he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 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 Chron 28:19

“All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the Lord, all the work to be done according to the plan.”

Ezra 7:10

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Neh 8:1–3

And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

Job 23:12

I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

Ps 19:7–8

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

Ps 119:4

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.

Ps 119:50

This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

Ps 119:98–100

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.

Ps 119:111

Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

Ps 119:129

Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.

Isa 59:21

“And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

Jer 25:3–4

“For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets,

Ezek 2:7

And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

Hab 2:2

And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.

Matt 13:23

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Matt 21:42

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Mark 12:10

Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;

Luke 1:1–4

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

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.

Acts 1:16

“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

Rom 2:18

and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law;

Gal 1:8–9

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Phil 2:16

holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

1 Tim 1:10–11

the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

Num 15:39–40

And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.

Deut 5:32–33

You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

Deut 12:32

“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.

Deut 27:3

And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

Deut 27:26

“ ‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Josh 1:7

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

Josh 23:6

Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left,

2 Kings 22:8–13

And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

Ps 119:6

Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.

Ps 119:24

Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.

Ps 119:66

Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.

Ps 119:113

I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.

Ps 119:126

It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken.

Ps 119:133

Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

Ps 119:159

Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.

Prov 6:23

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

Isa 1:10

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

Jer 6:19

Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.

Jer 8:9

The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?

Mal 4:4

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

Matt 7:24–27

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Mark 16:15–16

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Luke 6:46–49

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

John 8:47

Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

John 14:21

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Acts 5:29

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

Rom 6:17

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

2 Cor 2:17

For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Gal 3:10

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

Exod 20:1

And God spoke all these words, saying,

Lev 18:4–5

You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

Deut 4:13–14

And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

Deut 6:1–2

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.

Deut 13:4

You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

Deut 28:58–59

“If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.

1 Kings 2:3

and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,

2 Kings 23:2–3

And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

Ps 119:18

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

Ps 119:27

Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

Ps 119:34

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

Ps 119:73

Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.

Ps 119:125

I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!

Ps 119:169

Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word!

Prov 2:1–6

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

Eccles 12:13

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Isa 42:21

The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.

Jer 11:3–4

You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,

Ezek 20:11

I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live.

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Matt 28:20

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Luke 8:21

But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

John 8:51

Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

John 14:15

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Acts 17:2–3

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

Rom 7:12

So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

1 Cor 7:19

For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.

2 Tim 3:14–15

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 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.

Exod 34:27

And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

Lev 8:36

And Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded by Moses.

Deut 1:3

In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them,

Deut 10:4

And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me.

Deut 17:19

And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,

Deut 33:4

when Moses commanded us a law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.

Josh 22:5

Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Josh 24:26

And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.

1 Sam 9:27

As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”

2 Kings 14:6

But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”

2 Chron 17:9

And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the Lord with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

Ezra 7:6

this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

Neh 8:18

And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

Neh 10:29

join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.

Ps 119:43

And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.

Ps 119:123

My eyes long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.

Ps 119:158

I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.

Ps 119:161

Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.

Isa 2:3

and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Jer 17:19–20

Thus said the Lord to me: “Go and stand in the People’s Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, and say: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.

Ezek 44:24

In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.

Hos 8:12

Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.

Amos 3:7

“For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.

Matt 12:3–5

He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

Luke 24:25–27

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

John 1:17

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Acts 13:15

After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”

Rom 3:31

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

1 Pet 1:10–12

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.