Lesson 5: Doctrine of Scripture

Lesson 5: God and His Word

Last week we looked at the fact that the God we serve is not silent, he is not mute. For he is a speaking God.

The greatest attack against our faith today comes from those who seek to question the legitimacy of God authoritative word.

If we can remove God’s word from God himself, than we remove his authority and our responsibility.

we also lose life, joy, meaning, purpose, identity, and so much more.

Can you think of ways that God’s word is challenged today?

When was God’s word first challenged?

Genesis 3:1 ESV

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Which is a crazy thing for us to read after seeing that God SPOKE all things into existence.

Yet, this question echoes down through the centuries that follow, all the way to the Book of Revelation, where God’s all powerful reign is established and every challenge to his authority destroyed (20:14).

The questioning of God’s word (does it really mean, did God really say..?) is still Satan’s go to in his effort to ruin the lives of God’s people.

So it is massively important for us to understand God’s word AS God’s WORD.

We must not only know what God’s word says, but we must know that it is GOD’s WORD to us.

When we think about the Word of God, we must remember that the scripture itself is a revelation of God.

The bible is not just words that act as a doorway to knowing God

They bible is not just words about God.

Some might say, if you want to learn about God you should read your bible

It would be better to say, if you want to hear from God you should read your bible

Funny Meme slide***

The bible is God’s word to us and for us. The Bible is God’s speech.

When the bible speaks, God speaks.

The words of the Bible ARE God’s words, *not WERE Gods words

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

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.

part of the struggle with the study of scripture (bibliology) is that we so often stuff it into some scientific formula where we view God’s word as if its some artifact that has been discovered under the sand in the middle east (which it has been:)

We see the study of textual criticism, dating, variants, papyrus, Codex Sinaitucus, Alexandrian vs. Byzantine, majority vs. minatory text. etc.

We could talk about

Syriac version, Latin version, Coptic, Gothic version, etc.

And these studies are good! they are necessary, but they are not what we are going to focus on today.

But God’s word is LIVING and it is ACTIVE!

We must not miss the glory and power of God’s word by focusing on systematic categories.

Scripture is a Spiritual book. and by spiritual i mean the spirit of God is activily involved in scripture.

Scripture is Spiritual

There are three primary action of the Holy Spirit with regard to scripture:

He is God’s agent in authoring scripture

He preserves scripture

He opens hearts and minds to comprehend scripture

He is the agent of God’s authoring of Scripture

It was through him that God gave the words that the writers of the Bible wrote

Because the Spirit is himself the living God, he also preserves Scripture providentially from one generation to the next

How many time have people attempted to get rid of scripture?

In the Present, the Spirit is the one who opens minds to comprehend and hearts to trust what God says in Scripture

1 Corinthians 2:9–13 ESV

9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 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. 12 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. 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.

So as we look at some systematic categories about scripture, we must understanding these categories in light of the living, active, powerful, and spiritual nature of the Bible.

Categories to understand the doctrine of scripture:

Canon of Scripture

The canon is the divinely authorized collection of books that God has given to govern his people.

The 66 books of the bible - The Council of Carthage established the orthodox New Testament canon in 397 AD

There was a period of several centuries during which the church came to recognize which books God had made canonical. Most of the New Testament books we currently accept as canon were recognized as Scripture by Irenaeus, who died around AD 202. Others, such as 2 Peter, 2–3 John, and Revelation, continued to be disputed for various reasons. But the Easter Letter of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in AD 367 contained a list of inspired documents identical to that we recognize today, and after that there was no further dispute in the church about the contents of the canon.

Inspiration

• Inspiration is the divine action that creates an identity between a human word and a divine word.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

So to say that a prophecy or a book (as in 2 Timothy 3:16) is “inspired” means that it is God’s very speech, that the words in question are the word of God.

All Scripture is breathed out by God...

Law, Prophets, writings, all 66 books (39 OT 27 NT)

Doctrinal Statement:

Inspiration is that extraordinary, supernatural influence exerted by the Holy Spirit on the writers of the canonical Scriptures, by which their words were also rendered the words of God, and, therefore inspired. According to this mode of formation, the whole of Scripture is the product of divine activities.

This does not happen by The Spirit overriding the activities of the human authors, but in perfect harmony with them; so that the Scriptures are the joint product of divine and human activities. Both the divine and human penetrate them at every point, working harmoniously together to the production of a writing which is not divine here and human there, but at once divine and human in every part, every word, and every particular.

The truths of scripture or not only inspired, but each jot and tittle.

Authority

The Bible’s authority comes from its divine source; it governs all areas of human life.

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.

The Bible has the authority of “thus says the Lord”

When he speaks, creatures must obey or bear the consequences of disobedience.

Scripture does not measure up to human standards of what is right and wrong, true and false.

Rather, Scripture is itself the very standard, the ultimate standard of what is true and right.

We must not think that the bible is only authoritative in the “religious life”

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.

Acts 1:1 ESV

1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,

Christ is still doing, and still teaching.

He is doing this through his word,

Clarity

• The doctrine of Scripture’s clarity teaches that the Bible is sufficiently clear to leave people no excuse for disobedience.

Just because the bible is clear, does not mean its simple.

The levitical offerings, are clear, yet we cannot expect a young child to understand them.

Typology is clear, yet it takes much study and investigation to see whats going on in the text.

The Bible’s clarity means that it is not some secret or hidden message that will only be given to those who have a special knowledge or understanding. God has revealed himself clearly to his creation through his word.

This was at the heart of Luthers contention with Rome.

Luther thought that anyone should be able to read the bible, and understand it and hear from God. While Rome said that God’s word had to be mediated and interpreted by their leaders

Bible teachers? pastors

Psalm 119:130 ESV

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

Sufficiency

• The doctrine of Scripture’s sufficiency teaches that the Bible contains all the divine words necessary for human decisions.

2 Timothy 3:15 ESV

15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1.6) says, “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.”

Necessity

• The doctrine of Scripture’s necessity teaches that God’s written word in Scripture is an indispensable element of the believer’s covenant relation to Christ.

Scripture is the lens we must wear in order to see the world rightly.

a man who can only see blurry images cannot understand what creation is like, yet if you give me the right glasses, he will be able to see clearly.

For us to see God, the gospel, creation, relationships, work, sexuality, money, art, warfare, economics, etc. we must see them through the lens of scripture.

Scripture is a necessity if we are to be CHristian and follow CHrist.

God is a Speaking God

Thus says the Lord

And the word of the Lord came to the prophet ...

In what ways does God speak?

He spoke from heaven

He spoke from a burning bush

He spoke in a vision or dreams

Jesus himself spoke

Does God still speak today

How so?