The Doctrine of the Word of God

Why Do We Believe That?

The Doctrine of the Word of God

Psalm 119:97–104 NIrV

Lord, I really love your law! All day long I spend time thinking about it. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, because your commands are always in my heart. I know more than all of my teachers do, because I spend time thinking about your covenant laws. I understand more than the elders do, because I obey your rules. I’ve kept my feet from every path that sinners take so that I might obey your word. I haven’t turned away from your laws, because you yourself have taught me. Your words are very sweet to my taste! They are sweeter than honey to me. I gain understanding from your rules. So I hate every path that sinners take.

Do you say the same things about the Bible?

My prayer for all of us, as a fellowship of born-again believers, is that we’d be united in the doctrine of the Word of God and that we’d all have a deep, deep love for it, all for the glory of God.

God is a God who speaks… He’s revealed Himself in His Son Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, and in His Word, the Bible.

We have both the Old and New Testaments as authoritative revelation from God where He expresses his sovereign rule over us through His Word.

We’re His creation, therefore we’re obligated to both believe it and obey it.

This morning we’re going to consider two main things: The Canon of Scripture and the Qualities of Scripture.

1. The Canon of Scripture

Let’s begin with the canon of scripture, because as soon as we affirm the authority of scripture, it raises the question of which writings represent God’s authoritative revelation?

This is the question of canon.

What does the word Canon mean?

Canon is the Greek transliteration of a Semitic word that means “measuring reed,” “rule,” or “standard.”

So, the question of which writing represent God’s authoritative revelation is an important question, especially because of the popular TV documentaries available today that wrongly depict the Bible’s history like a seedy political drama with backroom deals where they discuss which book is in and which book is out, etc.

So, let’s start with the Old Testament.

Old Testament Canon

The OT is traditionally divided into the 3 categories – law, prophets, and writings.

Though these books were written in different places, at different times, by different men Judaism agreed that all the books belonged together and constituted God’s verbal revelation to His people.

The picture we get from early Jewish sources and from the New Testament itself is that the OT canon was simply a settled matter among the Jews of Jesus’ day.

There’s no record of any dispute between Jesus and other Jews over the OT.

Jesus himself said...

Luke 24:44 NIrV

Jesus said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything written about me must happen. Everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms must come true.”

He says each of these sections of the Old Testament not only pointed to him but was also fulfilled by him.

Like today, the Jews had many other books including commentaries on Biblical books, but these other books were never referred to or considered to be Scripture, the word of God.

Some of these books, known as the Apocrypha, were bound alongside the Greek translation of the OT in the 4th century AD, but even then early Christians didn’t treat these books as scripture but rather as inspirational, devotional writings.

New Testament Canon

What about the New Testament?

Hebrews 1:1 NIrV

In the past, God spoke to our people through the prophets. He spoke at many times. He spoke in different ways.

There’s a pattern: In the Old Testament, God acts, and then provides the interpretations of those actions for us through the written word.

It was the same with the coming of Christ. God acted by sending his Son, and then provided written interpretation of that action.

As Christians, we ultimately affirm that…

Scripture is Self-authenticating

It affirms and testifies to its own truthfulness.

That means we can demonstrate its accuracy by validating it with other historical sources.

But at the end of the day, Christians freely and gladly receive scripture as the Word of God because the Holy Spirit who inspired it testifies to the believer that it’s true.

Jesus, speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd, said... “His sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4).

So, how did the early Christians know which writings came from God and which didn’t?

It’s important to note that they didn’t see themselves as “choosing” or “deciding” the books of the Bible.

Rather they spoke of “receiving” or “inheriting” the authoritative books from each previous generation.

They saw these books as having authority because they came from God, not because any church or leader put a stamp of approval on them.

But they didn’t accept them blindly… they had four critical criteria for demonstrating that their acceptance of these books was legitimate.

Four Criteria to Demonstrate a Book’s Legitimacy

1. Apostolicity

Was the document written by an apostle or someone with immediate contact/relationship to/with an apostle?

Only those who knew Jesus or were intimate companions of his disciples could credibly write about Christ.

2. Antiquity

Even if somebody tried to slap an apostle’s name on a book, the book had to be known to originate from the time of the apostles.

This is what eliminated so many of the later “gospels” and gnostic writings.

3. Conformity to the rule of faith

A book had to be consistent and conform to the truth already given and passed down either orally or in the Biblical books that had begun to spread.

It’s easy to see why a book like the so-called “Gospel of Thomas” failed this test – in it Jesus says he will make Mary a male because women can only enter the kingdom of heaven if they become male.

That’s totally contradictory to what Paul says about male and female inheriting the kingdom in Galatians, one of the earliest biblical books written.

4. Universality

That is, widespread and continuous usage by the churches across the known world.

What’s remarkable (from a human perspective) is that there was so much agreement on so many books so quickly.

Let me give you a couple important implications of all this.

First, the church didn’t create the Bible by its authority, as Roman Catholicism teaches... It’s just the opposite!

The Bible possessed its inherent authority as God’s word, and it’s that word that brought life to the church.

The church merely recognized what God already inspired.

Second, we’re not surprised that the NT Canon closed with the passing of Christ and the apostles.

In the same way it closed with the end of the OT prophetic era in anticipation of Christ, so it closed with the passing of Christ as we now await his return.

The OT, in passages like Malachi 4 and Deuteronomy 18, indicated that there was more prophecy to come.

But the NT now doesn’t give us any expectation of additional revelation.

Paul says in Ephesians 2 that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles (NT) and prophets (OT).

So, we need no more and should expect no more.

We can completely trust the Word that we’ve received and possess, and we should praise God for how He has shined his light into our darkness and brought us this Word that we hadn’t deserved to know!

2. Qualities of Scripture

What makes scripture unique?

Scripture makes some astounding claims about itself, and Jesus himself treated the OT according to these claims so, we want to have the same view of the Bible that Jesus did, right?.

You’ll see there in your LG a great summary from our church’s statement of faith:

Article 1, HICF Statement of Faith – We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter;

that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried.

Six Essential Qualities of Scripture

Let’s look at 6 qualities of scripture that lie behind this statement.

1. Divine Inspiration

First, we see that Scripture is divinely inspired.

2 Timothy 3:16 NIrV

God has breathed life into all of Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right.

2 Peter 1:20–21 NIrV

Above all, here is what you must understand. No prophecy in Scripture ever came from a prophet’s own understanding. It never came simply because a prophet wanted it to. Instead, the Holy Spirit guided the prophets as they spoke. So prophecy comes from God.

It's as simple as this: what Scripture says, God said.

This doesn’t mean that God eliminated the personality or will of the writer, nor does it require us to take a ‘dictation’ view of the Bible where men became robots, or minions.

Both King David and the Apostle Paul had their own unique personalities and styles, and yet God through His own providential and supernatural activity worked within each author to ensure what they wrote, is His word.

Theologians call this process “concursus,” from the Latin “concurrere,” to run together.

So, why does this doctrine matter?

It matters because if the Bible is of human origin, it can always be improved upon – or rejected, or evolves with the times.

But if it's of divine origin, and it absolutely is, then the Bible is timeless.

It stands in absolute authority over us as our judge, and not the other way around.

We need to repent of our tendency to obey Scripture only when it seems reasonable or culturally acceptable.

If you want to encounter God, the God who created you, and who created and sustains everything around you, where do you go?

We find God in His word! That's what he gave us!

So, to apply this, let me encourage you hear, read, study, memorize, meditate, and apply the Word of God, the Bible.

Can you sum up the message of the book of Judges? What about Nahum or 3 John?

Why not make it your goal to learn a few books of the Bible, really well, each year.

Then within 10 or 20 years, you’ll know the Bible like the back of your hand.

2. Biblical Inerrancy

Second, we find that Scripture is inerrant.

The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not err or say anything false or untrue.

In other words, the Bible always tells the truth regarding everything it talks about. To err is human.

Proverbs 30:5 NIrV

“Every word of God is perfect. He is like a shield to those who trust in him. He keeps them safe.

Hebrews 6:18 NIrV

God took an oath so we would have good reason not to give up. We have run away from everything else to take hold of the hope offered to us in God’s promise. So God gave his promise and his oath. Those two things can’t change. He couldn’t lie about them.

Though the Bible was written by fallen men, God ordained its inspiration in such a way that they didn’t make any mistakes.

This is exactly how Jesus treated the Bible – He said that Scripture cannot be broken…

John 10:35a NIrV

We know that Scripture is always true. God spoke to some people and called them ‘gods.’

This doctrine is of the utmost importance.

For centuries it was enough for Christians to affirm Scripture as absolute truth... but these days it’s important to use this slightly more obnoxious word “inerrant” because there are so many professing believers that argue that the Bible conveys spiritual truth but it still contains human errors.

They say this in the hope of making scripture more attractive to a skeptical world.

But instead of making it attractive they’ve made it deeply problematic. If scripture contains mistakes, how can we trust it for the most important things?

When you don’t accept everything scripture says, you open up the possibility for others to say, “well that hard teaching is an error, I’m not going to accept that part.”

So, who’s to judge what to accept and what to reject?

The Bible doesn’t divide itself into “spiritual” claims on one hand and “historical” or “factual” claims on the other.

The Bible presents itself in its entirety as absolute truth.

So, we should apply this doctrine of inerrancy by trusting the Bible!

Practically speaking, this means when you come across things in scripture that are hard to stomach or difficult to understand, continue to pray and ask God for understanding.

God doesn’t lie. He put His Word together for a reason and you can benefit from every verse of it.

3. Biblical Infallibility

Third, we see that Scripture is infallible, which is inerrant’s first cousin.

Inerrantcy says the Bible is completely true… and because the Bible is completely true, it never deceives or misleads us.

For example, we believe in an inerrant Bible and so we believe that there was a real man named Jonah who was swallowed by a great fish and was inside that great fish for three days.

Therefore, if we believe the Bible is infallible, then we’re agreeing that this event is reliable and profitable for us.

In fact, that’s an easy example because Jesus himself clearly believed in the story of Jonah as a historical fact and saw it as pointing to his death and resurrection.

Matthew 12:40 NIrV

Jonah was in the stomach of a huge fish for three days and three nights. Something like that will happen to the Son of Man. He will spend three days and three nights in the grave.

However, you'll occasionally find some who happily affirm the infallibility of the Bible… and you’d think they hold Scriptures in high regard, but they don't affirm its inerrancy.

In other words, they say the Bible is infallible and trustworthy “in matters of faith and practice,” but that doesn't mean everything it records literally happened.

They say it had to be "spiritualized," so that you take the “husk” of some historical event that may not be true and find the spiritual “seed” inside it.

Beware of that theological slight-of-hand. Infallibility is crucial, because it means we can practically depend upon all scripture for direction and guidance in life.

It's a "treasure of heavenly instruction," to quote our church's statement of faith.

So, if you're struggling with depression, struggling with sin, looking for wisdom – God's Word is your heavenly guide.

Practically speaking… this is a great argument for memorizing scripture.

Hide God’s Word in your heart so that when the storms of life come, you can recite the more than 7,000 promises of God’s Word to yourself.

4. The Clarity of Scripture

Fourth, we see that Scripture is clear.

The clarity of Scripture means ordinary people, not just pastors and super-mature Christians, are able to read the Bible for themselves and rightly understand it.

Psalm 19:7 NIrV

The law of the Lord is perfect. It gives us new strength. The laws of the Lord can be trusted. They make childish people wise.

In Deuteronomy 6, parents are told to teach God’s Word to their kids, because the assumption is that they can get it.

While we know that some Scripture can be difficult to understand, it’s because none of us have perfect wisdom.

It’s not due to the nature of the Bible… because at its core, Scripture isn’t a mystical puzzle requiring special knowledge to unlock its code.

With the Holy Spirit’s help, it’s accessible and understandable to all believers.

Paul wrote most of his letters to whole congregations, including educated and uneducated believers, not to church leaders.

Some will ask… if Scripture is so clear, then why do we have different interpretations of what various passages mean?

That’s simple… God’s Word is perfect, but the people He gave it to aren’t.

The clarity of Scripture doesn’t mean that all believers agree on every teaching of Scripture.

Generally, Evangelical Christians are largely in agreement on the essential matters, such as the gospel, but differ on the non-essentials which are relatively less clear in the scripture, such as the millennium, and other matters of eschatology (the study of end times).

The clarity of Scripture simply means studying God’s Word isn’t a fruitless venture… it’s truly worth your time and energy.

Missions and translation work are not in vain… people from every culture can understand the Bible.

So, in your evangelistic efforts, use the Bible… invite non-Christians to read it for themselves, and let the supernatural power and clarity of its words accomplish what your words alone can’t do.

Invite your lost family and friends to read the Bible.

5. The Necessity of Scripture

Fifth, we see that Scripture is necessary.

The necessity of Scripture means that the Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will.

However, it's not necessary for knowing that God exists or for knowing something about God’s character and His moral laws.

These can all be seen from what we call God’s “general revelation” in nature (according to Romans 1) and in one’s own conscience (according to Romans 2).

But later in Romans 10, Paul is crystal clear that we can only be saved if we hear the good news of Jesus, and that good news comes through God’s special revelation which we now have recorded in the Bible.

So, Scripture is necessary in a primary sense for us to learn the way of salvation, but it’s also necessary in a secondary sense in that we regularly need to hear God’s Word in order to…

Know him better

Grow in him

Love him more

Be convicted of our sin, and

Have our heart stirred to praise him

Psalm 1:2 NIrV

Instead, he takes delight in the law of the Lord. He thinks about his law day and night.

To meditate on scripture means to fill our minds with its meaning and prayerfully seek to understand it.

Here’s an easy way to get yourself to meditate – take a verse and read it over several times, emphasizing a different word each time to understand the contribution that single word makes to the sentence.

Example – The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…

6. The Sufficiency of Scripture

Finally, we see that Scripture is sufficient.

The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contains all the words of God that God intended His people to have at each stage of redemption history, and that it now contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting Him perfectly, and for obeying Him perfectly.

As Paul writes in…

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIrV

God has breathed life into all of Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right. By using Scripture, a man of God can be completely prepared to do every good thing.

This means that we have everything we need in order to obey God.

We don’t need a special word or sign in the sky or a special “open door” to know what to do.

God is all powerful and can certainly do what He wants, but he hasn’t told us to expect such things.

What He does tell us to do is to learn the Bible and apply its wisdom to the all the decisions of life, both the easy and the difficult ones.

So, If you're struggling with holiness, with contentment, marriage, work, parenting, with simply knowing and believing God… and I think I’m describing all of us here… why would you not immerse yourself daily in the Scriptures?

They’re sufficient for all that we need for life and godliness.

So, read, read, read, and then read it some more!

Praise God for his inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, necessary, and sufficient Word.

Pray