The Authority of the Bible

Who to trust?

We live in an age where we have data at our fingertips.

It wasn’t all that long ago, that if you were having a discussion with someone about some trivial issue - let’s say, when was sliced bread invented? - then the chances are, you would conclude - who knows? and carry on.

But today, even for these trivial matters, you pull out your phone, and with a quick search, you can find that it was actually July 7th in 1928, in a bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri. At least that is reportedly when bread was first sold pre-cut.

Historical little facts have become very easy to come by. But not only historical facts. I can pull up the latest research on any number of topics. For example - everyone’s favourite topic: Covid-19!

Now, here’s the thing - with so much information at our finger tips, you would think that everyone would be on the same page. It should stop any fights and arguments, because we can clearly determine facts.

Well, has that happened? Goodness me, no! In fact, if anything, it has seemed to drive a sharp wedge between us all.

You see, here’s the thing. The internet provides all information to us, whether good or bad.

Social media has of course made it even worse. Anyone can say anything about anything.

And so, we’ve all learnt that some sources are more reliable than others. The problem is, we don’t agree on which are the reliable ones and which ones aren’t.

And with this, we’ve all learnt the common refrain to weed out the bad ones: ‘It’s fake news!’

But it really does become an issue: who can we trust?

Once we sort the good out from the bad, the task actually becomes a whole lot simpler.

But here’s a tip… even once you find a website you find reliable, or a person who seems to speak the truth, you still need to avoid blindly following everything they say. Even the best of sources make mistakes - that’s because they are human.

Why it matters

Now, for some things, it’s not really all that important. Before I told you that bread was first sold sliced back in 1928. You know what? My only source for that was google. I have absolutely no idea whether it is actually true or not. But does it really matter?

That bit of information might not matter, but other information will start to shape what we call our worldview. It will shape what we see as important. What our values should be. How the information is presented will effect whether something is good or not good.

In the end, it will have an impact on our character and behaviour.

There have actually been some studies which I think are actually a bit scary, which show that what appears in someones Facebook feed, can actually have a real world effect on their lives.

Although I don’t think those studies would come as any particular shock to those in the advertising industry which have been working on this idea for a long time.

That is: we are effected by the information we are fed.

But let’s not get too carried away - this is hardly a principle that the modern advertising industry discovered.

Let’s go back to the Bible and we’ll see that the authors of this book knew all too well that what people listened to and spent time with, had real world effects on them.

Letter to Timothy

Our passage today was from Paul’s second letter to Timothy.

This letter is often thought of as Paul’s last letter that he wrote. He was nearing the end of his life, and it is almost like this letter is his way of handing over the baton to Timothy.

Now the passage started half way through chapter 3, but let’s rewind about a chapter to half way through chapter 2 .

You see, Paul has been encouraging Timothy to fan into flames the gift of God. He didn’t shy away from the fact that it would be hard, in fact, if you read the earlier section, he addresses this upfront.

But as we get to 2 Tim 2:14, Paul’s focus shifts from preparing Timothy, to thinking about the people that Timothy will be ministering to.

The Wayward Path

And it is here that we start to see some similar observations that I was making before, that is, that what we are listening to… the information that we are digesting, will effect how we live.

Look at chapter 2 verse 14… he is warning them about those who quarrel about words, and concludes that it “only ruins those who listen”.

Contrast that with verse 15 which describes those: “who correctly handles the word of truth”.

In verse 16 he highlights “godless chatter”, and then in the next verse likens it to gangrene. A disease that starts small, but spreads through the whole body.

He even gives an example, including the name of the offender, where lies were spread about the resurrection to come.

Last Days

As we move into chapter 3, Paul continues by stating: “But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days”.

Now, just to be clear, when the Biblical writers use the phrase “last days”, they are usually referring the that entire time between when Jesus first came, and when he will return a second time. That being said, the fact that Paul is using a future tense (that is, he says: “there will be...”), seems to suggest that what he is about to describe will be happening to an increasing extent as time goes on.

He describes people during these last days as those who are: “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy...”

Actually the list keep going on. I’ll let you read it for yourself. But I suspect you’ll have no problem in recognising the reality of it.

But skip down to verse 7, and here we read an interesting description: “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth”.

Now isn’t that interesting: “always learning...”

Sounds quite familiar doesn’t it. You can look over the last 2000 years since this was written. Going from essentially no real formal education system to today with sophisticated teaching techniques, and of course as I started this message with: information at our fingertips.

We are of course: “always learning… but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth”

It almost seems hopeless. Because it’s not the gathering of information that we struggle with. We’re extraordinarily good at that.

Somehow, its the truth that we struggle with.

Countering the wayward path

Well, Paul wasn’t without hope. In fact, this is where we find Paul taking us as we come to the passage we read earlier.

Verse 10 starts with… “You, however...”

In other words, he is saying, look, this is how things are going to be. It was an observation that started back during the time of Timothy, and is only exacerbated now. That’s how others will live. But there is an alternative.

Example of Paul

And it is centered on the teaching that Paul gives.

Now you can read verse 10 and think, wow, Paul is being rather conceited here isn’t he.

You see, it can almost seem that Paul is saying, look, those people over there are teaching bad stuff, but look at me, I’ve got it together. I’ve got purpose, faith, patience, love endurance. Aren’t I wonderful.

Actually, people often accuse Paul of this arrogance, but I think that is actually not Paul’s intention.

The fruit of his life

You see, Paul is actually saying, if you look at my teaching, you’ll see that it is backed up by my the fruit of my life. There is purpose, faith, patience and love. In fact, you could say he is boasting in Christ. Because many of those characteristics didn’t come naturally to Paul. Look at his life prior to conversion. He wasn’t particularly patient or loving. But in Christ, he is.

But while we’re on Paul, it isn’t just these ‘good’ characteristics that he points out. He also points out another - and that is his endurance facing various persecutions and sufferings.

I actually find this an interesting point, you see, it’s easy for a Christian leader to put on a good show. But an authentic Christian life will also involve the authentic Christian suffering.

But here’s the thing. Paul actually isn’t just saying, hey, look, I’m great you should follow me. He’s saying, my life has been changed by the truth - and so can yours.

And he knows in the case of Timothy, that his life already has been changed.

Verse 14 says: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it.”

But the question remains: “but how can we trust what we are being taught?” Can we really just trust someone based on their character? The answer is no. There needs to be more.

Scripture

And this is where Paul then makes it clear what the source of the truth must be.

It is in verse 15 that Paul introduces for us, the Holy Scriptures. The thing that will make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Now remember, obviously when Paul wrote this, the New Testament wasn’t around (because, he’s still writing it). When he is talking about Scripture, in his mind he would primarily be thinking about what we call the Old Testament.

When Paul says he learnt this from his infancy, presumably from his mother and grandmother which Paul has earlier noted as pillars of the faith, it would also have presumably been this Old Testament.

However, when Paul talks about “all scripture”, in the next verse, I’m going to suggest that even at this early time when the New Testament hasn’t been finalised, but that much of the writing that we know as the New Testament now, were already considered scripture.

For example, in Peter’s second letter, he talks about Paul’s writing, and even uses the phrase ‘other scriptures’ in relation to these.

Therefore, when I talk about scriptures in this context, I think it is fair to say we’re actually talking about our complete bible, that is, both the Old and New Testaments.

Importance of Scripture

And so, this brings me to the main point that I want to make today...

If you want to know the truth that really makes a difference in our lives, then there is one main source we should be going to… that is the Bible.

The Bible needs to become our dominant source of truth in our lives.

God-breathed

Let’s just look what Paul says about scripture.

Firstly, that all scripture is God-breathed. Now what does that mean?

Well, it actually gets to the heart of what the Bible is. You see, it is a most fascinating document.

The Bible as we have it now, is 66 books written by approximately 40 authors over a period of roughly 1,500 years. It contains different genres. It’s written to a variety of different audiences. And yet, despite this great variety, it has this amazing consistency. And the more you study it, the more depth you will find in it.

You see, here’s the thing, despite the human authors, God breathed his life into it.

Now there is actually a mystery in this. The words are completely the words of the author, but they are also the words of God. We often use the phrase ‘inspired by God’, but somehow, I don’t think that quite covers it, because it is more then just inspired. It carries the very essence of God in it. That’s why we call it the living word.

What it does

But Paul tells us even more. He tells us that it “is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”.

Now we could spend some time exploring each of these elements, but what I hope is obvious, is that when you spend your time in this, it will shape you. It will mould you into the person that you were designed to be.

It is perhaps worth noting here that it doesn’t say that the Bible will give you the answer to every question you have in life. It doesn’t tell us everything about everything. That being said, it does give us a framework for understand life, and within this framework we can give consideration for how to approach it.

For example, I read a Christian book on Artificial Intelligence recently. Obviously, the Bible never directly talks about AI, but it does talk about what life is, it does talk about where humanity is heading, and as such, we can frame this topic in a biblical worldview.

Questions

Now, I want to spend some time considering the implications for all of this in the church context, however, there’s a few questions which are worth touching on before I leave. I’ll stress that I’m only going to touch on them now because they would take a long discussion to give them the attention they deserve.

Why we disagree

Firstly, if the Bible is our authority, why do so many Christian disagree about what it actually says?

If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, this won’t come as a surprise. There are a lot of things people disagree about. There is disagreement on a day in the creation story is a 24 hour period or symbolic of an age. There are differing view points on what the Bible has to say about the role of women in the church and family life. And there are different interpretations about the end times. This is just to name a few.

So what gives?

Well, my simple answer is, I believe that God has chosen to make clear the things that are truly important. What is clear, is that Jesus is the only way to God. What is clear, is that Jesus is all we need. That’s not to say those other issue I mentioned aren’t important. It’s just that I would put them of secondary importance.

What about errors?

Another question that gets asked is about apparent errors in the Bible. Now time won’t allow a full exploration of this, but the brief comment I’ll make is that once you consider context and the style of writing, all apparent errors can satisfactorily be explained.

If this is something you want to explore further, I’ve got some great resources that I can share with you - just ask me afterwards.

Church

Well, as I’ve done the last two weeks, I want to now turn to giving some consideration as to the implications this has in a church context.

Reformation

Well, I’ve been throwing in some church history for you the last few weeks, so let’s continue with that.

You see, this issue is actually one of the central issues surrounding the reformation that happened at the time of Martin Luther, that is, the early 1500’s. Essentially, the church had begun to give greater authority to the church leadership and traditions, then it did to the Bible, and as you might expect, it resulted in many abuses of power.

Martin Luther was able to bring it back to the Bible. He reminded us that this is where we gain our authority.

You see, when I stand here and give a message, I am not just giving my thoughts for the week.

It is actually one of the main reasons that I always like to have a given passage that I will speak from. Because this becomes my authority. I am explaining to you what God’s Word says.

Now I would encourage you to always have your bibles open when I speak. You see, I believe the Bible is infallible, but I am not infallible. I can very easily make mistakes.

But if you keep the Bible open as I preach, then if you think anything I say sounds a bit dubious, you can come to me with an open Bible and show how I’ve strayed from what it says.

Baptist

But there is an interesting Baptist twist to all of this.

You see, once the reformation brought us back to the Bible, the various denominations that formed wanted to express what they stood for with various creeds and the like.

You might know that the Anglican church has the 39 articles. The Presbyterian church has the Westminster confession.

These are documents that spell out the main parts of their theology.

So what does the Baptist Church have? Well this is the interesting Baptist twist.

You see, the early Baptists decided that they would have only one document defining them - and that was the Bible.

That being said, as the 1600’s rolled on, there were two main groups of Baptists, which were commonly referred to as the General Baptists and the Particular Baptists.

The General Baptists were generally defined by their understanding of free will, whereas the Particular Baptists placed greater emphasis on God’s sovereignty.

Well, after saying the Baptists didn’t want a confession to define them, in 1689, the Particular Baptists did actually publish a confession which they stood by.

The reality however is that this document has not been a significant aspect of the identity of Baptist, and that is because we have wanted to avoid narrowing what the Bible says. We have wanted to allow the Bible to speak for itself.

I’m not saying that creeds and confessions are wrong. In fact, I believe they can be quite useful. But they should always bring us back to the Bible.

In fact, while it’s not exactly a confession, but in NSW, our association has developed a set of beliefs which were adopted in 1979. These set out some of the important doctrines that hold us together. Again, the important thing is that it brings us back to the Bible.

All about the Bible

At the end of the day, what is really important, whether you agree with the Baptists that our only guiding document is the Bible, or you think confessions like what other denomination use are better, it is so important that we come back to the Bible. Because this is the document that will lead us to the truth. This is the document that will shape us to become what we should be.

And so in this regard, everything we do, should be evaluated from a biblical framework. As I mentioned earlier, the Bible won’t give us direct answer. For example, as a church, we are trying to discern what we should do in terms of re-developing this block of land. The Bible will not give us a direct answer of what to do, but it will give us a framework for thinking about it.

Conclusion

As I started, we live in an age of unprecedented access to information. But our source of truth remains the same now as it always has.

Our source of truth is the Word of God, which we have access to in printed form with the Bible.

This might not be able to tell us when sliced bread was first invented, but it will tell us what is important for our lives.

And so we need to keep this document central to our lives. Both our personal lives and our church lives.

It might not always be straight forward, but this is why we need to dedicate our time to studying it. Meditating on it. And applying it to our lives.

It is as we do this, that we will truly become the people God want us to be.

So let us pray...