The Truthfulness of Scripture

Introduction

When I was a kid my parents got me an Adventure Bible. It had cartoon pictures showing the various stories within its pages. I was probably 6-7 years old when I really “committed to reading my bible.” So, I sat down and read the whole thing. In 2 hours. I was really proud of myself so naturally I told my mom what I did. She did that thing where you pat someone on the head and say “good job!” I think she meant it.

I let the pride of that sink in for that day. But later I wondered how many other Christians read their bibles in 2 hours? Why did my bible have so many less pages than my older friends at church? Eventually I got a copy of an actual “student’s bible” that had some helpful commentary when I realized that I had no idea what the bible was about. I knew that I trusted it though because I trusted Jesus. How was I able to trust this bible even though I didn’t understand it?

We’ve spent a lot of time asking different questions about Christianity and how it affects us and the world around us. I want to talk about the Bible this week. I want to talk about how the bible is true and how God’s Word is real and trustworthy.

Let’s Pray before we get started

Joyce and Sarah are getting pranked at this point.

The Big Question

Why do you trust what the bible says?

It is God’s truth.

It is written by man through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

It is profitable (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Thesis

Tonight, we’re going to spend our time talking about inerrancy, looking at how Jesus sees the Old Testament, how the New Testament sees itself, and some common mistakes with inerrancy.

Inerrancy

When praying to His Father, Jesus says:

John 17:17 ESV

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Major Affirmations > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 2: The Truthfulness (Inerrancy) of Scripture

Truthfulness has to do with correspondence to reality. For example, Scripture affirms that God created all that exists out of nothing. That affirmation corresponds to the reality that God brought the universe into existence not by combining already-existing materials but by creating the materials themselves. Additionally, Scripture’s affirmation that Christ rose from the dead on the third day corresponds to the reality that on Easter Sunday, Christ’s tomb was empty and the living Jesus appeared to people.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Major Affirmations > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 2: The Truthfulness (Inerrancy) of Scripture

To frame this discussion differently, inerrancy means that Scripture never affirms anything contrary to fact. Inerrancy is characteristic of all of Scripture, not just the parts concerning salvation, faith, and doctrine. Inerrancy also means that Scripture never contradicts itself; it is self-consistent. For example, what it affirms about Jesus Christ being fully God does not contradict its affirmations about him being fully man. He is both God and man.

Here is a helpful definition for what inerrancy means:

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Second Edition) A. The Meaning of Inerrancy

the inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.

This means that the doctrine inerrancy only applies to the original manuscripts, but what you are holding in your hands is compiled from thousands of Greek and Hebrew manuscripts that validate the translation in your hands. From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Muratorian Fragment, you are holding God’s truth in your hands.

Let’s look though and see what Jesus says about the Old Testament.

Does He affirm that it is true?

Lots of times in the Old Testament, Jesus defends portions of the Old Testament from those who were critical of Jesus. We’re going to start by seeing how Jesus takes the old testament seriously.

Pharisees and Divorce

Let’s turn to Matthew 19:3-6

Matthew 19:3–6 ESV

3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Which part of the bible is Jesus referring to here?

Genesis 2:22–24 ESV

22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Jesus believes that God did not create divorce originally (because he was there). He affirms the book of Genesis of being true by reciting this scripture.

How about this one?

Noah’s Flood

Matthew 24:36–39 ESV

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

What story is Jesus referring to here?

Does this mean that Jesus believes that there was a flood in Noah’s time?

Yes! Jesus affirms that the flood happened in the Old Testament

We can find that in Genesis 6:9-22.

Moses and the Law

The Pharisees loved Moses’s law and rightly so. God gave Moses the law after all! However, they would serve the law over the one who gave the law. Jesus responds to them in kind:

John 5:45–47 ESV

45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Jesus uses Moses to show the Pharisees their misinterpretation and misuse of the law. Jesus affirms everything God told Moses and what Moses wrote in the first 5 books of the bible through this statement.

One more.

Jonah

Matthew 12:40 ESV

40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The story of Jonah!

Jonah was a real prophet who was really in the belly of a great fish!

What about the New Testament?

2 Peter 3:15–16 ESV

15 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, 16 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.

Peter calls Paul’s letters “Scripture” in these verses. The same word and language used for the Old Testament.

These letters are considered scriptures by the Apostles.

Major Errors

The denial of scripture being inspired and truthful (inspiration and inerrancy).

Some people treat the bible like it’s just a human book. God has had no part in its creation. As Christians, we don’t believe this. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2. Those who wrote the bible were being dictated (told) what to write for all of the scripture. God wrote it all and they had no part.

The writers of scripture weren’t used this way. God used their personalities, perspectives, and writing styles that were show in their writings.

What about human errors?

This overlooks how the Holy Spirit protected God’s Word from human error. His Spirit was always present in the writing of Scripture.

2 Peter 1:16–21 ESV

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 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.

3. Not every part of scripture is inspired by God.

This idea says that some parts of scripture are inspired and others are not.

How would someone be able to determine this?

Our Response

Because the Scripture is God-Breathed (1 Timothy 3:16) the church is called to do what it commands, not do what it forbids, heed its warnings and believe its promises. We are to trust what it trusts.

Because non-believers do not yet trust Christ for salvation, we should engage in mission and evangelism by sharing the gospel to them. We believe God’s Word when it says Romans 1:16

Romans 1:16 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Enacting the Doctrine > Chapter 1: The Inspiration of Scripture

If the Bible is God-breathed, then God enjoys the closest possible relationship to it. Indeed, it means that he is fully invested in his Word, acting through it to save and transform the church. If this is not the case, then Scripture begins to resemble a human book. It is a book like all other books, filled with laws, proverbs, compelling stories, myths, and more. But being God-breathed, Scripture is the authoritative, truthful Word of God.