Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Believe The Word - - Going Farther than BELIEVE



    As much as I have been writing about BELIEVE for the past few weeks, it may surprise you that this week may be one of my least favorite. What’s more, it is the week that speaks about the Bible.

    It is not that anything is in this week that is wrong, but rather that this week is, pardon the pun, weak; it simply does not go far enough in affirming the word of God, the Bible. I am sure it is hard to put everything about the Word of God in a single week and a single chapter of a book. Entire books and commentaries have been written about the Bible so how can anyone put all that needs to be believed about the Bible in a mere week and a simple chapter.

    The key idea is not wrong but it is not fully complete. “I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God that guides my beliefs and actions.” Yes, that is a true statement, but the Bible is more than merely “inspired.” 2 Timothy 3:16 says ALL of the Bible is not only inspired but God-inspired, God-breathed. It not only guides my beliefs, but it is absolutely authoritative to guide our beliefs. Benjamin Warfield concludes his exposition on this verse with the following statement:


What (2 Timothy 3:16-17) affirms is that the Scriptures owe their origin to an activity of God, the Holy Ghost, and (the Scriptures) are in the highest and truest sense His creation. It is on this foundation of Divine origin that all the high attributes of Scripture are built.

    Secondly the four statements of summation of beliefs begin with this one, “I believe the Bible is absolutely true…” …if only the first statement would have stopped there. In the study guide on pages 35 and 38 it goes on but does not need to. The Bible is absolutely true period. The second statement is “the words of the Bible are the words from God,” begs the question, if they are words of God, are they therefore not absolutely true in all things and not solely “in matters of faith and morals”?

    While Moses being confronted by the burning bush (the first and lengthiest section of this week's reading) is vitally true, in regards to the Scripture, the following are even more germane to the authority of the Bible: 

  • Jesus’ statement in Matt. 5:18 that not one jot or tittle will fall;
  • 1 Peter 1:23-25 is essential in studying that the Word of God regenerates us and will endure forever; 
  • that the Bereans in Acts 17:11-15 were noble to search the Scriptures to know what is true;
  • Jesus said the Holy Scriptures could not be broken in John 12:35-36 and frequently chided the religious by asking, “Have you not read?” implying that they were ignorant of God’s Word which is authoritative in all things;
  • That the Scriptures are written so that we might know that we have eternal life (at least John's writings which are summarized in 1 John 5:13).

    For a good study on the reliability of God’s Word, the Bible, consider reading Kevin DeYoung’s book, Taking God At His Word and Will Davis Jr.’s book A Man Who Told Us the Truth. At the end of DeYoung’s book, he lists 30 books that affirm the Word of God.

     Perhaps one of the most greatest encouragements of the truth of God’s Word is when Jesus, the Son of God, is praying to the Father in John 17 and prays for us with these words, “Sanctify them by the truth, Your Word is truth.” His word will protect us and sanctify us.