THREE IMPORTANT REASON FOR THIS STUDY

Introduction:

The Bible is the word of the Christian's God and as Christians we depend on the Bible as a guide for our lives. It is a manual for living. There are a number of good reasons why we profess the importance of the Holy Scripture.

The first important reason is that one's view of the nature of the Bible fashions our view of God and the Christian Faith.

We say "We believe in one triune GOD existing in three PERSONS - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections." This is our Statement of Faith. Someone might say, "How do you know God is like that?" Our reply, "It is in the Bible!"

If we say, "We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man; that He accomplished our redemption through His death on the Cross as a substitutionary sacrifice; that our redemption is made sure to us by His literal physical resurrection from the dead; that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God, where, as the High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate." Someone may say, "How did you arrive at that belief?" The point is that all we believe stands or falls on whether our source for truth is true and reliable.

If the Bible loses its hold upon us as the infallible standard of truth then everything else goes down into the same abyss of disbelief. No one ever doubts the virgin birth until he first doubts the integrity and infallibility of the Bible. No one ever doubts the deity of Christ or His atoning work until they first question the Bible as the eternal Word of God. This study of the character of the Word of God is very important because we derive our beliefs from the Bible. It is the foundation upon which our faith is built.

The second important reason is that one's view of the nature of the Bible has a profound influence on their Christian walk.

If the full integrity of Scripture is held, if we see Holy Writ as God's book of instruction and teaching for us personally, if we look to it for guidance and direction, then our lives will be changed by that Word. For instance the Bible says that a Christian who is living and abiding in the Word of God will be marked by hope as in 1 Peter 3:15, "Be ready always, to give an answer to everyone that asks you, a reason for the hope that is in you . . . " Hope is a wonderful characteristic. Biblical hope is not a vague feeling or a I hope so attitude, but a settled conviction, a confident expectation. Again, all real hope and I am talking about Biblical hope, is rooted and grounded upon the Scriptures. The Christian, like no other individual, has hope. Their lives have meaning, purpose, and definition. But someone may ask, "Why do you have hope? Why are you so positive?" The answer is plain and simple, "Because our hope is built upon a sure foundation, the Bible."

Again, another illustration. A Christian is a person who has trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. They have trusted in the message from God which says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved" Acts 16:31. When they believed in Christ the hope that filled their hearts and minds was the hope of salvation. They had the confidence of salvation because they had God's Word on it. There is the hope of eternal life for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This Gospel comes from God and the promise is found in the Bible.

Continuing to develop the idea that the hope that marks the Christian rests in the Word of God, let us take another aspect of this hope. A Christian is a person who has a hope of an exciting and triumphant future. The Christian is not waiting to die but waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. The Bible calls this the Blessed hope, "Looking for that Blessed Hope and glorious appearing of our great God even Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13) Death to the Christian is not the end, but entrance into that glorious place that Christ is preparing for them (John 14:1-3). This is our hope, our eager anticipation. We hope to see a day when we will forever be with Christ. When He comes, we will be with Him forever. We have God's Word on that. Hope instead of despair. Hope instead of the fear of death. Hope instead of the dread of becoming nothing, going no place, and ending nowhere. As Paul said, "Without hope we are men most miserable" I Corinthians 15:19.

In summary, we see that hope has a profound influence on our Christian walk, as 1 John 2:3 says, "And anyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." Secondly, this hope rest upon the Scripture. If you take away my belief in the Bible as the very Word of God and you rob me of my hope. These two things are that intertwined, hope and Scripture.

It is unfortunate that many Christians do not have a faith that is rooted and grounded in an infallible and inerrant Scripture. Rather, their faith is like the Collier's whom George Whitefield held conversation. "What do you believe? asked Whitefield of a worker in the coal pits of Cornwall."

"What the church believes," was his answer. "And what does the church believe?" "What I believe," said the Collier. "What do you both believe, asked?"Whitefield "The same thing," he replied.

We should not be surprised to learn that the Scriptures have a profound influence on our Christian walk for that is what God designed for it to do.

The unique purpose of the Bible.

First, the Bible is evangelistic in nature and the instrument God uses to bring us to Christ for salvation (Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 1:18). It is God's Word and it contains an exciting and marvelous message to be received. It informs us about the "Word of the Cross" - the story of redemption. How Christ, God's very own Son, lived and died for us. The common theme woven throughout its sixty-six books is that man is separated from God, in need of a Savior, and that Christ Jesus is that Savior. He is in the Old Testament as a shadow and in the New Testament as the reality. Jesus Himself taught that this was the purpose of the Scriptures:

JOHN 5:39 You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;

LUKE 24:44 Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."

If the Bible is what it claims to be and the message is true, then we are compelled to heed the message and bow before Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Secondly, those who have believed the message and have received Christ as their very own personal Savior are to find in the Word of God divine counsel. If we are going to live in a way that pleases God we must have His guidance. The thrust of Scripture is to provide for us God's will in all matters that pertain to life and godliness. He gives us this truth so that we might be transformed by it and conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 12:1,2; 8:29). Those evangelized by the message of this Book are continuously edified through it. The Bible says of itself that it is FOOD for our spiritual strength, 2 Peter 2:2; a LAMP for our guidance, Psalm 119:105; a WEAPON of offense and defense against our spiritual enemies, Ephesians 6:17; spiritual EQUIPMENT for every good work, 2 Timothy 3:16,17; the WORD of the Christians' God, Hebrews 1:1,2; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; and fully SUFFICIENT and totally ADEQUATE to teach us how to live in a way that pleases God, Hebrews 11:6.

The unique process involved.

The two purposes stated above are fulfilled through a logical process. How does God make himself known to us, bring us into a personal relationship, and in that daily walk begin to change our lives?

1. IN THE PRESENTATION OF THE TRUTH

The first step in this process is God revealing Himself to us. This is the study of Revelation. God caused that which He had spoken to be written down. The study of how He kept the Scriptures free from error is the subject of Inspiration.

2. PRESERVATION OF THE TRUTH

Two extremely important subjects now follow. They teach us how God preserved the original writings and passed on His truth through the centuries. Transmission deals with how God protected the original autographs and Translation deals with how that truth is shared with others.

3. PERCEPTION OF THE TRUTH

This has to do with the meaning of God's Word. To have the Word of God is one thing, but to understand it is another. Illumination is how the Holy Spirit works to enable us to understand the Scriptures. Interpretation deals with the principles that show us how to study the Bible.

4. PURPOSE OF THE TRUTH

The grand aim of the wonderful words of life is to reveal to all of us how to live joyfully, gratefully, and abundantly in all our relationships, with God and each other.

To summarize: God has given us His truth (Revelation) and this was written down and kept free from error (Inspiration). It was copied to preserve the original writings (Transmission) and passed on to others (Translation). He has provided the special ministry of the Holy Spirit in order to understand the truth (Illumination). He gives us the ability to rightly divide the truth (Interpretation) so that this truth might guide us and counsel us thought out our lives (Purpose).

Now we come back again to the principle that we started with: that one's view of the nature of the Bible has a profound influence on their Christian walk. If the Bible is just a good old book, then it will sit on the shelf and collect dust. If the Bible is a good luck charm, like a horse shoe over the door, then it will sit wherever we place it unopened and valueless. But when we understand the true nature and character of the Bible it will have a powerful influence upon . The Apostle Paul says the Scripture has the power to save and to transform lives, 2 Tim.3:15-17. It is the purpose for which God gave us His Word: He brings us to Christ for salvation and then through the study of God's Word as we receive it, believe it, and obeyed it we are transformed into a likeness of His Son.

A third reason why the study of the nature of the Holy Scripture is important is because it has become the focus of attack.

Attack, you say? Yes! And we as believers must understand the issues of our day. A lesson in history regarding the churches view of the nature of Scripture is extremely important. It used to be that one could say "I believe the Bible is the Word of God." It was very simple. You either believed the Bible to be the Word of God or you didn't. Then it became necessary to say "the inspired Word of God." This was to answer the attack of liberalism that said "the Word of God was the product of fallible men." Then someone suggested that God gave men the thought and they wrote the Bible expressing in their own words what God wanted written. So we had to state that the Bible was "the verbally inspired Word of God." Just when you think the battle is over someone dreamed up the idea that only certain subjects are covered by inspiration. We had to correct this error by adding "the plenary⁽¹⁾

and verbally inspired Word of God." At this present moment because of another attack against the Scriptures, we must say "the plenary, verbally, infallible, inspired and inerrant-in-the-original-manuscripts Word of God."

Today the debate rages over inerrancy. Who knows where it will end? One thing is plain. The Church of Jesus Christ by weakening and lowering it's view of the Bible has caused Christ's Church to experience a power failure. The salt is losing its savor and the light is very dim. I am reminded of what Satan said to Eve, "Hath God said ...."⁽²⁾

Belief in the Bible as the Word of God was not always a problem. Actually it is a recent problem. We know this because we have the writings of the Church Fathers⁽³⁾ and they held that the Bible was the Word of God. It was their firm and steadfast belief! They quoted extensively from the New Testament and this is one of the evidences that we have to determine what Books were considered part of the New Testament Cannon. We have the writings of Clement, AD 95; Ignatus of Antioch, AD 116; Polycarp of Smyrna, AD 150, just to name a few. Ireneaus fought against gnostic heresy and quoted from every New Testament book except Philemon and III John. He never suggests or even hints that anyone believed that the Bible was not the Word of God.

This was never an issue to the Church Fathers. Origen, AD 185-254 used the Scriptures to prove the deity of Christ in his controversy with Celsus. He constantly called upon Celsus to give up his heresy and to accept as final authority the Word of God. Augustine, AD 354-430 said, "For I confess to your charity that I have learned to defer this respect and honor to those Scriptural Books only which are now called canonical, that I believe most firmly that not one of these authors has erred in any respect in writing."⁽⁴⁾ (Ryrie, The Bible Truth Without Error, page 1) At that time there was no debate in the Church over the Scripture being the Word of God.

The Protestant Reformation began a period where the Word of God was an issue. Real attention for the first time in the Church Age was given to the doctrine of the Scriptures. But even here, it was not an attack upon the Scriptures themselves, but a reaction to the position of the Roman Catholic Church that regarded itself as having authority over the Word of God. So the nature of the debate between Protestants and Catholics in that era was not "Is the Bible the Word of God?" but "Who has greater authority - the Roman Church or the Word of God?" Calvin refers to the Scriptures as the "sure and infallible record" and the "unerring standard." Luther declared, "The Scriptures have never erred and it is impossible that Scriptures should contradict itself; it appears so only to the senseless and obstinate hypocrites." (Ryrie, The Bible: Truth Without Error, page 2)

What we find when we search Church history is that the challenge to the Scriptures has come in our lifetime. It began at the turn of this century with Modernism and Liberalism. The basic tenet was that the Bible was a fallible witness. Revelation was perfect when it left God, but it was corrupted by the time it was recorded in the Bible.

Currently the issue is whether we accept the Bible as infallible and inerrant. Many today want to separate the two. They can't, but they try. One hears, "I believe the Bible is inspired, but I cannot believe that it is without error." Another says, "I confess the infallibility and inerrancy of the Scriptures in accomplishing God's purpose for them - to give man the revelation of God in His redemptive love through Jesus Christ." This is the inspired purpose view of the Bible. The Bible has factual errors, unsolvable discrepancies, but it does have doctrinal integrity. In other words, when the Bible speaks on the subject of salvation, it is infallible and inerrant; but when it gives factual information; such as history, it is fallible and capable of error. (Ryrie, The Bible: Truth Without Error, page 3,4)

Do you see the destructive heresy of this belief? Let me illustrate: If we went back one hundred and fifty years ago and we were reading 2 Kings we would find a nation called the Hittites. I would at this time say to you, we have no archaeological findings to help us date, place, or give the nature and history of these people. This is a lost civilization. There is no information about it except what is recorded in the Bible. One day we believe archaeology will find for us this missing civilization. My belief is that the Hittites existed because the Bible declares their existence and the Bible is infallible and inerrant truth.

But someone who does not believe the Bible is inerrant would say, "The Hittites do not exist! There is no evidence from history or archaeology. What we have here is a common scribal error. Remember folks the Bible was written repeatedly and some overzealous scribe miscopied this name or added this name. This is a corrupt text. It is history so it is not protected by inspiration." But What happened? To his embarrassment and to the embarrassment of all those great generations of Cambridge historians, the Hittite civilization was unearthed and they had to rewrite an entire volume of Ancient History. Who was right? The Bible! Why was there any doubt?

Man is going to tell us what things are inspired and what things are not. For example, if there are 1,000 facts of history in Scripture and if the historian verifies the accuracy of 750 of those facts, they are infallible and inerrant. What about the other 250 facts of history? They are fallible! The scientist operates in much the same manner. The key issue in the Creation versus evolution debate is, "Is the Bible the Word of God?" The scientist is given authority over the Scripture. When he says, "Evolution is supported by scientific evidence," then the creation story must be relegated to a myth, an error, a fallible record of origin not to be believed. This scissor and paste method of interpreting Scripture is going to destroy everything we believe. Inevitably, the denial of the full integrity of Scripture will give way to doubts about every doctrine we hold. Either the Bible is the Word of God and has authority, or it is not. There is no middle ground. So the study of the nature of the Bible is very important because it is the focus of tremendous attack.

These are just a few good reasons why Christians should understand the nature of Scripture. On a practical note have you ever had this experience counseling someone and saying "the Bible says" and getting a look that says "are you crazy?" Well, if believing in the Bible is being "crazy" then I am as crazy as they come. And if you are as crazy as I am then you should enjoy this study. People misunderstand the true nature of the Bible and sometimes we don't know how to express what we believe. My hope is that this study will provide clarity with regard to the true nature of Holy Scripture and that those who think we are crazy, well may the Spirit of God use that which we learn to give a reason for the hope that is within us. May God use this study to edify us and help us to advance to the high ground of spiritual maturity.

1. PLENARY means full, complete, or absolute. It means every part of Scripture is inspired.

2. The ideas in this paragraph were stimulated by Dr. Charles Ryrie's excellent chapter "In So Many Words". Ryrie, Charles C. What You Should Know About Inerrancy. Chicago: Moody Press, 1981.

3. The Church Father designate the pastors of the first six centuries who quoted extensively from the New Testament in their sermons and books.

4. Ryrie, Charles C. The Bible: Truth Without Error. Rev. Ed. Dallas: Dallas Theological Seminary, 1972.