THE WORD OF GOD IS THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Artist: Albert PoPa

If we cannot be confident about the trustworthiness of Bible as God’s very Words, it will be hard to be confident about anything in the Christian life and faith. This is why Jesus spoke so highly about the Words of God:

·       “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you…If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:7-10)

God also works supernaturally through believing in His Word:

·       “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3)

·       For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

·       So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (Acts 14:3)

·       And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)

Consequently, if we reject the Scriptures, we also reject the God of the Scriptures, and this is exactly what many Bible critics would have us do. Bart Ehrman, perhaps the most popular New Testament critic today and a self-confessed agnostic, heads the religion department at the University of North Carolina. His unrelenting criticism of the Bible has led several to confess that they had abandoned the faith because of him.

However, with only the scantiest evidences he happily challenges the consensus of the early church that Paul had written all of the 13 epistles ascribed to him. Of these 13, Ehrman regards six as pseudonymous forgeries – the Pastoral Epistles, Colossians, Ephesians, and 2 Thessalonians.

On the basis of what evidence does he make his claim? Stylistic and theological! Let’s take the Book of Colossians as an example. Ehrman claims:

·       On the surface, it looks like Paul’s work, but not when you dig deeply into it. Colossians has a lot of words and phrases that are found in Ephesians as well. (Forged, 112)

However, since Ehrman also regards Ephesians as a forgery, Colossians is also to be regarded as a forgery because of their obvious similarities. In his discussion of the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy and Titus), which he also regards as “forgeries,” Ehrman makes the identical charge that their style doesn’t match that of the “genuine” Pauline Epistles. However, Ehrman then admits:

·       At the same time, probably not too much stock should be placed in mere numbers. Everyone, after all, uses different words on different occasions, and most of us have a richer stock of vocabulary than shows up in any given letter or set of letters we write.

Taking his confession at face value, let’s go on to the one alleged theological disagreement between Colossians and the “genuine” Epistles. Ehrman writes:

·       The author [of Colossians] indicates that Christians have already been “raised with Christ” when they were baptized, despite Paul’s insistence that the believers’ resurrection was future, not past (see Col. 2:12-13).

However, what Ehrman regards as a contradiction can easily be resolved. Spiritual realities often unfold in stages. In light of this, we are already “raised with Christ” spiritually but still await our complete resurrection. Ehrman also cites Col. 3:1 in this regards:

·       Believers in Christ were already above all human rules and regulations, because they were already raised with Christ in the heavenly places, experiencing some kind of mystical unity with Christ in the here and now. (112)

There are two problems with the contrast Ehrman is trying to establish between Colossians and the “genuine” Epistles:

1.     The “genuine” Pauline Epistles also affirm this “mystical unity with Christ in the here and now.”

2.     Colossians affirms a future resurrection, in contrast with Ehrman’s baseless claims.

Firstly, “mystical unity with Christ in the here and now” is also found in the “genuine” Epistles:

·       Romans 6:4: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

·       1 Corinthians 6:15-19: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!... But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him… Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.

·       1 Corinthians 12:13: For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

·       Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

·       Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Ehrman’s charge that his two groupings of the Pauline Epistles – one group forged, the other genuine - are in theological opposition is unsustainable. All of the above five verses teach that we enjoy a mystical union with Christ, even prior to His return.

Of course, our present mystical union with Christ in no way denies a future resurrection, when we will experience an even more profound union with our Savior.

Ehrman claims that Colossians teaches against a future resurrection in contrast to Paul, as quoted above:

·       Paul’s insistence that the believers’ resurrection was future, not past [see Col. 2:12-13].

However, the Book of Colossians also looks toward a future resurrection:

·       Colossians 1:5:  …because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel.

·       Colossians 1:27: To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Even though they were already mystically connected to Christ, they too looked forward to a future glory.)

·       Colossians 3:4: When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Yes, we already share in His glory, but not yet its fullness.)

·       Colossians 3:24: …knowing that from the Lord you will receive the [future] inheritance as your reward.

In view of the above, there is no theological discrepancy between Colossians and the Pauline Epistles, which Ehrman regards as genuine, and, therefore, there is no basis to charge that Colossians is a forgery.

If we were to take Ehrman’s assertions to heart, we would never have any confidence in which verses to believe and which to discard as forgeries. Before I had gone to seminary, I had been influenced by the Wellhausen Hypothesis. This teaching claimed that the Hebrew Scriptures were no more than a cut-and-paste job conducted by many editors long after Moses over several hundred years.

I wanted to believe that the Bible had all been inspired by God. However, this theory was claiming otherwise. Therefore, I decided to tuck these doubts away until I’d have the tools to examine it knowledgeably. However, I found that I was unable to read the Bible without these doubts affecting my excitement with it. Therefore, this stress caused me to read the Bible less and less.

Providentially, at this time someone gave me a couple of Gleason Archer’s Survey of Old Testament Introductions, which dealt decisively with this hypothesis. It is a very dry, detailed, and academic book. However, I cried my way through it as it restored my faith in God’s Word.

I am convinced that we need to know that the Bible is God’s Word. Being a born-skeptic, I struggled for this conviction for years, leading me to write The Bible: Reasons to Believe it’s God’s Word.

This assurance is a treasure. Therefore, Paul had prayed:

·       that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. (Colossians 2:2-4)

The truths of Scripture are truly “riches.” Just one small example: Where would we be if we didn’t have the assurance that once we confessed and repented of our sins, we would be fully forgiven and cleansed (1 John 1:9)! We would have no assurance and joy in our relationship with God. Nor would we be able to stand for the truth.

Therefore, Paul’s prayer has become my prayer for the Church.