THE BIBLE IS ACTUALLY THE WORDS OF GOD

Surrounded by many doubts, religions, and antagonistic worldviews, we need to be reassured that the Bible is the Word of God. And there are many reasons to believe this – the miracles, fulfilled prophecies, its wisdom, changed lives and societies, and internal and external correspondence with the evidences. There is another set of reasons that is less well-known but no less weighty – the nature of the Bible itself.

Let me give you one small example of this – the negative things that the Bible says about its people. Think of it like this – If you want to start a new religion, you have to promise your target audience successful outcomes or benefits. If your religion is not appealing, no one will come. However, the Word of God often promises failure. For example, God informed Israel through Moses:

·       “…this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them…And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods…For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. (Deuteronomy 31:16-18, 20 ESV)

Moses then reaffirmed this dismal verdict to God’s chosen people:

·       “For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death…For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.” (Deuteronomy 31:27-29)

God then gave Moses a prophetic song to teach to Israel, which detailed their future rebellions and the resulting suffering. However, these dismal prophecies should raise many questions:

·       Wouldn’t a man-made religion prophesy blessings rather than failures and the resulting curses? Why are these Scriptures so different from those of other religions?

·       Why are they so antagonistic to what we ordinarily want to hear?

·       Why would Israel continue to follow such a religion?

·       Why would they recognize such writings as God-given and canonize them?

It must have been undeniable to them that these came from God and had been validated by His many miracles, like the ten miraculous plagues against Egypt, Mount Sinai, and forty years of free meals in the form of manna from heaven. Moses had repeatedly reminded Israel of these miracles as proof that God was with them:

·       Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. (Deuteronomy 4:34-36)

There are other aspects of God’s Word that we normally find highly offensive. However, it is these very things that demonstrate that the Bible is not the Word of man but of God.

HOW ARE WE TO DO THEOLOGY?

This question is really very elementary. Theology is our attempt to understand God’s Word. We do it be meditating on the Word day and night (Psalm 1). Theology also requires that we properly interpret Scripture, which is pleasing to our Lord:

·       Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15; ESV)

Although this answer is simple, we tend to slip into other ways of doing theology. For the first several years of my Christian walk, I had interpreted Scripture through my distorted lens. I tried to understand Scripture in a way that would enable me to feel good about myself, not thinking for a moment that there was anything wrong with doing theology in this manner.

If my interpretation felt right to me, I’d embrace it. If it didn’t, I would either try to interpret the verse in question in a more comfortable way, or I would just ignore it.

I wasn’t reading Scripture any differently than before I was saved. Ethnically a Jew and also a Zionist living in Israel, my favorite book quickly became the Book of Joshua. Why? Because my people were victorious over the others, and that made me feel good!

However, the next book was Judges. Expecting more of the same ego-enhancement, I became very disappointed with this book and put the Hebrew Scriptures down.

Many others are doing the same thing. We comb the Scriptures for support for our own conclusions. One theologian taught that Jesus had admitted that He was wrong about the Syro-Phoenician woman (Matthew 15). At first, He thought her unworthy to receive anything from Him. However, after seeing her faith, He decided elsewise.

From this, the misguided theologian concluded that Scripture is often wrong or that the truth has evolved as Jesus’ understanding had evolved. Ultimately, we have to decide. Consequently, we have been made the judges of Scripture, instead of Scripture judging us. Our judgment reigns supreme.

Scripture is also made into the servant of our lifestyles. We coerce it to say the very things that will justify our lifestyles. Christians who believe in socialism or communism exalt the few verses that show that the disciples had everything in common and ignore the many other verses that make appeals to individuals who have their own resources.

Those who are living alternative sexual lifestyles present Jesus as the ultimate radical who challenged the status quo. His foes was the judgmental religious leaderful. They excluded, while Jesus received all into community. Meanwhile, they neglect the fact that Jesus often called the sinner to repent. They also ignore the fact that Jesus’ critique of the Pharisees wasn’t that they were judgmental, but that they refused to even believe Moses:

·       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. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:45-47)

A theology which is faithful to the Word of God seeks to reconcile verse with verse in order to understand Scripture in a coherent and unified way. However, too much theology is performed to reconcile Scripture with the prevailing culture.

Theistic evolutionists (TE) claim that there is no possible conflict between Scripture and evolution. They argue that these two sources of knowledge cannot conflict because they are focused on different things. Evolution’s concern is the physical world, while the Bible’s focus is on the spiritual world. Conflict resolved!

However, the Bible teaches a lot about the physical world – teachings that go against evolution, like God speaking the world into existence or the introduction of sin and death through Adam and Eve. Doesn’t this violate the TE’s claim?

According to the TE, even though the Bible talks about the physical world, its main concern is spiritual, as if it is possible to separate the two. The TE goes further by claiming that the Bible speaks wrongly about the physical world because it has imbibed deeply from the errant cosmology of the Ancient Near East. Here is an example the TE uses to denigrate what the Bible teaches about the physical world:

·       Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. (Psalm 93:1)

How will it never be moved? Here, the TE imposes his Scripturally depreciating interpretation to support his claim that the Bible isn’t interested in the physical world. He claims that the Psalmist wrote under the misunderstanding that our earth will not be moved because it sits on a pedestal, as the ancients had erroneously believed.

However, the TE ignores the fact that Scripture also says that the righteous shall not be moved. Why not? Because he is stuck on a pedestal? Of course, not! Rather, he will not be “moved” in the sense that he will not be destroyed . Likewise, the earth will not be destroyed.

The TE and many others coerce Scripture into agreeing with them, just as I had done. I do not do this anymore. It is not because I am more spiritual or faithful than others. I am not. Instead, it is because I have been so chastened that I only want God’s unadulterated truth. I need to know that I am walking in His light.

Theology, therefore, is not simply a mental exercise. If it was, we could learn wisdom from a book. However, wisdom is a gift from God. It comes through humbling and painful circumstance:

·       The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. (Proverbs 15:31-33)

Who will listen to reproof; who solicits criticism? Only the one who has been humbled and comes to despair in his own judgment. Only such a person is ready for the “fear of the Lord” – an openness to His wisdom and correction.

I had “ignored instruction,” thinking that I had the answers. He chastened me with myself and my own foolishness, allowing me to reap the consequences of my arrogance. He humbled me in order to lift me up. The Psalmist David had confessed:

·       It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (Psalm 119:71-72)

When we are afflicted, we grab any life-preserver thrown our way. The Word was given to me, and it now has more value than anything else. Therefore, I meditate on it continually, as the Lord instructed Joshua:

·       This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

How do we understand this Book? Once again, it is not just a mental activity. Theology must be done on “our knees,” meaning that we have to cry out to our Lord for His wisdom to properly understand. And He is able to provide it:

·       Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.” (Luke 24:44-46)

Since He can open our minds to understand His truths, we must be in prayer, lest our own interests and agendas overtake us.

SINCE WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT, DO WE NO LONGER NEED SCRIPTURE?

Some say that having the anointing of the Spirit is enough and that Scripture and teachers/pastors are therefore unnecessary. Those who are somewhat Scripturally literate will cite these two verses:

·       But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge…But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 John 2:20, 27; ESV)

According to these verses, through the Holy One, we “have knowledge” and He “teaches you about everything.” From this, it might seem like the Holy Spirit is all that we need. Here are the alternatives:

1.    The Spirit by Himself gives knowledge, or

2.    The Spirit working through His Scriptures give knowledge

However, the first alternative is clearly untrue. In fact, John writing this letter disproves this alternative. If the Spirit is all that we need to teach us, there would be no purpose for John’s letter. There are also many other indications that Scripture remains necessary. Scripture and the Apostolic teachings were clearly necessary for the early Church:

·       And they [the early Church] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. Acts 2:42-43 (ESV)

Evidently, submitting to the Apostles’ teachings and not just the Holy Spirit had been approved by God through “many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles,” (also Hebrews 2:3-4)

The Spirit’s anointing was not enough. Instead, one of the tests of genuine faith was whether or not a disciple submitted to the teachings of the Apostles:

·       They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us [Apostles]; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:5-6)

Consequently, anyone who’d say, “I don’t need the apostolic teachings. I have the anointing,” would have been deemed an unbeliever.

In Paul’s mind, the Church needed teachers and not just the anointing:

·       And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Ephesians 4:11-14)

When Jesus sent out His Apostles, He didn’t instruct them to just save and teach about the anointing of the Spirit. Instead, He directed His Apostles to:

·       Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe ALL that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

The idea that Scripture is unnecessary, now that we have the anointing, is simply unthinkable. Jesus, Himself relied upon Scripture:

·       But he answered [Satan], “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

Instead, I wish to propose an understanding that unites the Spirit to the Word He authored. Consequently, Spirit and Scripture should be inseparable in our lives.

Paul had written about this alliance:

·       You yourselves are OUR letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter FROM CHRIST delivered BY US, written not with ink but with the SPIRIT of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3)

We are all walking epistles. Well, who wrote them? According to Paul, these epistles are written by both the teachings of the Apostles (Scripture) and also the Spirit. Through the work of the Spirit, these truths become implanted upon our hearts as we hear and obey the Word. Therefore, we cannot do without the Spirit; nor can we do without the Word.

Israel had the Word, even the Gospel, but it wasn’t doing them any good. Why not? They lacked the indwelling Spirit:

·       But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom [to clearly perceive]. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:14-18)

Israel had had a veil or wall preventing them from truly hearing Scripture. However, the Spirit is able destroy this wall, removing the veil by giving us new ears so that we can hear and eyes so that we can see.

Now that we can see, we are being transformed by the Spirit. What does it mean to behold “the glory of the Lord?” The very thing that Israel could not do! They could not perceive the light of the Gospel:

·       And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God…For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)

Of what did the light consist? “The light of the GOSPEL of the glory of Christ!” Where do we find this Gospel? In the knowledge revealed by the Spirit: “The light of the KNOWLEDGE of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

The Spirit works in conjunction with the Scriptures He had authored, not apart from them. Does He ever work apart from them? He does, but He has ordained for us to seek Him through the Gospel and not through dreams or mystical techniques. Instead, He ordained preaching to save:

·       How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10:14)

Can the Spirit save apart from His Word? Can’t He deliver His Word directly into our heart? I think that He can, but He has ordained to do so through His Word.

But is Scripture truly the Word of the Spirit? Scripture overwhelmingly testifies to this fact:

·       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. (2 Peter 1:21)

If the Spirit is the author of all Scripture, it should be evident that the anointing is not enough. If it is, then why would He have bothered with Scripture?

Instead, we are counseled to meditate on the Word continually (Psalm 1). Paul wrote about the armor of God. One of the provisions was “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).

The Word is the provision of the Spirit. To ignore this sword, claiming instead that we have the anointing, is to go into battle naked.

IS THE WORD OF GOD ETERNAL?

There has been a lot of talk that information, in the form of DNA, lies at the foundation of all life. Also, as Christians, we believe that information – God’s words and thoughts – is at the core of all existence:

·       The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew. (Proverbs 3:19-20; ESV)

It also seems that information, God’s word, will be form the foundation of our heavenly existence. We get many biblical hints of this. There will come a time when:

·       All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. (Isaiah 54:13)

·       They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9; Hab. 2:14))

It is because of the knowledge of the Lord that heaven will be peaceable. Therefore, Scripture informs us that God has elevated His Word to the level of His own Personhood:

·       I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased. All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth. (Psalm 138:2-4)

God’s Word is not only exalted above everything else in this life. It is also the reason that kings will submit to our Lord. What they had rejected, they will then see:

·       So shall he [Messiah] sprinkle [with His blood] many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. (Isaiah 52:15)

Here is what I am getting at – the Word of God should be central to our lives now, because it will remain central forever. Jesus, equating Himself with God, had stated:

·       Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Matthew 24:35)

If His words are eternal, we need to treat them as such.