The words “All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God” assure us that no part of Scripture
originated “by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost” (2Timothy 3:16, 2Peter 1:21). Furthermore, the
Holy Spirit bears witness to the reliability of Scripture as He works
through it to bring us to faith (Romans 1:16, 8:16 and 10:17). For that
reason, faith in the Bible goes hand in hand with the work of the
Spirit, and the doctrine that the Holy Spirit wants us to believe and
teach, is nothing other than what the Bible explicitly says
(2Corinthians 1:13, 2Peter 1:20).
THE
AUTHORITY OF GOD'S WORD
Because the Bible
is God's own Word, its words have the authority of God behind them, and
that authority is the standard to which all opinion must conform. If
men disagree with what is written they need to change their minds, and
if their interpretations contradict what the Bible explicitly says
those interpretations must be surrendered. At the same time, no
statement of Scripture should ever be explained away (1John 4:6).
Instead, every thought is to be brought into subjection to the Word of
God (2Corinthians 10:5). As it is written, “if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).
In short, instead of trying to make the Bible agree with our theology,
we need to correct our theology in order to bring it into agreement
with God's Word (Romans 3:4, 1Corinthians 14:37).
THE
CLARITY AND PURPOSE OF GOD'S WORD
Since the Bible was
written to testify of Christ, it was written in plain language and its
words mean just what they say (2Corinthians 1:13 and 3:12). That being
the case, we can be certain that it contains no hidden meanings or
deceitful play on words (2Corinthians 4:2-3). If some passages seem
dark to us that is because of our own ignorance, not because God wanted
to conceal the truth (2Corinthians 3:12). Therefore, if we are to
understand the Bible aright we must accept what it says at face value,
while interpreting any statements that we do not understand in the
light of what is stated so clearly that it needs no interpretation.
Because false
prophets are in darkness, they always assume that the Bible is a book
of dark sayings. Working from that assumption, they then attempt to
“cast light” on Scripture by making up their own private
interpretations, while explaining away any statements of Scripture that
contradict those interpretations (2Peter 1:20, 1John 4:6).
Nevertheless, if the Bible was really a dark book it could never make
wise the simple, nor be a light unto our path (Psalm 19:7 and 119:105).
Since God brought
the Bible into existence for a specific purpose, its words will
accomplish what He intended (Romans 1:16, Isaiah 55:11, Matthew 4:4).
For that reason, we need to understand that the law is His message to
the unrepentant, and was given to rebuke, expose, and condemn all
unrighteousness (1Timothy 1:9). At the same time, because the law
cannot save, its purpose was never to make us righteous, but to show us
our sin and need of forgiveness in Christ. The gospel, on the other
hand, is God’s message of comfort and forgiveness to those who are
sorry for their sin (Luke 4:18, John 20:31). Through the law hearts are
convicted of sin, through the gospel those who confess their sins are
brought to faith in Christ (Acts 2:37, Romans 10:17, 1John 5:11-13).
Far from being
passive and powerless, the Word of God is dynamic and life giving, for
the Holy Spirit is active in working through that Word (in both its
written and oral form) to bring men to a saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ (Romans 1:16-17 and 10:17). Therefore, even though preaching
seems foolish to those who are in darkness, God is wiser than men, and
the things that He has chosen to use will accomplish what He intended,
in spite of what the world thinks. For, “God has chosen the foolish
things of this world to confound the wise” and the weak things of this
world to confound the mighty (1Corinthians 1:18, 21, 25, 27).
[Note: Because the law cannot make us
righteous, and was never intended to make us righteous, preachers who
are constantly urging people to seek God’s favor through obedience, are
not approved of God (Romans 3:20, 2Timothy 2:15, Galatians 1:6-9). On
the contrary, God wants the “righteous” as well as the “wicked”
convicted of sin and pointed to Christ for forgiveness, for without
faith in Christ “it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6).]
THE
VISIBLE WORD
In addition to the
oral proclamation of His Word, God has also given us Baptism and the
Lord’s Supper as a visible way of assuring all who repent that they
have forgiveness in Christ. Nevertheless, even though God works through
those ceremonies to give us His promise of forgiveness in Christ,
because that promise is only meant for those who repent, only those who
look to Christ for forgiveness receive what is promised (Galatians
3:22). In other words, even though God uses Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper (just as He uses preaching) to give us His promise, it is only
through personal faith in Christ that we receive what is promised
(Romans 5:2, Galatians 3:22). Or, as Dr. Walter A. Maier put it:
“Do
not be misled by those who say that Baptism is not important. They
contradict Christ. They put their own opinion above Scripture. Take
Jesus at His word, and you will find that through Baptism — and I mean
of course, not merely the performance of the ritual itself, but by your
personal faith in Jesus and in His promise — the Holy Ghost
unmistakably comes to you.” (The Power of Pentecost, 1943)
TRUE
OBEDIENCE
Since the Word of
God was given to testify of Christ, the law of God is only being used
as God intended when it is being used to condemn sin (as well as man’s
righteousness) and point sinners to Christ. Likewise, it is only being
obeyed when those who hear it confess their sin and turn to Christ for
forgiveness. In fact, those who seek to make themselves righteous by
the law are rebelling against God, for they are denying their sin and
refusing accept the verdict His law pronounces against them.
Because the law was
given to convict us of our sin, whenever the Pharisees tried to explain
it away, get around its precepts, or get themselves off the hook they
were making it of “none effect” (Mark 7:9-13). Yet, in spite of
Christ’s condemnation, there are many “pastors” who do the same thing!
They explain away the very precepts of the law that they ought to be
using to call men to repentance. For example: When God’s law warns the
unrepentant that if they “sin willfully” after they “have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,”
those words are made “of none effect” whenever they are explained away
(Hebrews 10:26). In fact, instead of bringing sinners to repentance,
those who explain away Hebrews 10:26, help harden the guilty in
unrepentance.
Likewise, when it
comes to the promises of the gospel, we undermine the salvation message
if we ignore or explain away what was intended to assure us of
forgiveness in Christ. For example: If the Bible says, “baptism doth
also now save us” or, “Take, eat: this is My body” we do not build
faith by telling people that they cannot believe those statements of
Scripture (1Peter 3:21, Mark 14:22). In the same way, because Christ
said, “THIS DO in remembrance of me,” we should do what He did, and
repeat what He said, when we celebrate the lord’s Supper, instead of
simply passing around bread and grape juice, as if that is all there is
to it.
CONCLUSION
The message that
God intends for you to get from His Word, is nothing other than what
you read (2Corinthians 1:13). Moreover, that message is not hard to
understand, it only seems hard to those who create their own darkness
by pulling words out of context, ignoring the plain grammatical meaning
of the words, and reading their own assumptions into the text
(2Corinthians 3:12 and 4:4).