The Bible-The Most Unique Book in the World-Part 2

By: Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon; ©2002

This month: What does the Bible say about itself? What did Jesus say about the Bible? What did the Apostles say about the Bible? What does God’s character say about the Bible?

 

3. Scriptural Declarations Concerning the Bible’s Own Authority

The Old Testament

Eternal

Isaiah 40:8—The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.

Psalm 119:89—Your word, 0 LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.

Psalm 138:2—I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

Perfect and Trustworthy

Proverbs 30:5-6—Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

Psalm 12:6—And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.

Psalm 18:30— As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 19:7-9— The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul… the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

True

Psalm 119:43, 142, 151, 16—The word of truth… your law is true… All your commandments are true…. All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.

Holy and Righteous

Psalm 105:42— For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham.

Psalm 119:125— My eyes fail, looking for your salvation, looking for your righteous promise.

Psalm 119:140— Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them.

Good

Jeremiah 33:14— I will fulfill the gracious promise I made….

Vital (and verbal)

Isaiah 59:21—”As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever,” says the LORD.

Jesus Christ and the Gospels

Note Jesus’ view of God’s Word:

Eternal

Matthew 24:55— Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Trustworthy

Matthew 5:18— I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

John 5:47—But since you do not believe what he [Moses] wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?

John 10:35—… the Scripture cannot be broken…

John 12:49-50—For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.

John 17:8—I gave them the words you gave me…

Luke 16:17—It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

True

John 17:17—Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Holy

John 7:16— My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. (compare 12:49-50)

Vital (and Verbal)

Matthew 4:4—Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’

The Rest of the New Testament

Note the Apostles’ view of God’s Word:

Eternal

1 Peter 1:25—But the word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you.

Inspired

2 Timothy 3:16-17— All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:20-21—… no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 3:2, 15-16—I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles…. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these mailers. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (This shows the inspiration of the New Testament.)

Living and Active

Hebrews 4:12—For the word of God is living and active… (compare Acts 7:38)

1 Peter 1:23—For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

True

2 Timothy 2:15— Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Not Human

1 Thessalonians 2:13— And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

1 Thessalonians 4:8—…he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Holy

2 Timothy 3:15—… from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures…

Vital (and Verbal)

Revelation 22:18-19—I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

1 Corinthians 2:12-13—We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us… in words taught by the Spirit… (See v.14)

Romans 3:2—… they have been entrusted with the very words (logia) of God.

The Character of God and the Inerrancy and Authority of Scripture

• Sovereign: A sovereign God is able to preserve the process of inspiration from error.
• Righteousness: A righteous God is unable to inspire error.
• Just: A just God could not be untruthful when asserting that His word is inerrant He would be unjust if He bore witness to errant Scripture as “holy and true.”
• Love: A loving God would adequately provide for the spiritual health and safety of His people by inspiring an inerrant word.
• Eternal: An eternal God has had forever to determine the canon and means of inspiration (verbal, plenary, perspicuous) for His word.
• Omniscient: An omniscient God knows every contingency that might arise to inhibit inerrancy.
• Omnipotent: An omnipotent God can effectively respond to every contingency and also preserve the transmission of His Word.
• Omnipresent: An omnipresent God can initially reveal and inspire His word and later illuminate it
• Immutable: An immutable God could never contradict His word.
• Veracity: A truthful God would not lie when He testifies about the inerrancy of His word.
• Merciful: A merciful God would not be unmerciful in inspiring both truth and error and then have His people vainly attempt to find the parts that are true. He would not leave His people to subjectivism and uncertainty about His vital word.
• Personal: A personal God can inspire verbally, with words, to ensure effective communi­cation.

 

 

Read Part 3