Cornerstone Academy: Biblical Theology Part 4
Series: Cornerstone Academy
Speaker: Pastor Justin Wheeler
Topic: The Authority of Scripture
The Clarity of Scripture
Manuscript
Deut 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
This passage is among the most well-known in all of Scripture. It contains profound statements about the nature of God; He is The Lord, He is Our God, and He is One. It also contains a list of commands laying before us our appropriate response to this knowledge of God; because He is our Lord and God we ought to love Him with all of our being. We ought to teach His word to our children and allow His word to shape every aspect of our lives.
Now, as we read this passage there are any number of things that we might choose to focus on. We could focus on the theological side of things. We could spend weeks studying and meditating on what this passage teaches us about the nature of God.
Or we could focus on the practical side of things and lock in on the commands we see. There is a pattern of application. What begins in the heart as individual/personal love for God, moves to consume our entire being (heart, soul, strength). Then it flows from us into those nearest to us, our family and our children. The word of God affects the way we talk, the way we walk and the way we sleep. His commands guide our hands and influence how we interact with the world.
Or maybe, like me, you have a tendency to focus on the historical side of things. This passage was written near the end of Moses’ life and when I think about Moses, my mind gets carried all the way back to the Exodus and what God did to deliver Israel from slavery. I think about the plagues, the Passover, the Exodus itself and God’s presence leading the people through the sea and into the wilderness. I want to follow that history all the way through to this particular moment, when Moses is recounting the mercy of God, the grace of God, the love of God, the law of God and this passage is being established as the theological foundation for Israel as a nation.
Now, we would be right to focus on any of these or all of these things when we read this passage, but that is not what we are going to focus on this morning. This morning I want us to focus on the underlying assumption inherent, not simply to this passage, but to all of Scripture. I want to focus on the things that almost all of us take for granted when we read this passage, assuming that you have not been hopelessly corrupted by the postmodern theory of indeterminate meanings. I want to focus on the fact that the central message of the Bible is clear and understandable.
Transition…
The Word of God has been revealed to us in a way that its message and meaning are clear and because of its clarity all men are fully accountable to its message. The Bible assumes not only that God can communicate with words, but that He has communicated with words that are unchangeable and knowable.
In this passage from Deuteronomy 6there is no mystery concerning what God has said about himself and what He has commanded of us. And in case you missed it, His word is so clear and understandable that it can be taught to children. We don’t have to solve complex riddles and engage in impossible interpretive paradigms; the Word of God is right in front of us in plain language that is easy to understand and easy to obey.
This morning I want to talk about a characteristic of Scripture known as the Clarity of God’s Word or you may be more familiar with the older term Perspicuity. The Clarity of Scripture affirms that the Bible is written in such a way that all things necessary for salvation and for our Christian life and growth are very clearly set forth in Scripture.[1]
There are three things I want us to look at this morning: 1. Define Biblical Clarity, 2. Look at some Objections to Biblical Clarity, 3. Talk about why this matters.
Sermon Focus…
I. Defining Biblical Clarity
The Clarity of Scripture, as a protestant doctrine, has been carefully defined by the Westminster Confession of Faith as well as the 1689 Second London Confession. Here is the article on clarity in a modern English version of the 1689.
1.7. Some things in Scripture are clearer than others, and some people understand the teachings more clearly than others.12 However, the things that must be known, believed, and obeyed for salvation are so clearly set forth and explained in one part of Scripture or another that both the educated and uneducated may achieve a sufficient understanding of them by properly using ordinary measures.13(122 Peter 3:16. 13Psalm 19:7; Psalm 119:130.)[2]
Some of you might prefer the older language, but I think this one is a bit clearer, and after all that is the point. But what does this statement tell us?
First, it tells us that some passages in the Bible are clearer and easier to understand than others. Not every passage has a simple or obvious meaning. When you read the parables of Jesus, the prophecy of Ezekiel or Daniel, and the Revelation; you find that it is more challenging to understand than the historical narrative of the book of Acts. But the point is that the Bible was written in order to be understood. God hasn’t revealed himself in riddles nor as a paradox.
God actually wants us to know Him. The Bible was given to us by God as a revelation of Himself and His redemptive plan for us. Those things which we need to know, believe and obey for salvation are incredibly clear. Even if those things are not abundantly clear in one part of Scripture, they are made clear in other parts of Scripture, so that the essential message can be properly understood.
Some people understand the Bible more clearly than others, but you don’t have to be a scholar to read and grasp the message of the Scriptures. It might be of benefit to you to get a degree in theology, Biblical languages, and ministry; but these things are not necessary for disciples to understand and obey the word of God. After all, if we are supposed to teach the Bible to children it must be understandable to them.
Ordinary people, using ordinary measuresmay achieve sufficient understanding of what must be known, believed and observed for them to be faithful Christians. What does it mean to use ordinary measures? It means that we are to interpret the Bible as it is written; we read it and apply basic principles of language and interpretation in order to understand it.
A noun is treated as a noun and a verb as a verb. Poetry is to be treated as poetry. Historical accounts are to be treated as history. Parables as parables, hyperbole as hyperbole…In other words, the Bible is to be interpreted according to the rules that govern the interpretation of any book.[3]
Now for most of us, this is not earth-shattering news. We instinctively accept that the Bible is clear and understandable, but this was not always the case.Let me give you some examples of what I’m talking about.
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and Scribes were widely considered to be experts in the law of God. They were revered for their knowledge of God’s Word, but in the interactions between the Pharisees and Jesus it becomes clear that their knowledge was flawed. In Matthew 12, they argued with Jesus about what the Bible taught concerning the Sabbath. In Matthew 19, they argued with Him over what the Bible taught on divorce. In Matthew 22, it was His view of the resurrection.
In each case, they had a position on these issues that they claimed was faithful and orthodox, Jesus however, told them that they were wrong. But the question is, why were they wrong? At no point in these arguments did Jesus say, “Oh, I understand your confusion – the scriptures are not very clear on that subject.”
Instead, He tells them that their problem is that they haven’t read and understood the Scriptures. “Have you not read?” Is His ready reply and in one case He flat out tells them that they “know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”
The problem was not that the Scriptures were unclear, but that they had not relied upon the clear teaching of Scripture. Jesus’ underlying assumption when dealing with the Pharisees was that the Bible was sufficiently clear and understandable, they just weren’t relying on it.
The Pharisees and Scribes had developed a method of interpreting the Bible that led them into serious error. They weren’t satisfied with the plain meaning of the text, so they added to and expanded on the law such that the 10 commandments became 248 man-made commandments and 365 man-made prohibitions. But they weren’t the only religious group to make this type of error.
During the Medieval period, church leaders developed a very complex method of interpreting the Bible. That method was known as the quadrigaand it claimed that every passage had a fourfold meaning – a literal sense, a moral sense, an allegorical sense, and an anagogical sense.
R.C. Sproul commented on this method by saying,
To know the literal or most obvious meaning of a passage was a good thing, but to know the higher moral, allegorical, and anagogical meanings was even better. Precious few, however, could attain to these other, more hidden meanings of Scripture. This tended to obscure the meaning and significance of the Bible…Only the most “advanced” thinkers, for example, could see that the census recorded in Numbers was not really about the number of Israelite soldiers but rather the several steps it takes for the soul to ascend to God.
Nowhere in Scripture will you find support for such a view, for such a method of interpretation. In fact, the Bible teaches that the most basic meaning of the text is clear enough for anyone to understand.
Psalm 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
Deut 30:11–14 For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
It is clear enough to give instruction to the wise, prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion even to youth (Prov 1:3-4).
This doctrine of Biblical clarity may seem clear to many of us, but I must let you know that not everyone agrees with this position. Let’s talk about some of the historical objections to Biblical Clarity.
II. Some Objections to Biblical Clarity[4]
The Mystical Objectionsounds very spiritual and sincere because it claims that God is so complex and transcendent that he cannot be described meaningfully with mere words. The idea is that God is beyond the ability of human language and often those who make this claim believe that they need to rescue God from our man-made theologizing. They want to keep us from putting God in a box and they argue that truth cannot be captured in words or propositions.
The truth is that, yes, God is a complex and incomprehensible being. There are aspects of God’s character and nature that remain a mystery to us; but that doesn’t mean that we cannot understand what He has communicated about Himself in the Word. The doctrine of Biblical clarity does not assume that everything about God is clear and understandable to us, but that the things which God has revealed to us are clear and understandable. This objection falls apart when you consider the fact that the Scriptures have been given to us by God himself and He gave them to us in order to reveal Himself and His plan with clarity and for the purpose of understanding.
The Catholic Objection is one that the Protestant Reformers had to deal with. Catholic theologians argue that the Bible as a whole is not sufficiently clear and therefore it needs the aid of tradition and papal interpretation in order to be made clear and understandable. The Catholic church has long claimed that the average person is more apt to misunderstand and misapply the scriptures on their own and therefore they need the help of the Magisterium, the Popes and bishops to help them get it right.
The reformers disagreed and encouraged every Christian to study and interpret God’s Word on their own. The reformers argued that Scripture Aloneis sufficient to clearly teach us all truth that is necessary for salvation and spiritual life.
Martin Luther wrote,
But, if many things still remain unclear to many, this does not arise from obscurity in the Scriptures, but from [our] own blindness or [lack] of understanding… Let, therefore, wretched men cease to impute, with blasphemous perverseness, the darkness and obscurity of their own heart to the all-clear Scriptures of God… nothing whatever is left obscure or ambiguous; but all things that are in the Scriptures, are by the Word brought forth into the clearest light, and proclaimed to the whole world.[5]
Now, this doesn’t mean that we always interpret and understand the Bible with perfect accuracy. We, like the reformers, understand that we can and do make mistakes when interpreting the Bible. But those mistakes aren’t the result of the Bible itself being unclear. When mistakes are made they are the result of our own blindness, our own lack of understanding, our own suppressing the truth in unrighteousness; but the Scriptures themselves remain perfectly clear in presentation of the Truth.
The Pluralism Objection is probably one that you have heard or even used before. This objection questions how can we say that the Bible is clear and understandable if there is so much disagreement about what it means?Why are there so many denominations, and four views books?
The objection is not that one interpretation is greater than another, but that no one has any sufficient grounds to know whether any interpretation is right or wrong. This is a staple of post modernism. At best, they will only accept that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and personal interpretations; but they will reject that the Bible can be understood to clearly communicate any objective truth.
So, if you met this person at a coffee shop to talk about Scripture and you presented to them the meaning of Ephesians 2:1-4 they would look you in the eyes and say, “Well, that’s just your interpretation.” You might respond by pointing out the meaning of Greek terms and explaining the sentence structure and grammatical syntax. To which they might reply, “but human language is inadequate to accurately represent the reality of God.”
At the end of the day you can’t get anywhere because they have rejected the base assumption of the Bible itself, which is that it can be understood to communicate timeless truths from God with sufficiency and clarity.
Throughout the Bible we see that God communicates to men and He expects them not only to understand what He has said but also to obey what He has said.Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets speak the Word of God and they call on the people to read, understand and apply the Word of God to their lives. God even expected the Kings of Israel to write out their own copy of the Law of God and to meditate on it day and night, so that they would know how to lead the nation and please God.
In the NT, Jesus approached the written word of God as a book that could be clearly read, understood, and obeyed. He used the Word of God to teach, to correct, to rebuke and to train His own disciples. To Jesus, the OT was the word of God (period).
This doctrine of Clarity is the underlying assumption of the entire Bible. It is the ground level of how we interact with the Word of God. And if we lose this doctrine of clarity, then we lose our ability to understand anything with certainty.
Conclusion…
III. Why does this matter? 5 reasons…
1. It matters because human language is a gift from God.When you read the Bible, from the beginning you see that God speaks. In fact, He was the first being to ever speak. He spoke the universe into existence and then He spoke to His creation. He taught Adam and Eve how to communicate and He taught them the consequences of failing to heed His words carefully.
Human language, human communication has its foundation in God and He has chosen to use everyday human speech as the way to spread the knowledge of Him and His plan of redemption to the very ends of the earth. If we can’t trust the Word of God then we have nothing to stand on, nothing to rest our heart on, nothing to hope in, and nothing to drive us in life. But if we can open our Bibles, read its pages and understand what it says; then all of life comes into beautiful, God-glorifying focus.
2. It matters because it tells us what God is like.Every couple of years a new book comes out and in a culturally relevant sort of way this new book claims to show us a picture of God that is more accurate than what we see in the Bible. Many of these books become bestsellers, which shows that people really are curious about God, some of these books are even made into movies. But what these books do is they try to humanize God in ways that make Him more acceptable to our cultural sensitivities.
But the clarity of Scripture means that you don’t have to wait on the next best-seller to come out in order for you to know what God is like. There is an old poem about the 6 blind men of Hindostanwhere 6 blind men all come across an elephant but they each approach it and touch it from in a different angle. One touches the side of the elephant and immediately declares that the elephant is like a wall. One touches the elephants tusk and declares that it is like a spear. Another touches the tail and declares that the elephant is like a rope.
These men then begin to argue, all asserting that their opinion about the elephant is the right one, but in the end, they are all right and wrong at the same time. Religious people will often use this to illustrate that it is arrogant to claim that we know what God is truly like when all the other people of the world and the various religions of the world claim something else.
Now, there are a couple of problems with claiming the moral and religious high-ground using this poem; but the point that I want to make is that the whole story falls apart the moment the elephant speaks. If humanity is groping around blindly seeking to discover who God is and what He is like, then all of our groping ceases when God opens His mouth and reveals Himself to us.
In the Bible that is exactly what we have. God has spoken, and He has spoken clearly so that we can know Him and know how to be His people. If we close our ears and keep groping around thinking that we know more about God than what He has revealed, we aren’t just blind, we are hard of hearing and hard-hearted.
3. It matters because our eternity is at stake. This doctrine of clarity insists that even the simplest disciple can pick up the Bible, read and understand the gospel, and be saved. You don’t need a scholar to explain it to you because God has made His Word clear. Children, you can and should pick up and read the Bible. When you find something that you don’t understand get help but you can read it for yourself to learn the truth about God, the truth about your sin, the truth about Jesus and be saved from your sin.
4. It matters because God has called each of us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. To love God we must know Him and to know Him we must know what He has revealed to us in His Word. Mysticism is not the answer to how we can know God. Theological liberalism is the not the path that leads us to true knowledge of God. The Emergent conversation, is pretty much finished, but it wasn’t the path leading to a true knowledge of God.
Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.” We will grow in our love for God as we grow in our knowledge of and obedience to His Word.
5. It matters because Christ has called each of His disciples to engage in the ministry of the gospel. It is not just for scholars and professionals to know and share God’s Word. It is a right and responsibility given to all believers. Because the Bible is clear and understandable, everyone one of us can read it, study it, think deeply about it, and then teach it or share it with others. Moms and dads, you can teach the Bible to your children. Sunday school teachers can faithfully teach the next generation what God has said and done.
Cornerstone Academy: Biblical Theology Part 3
Series: Cornerstone Academy
Speaker: Mark Ritchie
Topic: The Authority of Scripture
The Sufficiency of Scripture
Cornerstone Academy: Biblical Theology Part 2
Series: Cornerstone Academy
Speaker: Mark Ritchie
Topic: The Authority of Scripture
Can We Trust the Bible?
Manuscript
2 Pet 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 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.
The Bible that you hold in your hand is trustworthy and reliable because it was not produced by the will of man, it is the very word of God.
Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it affirms; obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises.[1]
For the Biblical authors, there were myths on one side and truth on the other, and the Bible clearly belongs on the side of truth. No one had a more settled trust in the reliability of the Scriptures than Jesus and He requires no less from His followers. The Christian faith requires trust in the truthfulness and reliability of the Bible.
Many have tried to deny this and create a form of Christian religion that is very selective about what it will accept from the Bible. They don’t think we should take the Bible so seriously, but one thing the Bible can’t be is moderately important. It is either of no consequence whatsoever or it is the most important book in the history of humanity; I’m going with the latter.
Both the OT Jewish faith and the NT Christian faith are intricately tied to history. The events that took place and are recorded for us are events that took place in space and time and under the guise of eyewitnesses. The most important claims of Christianity are historical claims. Jesus was born of a virgin in a stable in Bethlehem. Thousands of people saw him, heard him and witnessed the countless miracles that he performed. He was crucified by Roman authorities in Jerusalem. Then three days later He was raised from the dead and was seen by more than 500 eye-witnesses.
These facts and thousands more make up the historical evidence that fueled the Biblical authors. They wrote what they saw, they wrote what they heard, they wrote what they experienced first-hand; but beneath all of the seeing, hearing and experience, the Holy Spirit was also present.
Question: Who wrote the Bible?
Answer: Holy men who were taught by the Holy Spirit.
Transition…
This morning we are going to look together at 2 Peter 1:16-21 and we are going to ask the question, can we trust the Bible? Is the Bible trustworthy and reliable? Is the message of Christ true?
Sermon Focus…
I. The Message of Christ is no Myth (16)
2 Pet 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths (cleverly invented fables) when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
The problem that Peter is addressing in this letter is that a group of people in the church are dismissing the claims of the gospel as mere myth. They are denying certain aspects of Christian teaching, especially the second coming of Christ, as nothing more than a cleverly concocted story, and Peter is responding to their attack on the reliability of his teaching as well the reliability of all of Scriptures.
We face a very similar problem today. Many of you are familiar with the words of C.S. Lewis where he outlines the options available to us when trying to make sense of Jesus. Lewis writes,
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.
You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.[2]
Liar, Lunatic, or Lord; those are the options that Lewis presents us with. But in our day, we can add a new option to the list; legend.
Tim Keller in his book The Reason for God recounts his collegiate experience during the late 60’s where he was confronted with the prevailing wisdom of the time.
My professors taught that the New Testament Gospels originated as the oral traditions of various church communities around the Mediterranean. These stories about Jesus were shaped by those communities to address the questions and needs peculiar to each church. Leaders made certain that the Jesus in these stories supported the policies and beliefs of the community. The oral traditions were then passed down over the years, evolving through the addition of various legendary materials.[3]
This was taking place at Bucknell University, a private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. It was also taking place in Baptist seminaries during that time. In 1961, Ralph Elliott, who was a seminary professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote a commentary on the book of Genesis that was published by Broadman Press. Elliott’s method of interpreting the Bible was to look for the symbolic and spiritual meaning to the text, because in his view the Bible couldn’t be trusted as historically reliable.
In other words, their view is that the Bible is simply a collection of legends or myths made up by men in order to further their own religious cause. If this is true, then the Bible can’t be trusted as reliable and taken seriously. But these views simply are not true. Over the last 50+ years we have seen the evidence for these claims crumble. There is no serious scholarship to back up what these men and women have said.
The Biblical documents that we have are historically reliable. When you look at manuscript evidence, archaeological evidence, prophetic evidence and statistical evidence; the Bible is the most historically credible book ever written in human history.[4]
Norman Geisler writes,
“By comparison with the New Testament, most other books from the ancient world are not nearly so well authenticated. The well-known New Testament scholar Bruce Metzger estimated that the Mahabharata of Hinduism is copied with only about 90 percent accuracy and Homer’s Iliad with about 95 percent. By comparison, he estimated the New Testament is about 99.5 percent accurate. So the New Testament text can be reconstructed with over 99 percent accuracy. And, what is more, 100 percent of the message of the New Testament has been preserved in its manuscripts!”[5]
There was once a biblical skeptic named Sir William Ramsay, trained as an archaeologist, who set out to disprove the historical reliability of the books of Luke and Acts. He set out on an archaeological journey to prove his theory. However, after several trips through the Mediterranean, all the while comparing the archaeological evidence with the biblical record, he discovered that every fact that Luke, the author of Acts, recorded was spot on, and he became a Christian.[6]
Here is Ramsay’s conclusion to his work:
Luke’s history is unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness” … “Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy...this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”4[7]
You see, we aren’t the only generation of people to face these attacks on the reliability of Scripture. Even in Peter’s day, it is clear that a very early form of this same thing was taking place. There was a group of people in the church and they were rejecting the message of Christ as nothing more than mere mythology, legends created by men to gain credibility and influence. And Peter responds to their attacks by saying nothing could be further from the truth.
The NT gospels, Acts of the apostles and letters to the churches don’t fall into the category of myth or legend – they fall in the category of historical, verifiable fact. Kevin DeYoung writes,
The Greeks and Romans had lots of myths. They didn’t care whether the stories were literally true. No one was interested in the historical evidence for the claim that Hercules was the illegitimate son of Zeus. It was a myth, a fable, a tall tale, a story to entertain and make sense of the world. Paganism was built on the power of mythology, but Christianity…is intimately tied to history.
But how? How does the message of the NT tie itself to actual historical events? For starters, the authors were eyewitnesses.
II. The Trustworthiness of the Gospel is corroborated by eyewitness accounts (17-18)
V. 16 - but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
In other words, Peter isn’t making anything up. There is not the slightest hint of mythology or legend in Peter’s mind. This actually happened, and Peter, James and John saw it with their own eyes. What did they see? The transfiguration of Jesus.
They were present on the mountain when Jesus was changed right in front of their eyes. All three of them saw the same thing, they heard the same voice, they were all together with Jesus when the majestic glory of Christ was revealed. The mountain where this took place exists. The event itself took place in space and time. All three of the Apostles were present. This wasn’t a vision in their souls or an experience within their hearts. If you and I had been on the mountain with them, we would have seen it too because it truly happened.
This is the posture of the entirety of Scripture. The events recorded actually took place and they were written down for our instruction and edification. The events were verified by those eyewitnesses but also by the countless number of people who were also present when the miracles of Jesus took place.
All four canonical gospels were written no more than 40-60 years after Jesus’ death and most of the epistles were written between 15 and 25 years after Jesus’ death. What this means is that the Biblical accounts of Jesus’ life were all in public circulation well within the lifetime of hundreds of people who were eyewitnesses to His amazing ministry. If legends were to creep into the New Testament accounts, they would have to be written much later so that no eyewitness could point out the errors.
This means that all of the supernatural events that occur in the gospels could easily be confirmed by living eyewitnesses and that is exactly what we find in the NT.
Luke 1:1-4, Luke claims that his written account of the life and ministry of Jesus was taken from eyewitnesses who were still alive when he wrote and began to circulate it.
Mark 15:21, Mark mentions specific names of people, and there is no other reason for him to do so except to give them the opportunity to confirm what he has written.
I Corinthians 15:1-6, Paul not only refers to an eyewitness but to more than five hundred who saw the resurrected Christ at the same time…almost to say, “Go ask them if you don’t believe me.”
On top of these, there is also the fact that the ministry of Jesus did not occur in a bubble, it was clearly visible to thousands of people in the first century world, especially important people. In Acts 26:26, Paul stood before King Agrippa and declared to him the gospel in Jerusalem, the very city where Christ had been arrested, tried, crucified and buried…but those present didn’t laugh off Paul’s words, they took them to heart and pondered them as an explanation for what they knew had already taken place.
What you find in the early days of the church is overwhelming continuity between the gospel writers, which is why we refer to them as the synoptics. The four gospels that we have in our Bible today were recognized from the start as authoritative eye witness accounts and this is evidenced by the fact that one of the church fathers, Irenaeus, declared in 160 AD that there were only four gospels.
It wasn’t until the late 2nd century (175 BC) that the first of the so-called Gnostic gospels was written and that volume contained the type of legendary material you would expect to find, which is why the orthodox church rejected them. They were rejected because by that time the 4 canonical gospels that we have in our bibles were trusted as reliable and true.
When the Apostle John wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus, he led out with…
1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life…3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you.
Peter, James and John were eyewitnesses to the glory of Christ and their burden is to pass on to us what they saw and heard. Their eyewitness testimony is powerful evidence of the trustworthiness of the Scriptures but there is something even more convincing than eyewitness testimony.
III. The Reliability of the Prophetic Word rests on God (19-21)
19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
More fully confirmed is an amazing statement that we simply cannot miss. Peter wants us to trust in his own first-hand account of Jesus transfiguration glory. He wants us to take his word for it as historically reliable truth. But Peter knows that there is something with even greater credibility, this Word came to us by the Holy Spirit.
It is not that Peter’s eyewitness account of the transfiguration is less reliable than the prophetic word; but that the prophetic word should be accompanied with the utmost certainty and reliability as it comes directly from God. The Word of God is as true as true can be. There is no firmer foundation upon which to rest your faith, your life and your eternity.
The Word of God is true, and the Scripture is the Word of God. Neoorthodoxy wants us to affirm that the Bible contains the word of God or that it becomes the word of God. But Peter’s point is that Scripture is the Word of God. The Greek term graphe means writing, or that which has been written down. The Bible is God’s speech, God’s communication to man, written down and preserved for us and this means that God’s authority resides with His Word.
That’s why the writer of Hebrews can say,
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
God’s Word is not just something that we read, it is something that reads us. It brings the power of God to bear on our hearts when it convicts us of sin, convinces us of the truth of the Gospel, and motivates us to obedience and faith.
Yes, the word of God was given to us through human instrumentality but that doesn’t make it any less true, authoritative or divine.
V. 20 no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 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.
God chose to use the “intellect, skills and personality of fallible men to write down what was divine and infallible…but this in no way implies any fallibility in the Scriptures (DeYoung 37).”
B.B. Warfield writes,
The men who spoke from God are here declared to have been taken up by the Holy Spirit and brought by His power to the foal of His choosing. The things which they spoke under this operation of the Spirit were therefore His things, not theirs. And that is the reason which is assigned why “the prophetic word” is so sure.
The Bible that you hold in your hands was written down by the hands of men but every word, in the original autographs, was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. And because God is the author of Scripture we must also say that Bible is without error. Scripture did not come from the will of man but from God and if it is God’s Word then it must all be true.
Ultimately, we believe the Bible to be inerrant because it comes from God Himself. It is unthinkable to contemplate that God might be capable of error. Therefore, His Word cannot possibly contain errors. This is our faith-we can trust the Bible because we can trust God (RC Sproul).[8]
Conclusion…
Some people falsely believe that they can have a relationship with God apart from His Word. They want to be able to pick and choose what to believe about Him. They like certain aspects of Scripture but not others, so they form their opinion of God based on their own likes and dislikes. In the end, what they have is not God but a deified version of themselves. They have constructed an idol that will never save them and probably doesn’t even need to.
But, this is not Christianity it is a delusion. A real relationship to God, the God who has revealed Himself in Scripture, is one where He changes us day by day from one degree of glory to another. “An infallible Bible is not an enemy to our relationship with God; it is the precondition for it.”[9]
You can completely immerse yourself in the Word of God and trust with certainty that it is true. Trust it, rely on it, and be shaped by it. When you read it you are hearing the voice of God and the words of eternal life. The Word of God is true. The good news of Jesus Christ is that He is the way, the truth and the life. He lived, died, rose again and appeared to more than 500 eyewitnesses. He calls us to repent and believe in Him so that we can be pardoned of sin and enjoy eternal life with God.
Preparation for the Lord’s Supper…
Invite helpers to come forward and ask the people to prepare themselves.
As we prepare to take the bread and the wine into our hands and then to taste them with our mouths, let us remember with our minds what these things represent. The sacrifice has already been made and accepted. Christ has been raised victorious over death and this bread is but a reminder, albeit a powerful one. This bread is a tangible reminder of the body of Christ that was broken for us. The wine is a tangible reminder of the blood of Christ that was poured out for our sin.
As we eat this bread and drink this cup we remember the Lord’s death and all that it accomplished for God’s people.
If you are a believer in Christ, meaning that you trust that Jesus is the Son of God who died to take away your sin and was raised to secure your salvation. If you are trusting in Christ alone as your Savior and Lord then we welcome you to join us in observing the Lord’s Supper this morning. As the plates pass you will see clear cups filled with grape juice and purple cups filled with wine.
If you are not a believer and have not come to trust in Christ then we ask that you simply let these plates pass by you. But I would urge you to think deeply about the state of your soul. I would urge you to consider your sin and its offense to God. I would urge you to look to Jesus as your only hope of rescue and to put your trust in Him alone for salvation.
[1] R. C. Sproul. Can I Trust the Bible? (Crucial Questions Series Book 2) (Kindle Locations 68-70). Kindle Edition.
[2] C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity pg. 52
[3] Keller, pg. 97
[4] Josh Wagner, Can We Trust the Bible (personal notes from Falls Creek Apologetics Forum)
[5] Norman L. Geisler and Abdul Saleeb, Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 239–241.
[6] You can read his story in his own book, St. Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen by William M. Ramsay.
[7] Josh McDowell, Josh McDowell’s Handbook on Apologetics, electronic ed. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1997), Chapter 7.
[8] R. C. Sproul. Can I Trust the Bible? (Crucial Questions Series Book 2) (Kindle Locations 49-50). Kindle Edition.
[9] Ibid.
Cornerstone Academy: Biblical Theology
Series: Cornerstone Academy
Speaker: Mark Ritchie
Topic: The Authority of Scripture