CORE
Bible Concepts “The Revelation of God in Scripture� BibleClass.com.au Teaching Series Series: Core Bible Concepts Part: #3 Main Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-17; John 17:17 Teacher: Dr Paul Iles Date: 30.01.2013
Inline, direct scripture quotes are italicised. Block quotes are indented. The New King James Version is used unless otherwise stated. This transcript has undergone minor editing to ensure readability.
The MP3 audio of the study upon which this transcript is based and a learning guide are available from http://bibleclass.com.au/
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Introduction This is our third study of the revelation of God; the way in which God reveals Himself and has made Himself known. Our first study introduced the fact that God is knowable. In that study we looked at the ways in which God has made Himself known in a general sense, to all peoples. Beginning in the second study, we looked at How God has revealed Himself specifically, or personally to individuals. We’ve foreshadowed the fact that He has done that through two means: firstly through His ultimate revelation, the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw in John 1 that He is called “the Logos” or “the Word” - He is the living Word of God. In this study we are looking at the revelation of God through His written word, which is the Bible. This is the second way in which He effectuates the personal revelation of Himself to the individual. The scope of God’s revelation in the Bible is enormous. He has told us of Himself, His glory, His ways, His purposes and has given to us the answer to the meaning of life in the origin and destiny of humanity.
The Authority of Scripture Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the ultimate revelation of God, is our foundation. We did not see Him, but the Apostles did. They heard Him, spoke to Him and touched Him, “the Word of Life.”1 Although we have not seen Him, we have been personally brought to know God as Christians; We are those who have not seen, but have believed2. Thus we have benefited from the revelation of God in His written word, which has given testimony to us concerning the work of the Lord Jesus. The New Testament is made up of what the apostles wrote. What they wrote is authoritative for two reasons: firstly, they were eyewitnesses having seen and heard Him and secondly, they were inspired by God the Holy Spirit to write the scriptures. So you can see the mechanism of the authority of scripture. Ultimately it must come back to Jesus because He, as God’s ultimate and perfect revelation, is the foundation3 upon which we build. We were not there when He did His work, so those who were witnesses wrote down their testimony for us. Their testimony was inspired by the Holy Spirit in order that the scriptures the Bible - might bring the revelation of God to those who have not seen Him in flesh. These scriptures are God’s written word (contrast the last study which concerned the living word, Jesus Himself). John 17 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
How are we sanctified? Through the scriptures, which are God’s truth. So the first point is that scripture has absolute authority. There is no other standard. The word of God stands alone as truth with no other thing to qualify it. God has revealed Himself absolutely and authoritatively through it. 1 2 3
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1 John 1:1. John 20:29. Psalm 118:22; Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:4-8.
The Sufficiency of Scripture Therefore, all of our faith and beliefs must rest on the authority of the word of God with nothing added to it.
The danger of addition Tradition Tradition must never be added to the word of God, although sadly that has often happened. In the times of Jesus, the Pharisees had added to the teachings of the Old Testament such that He had to say in Matthew 5 over and over, “You have heard that it was said to those of old... But I say to you...” See, He had to correct their views because their teaching had been mangled so as to misrepresent the content of the Old Testament through centuries of tradition. This has continued throughout the history of the church. In Roman Catholicism, you will find that the tradition of the church, which is cemented in centuries, is every bit as authoritative as the word of God. Indeed, it is superior. This is also true across the whole spectrum of false religions. We must be careful that this does not invade our thinking also. You do not interpret scripture through tradition. You interpret tradition through scripture! And it is not authoritative if it is not exactly consistent with what the word of God says, without qualification. Personal Revelation Personal revelation and experience must never be added to the word of God. This has done untold damage in the history of the evangelical church. In more recent times, experience-based Christianity and experience-based faith have exploded. Person A had this experience, so it must be true. Person B had a word of prophecy or a word of knowledge, so it must be true. Person C got something from God, so it is authoritative... Not so! The authority is the word of God, not the experience of the individual! A boy says that he died and went to Heaven, so his dad writes a book about it4. Millions read the book to find out about Heaven. No! There is only one book that can tell you about Heaven! It’s the written word of God, the Bible. Maybe this heavenly experience was supernatural, maybe it was imagination, maybe it’s a downright lie, maybe it’s Satanic. We don’t need to know, because we know that the word of God is our only source of authority. Mystic Christianity is based on visions, dreams and personal experiences and it is fast becoming the gold standard. It wrought havoc in the middle ages. Then the mystics began to write theology and did even more damage: Ellen White established the Seventh Day Adventist cult, from outside the word of God with her own revelations. Joseph Smith wrote the book of Mormon with his own revelations, outside the word of God. Mary Baker Eddy founded Christian Science, and so on. Philosophy Human reasoning also has no authority to say that it can reveal God. This bothered the early 4 This is a reference to the two recent and bestselling books, “Heaven is for Real” by Todd Burpo and “The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven” by Kevin Malarkey.
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church and the apostles immensely because the Gnostics were active and they believed in this sort of thing. There were also many men of tremendous intellect who lived in the apostolic era: Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and so on. We may not be aware, but by the 12th century their teachings were actually incorporated into the church as being as authoritative as the teachings of the apostles. Thomas Aquinas was responsible for that. If you look at some of the religious paintings since the 12th century, you will find the figures of these great philosophers mingling with the apostles, and they remain on many church walls in Europe to this day. The idea is that man’s thinking actually sets the standard for right and wrong. Maybe you think this is not a problem in the 20th century, but it absolutely is. The authority of scripture has been shockingly undermined on this basis over the past few decades through modern psychology. The teachings of men have infiltrated the thinking of mainstream Christianity. It has influenced the way we think about such things as bringing up our children whether or not we discipline them, for example. It further manifests itself when we scream about our rights and forget about responsibilities, when we don’t expect people to listen to authority and when we believe that we are the most important person in our world. More ominous, we don’t see the significance of sin or have a clear delineation of right and wrong in our mind-set. Rather, we find ourselves thinking in the worldly framework, that we are merely products of our environment, not personally responsible for what we are. None of this rubbish is from scripture! It came from the likes of Freud, Rogers and Skinner. This is the kind of thing that young people today are taught in our school system, and parents are not alert to it. Meanwhile it is getting into the fabric of the thinking of our children. So now we find people who can say, unashamedly, “I am a Christian and I love the Lord, but I do as I like, when I like, how I like.” And they don’t judge themselves, and they don’t realise the sinfulness of their inward nature, nor do they appreciate the awfulness of sin. This is all because we have incorporated the philosophies of the gurus of psychology into our faith. There is but one source of absolute authority, the word of God. “Thy word is truth.”
The Inspiration of Scripture 2 Timothy 3 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 16
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Wise for salvation Note how Paul bears testimony to the authority of scripture in verse 15 by referring to its power, that it is able to make us wise for salvation. If you know somebody that is seeking the way of salvation, fundamentally you need to be wary of feeding them information to serve idle curiosity, or trying to prove the truth to them by logic. Give them the word of God. It has the authority, the power and is used to reveal God to the individual under the hand of His Holy Spirit. It will also demonstrate its own logic and answers arguments in its own, better way. There is somebody who is asking me many questions about Christianity at present. She is looking for proofs of the resurrection. Actually, I have a book on the historical proofs of the resurrection, but I never gave it to her. I gave her the scriptures that say it. Why? Because the scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation. It’s the only source of the knowledge of God’s salvation. It is the only thing that has the power to convict of sin. Furthermore, it details the evidence for the resurrection already.
God-breathed Then we come to verse 16. Note firstly the word, “All.” All the holy writings are given by inspiration of God. What does that mean? It means that God Himself, from within Himself, has poured out Himself into His own word, revealing Himself. The literal translation is, “Godbreathed.” The idea is that there is a power in it. It comes from within God to mankind. When we talk about the Bible as being inspired, it means the following: The Holy Spirit guided and controlled the person in such a way that they could not be guilty of error in what they wrote. It was not a question of the writer going into some sort of trance and becoming some sort of robotic dictator that wrote the very words he was given. It also does not mean that the apostles did not do significant research into what they were going to write - Luke certainly did this when writing works like the Acts of the Apostles, for example. It also does not mean that they all wrote with the same style. Paul writes differently to Peter, who writes differently to John and so on. Each writer brought their personality, style, experience and knowledge to their work, but they were guided under the hand of the Holy Spirit so that what they actually wrote was free of error and consistent with what He would have them to write. So intimately identified is God with His word that the Bible says, when the scripture speaks, God is speaking. Galatians 3 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
That is, the scripture is being attributed the words, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” If you go back to the original, actually that is what God Himself said. When the scripture speaks, therefore, God speaks.
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Romans 3 2 ...Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.
Here, the scriptures are called the “oracles of God.” That word, “Oracle” is an authoritative spoken word. But more: the root word for oracle in the original comes from the word, “logos.” And recall from last week, the Logos is the Word of God made flesh. The word of God is inspired by Him. It came out from Him. He empowered the writers to produce that which is incapable of error. It is totally, intimately connected with Him.
The Use of Scripture Now come back to the next part of 2 Tim 3:16: ...and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness...
Doctrine
Doctrine refers to teaching. So it is profitable for divine instruction in knowing the mind and will of God, understanding His purposes, interpreting all past history and unfolding all future history and so forth. To get the benefit of that, the individual must acknowledge a need to be taught. We have to admit that we do not know - we are personally ignorant. Then we have to admit a personal inability to find out by ourselves. And finally, if we are wanting instruction then we have to admit that there is such a thing as right and wrong. Some things are right, but equally some things are wrong, and it is the right things that you want to know.
Reproof Reproof means rebuke for wrong behaviour or wrong belief. Both are important. Hebrews 4 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Correction
What is the difference between reproof and correction? This later word means to restore to its proper condition. After the storm the other night, I saw one of the pine trees in my front garden leaning to one side. Now I have to go and correct it, to put it back in the right position. Likewise, if I stumble and go to fall, but you reach out and grab me and put me back up on my feet, you have restored me to my proper position and corrected my fall. Psalm 119 9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. 10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
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Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. 11
Instruction in Righteousness
This is the positive guidance and training for Godly Christian behaviour. God is speaking in His word, saying what is right and true and also what is wrong. And we live by it. The Bible says it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. The lamp to the feet shows you exactly where to place each step, whilst the light to the path shines ahead in the distance and shows you the direction in which you must continue. In that sense it is a compass and a guide for our lives. In any consideration of any issue, ethical or moral or any question, spiritual or physical, the answer is found in the word of God. So when we are faced with questions in life as to what we ought to do or believe, then you take the scripture, read what it says and that settles it! Some think that is extreme, but it is right because this is God’s word and His word is truth. Think of the diverse issues which we have to face today. President Obama said just the other day that one of the great goals of his second term is to be sure that there is equality for all our gay brothers and sisters. And the Christians say, “Well we have to be tolerant, non-judgemental, loving and non-discriminatory.” Now wait a minute - that is exactly how the world thinks! If I go to my Bible and see what God says about it, He says it is sin. End of story. The basis upon which we stand concerning all issues is what the word of God says.
The Old Testament 2 Peter 1 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
These men who wrote the bulk of the Old Testament were not philosophers expressing their own ideas, but rather they spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. They were not interpreting life or history from their own viewpoint or through their own cultural lens. In fact they often did not understand the message that they were given. Note Daniel’s comment, for example: Daniel 12 8 Although I heard, I did not understand.
Peter sums up what they did as follows:
1 Peter 1 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
They wrote of and wondered at that coming blessing to the Gentiles. It was not their instigation or idea. They were men who were often reluctant to speak and only spoke because they had a
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burden and were driven to do it by God.
Self-Attestation How does the Bible refer to itself? Throughout the pages of scripture you will find phrases like, “The Lord said,” “The Lord spoke,” “The word of the Lord came...” And so on. And the Bible records God’s words on such occasions. These terms are mentioned 3,808 times. The Bible also calls itself, “Scripture” which are sacred writings or holy writings. They are writings that pertain to God. Take the below example: 1 Corinthians 15 3 ...Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures
“The Scriptures” here refers to the Old Testament writings. It happened exactly as they said it would happen, and in that event all the relevant types and foreshadowings of Old Testament scripture were fulfilled.
Sometimes people are tempted to treat the New Testament in two parts. They claim that the teachings of Jesus are inspired, but that writers like Paul had a different theology. This is not what the apostles said, nor is it the teaching of the Bible. 2 Peter 3 15 ...Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
Note, “The rest of the Scriptures” meaning that Paul’s writings are also scripture. They are holy writings, the inspired word of God.
Jesus Himself referred to the Old Testament as scripture5. During His ministry He repeatedly and consistently taught from the Old Testament, because that revealed the mind of God on a subject. For example, divorce and remarriage6 and the resurrection of the dead7. Remember when Jesus spoke to the two on the road to Emmaus. Where did He begin when He expounded the truth about Himself to them? Moses and the prophets; the Old Testament scriptures8. To summarise: Paul gives witness to the Old Testament writings as scripture. Peter gives witness to the fact that Paul’s writings are scripture. The Lord Jesus gives clear evidence and declaration to the fact that all of the Old Testament is scripture. And He says that the word He Himself spoke were not His own, but those of God9. 5 6 7 8 9
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John 10:36. Matthew 19:4. Mark 12:26. Luke 24:27. John 14:10
1 Timothy 5:18 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”
There is something really great in this verse. The first statement which is attributed to scripture came from Moses and the law. The second statement which is attributed to scripture came from the Lord Jesus Himself. And the two are put together in the one category.
Internal Unity The Bible is 66 books, written by over 40 authors, but it blends entirely in perfect harmony around one common theme. It is written by different kinds of people from different cultures and in different ages with different intellect, training and background. And yet it does not contain contradiction on any theme or point of revelation. That is a miracle. A fisherman puts his work alongside a brilliant university-bred scholar and they are united. This is so because the Bible is ultimately not 66 books by 40 different authors. It is one book, with one author. That is why it has one ultimate theme: Redemption in Christ. It is the word of God. It is the way in which God has revealed everything He has to say about Himself and His purposes. Matthew 4 4 “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
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