I have made it clear that I believe in the Bible. I believe it is, for the most part, clear and understandable. I believe that it should be read and understood as written. I believe it is God's Word, breathed out by God, authoritative, and sufficient to equip believers for every good work. Of course, I believe this in direct conflict with the vast majority of the world and even of those who call themselves Christians.
The problem with all that is that no one seems to understand why. They think I'm arrogant, that I'm over-confident, that I'm overbearing. The problem, you see, is a misconception on their part.
I believe in the reliability of Scripture because I believe in God. I trust Him for His Word, for His promises, for His truth claims. I trust Christ who promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to lead His own into the truth. I trust the Holy Spirit to have accomplished this through the millennia. I don't believe in the Bible because I trust my advanced training or superior reasoning skills or my special insights (I have none of those things.). I don't believe the Bible is God's Word because I think I'm such a wise fellow. I believe it because I trust God.
Trusting God means that He did breathe out His Word, superintending it and protecting it, getting it right. Trusting God means that His Son was and is perfect -- no mistakes, no sin, no errors. When He promises, He delivers. He promised the Spirit; He delivered. Trusting God means trusting the Holy Spirit. Christ promised the Spirit would lead us into the truth; the Spirit delivered. Trusting God, then, would mean that God's Word is reliable and Christ is reliable and the Spirit is reliable. Trusting God would mean that the Spirit has always led His own in the truth.
Now, I know there are a lot of self-identified Christians that claim to trust God as well, but do not have that kind of confidence in His Word. They believe it's hard to understand. They believe there are errors and mistakes, myths and legends. They believe that it's all a matter of opinion. To me, that is not trusting God. But, hey, if you can have confidence in God without trusting His Word, His Son's promise, or His Spirit's work, I suppose they have a different understanding of the word, "trust".
I believe all that, but it is a misconception to think I believe it because of something in me. It's not me. I know me better than that. On the other hand, I think God has well-earned my confidence in Him, so any suggestion that I just chalk this stuff up to "opinion" is just plain foolish to me. "God is trustworthy; I just don't trust Him to that extent" is far more arrogant than what I believe.
5 comments:
It seems strange that to have certainty in the character of someone else is considered to be arrogant. It appears to be the opposite of arrogance.
On the other hand, I would say that certainty in my own opinion over what God has said would require quite a bit of arrogance.
I agree, which is why it’s so important that people can make the argument that the Bible is unclear and that even the most straightforward declarative statements are open to multiple interpretations. Even to the extent that the interpretation can contradict to statements being interpreted.
Which is why I try to avoid that view that "everything is my opinion." It results in contradictions.
Frequently. Or it doesn’t, because it’s all opinion and opinions aren’t ever wrong.
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