All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)That's quite a comprehensive claim. Paul argued that the Old Testament was God's actual word. But Paul's claim went beyond that. He claimed "all Scripture" was God's actual word. So, when Peter declared Paul's writings to be Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16), that automatically meant that Paul's "all Scripture" included ... Paul's writings. And Paul said it was sufficient. "That the man of God may be complete." So when we hold up the Bible as authoritative and sufficient, we aren't talking about the paper, the ink, or the library of books. We're talking about God -- His efforts, His breath, His overseeing. The Bible is God's written word, the things He intended us to know to be complete. Our confidence isn't in Paul or anyone else; it's in God.
How it is, then, that we aren't convinced of His Word? God, essentially, dictated love letters to us. We read them, nod our heads, and dismiss them out of hand. I know. You're thinking of the liberals of this world. "Yeah, why don't you guys take this stuff seriously?" I am ... and I'm not. I'm talking about all of us. We all, to some degree, fall short of taking the book as written. We all read God's letters, God's explanations, God's instructions, God's revelation of Himself, and we say, "Well, that's pretty good, but ..." Seriously, did God actually create the heavens and the earth, or was that natural processes, modern science is right, and we've all bought some lies? Did God actually send His Son to die for our sins, or was that some ancient blood ritual dreamt up in earlier times and certainly not what any real God would do? Does He actually hold that "the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God" (1 Cor 11:3), or have we figured out a better way now? Really? "Wives submit to your husbands"?? He doesn't know enough to come in out of the rain! So many clear texts and we, each of us, take them ... more or less.
Imagine if you wrote letters to someone you cared about and they did that with your letters. "Well, you said you liked pizza, but I know pizza isn't healthy, so I'm pretty sure that wasn't accurate. You said you'd love me forever, but that's not really possible, so I'm sure you meant 'for a while.'" They would end up with a false understanding of who you are. When they do that with God's word, we end up with a false understanding of who God is and what He said. In human terms, that's delusional; in biblical terms, it's idolatry.
3 comments:
We too often don't like to change our ways to align with Scripture, so we lessen the importance of some passages and heighten the importance of others. When we see ourselves doing that, we need to correct ourselves, not the Bible.
I'm currently dealing with objections and push back by the citing of that which I never said, but which also has no bearing on whether or not we can trust Scripture. Is Scripture inerrant? I think so! Can I prove it? Why must I? It either is or it isn't and given it is our most authoritative source for understanding God and our relationship with Him, I'm inclined to simply buy in. How can I go wrong?
But these objections and the pushing back are no more than tap-dancing around the defense of an alternative understanding. I most certainly could be wrong about how I understand any passage or verse, but without an actual compelling, evidence-supported argument, I'm not likely to just concede the unstated alternative has any merit simply because my understanding is inconvenient (because it's accurate).
I'm fascinated by the people that tell me what I believe because someone else does even though I don't, and I'm astounded by the people that tell me, "The Bible is not inerrant ... and I get to decide which is and isn't inerrant." That is, "The parts that I agree with are, and the parts I disagree with are not." Then, like you, they tell me, "We're not disagreeing with Scripture; we're disagreeing with your interpretation." They DON'T tell me why their "interpretation" is better or even, most of the time, what their interpretation is. What is just about NEVER part of my experience is "Let's sit down, see what Scripture says, and figure it out." Instead, they presuppose, "I've got it figured out and Scripture MUST agree with my prior thinking."
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