Many people love to talk about the inerrancy of Scripture. The Bible in its original writing contained not a single error in any detail it discussed. In the copying and translation process, some errors have been introduced, however they are extremely few and each one is completely irrelevant to the actual content of what is being said. These errors, or variations, are spelling/grammar issues, number disagreement, and/or pronoun replacements, nothing of valuable content.
Fewer people will talk about the sufficiency of Scripture. Especially in light of academic arrogance, many, many Bible teachers, pastors, and scholars will listen some to what the world says, and add in something from their education, usually in some form of humanism into their theology. I wrote about the sufficiency of Scripture last year, but since then, I got inspired to take that idea even further. The Bible is not just sufficient to provide answers for every type of topic in every type of field, but it is superior to every other authority in attempting to address such topics. Not only can each major type of field be answered with the Bible alone, but the Bible provides better answers than any other authority.
One of the words used to describe Scripture is the word “canon,” which in the Hebrew it means “rod.” Throughout the Old Testament, this word “rod” is used in four different ways. Two of the ways are in context of a shepherd. The shepherd will use his rod to correct a sheep who has wandered off and bring him back onto the right path. He will also use the rod to help keep the sheep from wandering off in the first place. A third use is related to authority, namely a king’s rod. This rod is the symbol of the man in charge. But the fourth use is the one this post will address: the measuring rod. (See Eric Ludy’s sermon “Canon” for more details on this.)
You cannot go through a basic education without using a ruler at some point. A ruler is a device we use to measure short distances. We use thermometers to measure temperature, weigh scales to measure weight, and a clock to measure time. You can to go Wal-Mart or any store and get household devices to measure these things. Yet, what happens if a yard stick happens to be an inch short? What happens if the thermometer’s needle gets stuck? How are they fixed and reset? They have to be calibrated to a given standard.
At my job as a substitute in the public schools, the bell schedule changes every Friday so we can insert an anti-bullying program. As a result, while my watch stays steady, every time the bell schedule changes, my watch ends up getting a little faster and a little faster to the bell. So every few months I have to change my watch to match my work’s clock. My watch is not the standard, the clock at the school is and in order for my watch to be accurate, I must change it to match what the school is doing. Now, I can leave my watch alone for a while, knowing it is 5 seconds or even a minute off the bell. I introduce an error factor, but I have to correct for that error every time I look at it.
The Bible is like the school clock. It is like the formal definitions of weights and measurements. It is the standard upon which all other standards are derived. The Bible is superior to all other standards because no other authority is given by God to do what the Bible does. The Bereans were praised for listening to what Paul and Silas has to say and then going back to Scripture (which then was just the OT) and verifying what they said. Jesus repeatedly cited the authority of Scripture in his debates with the Pharisees, using Scripture as not just sufficient for his own teaching, but also superior to any other teaching.
Paul was the scholar of all scholars in his day and yet he treated all the knowledge of this world as rubbish and foolishness. He made a purpose to know only Christ and Christ crucified. Everything he was to know was to point to Christ and that cross. Anything that did not point to Christ he treated as dung. He frequently cited Scripture as his primary authority both before his conversion and after. What was the difference? Before his conversion, Scripture was just the end of the means. After, he saw Scripture as the revealer of Christ. But Scripture still was his first and highest authority, not just rigid in text but also in spirit.
The skeptic will be quick to say, “I worship God, not the Bible. God is above the Bible.” That’s actually not what God said in the Bible. Psalm 138:2 states that God puts his Word above his name. Why? Because his name is of no value unless his word is true. This is true of any person. A man who cannot keep his word is a man whose name cannot be trusted nor valued. God is not a man that he should lie. Some also say, “The Bible is not the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God.” This is also false. BOTH are the Word of God. The Bible is the Word written in text. Jesus is that same Word in living flesh. The Bible makes no sense unless you insert Jesus as the key into the lock. The reason Jesus is trustworthy is because he fulfills the written text perfectly. Jesus is no longer here in physical form. Yes, the Holy Spirit is ever present with us, but it is the Bible that is the only physical, tangible connection any person has with God. It is the ultimate authority and the standard upon which we are to discern the spirits.
No other standard can compare to Scripture. No other authority has been given the weight God has given Scripture. No other authority can boast of being God-breathed. No other authority can boast of never being wrong. No other authority can boast of coming from God and bearing God’s fruit. Science cannot do any of that. Education cannot do any of that. Politics cannot do any of that. Money and business cannot. Sports cannot. Drugs cannot. Sex cannot. Listening to sermons and Christian music cannot replace digging into Scripture.
When Ezekiel saw the vision of the angel measuring the Temple, he had a rod of which was used to measure it. The temple is not a physical temple but the body of Jesus Christ. The measuring rod is not a physical ruler but the test of Scripture. No other measuring rod is accurate and no other temple matches the measurements of Christ. That is why every person needs a Savior. Every other standard puts man at the helm. Scripture is the only authority which puts God at the helm. Scripture is not just inerrant. It is not just sufficient. It is superior. Why seek your advice from others gods when you can get it from the real thing? Why depend upon that which will fade and burn when you can depend upon that which will last forever? The wisdom of this world is shameful and will be put in its place. The wisdom of God, while it seems foolish to this world, is the everlasting truth and will always not merely outlast this world, but completely dominate it. Seek the Lord who has revealed himself in Scripture. He is always right.
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1 comments:
Fantastic!
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