IV.
4 characteristics of scripture
A. Authority: The authority of Scripture
means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to
disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. (Grudem,
page 73)
1.
This is what scripture claims for itself (2 Timothy 3:16)
a. Scriptural authority is self-attesting
because they are God’s words and He is the ultimate authority
b. The Holy Spirit witnesses to us the truth
of the words of scripture. Since the Holy Spirit is God, we are still
referencing His ultimate authority to validate the scriptures.
2. Inerrancy and Infallibility
a.
God cannot lie or speak falsely.
i. Proverbs 30:5: Every word of God proves true; he is a shield
to those who take refuge in him.
ii. Titus 1:2: in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised
before the ages began…
b. All the
words of scripture are God’s words.
c.
Therefore, all the words in scripture are completely true and without error in
any part.
d. Infallible
signifies the quality of neither misleading nor being misled and so safeguards
in categorical terms the truth that Holy Scripture is a sure, safe, and
reliable rule and guide in all matters.
e. Similarly, inerrant signifies the quality
of being free from all falsehood or mistake and so safeguards the truth that
Holy Scripture is entirely true and trustworthy in all its assertions. (Both
statements in d and e come from the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
written by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy)
B. Clarity: The Bible is written in such a
way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who will read it
seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it. (Grudem, page 108)
1. Deuteronomy 6:6, 7: And these words that I command you today
shall be on your heart. 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.
2. Beginning
of general epistles indicate that they were to everyone in the scope of the
letter regardless of educational background
C.
Necessity: The Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining
spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will. (Grudem, page 116)
1. Romans
10:13-17: For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How
then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to
believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without
someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is
written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But
they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed
what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through
the word of Christ.
2. Is the
Bible necessary? The original disciples didn’t have it in the 1C.
a. Jesus was
the full revelation of God → He taught and commissioned the apostles, who
were eyewitnesses to Christ, about the Kingdom of God → They taught
the original disciples in the 1C in person and in letters → The
apostles died off → These letters (and Gospels) were copied and
disseminated widely as scripture → They eventually became canonized
b. The
eyewitness testimony that was always the basis of the Gospel made its way into
the Bible. It is the means that God infused the Bible with His own authority.
D.
Sufficiency: By the completeness of the
Scriptures is meant that they contain all the extant revelations of God
designed to be a rule of faith and practice to the Church. (Charles Hodge,
Systematic Theology, volume 1, page 182) (see 2 Timothy 3:16, 17)
E. Practicality of these
characteristics
1. Disbelieving the
Bible, rightly interpreted, is disbelieving God.
2. The Bible is our
final authority on matters of which it teaches.
3. The
doctrine of the clarity of Scripture therefore has a very important, and
ultimately very encouraging, practical implication. It tells us that where
there are areas of doctrinal or ethical disagreement…there are only two
possible causes for these disagreements: (1) On the one hand, it may be that we
are seeking to make affirmations where Scripture itself is silent… (2) On the
other hand, it is possible that we have made mistakes in our interpretation of
Scripture. This could have happened because the data we used to decide a
question of interpretation were inaccurate or incomplete. Or it could be
because there is some personal inadequacy on our part…or failure to devote
enough time to prayerfully reading and studying the Scripture. But in no case
are we free to say that the teaching of the Bible on any subject is confusing
or incapable of being understood. (Grudem, page 109)
4. How we
should think and how we should act is found in the Bible.
5. Nothing
should be added to Scripture, and no other writings are of equal value to
Scripture.
6. No modern
revelations should be placed on a level equal to Scripture.
7. We can be
content with what God has told us in Scripture.
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