Scripture

For Jesus, the Bible was God’s word to all people and it authority should never be doubted. Satan’s first attack on Adam was for him to question the authority of God’s word and it has remained the same chief temptation ever since.

“Did God really say . . .”

Satan then goes on to deny the truth of what God had said,

“You will not surely die . . .” Genesis 3:1-4

Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan and was asked to question what God had just said at his baptism,

“You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Luke 3:22

Satan began,

“If you are the Son of God, . . .” Luke 4:3

To each of the very real temptations, Jesus replies,

“It is written . . , It is written . . , It is written . . .”

For Jesus, the Scriptures were not be tampered with or used out of context. They are the Word of God. Jesus said,

“Scripture cannot be broken.” John 10:35

He recognised that the authors of Scripture were inspired by God himself.

“David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared . . .” Mark 12:36

After his resurrection Jesus emphasised the importance of the message of Scripture.

“Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. then he opened their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written . . .’ ” Luke 24:47

Jesus was very clear that he had come to proclaim the Word of God. Thus when he was giving his last talk to his disciples, before his crucifixion he keeps emphasising this point.

The Holy Spirit has been given to convince people to accept the message Jesus gave to the world,

“. . . in regard to sin, because men do not believe me, . . .” John 16:10

The Holy Spirit will guide God’s people to God’s truth. God’s truth is a message that Jesus and now the Holy Spirit will proclaim.

“I have much more to say to you . . . But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” John 16:12-14

The Holy Spirit has been given to the church for this very purpose, to proclaim God’s unchanging truth to the world, that Jesus ‘came from God’ (John 16:30).

Jesus then prayed. He saw that the work of preaching God’s message about God’s kingdom and how people may enter it through faith in himself, was nearly complete. He now had to become the means of our forgiveness by dying on that cross. He prayed,

“Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” John 17:3-4

Jesus is clear that passing on God’s words that his followers may live through obeying them was key.

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. they are yours; and you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” John 17:6

“I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.” John 17:7

Jesus recognised that the Scriptures were God’s word to the world. Referring particularly to his disciples, he prayed,

“None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” John 17:12

It is God’s message, that the church is to pass on, that is so divisive.

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them.” John 17:14

Jesus prays that in spite of the opposition, the church will stay faithful to God’s truth and keep proclaiming it to the world. They church is never to be a ‘holy huddle’, but must be out in the world as God’s messengers, proclaiming and living by God’s truth.

“My prayer is not that you will take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” John 17:16-18

There can be no misunderstanding. the church is primarily here to pass on God’s message or word to all people. It is no coincidence that Jesus is given the synonym of ‘The Word’.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” John 17:20

There have been many attempts to unify Christian denominations. It is a worthy aspiration but the only basis will be the acceptance of God’s word as the ultimate authority and the need to share the message of salvation through faith in Christ.

“May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:23

This has always been the emphasis of the church. Paul wrote to the Roman church about the advantage Jews had in being trusted with the Scriptures,

“They have been entrusted with the very words of God.” Romans 3:2

Paul wrote to Timothy, shortly before his execution, this telling summary of what his life’s work was to be about.

“14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

In the first century Clement of Rome referred to the Scriptures as,

“ . . . true utterances of the Holy Spirit.”

In the second century Athenagoras argued,

“God moved in the mouths of the prophets as if they were musical instruments.”

Augustine wrote,

“The authors of Scripture are free from error.”

This is in stark contrast to some modern religious leaders. Thus Steve Chalke, who used to be a Bible believing evangelical, has now argued that the Bible contains,

“ . . . numerous discrepancies, errors and downright contradictions,” as well as “oppressive and discriminatory measures.”i

“The idea that . . . it is ‘infallible’ or even ‘inerrant’ – in any popular understanding of these words – is extremely misleading.”

“In truth, there is nothing in the biblical texts that is beyond debate and questioning.”

“Rather, in my view they (the Scriptures) are . . . written by fallible human beings whose work bears the hallmarks of the limitations and preconceptions and preconceptions of the times and cultures they lived in.”ii

It is not surprising that Steve Chalke’s organisation, ‘Oasis’ has been asked to withdraw from even the broad Evangelical Alliance!

BVP

i www.oasisuk.org/theology resources

ii Steve Chalke ‘Have we misread the bible?’ in Christianity March 2014 p. 32-37