By Pastor Dave Farmer
The Bible is the most extraordinary and significant book ever written in history. It expresses everything God wants us to know about Him and the purpose He has for us. How we got our Bible is a must study for all Christians. In the Scripture, He addresses every member of the human race as their Creator and Lord. Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer writes:
The Bible is God's message to man setting forth a revelation of himself, the record of What He has done and will do, at the same time, the disclosure of the fact that every created thing is subject to Him and discovers its highest advantage and destiny as it is conformed to His will. 1
He Is Our Sovereign!
Isaiah 46:9,10
9] Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10] Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; 2
I imagine that most of us got our Bibles by going to the bookstore and purchasing them. Some may have received them as gifts from thoughtful relatives and friends, but this Bible of ours took 1500 years to complete, and there were over 35 different writers who participated in its preparation.
The Bible is God’s message to us. Man did not originate the Bible, God did! He spoke, and He decided to have His words written down.
The Bible Exists!
The testimony of Scripture is clear. Our Creator loves us and has provided a plan for us to live with Him forever, "For God loved the world so much that He gave His uniquely born Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life, " John 3:16.3 He desires to establish a personal relationship with us, but our present condition does not allow it. We are sinners, and we are broken, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23.
He wants us to know this and what He has done to overcome the problem. Driven by His great love for us our Lord Jesus Christ enters the Biblical story. He saves the day. He dies on the cross to rescue us from this broken condition. This is the central theme of the Bible. How our Lord Jesus Christ entered the human race and gave up His very own life on the Cross so that we might have life now and forever. Our Lord Jesus Christ receives the title of achievement "Savior." Those who believe this message are brought into a new relationship with God. He no longer addresses them as their Creator, but now as their Heavenly Father.
The Bible is the divinely inspired and only authorized message from God to man. This definition emphasizes the unique source of the Bible. It is the Word of God given to humanity. It contains a message from God to man. It is God's book. He is the source while all other books are written by human beings for other human beings, this is the only book God authored and authorized to be His Word.
There are good reasons why we should understand the nature and character of the Bible. The primary reason is that the Bible is the foundation upon which Biblical Christianity 2 is built. If your doctrine of the Scripture is incorrect or incomplete, you will be erecting a house on a footing that is uneven and crooked. The unintended result will be a faulty view of God, an inaccurate view of Christ, in fact, every doctrine will be affected. Error has real consequences!
For instance, we believe in one triune GOD existing in three PERSONS - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections." This is our Statement of Faith in God. Someone might say, "How do you know God is like that?" Our reply, "It is in the Bible!"
Again, we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man; that He accomplished our redemption through His death on the Cross as a substitutionary sacrifice; that our redemption is made sure to us by His literal physical resurrection from the dead; that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God, where, as the High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.
Someone says, "How did you arrive at that belief?" Our reply, "It is in the Bible!" The point is that all we believe stands or falls on whether our source of truth is true and reliable. If the Bible loses its hold upon us as the infallible standard of truth, then everything else goes down into the same abyss of disbelief. No one ever doubts the Virgin Birth until he first doubts the integrity and infallibility of the Bible. No one ever doubts the deity of Christ or His atoning work until they first question the Bible as the eternal Word of God. This study of the character of the Word of God is very important because we derive our beliefs from the Bible. It is the foundation upon which our faith is built.
It is unfortunate that many Christians do not have a faith that is rooted and grounded in an infallible and inerrant Scripture. Rather, their faith is like the coal miner's with whom George Whitefield held a conversation. Speaking to a worker in the coal pits of Cornwall, Whitefield asked:
"What do you believe, asked Whitefield?
What the church believes," was his answer.
And what does the church believe?
What I believe, said the coal miner.
What do you both believe, asked Whitefield?
The same thing," he replied."
Sadly, many Christians do not know the Scripture. They depend on other people or organizations to inform them what to believe. The truth is we are all held accountable for what we believe. "He or they led me astray" will not hold up as a defense in divine court. We should take the imperative of 2 Timothy 2:15 seriously:
Be diligent [keep on studying] to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
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ENDNOTES
1 Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1. page 23.
2 All quotations from the Bible come from the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Bracketed portions of the verses are added to explain and amplify the sacred text.
3 Biblical Christianity is distinguished from all other forms of the Christian faith; such as, Protestant, Catholic, or Charismatic, in that it holds the tenet that the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith, doctrine, and opinion, not religion or religious liturgy or tradition, or history or emotion and experience.