What role does the Bible play in our lives?

WHAT ROLE DOES THE BIBLE PLAY IN OUR LIVES?

Peter Y. Woo 9/27/87

    1. ITS NATURE.

It is fully human, yet fully God-inspired.  

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching,

for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness."

Inspired: literally, God-breathed.  (a) When God breathed into the 

man made of clay, the man lived.  Thus Scriptures vitalize our

spiritual awareness and thirst.  It brings us life.  (b) Breath is the

same word as Spirit.  Hence, the Scriptures are inspiring, spirit

lifting, life-guiding.  (c) When you read the Scriptures, you hear

God's holy breath.  How awe-inspiring.  You see His way of operations.

You become aware of His personality.  

    2.  ITS AUTHORITY IS SUPREME.   

No human institution can claim higher authority than the Scriptures.

On the contrary, the Scriptures are the judge of all human life,

conduct, beliefs, and institutions.  

A Christian's duty is to submit his life to all commands in the 

Word of God, and to eagerly study it.  It is the most normal way

of receiving daily instructions as well as spiritual insight and

nurture from God.  Hence it is of utmost importance for each believer

to develop good methods and habit of daily devotion time.

    3.  THE LIBERAL POSITION.

The ultimate goal of the Liberals is to reject the indictment of the

Word of God, that we are sinners, cannot save ourselves, and need

to receive Jesus as Savior.  This would greatly humiliate the 

"lofty" human spirit.  This belief in the innate goodness in man is

the foundation of secular humanism which they will not surrender.  

The Liberal therefore has to resort to downgrading all Old Testament

Scriptures as myths, that convey moral truths, but were scientifically

wrong and historically untrue.  This remove the foundation and 

unique authority of the moral teachings of the Bible, and now they

are free to reinterprete such moral teachings to compromise with the

prevailing philosophy of the times, such as existentialism, atheism,

Darwinism, Marxism, Buddhism, etc.  They regard the Evangelical

Christian's submission to the literal teachings and active seeking

of Divine guidance for daily living as superstition or at best self-

improvement.  

    4.  POSITION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS AND OTHER CULTS.

The Roman Church claims its traditions has higher authority, and 

rejects all evaluation of their beliefs based upon the Scriptures.

For years their members are severely warned against reading the

Bible themselves, lest they err.  This fear of freedom to read the

Bible alone and dependent only on the Holy Spirit's guidance, seem

to pervade all cults. Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, even Mr. Witness

Lee's Local Church, all demand believers interpret the Scriptures

according to their strict writings on interpretation.  "Relying on

the Holy Spirit alone" is regarded as dangerous, and is allegedly

the cause of so many denominations in Protestant churches today.    

    5.  THE EVANGELICAL POSITION ON THE INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

During the Reformation, the reformers (e.g., Martin Luther, John

Calvin, Zwingli, Wycliffe) rediscovered the following principles

of Biblical intrepretation.

II Peter 1:19-21 "So we have the prophetic message reaffirmed,

to which you do well to pay attention as you would to a light that

shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the Daystar arises in

your hearts, with this most clearly understood, that no prophetic

Scripture can be explained by one's unaided mental powers.  Because

no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead men spoke from God

as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

(a) It is possible, in fact only so, to know the meaning of the 

  Scripture by reading it with a humble spirit, seeking the guidance

  of the Holy Spirit.

(b) God intends us to heed primarily the literal meaning of a message,

  especially the original meanning of the human writer with regard

  to his original listeners.  Any "hidden meaning" may have spiritual

  insight, but has less or little authority, unless collaborated by

  other Scriptural passages.  This basic principle of Biblical

  interpretation is called the "Grammatical and Historical method".

(c) Even when one passage may have a primary meaning, it may have many

  applications.  For prophecy, some may have been partially fulfilled

  in historical events, but there may be a final fulfilment in future.

  E.g., the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 a.d. and the Holocaust under

  Hitler are but preludes to the final, more terrible judgment to come 

  upon the Jews, during the Tribulation.

(d) All Scriptures are consistent, therefore any interpretation 

  must be consistent with all other Scriptures.  Out-of-context 

  interpretations have no authority.  Thus interpretation that

  the Apostle Peter is the Rock on which Jesus is to build His Church

  is inconsistent with the teaching from the rest of the Scriptures,

  that Jesus Himself is the one and only Rock of our salvation.

(e) The Scriptures are a witness of God's intervention in human

  history.  Therefore all its historical records are to be accepted

  as more reliable than other human records.  Modern archaeology 

  have repeatedly verified this belief.  The Bible is not a scientific

  treatise.  It talks of the Sun coming out from the east, from a

  phenomenological point of view, rather than the earth rotating on

  its axis.  However, there are passages telling of the earth like

  a ball hanging in space, that is not only scientifically accurate,

  but far ahead of the scientific knowledge of the times of writing.

  The belief that ALL Scriptures being inspired and historically

  accurate, including Genesis Chapter 1, is known as Verbal 

  Inspiration or Literal Accuracy.  It does permit us to attempt

  to look at the Creation in more than one way.  It is not inflexible.

  The Liberals reject this doctrine as "idolatry of the Bible".

(f)  We must interpret the Scriptures just as Jesus did.  He took

  the Old Testament verses literally in its authority, e.g., during

  his temptation, or during his debate with the Jews.  Yet He infused

  new and profound meanings to the Scriptures, e.g., "God is the God

  of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob."  "Thou wilt not allow your Holy One to

  see corruption."