God-Breathed and Useful: Why We Can Trust the Scriptures December 29-30, 2018

Transcription

1 God-Breathed and Useful: Why We Can Trust the Scriptures December 29-30, 2018 Summery and Goal False teachers were infiltrating early churches, claiming personal inspiration and leading many astray. Paul urges Timothy to contend for the true faith as revealed in the Scriptures. He speaks of the authority of Scripture and the usefulness of Scripture, telling believers today that we can have great confidence in the Bible and reminding us that knowing the Bible will equip us for every work or role to which God calls us. Main Passage: 2 Timothy 3:15-17 The Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Session Outline: 1. The Holy Scriptures are the true authoritative source that leads us to salvation. 2. Scripture was written by God and is useful for doctrine and life 3. Scripture equips us to do and be all that God asks of us Introduction As a student of Christian spirituality, I have read almost all of the most beloved classics of the Christian faith, many of them several times over. As an English major, I have read most of the greatest recognized works of the English language Shakespeare, Milton, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and many others. While there are some passages in all of these books that stir the soul, none of them come even close to the power unleashed in the pages of the Bible. I can get more out of one paragraph from Paul in Colossians than three chapters from a classic book. There s a reason for this: while the Scriptures used human authors whose minds were engaged and whose personalities were present, they were also inspired and guided by God, and thus they were given unique, powerful, lifegiving, indeed, God-breathed truth. If you re well-read, the evidence of God s inspiration should be self-evident. There s just nothing else like Scripture in all of literature. A heart warmed up to God will find something in Scripture that she or he can t get anywhere else. Beginning next week, Second Baptist will start a 52 week series on a chronological study of the Bible. We ll go through the fourteen eras of the Bible in our quest to understand the overall 1

2 scope of Scripture like never before. With an exciting year ahead of us, for this week let s look at how important, helpful, and useful Bible knowledge is. Background: Paul is writing to Timothy at a time when wayward elders and teachers have been deceived and are deceiving others, even to the point of abandoning the truth (2 Tim. 2:18) and making a shipwreck of their own faith (1 Tim. 1:19). Paul is countering heresy by telling Timothy to remain faithful to what he has learned, both verbally from Paul and from the written Scriptures. Explanation Paul presents two central truths about Scripture: its origin and its purpose. 1. Scripture s origin is nothing less than the mind of God himself. While God did not dictate Scripture in most cases (there are a couple examples in the Old Testament when God told a prophet to write something down verbatim; also, the original Ten Commandments were said to be written by God s finger), he worked through humans to breathe out truth, instruction, warning, and encouragement. Scripture s ultimate author, therefore, isn t an inspired individual; it s the Holy Spirit working through different people to proclaim one story that tells one truth. 2. Scripture s purpose is to teach us truths and show us how to live righteous lives, ultimately resulting in salvation. When Paul says that the Scriptures are useful to make us wise for salvation, this tells us the Bible s first purpose isn t history (though it is historically accurate), science (though, read in its proper intent, it doesn t contradict known scientific facts), or object lessons. Its purpose is to show the way to salvation and help us live righteous lives. The Bible is not to be read to discover magical numerical formulas, hidden scientific discoveries, or as an answer book for every question about the world or God that we might have. The Bible doesn t tell us all we want to know, but it does tell us all we need to know. Its main objective is to tell the story of God and his people where we came from, who God is, what went wrong, and how God is setting everything right through Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Bible invites us to join this story by becoming saved people who accept what God says in Scripture, respond as he asks us to respond, and live to proclaim his truth to others. What does Paul mean by all Scripture? How can we be sure he s referring to what we call the Bible today? Paul intends Timothy to receive and stay true first to the teachings of what we call the Old Testament. In Romans 3:2 he refers to O.T. writings as the very words of God. (Which means they are relevant for Christians today.) 2

3 It s also rather clear that Timothy would understand the word scripture more broadly to include select writings from Paul and the other apostles. Remember, in the same letter (2 Timothy) Paul reminded Timothy who he learned his doctrine from, which was Paul himself and the other apostles. Other reasons we should consider the New Testament writings as part of Scripture include: On several occasions, Paul tells Timothy to read his letters in public worship, alongside the Old Testament (Col. 4:16; 1 The. 5:27). Paul intermixes Old Testament and New Testament thought, quoting Deuteronomy 25:4 alongside a saying recorded by Jesus in Luke 10:7 and calls both of them Scripture (1 Tim. 5:18). Paul makes several references of God speaking through him, and people listening to him as if he were Christ Jesus himself (Gal. 4:14; 2 Cor. 2:17; 13:3). Paul claims divine inspiration in 1 Thess. 2:13: When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. Paul tells the Corinthians his words aren t taught by human wisdom but by the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:13). This is a direct claim to inspiration, which is a distinctive characteristic of Scripture. Peter refers to Paul s letters as scripture in 2 Pet. 3:16. Peter uses language very similar to Paul when he says the human authors spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). BACKGROUND: Historical Acceptance of the New Testament as Scripture It s sometimes taught that there wasn t a Bible as we know it until several centuries after the death of the apostles, thus questioning the authority of the New Testament, but history alone rebuts that line of thinking. Clement was Bishop of Rome from 88 till his death in 99; the apostle John is thought to have died in 100 A.D. So, during John s lifetime, Clement reveals himself conversant in Matthew, Mark, Luke, the letters to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Timothy, Titus, and 1 John. These were treated by Clement as authoritative Scripture while the last apostle (John) was still alive (and who would have spoken up if he disagreed), clearly testifying to the early church s acceptance of these letters and writings as authoritative truth from God. Marcion was excommunicated in 144 for teaching there was no connection between the Old and New Testaments, meaning the early church already saw this as heresy (thus accepting the authority of the New Testament). Polycarp (69-156), a direct disciple of the Apostle John, referred to Old and New Testament books as Scripture. The early church had recognized the 27 New Testament books as canonical by AD 200, though it s not likely they were collected as one volume, even though the individual books were 3

4 regularly referred to as authoritative. They were already being translated into many languages (demonstrating their value), and Origen (c. 220) began writing commentaries on them. By 367, the canon of the New Testament including the same 27 books affirmed 150 years prior were officially gathered and recognized as authoritative by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, in the East, and the Council of Carthage in the West. This council didn t grant new authority to the books we now think of as Scripture as much as it denied authority to other books not considered inspired, affirming the long-held view that there is something distinct about the New Testament books that make up the canon. All the books recognized in 367 had been used, studied, and treated as Scripture from the time of the early apostles. It s an important distinction to note that the canon was not created in 367. It was rather closed, definitively so. We can, with confidence, state that Paul s assertions about the origin of Scripture refer to all the books that Christians today call the Old and New Testaments. What does God-breathed mean? Some translations use the word inspired instead of God-breathed but this can be misleading. Paul isn t claiming that there is simply something exceptional about Scripture. He goes much further than this to claim the very agency and work of God. As B.B. Warfield once wrote, the Bible isn t so much in-spired as it is ex-pired. God-breathed does not mean dictation, as if God possessed the biblical writers and wrote through them. Read in their original languages, the biblical writings clearly display that each writer has different levels of education, style and personality. But God oversaw what they were writing to supernaturally produce completely reliable truth. Scripture s Use 2 Timothy 3:15-17 offers a fourfold purpose of Scripture with two positives and two negatives. The first positive/negative couplet is teaching and rebuking. This refers to Scripture as the final authority on doctrinal truth. The positive angle (teaching) proclaims Scripture s usefulness to tell us what is true and what we need to know. The negative angle (rebuking) speaks of what is in error and what must be rejected, so that we believe the right things and reject everything that is false. The second positive and negative couplet ( correcting and training ) refers not to what we believe, but to how we live. The negative correcting refers to Scripture s role in moving us away from harmful, sinful, God-dishonoring actions, such as the lists found in Colossians 3:5 and 8: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 4

5 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 2 Timothy 3:16 is the only place in the New Testament when the word translated correction is used; outside the Bible, it typically refers to helping get someone who has fallen back on their feet. So the spirit behind the action isn t to simply condemn people for committing these acts, but to help people get back on the right path. The positive training in righteousness refers to Scripture s many admonitions about how to live, such as the list found in Colossians 3:12-13: Therefore, as God s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Notice that both doctrine and life matter. You can believe the right things about God, but if you live however you please you are no better off than Satan, who also believes the right things about God (James 2:19). On the other hand, if you live a good life that resembles how Scripture calls us to live but believe lies about God, such as believing that salvation can be gained through anyone other than Jesus, you are also in error. Life and doctrine work together, as Paul tells Timothy directly in 1 Timothy 4:16: Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. The servant of God means the one who belongs to God. It s a title of endearment. This means we can t expect nonbelievers to accept this book at face value or to try to follow its admonitions just because the Bible tells them to. The Bible is a love letter to those who love God; it s not a book of verbal hand grenades to toss at people who don t yet believe. If someone doesn t accept Jesus, obeying the Bible won t save them. They need to come to Jesus first, and obey second. However, Scripture is powerful enough that when it is read correctly and appropriately, it can draw others into a life of faith. Consider Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Thoroughly equipped for every good work Recently, an NFL quarterback on the hot seat didn t help himself when coaches revealed they gave him blank game tapes to review and asked him to comment on them at the next team meeting. When the QB talked about them, the coaches knew he wasn t watching the tapes and he wasn t preparing for games because the tapes were blank. 5

6 The Scriptures are our game tapes. They give us everything we need to do the works of the ministry. If we read them, meditate on them, listen to them, prayerfully ask God to enlighten us through them, and then apply them, we won t lack anything for game day. We ll be thoroughly prepared and have all the wisdom and truth we need to get the job done as parents, friends, teachers, and workers on behalf of Jesus Christ. The psalmist captures this beautifully when he writes: The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. (19:7) 2 Timothy 3:15-17 proclaims that the words of Scripture are our primary source of truth and that studying them is the finest method of maturity. French theologian Ceslas Spicq puts it very well: The man of God is before all the man of the Bible. Applications: 1. Since it s true that when the Bible speaks, God speaks, the first place to go to listen to God and make decisions is the wisdom already revealed in Scripture. This truth is more solid, more helpful and more useful than impressions or feelings of peace. 2. We need to study Scripture to find out what is true and what is false. Teachers, parents and friends remind those they love of what is true. They also may need to gently correct and contradict teachings that are false. 3. A full life in Christ involves two elements: believing right doctrine and exhibiting right practice. Life and doctrine both count, and Scripture is the final authority for each. 4. The most effective form of training for ministry and growth in maturity is direct study of the word of God. 6