SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: REVELATION AND GOD Week Four: Biblical Authority Introduction This is the third session in a twelve week study of the doctrines of revelation and God. Last week, we discussed the doctrine of inspiration, the idea that the Bible is the very written word of God. Though the Scriptures were written by dozens of men over about a thousand years, the words they wrote were also God s words. The Bible is both a human book and a divine book, authored by men as they were led by the Holy Spirit. This week, we turn our attention to the doctrine of biblical authority. What s the Big Idea? Though it s important and accurate to say that the Bible is inspired, this doesn t say enough about the Bible. The doctrine of biblical inspiration carries with it several ramifications for how we understand other aspects of Scripture. One consequence of God s inspiration of the Bible is that the Bible must be authoritative because it is God s Word. Wayne Grudem defines biblical authority as follows: the authority of Scripture means that all the words of Scripture are God s word in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. 1 In a later study we ll focus on the attributes of God, including his authority. For now, it s enough to understand that Scripture is authoritative because God himself is authoritative. John Frame argues there are three interrelated aspects of God s authority: 1) God s authority is absolute we should not doubt it or question it. 2) God s absolute authority transcends all our other loyalties. 3) God s absolute authority covers every area of human life. 2 To summarize, God s authority is absolute, final, and comprehensive he is the sovereign Lord of all creation and we, as his creatures, are to obey him as such. God s authority provides the basis for the Bible s authority, while the Bible provides the means through which God communicates his authority to us: An approach to the subject of biblical authority must begin with God himself. For in him all authority is finally located. And he is his own authority, for there is nothing outside him on which his authority is founded. Revelation is therefore the key to God s authority, so that the two, revelation and authority, may be regarded as two sides of the same reality. In revelation God declares his authority. 3 What Do the Scriptures Say? God s Word is of everlasting authority and always perfectly accomplishes God s intentions: 6 A voice says, Cry! And I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; The Doctrine of Revelation Page 1
surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever (Isa 40:6 8). 10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Isa 55:10 11). God s Word was to be recorded, continually meditated upon, and passed down from generation to generation: 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deut 6:6 9). Believers are to know God s Word, obey God s Word, and allow God s Word to change their hearts and shape their actions: 1Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! 2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, 3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! 4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. 5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! 6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. 8 I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word (Psa. 119:1 16). Believers are to trust the Bible because, though it is the words of men, it is most importantly the Word of the God who inspired those men to write it: 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:14 17). 19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:19 21). The Doctrine of Revelation Page 2
What Has the Church Said? During the Patristic Era (ca. 100 500), relatively little was written in defense of biblical authority. But it s clear that the earliest Christian leaders assumed the authority of Scripture. Their sermons and writings were based on the Bible, especially the Old Testament. As they fought heretics over such issues as the canon of Scripture, the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Christ, and the priority of God s grace in salvation, they made their case from the Bible. The early church fathers clearly affirmed Scripture as authoritative for faith and practice. During the Medieval Era (ca. 500 1500), Christians increasingly looked to church tradition as a second authority alongside the Bible. Especially in the Catholic West, church tradition as it is rightly interpreted by the church s hierarchy was understood to be an authority equal to and complementing biblical authority. This is still the case with the modern Roman Catholic Church and, to a lesser extent, the contemporary Eastern Orthodox tradition. During the Reformation Era (ca. 1500 1650), the emerging Protestant movements rejected the dual-authority view of the Catholics and argued for the principle of sola scriptura ( Scripture alone ). Sola Scriptura is the idea that the Bible alone is our supreme authority for faith and practice. For Lutherans and most Calvinists, sola scriptura did not mean they rejected all tradition, but only that they scrutinized tradition according to the standard of Scripture. As a general rule, the Anabaptists were suspicious of church tradition in principle and preferred to completely bypass it in favor of their interpretations of the Scriptures. Since the beginning of the Modern Era (ca. 1650 present), a growing number of professing Christians have rejected (or at least questioned) biblical authority. This is largely a result of the Enlightenment, which questioned the Bible s supernatural origins and full factual accuracy. In our own time, Christians with more liberal inclinations rarely reject the full authority of Scripture, but they often limit authority to one or two key areas normally salvation and morality. But even in these cases they often interpret these ideas through the lens of contemporary cultural sensibilities rather than trying to understand what the biblical authors themselves say about these matters. In the Baptist tradition (est. 1609), theological conservatives such as most Southern Baptists have sided with the Reformation traditions. Some Baptists tend toward an Anabaptist antitradition view, while others affirm tradition as a secondary authority that is ultimately judged according to the Bible, which alone is our supreme authority. The Baptist view of biblical authority is the same view held by evangelicals in general. What Should We Believe? Each week, we re looking at two confessional statements that articulate a strong doctrine of Scripture, including biblical authority. These statements are The Baptist Faith and Message (2000), which is our church s confession of faith, and the Confessional Statement of The Gospel Coalition, a broader evangelical ministry with which some of our elders are involved. It s worth noting that though these are helpful confessional statements, our ultimate authority is the Bible itself. Confessional statements are only authoritative insofar as they accurately summarize our supreme authority, the Scriptures. The Doctrine of Revelation Page 3
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation. 4 God has graciously disclosed his existence and power in the created order, and has supremely revealed himself to fallen human beings in the person of his Son, the incarnate Word. Moreover, this God is a speaking God who by his Spirit has graciously disclosed himself in human words: we believe that God has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are both record and means of his saving work in the world. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks. We confess that both our finitude and our sinfulness preclude the possibility of knowing God s truth exhaustively, but we affirm that, enlightened by the Spirit of God, we can know God s revealed truth truly. The Bible is to be believed, as God s instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as God s command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God s pledge, in all that it promises. As God s people hear, believe, and do the Word, they are equipped as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the gospel. 5 Christians should affirm that the Bible is inspired by God and is thus his authoritative, written Word for humanity in general and believers in particular. Furthermore, Christians are obligated to submit to God s Word as our supreme authority for life, doctrine, and practice. Christian faithfulness in any matter is contingent upon the degree to which we place ourselves under the Bible s authority. How Should We Then Live? Learning and knowing: because the Bible is authoritative, we should seek to understand what it teaches through regular personal Scripture meditation and memorization, regular attendance at the church s corporate worship gatherings, group Bible study (especially with fellow church members), and reading useful books that help us to better understand Scripture. Hearing and doing: because the Bible is authoritative, we should joyfully and obediently conform our personal lives, our families, and our churches to what is revealed to us in the Scriptures this includes what is revealed to us through personal study, group Bible study, and the preaching of the Word in the context of the church s corporate worship. Raising and rooting: because the Bible is authoritative, those of us who are parents should seek to conform how we raise our children to what the Bible reveals and expects this includes, first and foremost, modeling for and instilling in our children a reverent submission to God s Word. Preaching and teaching: because the Bible is authoritative, those of us who are preachers and teachers should be careful to balance confidence and humility the confidence to boldly proclaim God s authoritative written Word with the humility to conform our own lives to Scripture and never substitute our own presumed authority for God s revealed authority. The Doctrine of Revelation Page 4
Recommended Resources David S. Dockery, Christian Scripture: An Evangelical Perspective on Inspiration, Authority, and Interpretation (B&H Academic, 1995). Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Zondervan, 1994), 47 89. Leon Morris, Biblical Authority and the Concept of Inerrancy, Churchman 81 (1967), available at http://www.churchsociety.org/churchman/documents/cman_081_1_morris.pdf. Don Carson, John Piper, and Tim Keller, Biblical Authority in an Age of Uncertainty, video interview for The Gospel Coalition, available at http://thegospelcoalition.org/videos/24635066. Andy Davis, The Origin, Purpose, and Effectiveness of the Scriptures, (11/22/98), a sermon from 2 Timothy 3:14 17, available in the Media Library at the FBC Durham website (http://www.fbcdurham.org). Notes: 1 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Zondervan, 1994), p. 73. 2 John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (P&R, 2006), pp. 11 12. 3 Walter A. Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2 nd ed. (Baker Academic, 2001), s.v. Bible, Authority of, p. 154. 4 The Baptist Faith and Message (2000), Article I: The Scriptures, available online at http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp. 5 Confessional Statement of The Gospel Coalition, Article II: Revelation, available online at http://thegospelcoalition.org/about/foundation-documents/confessional/. The Doctrine of Revelation Page 5