How do we know the Bible is true? DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE (part 1) : Inspiration

How do we know the Bible is true?

DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE

(part 1) : Inspiration

INSPIRATION

Do you think Jesus bore a family resemblance to Mary?

DUAL AUTHORSHIP

• 2 Pet 1:21 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 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

DUAL AUTHORSHIP

“[God’s superintending of] human authors so that, using their own individual personalities, they composed and recorded without error His message to man in the words of their original writings.”

- Charles Ryrie

VERBAL PLENARY INSPIRATION

“[Verbal Plenary Inspiration is] the view that the inspiration of Scripture extends to the actual words (verbal) and to every part of the entire (plenary) Bible. In past usage verbal plenary inspiration was equated with inerrancy.”

- Moody Handbook of Theology

C&MA STATEMENT OF FAITH

The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice (2 Pet 1:20-21, 2 Tim 3:15-16).

HOW DID GOD INSPIRE SCRIPTURE?

• Direct speech

“And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…” - Exod 20

• Prophetic speech

“Thus says the Lord…” - Jer 4:27

“…declares the Lord GOD.” - Ezek 20:44

“Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” - Exod 4:12

HOW DID GOD INSPIRE SCRIPTURE?

• Direct speech• Prophetic speech• Written words

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” - Exod 17:14

• Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying: “Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.” - Jer 30:2

CONFIDENCE IN SCRIPTURE

• Rational evidences

• Church authority

• Existential impact

• Internal testimony of the Holy Spirit

INTERNAL TESTIMONY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit works through the Scriptures to confirm the reliability of Scripture, giving us certainty that the Bible is the Word of God.

1. This is what it says

2. This is what it means (head knowledge)

3. This is true (intellectual assent of the truth claim)

4. I believe this (commitment in faith to the truth)


• “The evidence for the Bible’s divine authorship is certainly substantial; but in the end there is only one argument that can prove to us that the Bible is true and authoritative for our lives: the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds.” - John MacArthur

• “This question of the authority of the Scriptures is a matter of faith and not of argument. You may convince a man intellectually of what you’re saying, but he still may not of necessity believe in and accept the authority of Scripture.” - Martyn Lloyd Jones


• 1 Thess 1:5 Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

• 1 Cor 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

• John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.


“Scripture will ultimately suffice for a saving knowledge of God only when its certainty is founded upon the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit.”

“Our Heavenly Father, revealing his majesty [in Scripture], lifts reverence for Scripture beyond the realm of controversy.”John Calvin

1 JOHN 5:7-11

And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. . . . If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness concerning His Son. . . The witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

LESSONS LEARNED

Inspiration means . . .

The Bible is the very Word of God.

How do we know the Bible is true?

DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE

(parts 2 & 3): Infallibility & Inerrancy

November 8 & 15, 2009

DEFINITIONS

• “Inerrancy” is the view that when all the facts become known, they will demonstrate that the Bible, in its original autographs and correctly interpreted, is entirely true and never false in all it affirms, whether that relates to doctrine or ethics or to the social, physical, or life sciences. - Evangelical Dictionary of Theology

• “Infallibility” may be called the subjective consequence of divine inspiration; that is, it defines the Scripture as reliable and trustworthy to those who turn to it in search for God’s truth. As a source of truth, the Bible is “indefectible” that is, it cannot fall away or defect from the standard of truth. Consequently, it will never fail or deceive anyone who trusts it. - Phillip Comfort

OTHER QUESTIONS

1. Recorded lies (Gen 3:4, You will not surely die.)

OTHER QUESTIONS

1. Recorded lies

2. Popular language (Josh 1:15, Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.)

OTHER QUESTIONS

1. Recorded lies

2. Popular language

3. Unusual grammar

4. Inexact quotations

5. Approximations (Rev 16:21, Great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each)

BUT WE DON’T HAVE THE ORIGINALS…

1. Our belief is not in the text, but rather its testimony– King Solomon (1 Kgs 2:3 (cf. Deut 17:18-19), Keep the

charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses.)

– Ezra (Neh 8:8 (cf. Ezra 7:14), They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.)

– Christ and the apostles


1. Our belief is not in the text, but rather its testimony

2. The originals set the standard, not our daily practice


1. Our belief is not in the text, but rather its testimony

2. The originals set the standard, not our daily practice

3. God had a good reason for not preserving them

4. Inerrancy and infallibility are accepted by faith

5. Our Bibles today are still trustworthy

BUT ISN’T THIS REASONING CIRCULAR?

BUT SCRIPTURE DOESN’T USE THOSE TERMS…

1. The Bible is true– Ps 119:142 Your law is true.– Ps 119:151 All your commandments are true.– Ps 119:160 The sum of your word is truth.– Eph 1:13 (cf. Col 1:5) The gospel is “the word of truth.”– Rom 2:20 The OT Scriptures are the “embodiment of

knowledge and truth.”– John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

BUT SCRIPTURE DOESN’T USE THOSE TERMS…

1. The Bible is true

2. The Bible is perfect– Ps 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver

refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.– Ps 18:30 The word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield

for all those who take refuge in him.– Prov 30:5-6 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to

those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

FOUNDATION OF INSPIRATION

2 Sam 23:2 The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue.

CERTAINTY IN GOD’S CHARACTER

• Num 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

• 1 Sam 15:29 The Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.

• Tit 1:2 …in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.

• Heb 6:18 It is impossible for God to lie.

THE NATURE OF GOD SUGGESTS INERRANCY

• God is true; God’s words are true.

• God is trustworthy; God’s words are trustworthy.

• God is without error; God’s words are without error.

AFFIRMATION OF MIRACLES

Deut 18:20-22 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'- when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

TESTIMONY OF JESUS

• Matt 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

• John 10:35 Scripture cannot be broken.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

• Matt 22:32 “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

• Matt 22:43-44 How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”?

• Gal 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

COMMON ERRORS

• We must assume the Bible has errors in it because it is a human work and humans make mistakes.

• Passages that are difficult to understand prove the Bible is not inerrant or infallible.

• The Bible can be regarded as infallible without being inerrant.

• It is okay to believe that the Bible is partially inerrant.• Everything the Bible reports is true and to be followed. • You can disagree with Jesus’ view of the Scriptures

and still be His disciple, follow Him, and profess Him as Lord.

LESSONS LEARNED

• Greater confidence?

You can trust and must obey what the Bible teaches is God’s will for your life.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word! What more can He say than to you He hath said, To you, who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

• Greater love?

SCHEDULE

09/27 Introduction

10/04 How did we get our Bible?

10/11 How do we know we have the true Bible? (Part 1)

10/18 How do we know we have the true Bible? (Part 2)

10/25 Why are there so many different translations?

11/01 How do we know the Bible is true? (Part 1)



11/22 The testimony of Scripture to itself

11/29 Thanksgiving

12/06 The testimony of the early church

12/13 The testimony of extrabiblical sources

12/20 The testimony of changed lives

12/27 Christmas

Documents

How do we know the Bible is true? DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE (part 1) : Inspiration