Title Page

Lesson One

II Peter 1:14-16

II Peter 1:14-1614 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

II Peter 1:17-19

II Peter 1:17-1917 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

II Peter 1:20-21

II Peter 1:20-2120 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Focus Verses

II Timothy 3:16-17All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,

for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Focus Thought

The Bible is inspired (God-breathed), inerrant, and infallible. We should base

our lives on it, for it will be the final standard of judgment.

IntroductionIntroductionThe inspiration of the Scripture is one of the most critical issues today. Never before has our culture or world needed the solid foundation of the Word of God more than we do right now. This is the basic foundation upon which everything worthwhile stands.

IntroductionIf the Bible is truly the inspired and infal lible Word of God, then it is the mother and guardian of all doctrine—the foundation upon which everything depends. If the Bible is not inspired and infallible, then nothing else matters. If that were the case, we could put our Bibles on the fiction shelf of the library and forget about them.

IntroductionIf only parts of the Bible were true and inspired, then we would never know what to trust and what to ignore. To accept either of these two extreme positions is to be forev er confused and lost.

IntroductionHowever, the Word of God is inspired, infallible, and true. We can exercise complete confidence in the Word of God, knowing that it is the basis and foundation for all truth, and it will never fail.

I. InspirationInspiration

“All scripture is given by inspi ration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for cor rection, for instruction in right eousness” (II Timothy 3:16).

I. Inspiration (A)A. God the Author

From Moses to the apostle John fifteen centuries later, at least forty individuals from Egypt, Israel, Babylon, Asia Minor, and the Roman provinces in Europe had a part in penning and recording the words of the Bible. These individuals included a military general, historians and scribes, kings, prophets, fishermen, a doctor, a tax collector, and a Jewish Hebrew of Hebrews turned mis sionary for Jesus Christ—the apostle Paul.

I. Inspiration (A)However, the common thread through all of these scribes is that God Himself is the real author. Even common people, under the inspiration of God, recorded what God want ed us to know.

I. Inspiration (A)The word inspiration in the Focus Verse translates from the Greek word theop neustus, which means “God-breathed.” The very Spirit of God directed, prompted, and anointed the writers. Just as the Spirit of prophecy can anoint a person to prophesy, so the Spirit of God inspired the writers to record an anointed script that was destined to become the Word of God.

I. Inspiration (A)In at least 450 passages in the Bible, the writer testified that he was writing under the instruction or direction of God. “God said,” “Thus saith the Lord,” “The word of the Lord came . . . saying,” or similar words repeated ly claim the direct control of God over the written Word.

II Peter 1:20-21

“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy

came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as

they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (II Peter 1:20-21).

Hebrews 1:1

“God . . . at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets”

(Hebrews 1:1).

I. Inspiration (A)Although the Spirit of God inspired the writers to record what He wanted written, this still did not preclude the writers from manifesting their individual personalities and various styles. This added a human dimen sion to the divinely inspired Word.

I. Inspiration (A)Just as Jesus Christ, the living Word, was both divine and human, so the inspired Scripture shows both divine and human aspects. Yet the human characteristics never compromise the divinely inspired nature of Scripture.

I. Inspiration (B)B. The Final Authority

More than just a guide, the Bible is our sole authority for all doctrine and matters of life. We should follow it explicitly in every detail. Rather than picking and choosing, we should obey the entire Bible.

from Genesis to Maps

One man said that he believed the whole Bible “from Genesis to Maps.”

I. Inspiration (B)The Bible delves into hundreds of contro versial topics, and we look to it to settle all questions. No matter what the subject, if the Bible speaks about it at all, whatever it says is true.

Revelation 20:12

“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were

opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and

the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”

(Revelation 20:12).

I. Inspiration (B)The Bible is the standard of judgment that we will face in the end. At the final judgment when we stand before the Great White Throne, our lives will be reviewed and com pared to what the Bible requires.

I. Inspiration (B)Our works, our deeds, our thoughts, and even our motives will be measured by God’s standard: “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad” (Luke 8:17).

I. Inspiration (B)“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day”

(John 12:48).

I. Inspiration (B)The purpose of Scripture is to make God known to mankind. It is God’s primary way of communicating with us. God can impress us and lead us by His Holy Spirit within, but every communication of God through any means will be completely compatible with His Word; He never violates His Word.

I. Inspiration (B)The Scripture reveals the will of God and His eter nal purpose, showing us the way to live. It reveals the plan of redemption and the way to have eternal life in fellowship with God. The Bible is a covenant between God and mankind. If we will keep this covenant, God will keep His part of the covenant and bless us. (See Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 28.)

II. The Truth (A)The Truth

When Jesus said, “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice,” Pilate responded, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38). Likewise, most people today have no idea what truth is, for our present generation has lost the mean ing of the word.

II. The Truth (A)A. Absolute and Exclusive

Truth is absolute. It is not relative or subjective. It does not yield to opinions, trends, or popularity polls. It does not vary from one situation to another, or from one person to another.

II. The Truth (A)Truth is revelatory. The source of truth is not within us; it is not the product of our own experience or thoughts. We cannot cre ate it. Truth must come from somewhere out side of us. Truth has to be revealed to us by God and by His Word. If God does not reveal truth to us, we will never know truth because He is its source.

II. The Truth (A)Truth is timeless. Truth does not change from generation to generation. It does not conform to the latest fad. If it was true in ancient times, if it was true for Grandpa, then it is still true for us today, and it will be true tomorrow.

II. The Truth (A)Truth is universal. Anywhere we go in the world, truth remains the same for all people of all nations. It does not change to con form to culture, society, or worldviews.

II. The Truth (A)Truth is unchanging. It is immutable. There are no exceptions. It is not subject to debate, vote, or public opinion polls. The Word is forever settled in heaven.

II. The Truth (A)Truth is exclusive. By its very nature, truth defines itself and delineates what is and is not true. That which is not true is false. By the same token, anything false is never truth.

II. The Truth (A)The law of non-contradiction purports that two contrary statements cannot both be true at the same time. If one proposition is true, its opposite must be false. There is no such thing as my truth and your truth.

II. The Truth (A)Our post-modern culture, in the name of tolerance and treating all viewpoints equally, has aban doned all recognition of absolute truth, including the knowledge of right and wrong. This approach defies the logic of the law of non-contradiction.

II. The Truth (A)The Bible alone is God’s Word. Accepting the divine inspiration of the Bible leads one to conclude that no other work shares the same inspired status; no other religious tome can possess divine inspiration as the Word of God.

II. The Truth (A)Moreover, any other writing that contradicts the Bible cannot be true—even if it claims to be a holy book or scripture. The Bible makes exclusive claims regarding God, salvation, truth, and revelation that would exclude all other books. Indeed, every teach ing that contradicts the Bible is false.

II. The Truth (A)The Koran, the holy book of Islam, denies the deity of Christ and His atoning work on the cross and contradicts many verses of Scripture. The Hindu Vedas are polytheistic, and the Upanishads are pantheistic with an impersonal essence for deity instead of a per sonal God.

II. The Truth (A)The Pali Canon of Buddhism teach es a pantheistic or naturalistic philosophy. The Book of Mormon is full of personal revelations contrary to the Bible. None of these books deserves to be classified as divinely inspired.

II. The Truth (B)B. Revealed

We do not find truth by looking within ourselves, nor is it the product of our own thinking, feelings, emotions, or experiences. It is not invented by meditation. Truth must be revealed to us; it must be brought to us from a source outside ourselves. We cannot be our own authority, nor can we be our own source of truth.

II. The Truth (B)The apostle Paul spoke of the “mystery” of the eternal purpose of God, “which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apos tles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:5). Truth must come from God Himself, who is “the truth” (John 14:6), through His inspired Word.

II. The Truth (C)C. Inerrant and Infallible

The Bible is not a history text, yet every detail is historically accurate. It is not a sci ence book, but everything it mentions is sci entifically true.

II. The Truth (C)It is neither a psychology text nor a philosophy book nor a medical journal, but every solution it offers for life’s problems works. The archeologist, the scientist, and the doctor can depend on its revelations. Moreover, the teacher and the professor should know that it is true.

II. The Truth (C)The word inerrant means it is without error; it has no mistakes. The subject of inerrancy is a major issue debated by today’s scholars in many churches, denominations, and movements. Some would say that the Bible “contains” truth, but it is not inerrant.

II. The Truth (C)They weaken its trustworthiness by believing that inspiration applies only to certain passages, subjects, doctrines, or concepts, while assuming its truths are mixed with “unscientific” legends.

II. The Truth (C)This limited and unacceptable view of inspiration creates perpetual, unanswerable questions and confusion, and when embraced it causes one never to know for sure what parts of Scripture are trustworthy.

II. The Truth (C)Plenary inspiration means the complete Bible is inspired in all its parts—every story, every subject, every detail, every chapter, every verse. Verbal inspiration emphasizes that God supernaturally guided the wording of the text, not just the general ideas.

II. The Truth (D)D. Not of Personal

Interpretation

The saying, “That’s just your interpretation” is heard commonly today, as if one person may interpret a verse to mean one thing while someone else interprets it differently. However, Peter declared, “No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (II Peter 1:20).

II. The Truth (D)We are not free to add to or take away from the inspired wording of the Scriptures. We take the words of Scripture at face value. The Bible means what it says and it says what it means. It contains no hidden agendas, no secret codes, and no DaVinci like, coverup conspiracies. Trying to find hidden messages and esoteric interpretations is a gross misuse of Scripture.

II. The Truth (D)Some individuals often employ the art of Scripture twisting to make the Bible say what they want it to say. Peter spoke of some who did not want to accept what they read in Paul’s epistles: “They that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (II Peter 3:16).

III. The Written Word The Written Word

“And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of

communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony,

tables of stone, written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18).

Exodus 32:16

“And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing

of God, graven upon the tables” (Exodus 32:16).

III. The Written Word (A)A. Recorded for All

Abraham came from Chaldea where the writing was in cuneiform script and the dom inant language was Akkadian, which Abraham probably spoke. Moses was reared in Egypt where the Egyptian and Ethiopic languages were known.

III. The Written Word (A)Egypt was an advanced and highly developed civilization but had a literacy rate of less than one percent. Only a small elite class of professional scribes and priests could read the hieratic script, and still fewer knew hieroglyphics.

III. The Written Word (A)Up to the time of Moses, all writing was in pictograph form with symbols that represent ed words. With Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuneiform protowriting of Mesopotamia, different pictograms for each word required readers to memorize several thousand symbols. Consequently, only the highly educated and trained scribes could read or write.

III. The Written Word (A)The new concept of an alphabet changed everything. Symbols represented phonetic sounds instead of whole words. With only twentytwo letters, anyone could learn to read and write. Because of the alphabet, writ ten communication was suddenly opened to the masses.

III. The Written Word (A)When God was ready to institute His writ ten Word, He chose His timing carefully to coincide with the invention of the alphabet. When and where was the alphabet invented? It first appeared at the crossroads of the world where traders and merchants from Asia, Africa, and Europe met and dozens of languages and cultures intermingled.

III. The Written Word (A)Ugarit, on Syria’s northern coast, invented a thirty-letter alphabet using cuneiform script. But the twenty-two letters of Phoenician and Canaanite script that devel oped around Byblos caught on and spread widely. The earliest archeological find of Canaanite alphabet script was discovered in the turquoise mines near Mount Sinai.

III. The Written Word (A)The World Book Encyclopedia summed it up in one sentence: “The alphabet was invented by Semites in the Sinai about 1500 BC.” This was approximately the same time that Moses (a Semite) received the commandments on Mount Sinai. What an amazing coincidence! Could it be that God gave Moses an alphabet at Mount Sinai? If not, God certainly timed the giving of His law just right to take advantage of the latest technology.

III. The Written Word (B)B. Permanent and Preserved

During the times of early civilization, God used various means to communicate directly to individuals. He used an audible voice, visions, dreams, and angels to deliver His messages.

III. The Written Word (B)God sometimes revealed His will by the casting of lots, by the Urim and Thummim, and by signs and wonders. However, God chose “a more excellent way” of communicating His will to mankind—a permanent medium—by giving us an unchangeable written record through the Holy Bible.

III. The Written Word (B)While it is possible that God may continue to speak to individuals through various miraculous channels of communication, He now chooses to subjugate all His communication to His permanent, holy Scriptures.

III. The Written Word (B)Peter assured us that he was not passing on “cunningly devised fables,” but eyewitness accounts (II Peter 1:16). As an illustration, he used the time that he heard the audible voice of God from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (II Peter 1:17).

III. The Written Word (B)Then Peter went on to say, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place” (II Peter 1:19). Thus, he assured us that the recorded written Scripture is far superior to hearing an audible voice from heaven—or any other supernatural means of communication.

III. The Written Word (B)Recorded written communication has several advantages:

Permanence. It is forever “set in stone” and will always repeat the original record.

III. The Written Word (B)Precision. Thoughts become more pre cise when expressed in written form where they can be studied, verified, analyzed, dis sected, and debated. Precise records over come faulty memories and misunderstandings. It always is better to “make a note of it” or “put it on record.” The value of written precision is shown by the well-known experiment of a word-of-mouth story passed around a circle of people that produces surprising variations within just minutes.

III. The Written Word (B)Propagation. Written records can be copied and reproduced and thus distributed to wide audiences in distant locations. They can be translated and published in other languages. They can be stored and left waiting for future students to discover. Passing on a written record is much more accurate than repeating oral traditions.

III. The Written Word (B)Preservation. Written records can be preserved for years and even for many gener ations. Manuscripts of the books of the Bible up to two thousand years old preserve exact ly what was written. Time does not destroy the Word, nor does it alter it.

III. The Written Word (B)The tablets of stone were kept in the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place. This Ark of the Covenant became the depository for all Scripture. The rest of the law, recorded by Moses, also was placed there. (See Deuteronomy 31:24-26.) As future Scripture was given to the prophets, the priest in charge of preserving the Word of God added these autographs—the original copies—to the collection in the ark. It is no wonder that this ark of the covenant became the most holy item in the nation of Israel!

III. The Written Word (C)C. Unchangeable and Eternal

The Bible is the all-time best seller. It is the most published and the most circulated book. It has been translated into far more languages than any other published work. Yet the Bible is also the most hated book ever. Through the centuries, and even in many places today, the Bible is banned, confiscated, burned, and destroyed.

III. The Written Word (C)Emperors have sent their armies to round up and arrest anyone possessing a Bible, destroying all copies. Yet the Bible not only sur vives but abounds in the world. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

Psalm 119:89

“For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).

IV. The New TestamentThe New Testament

“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed

among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were

eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect

understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most

excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein

thou hast been instructed” (Luke 1:1-4).

IV. The New Testament (A)A. The Reason for

the New Testament

The Old Covenant became a legalistic list of rigid rules carved into stone, along with ritual sacrifices to maintain fellowship with God. It revealed the will of God but could not provide sinful mankind with the power to change his life. (See Romans 7:7-24.)

IV. The New Testament (A)The New Covenant, however, would put the law into our minds and hearts and make it a part of us. (See Jeremiah 31:31-33; Ezekiel 36:26 27; II Corinthians 3:3; Hebrews 8:10.) This personal experience, though powerful, need ed to be codified to ensure unity from one place to another, from one group to another, and from one generation to another.

IV. The New Testament (A)The gospel must be written: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). “These things have I written unto you . . . that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:13).

IV. The New Testament (A)While the apostles were alive, believers could lean upon their oversight and guidance. However, when space and time began to dis tance believers from direct apostolic influ ence, the necessity of the written Word grew more evident. The apostles realized that when they passed away, they would need to leave behind a permanent written record.

IV. The New Testament (A)Peter specifically stated: “I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. . . . Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance” (II Peter 1:13, 15). He wanted to make sure that future generations would not follow “cunningly devised fables” but “a more sure word of prophecy” by eyewitnesses (II Peter 1:16, 19).

IV. The New Testament (B)B. The Divisions of

the New Testament

The New Testament is a collection of twenty-seven books having apostolic authority— written by or under the supervision or approval of the apostles. These books are divided into three groups.

IV. The New Testament (B)1. Gospels. This is the story of Jesus. The word gospel stems from the Anglo-Saxon word godspel, which means “god-message” (and later came to mean “good news”). Three synoptic Gospels present three views of the life of Christ, His birth, His teachings, His miracles, His crucifixion, and His resurrec tion.

IV. The New Testament (B)Matthew wrote in Hebrew (or Aramaic) to the Jews presenting Jesus as their Messiah and King; Mark wrote in Greek to Gentiles showing the servant ministry of Jesus as the Son of God; Luke produced an accurate his torical account presenting Jesus to the world as the Son of Man.

IV. The New Testament (B)A fourth Gospel, written by John in his old age (after AD 90) after all other apostles had died, differs in form from the other three and is a theological account of Jesus Christ as God in flesh. The Gospels find no parallel in world literature.

IV. The New Testament (B)2. Acts of the Apostles. This one unique book stands alone as apostolic history. The first half of the book records a history of the first decade of the church, while the second half traces the ministry of the apostle Paul. Acts is the only book in the New Testament that recorded instances of converts being saved.

IV. The New Testament (B)It provides examples of people being baptized in Jesus’ name and receiving the Holy Ghost speaking with other tongues. If we want to know how to be saved, we should study the Book of Acts.

IV. The New Testament (B)3. The Epistles. These are letters from the apostles to Christians and churches. Because they have apostolic authority, they are included in the inspired Scripture for all time. The epistles are further divided into several groups.

IV. The New Testament (B)• Pauline Epistles. These are comprised of fourteen letters written by the apostle Paul. The names of these epistles are the names of the churches or persons to whom they were addressed. In our English Bible, they are not arranged chronologically but in order of the size and importance of the city in which the church was located (Romans first because Rome was the largest city).

IV. The New Testament (B) • General Epistles. This second group of seven epistles each bears the name of the apostle who wrote it.

• The Revelation. Although an epistle, it stands alone as a unique book of prophecy.

V. The Place of the EpistlesThe Place ofthe Epistles

“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye

heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the

word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe”

(I Thessalonians 2:13).

I Thessalonians 2:13“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the

word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe”

(I Thessalonians 2:13).

V. The Place of the Epistles (A)

A. The Epistles Are Scripture

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul defended his statements on marriage rela tionships as “by permission” of the Lord, exercising apostolic authority and equating it with other Old Testament commandments and Scripture. The apostles considered their pronouncements authoritative, and their let ters were to be received as Scripture. Paul sometimes reminded churches who received his epistles to share them with other church es. (See Colossians 4:16.)

V. The Place of the Epistles (A)

In I Timothy 5:18, Paul quoted Luke and identified the quotation as “the Scripture.” Peter referred to “the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour” as equal to those of the holy prophets of old (II Peter 3:2). Peter also wrote of Paul’s epistles, equating them with “other scriptures.”

II Peter 3:15-16“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our

beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these

things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (II Peter 3:15-16).

V. The Place of the Epistles (B)

B. The Epistles WereWritten to Believers

Because the epistles were written to indi vidual believers and to churches, not to the world, the sinner, the pagan, or the unsaved, some things are not found in the epistles:

V. The Place of the Epistles (B)

•No examples of preaching the gospel to sinners

• No instructions on how to be saved

• No examples of anyone being saved

• No examples of converts being baptized or receiving the Holy Ghost

V. The Place of the Epistles (B)

What do we find in the epistles? We discov er advice from the apostles to Christians who already were saved:

V. The Place of the Epistles (B)

• How to live a victorious life for God •How to persevere, grow, and mature in Christ• How to resist the devil and overcome •How to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit and keep a right spirit and attitude •How to develop the gifts of the Spirit and spiritual ministry •How to deal with church problems, divisions, and people • How to worship and conduct services •How to choose bishops and deacons, giving qualifications for leadership

ReflectionsAs the wise builder digs down to the solid rock to build his house, we must build on the rock-solid foundation of the apostles and prophets. (See Ephesians 2:20.) The apostle Paul wrote, “I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 3:10-11).

Reflections“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD,

Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner

stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste”

(Isaiah 28:16).

ReflectionsJesus likened the wise builder who built on the rock to “whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them.” He that “heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not” is the foolish builder who built on the sand with out a foundation. (See Matthew 7:24-27.)

Isaiah 28:16

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation

a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste”

(Isaiah 28:16).