Our Bible Part 3

IV. Consider the nature of Scripture. A. It was given by inspiration of God. 2TI 3:16; 2PE 1:21. 1. This inspiration was direct Divine guidance of the person to Whom it was given. 2SAM 23:2; ISA 8:1; JER 36:1-2, 4. 2. This inspiration extends beyond mere general concepts to words, grammar and even diacritics. GAL 3:16, 29; MAT 5:18; 22:31-32. Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 6  3. This Divine power could imply passivity on the part of the instrument. NUM 22:28-30; JOH 11:49-52; LUK 19:40. a. LUK 19:40 may be proverbial but consider MAT 3:9. b. It is a folly of human nature that it will mock rocks speaking while also speaking to rocks as if they could listen and respond. REV 6:16. c. Do we not serve the living God Who suddenly made a living man out of dust and made him able to speak? GEN 2:7. B. It is pure. PSA 12:6; PRO 8:8; 30:5. 1. It cannot be broken. JOH 10:35. a. It cannot be broken in the sense of being overruled. The word of God is what does the breaking. JER 23:29. b. It cannot be broken in the sense of being disjointed, disconnected or discordant, as a flawed and useless broken net (JOH 21:11). 2. This means that “bibles” which do the following cannot be God's (ref. NIV): a. Attribute MAR 1:2 to Isaiah when it is a quote from MAL 3:1. b. Change the slayer of Goliath from David to Elhanan in 2SAM 21:19. c. Reverse the chronology of Israel's history in ACT 13:18-22. C. It is as if God Himself were speaking. ROM 9:17, 24-25; GAL 3:8. D. It is highly exalted. PSA 138:2. E. It declares and glorifies Jesus Christ. JOH 5:39; 16:13-14. F. It can be searched. ACT 17:11. G. It can be known and memorized. 2TI 3:15; PSA 119:11. H. It is profitable. 2TI 3:16. 1. It is only profitable if received as God's word and applied. 1TH 2:13; JAM 2:22-24. 2. The words of man do not profit. JER 23:32. I. It can be wrested. 2PE 3:16. J. It can be corrupted (2CO 2:17) but not eliminated. K. It can be temporarily lost or hidden from the eyes of sinners. 2KI 22:8. L. It is not bound by fools’ enmity to it. PRO 19:21; 2TI 2:9. M. It is a closed system. DEU 4:2; PRO 30:6; REV 22:18-19. N. It can be copied and retain its divine authority. DEU 17:18-19; JOS 8:30-35; PRO 25:1; 2TI 3:15. O. It can be translated and retain its divine authority. Consider how much of the Hebrew O.T. is quoted by the apostles in the Greek language of their N.T. writings. eg. MAT 1:22-23. P. It is the bedrock and final authority of God. 1. Even religious systems like Catholicism which hold that the teaching authority of the church is the final authority assume that their system is derived from the Scripture: they say that what they believe about Magisterium is concluded from the scriptures. 2. They even affirm that Magisterium is subordinate to Scripture: a. “This teaching office is not above the Word of God, but serves it.” (Dei Verbum 2.10, Second Vatican Counsel) b. “Yet, this Magisterium is not superior to the word of God, but its servant.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 86, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1994) 3. Consider that the Law of Moses (esp. the Ten Commandments) was given by God in written form which was to be diligently copied by His own order and the copy deemed authoritative. DEU 17:18-19. a. The authoritative word of God to Israel was written. God did not simply tell Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 7  Moses the truth orally and leave it up to him to tell others orally. b. Moses and those who would sit in Moses’ seat (MAT 23:2) had to answer to written preserved Scripture, and this was the very matter that Christ pressed the tradition-oriented Scribes and Pharisees on invariably. MAT 12:3, 5. c. Moses’ error in NUM 20:7-12 was a matter of him assuming authority over God which was essentially a breach of the very first written commandment. EXO 20:3. Q. None of the above observations about Scripture make sense unless there is in fact a preserved Scripture. It has become very popular, though, to: 1. deny the preservation of the Scripture in toto: “Only the original autographs which we don’t have are inspired scriptures.” 2. deny that preservation of the Scripture involves copying and translating. 3. declare that one’s religion is according to the Scripture while also not believing one has it. 4. pretend that some of our Bible is inspired but not all and that “we” know which is which. 5. pretend that “things that are different are the same” when considering versions. R. Always remember that casting doubt on God’s word remains a principal means of Satan’s deception. GEN 3:1 c/w 2CO 11:3. 1. Satan can’t eliminate Scripture but he can con you into doubting that it is what God actually said and what He actually meant. 2. His power of deception is such that the actual preserved Scripture will not produce its designed effect in the heart and mind of the person who doesn’t believe it is the real thing. a. As ignorant men might walk over graves which appear not (LUK 11:44), not realizing they are in danger, so will the hungry soul of the deceived walk over the word of God, not realizing its salvations. b. These principles may be part of the great Satanic season of deception noted in REV 20:1-3, 7-8 where the nations/Gentiles are returned to their pre- Christ blindness for lack of the truth of Scripture, per PSA 147:19-20. c. The proliferation of modern bibles may well be the cause of more doubt than faith through the confusion they create. And God is not the author of confusion or counterfeit bibles. Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 8