How do we know that Scripture is the Word of God? How do we know that it is inspired and thus authentic and reliable and authoritative?

There are a number of ways to attempt to answer this question. They are not mutually exclusive answers to the question, but are all related to some degree.

1. We could look at historical evidences for the reliability of the Scriptures. I attempted to provide some helpful resources in this direction in a previous blog.

2. We could look at the Scriptures themselves. The Scriptures are said to be “self-authenticating” and thus evidence for themselves that they are the word of God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

A common objection to this argument is that it is circular reasoning to use the Bible to prove the Bible, but are not all claims to authority somewhat circular in nature? Why is logic one’s ultimate authority? Because it seems logical that logic be given primacy. Therefore, the question should not be whether or not an argument is circular, but whether or not the argument is true.

The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks to the “self-authentication” of the Scriptures in the following manner:

We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture, and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts.

Westminster Catechism: How does it appear that the Scriptures are the word of God?

“The Scriptures manifest themselves to be the word of God,

1. by their majesty
2. and purity;
3. by the consent of all the parts,
4. and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God;
5. by their light and power to convince and convert sinners, to comfort and build up believers unto salvation.
6. But the Spirit of God, bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in the heart of man, is alone able fully to persuade it that they are the very word of God.”

3. Though the testimony of Scripture itself and historical evidences are helpful, they ultimately will not persuade as to its validity. Westminster identified this inability by relegating ultimate substantiation to the work of the Holy Spirit.

We see this idea alluded to in a few places in the Scriptures:

• 1 John 5:9-10 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. ¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
• 1 John 4:6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
• John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

According to 1 John 5, there is a testimony greater than the testimony that the world can provide. All of our articulate arguments and apologetics only go so far in authenticating the Word. The greater testimony is internal. Those who believe in Christ and are born of Him (a theme of 1 John) have the testimony within themselves through the indwelling and abiding presence of the Spirit.

This internal testimony bears witness to the authenticity of the apostolic message according to 1 John 4. Those who are born of God have the ability to distinguish between truth and error. There are degrees of discernment, gifting, and maturity involved here so we should not think that this verse is teaching that all true believers are united on all points of doctrine, but the Spirit does bear witness in the regenerate to basic fundamentals of the faith (the context of 1 John is dealing with the rejection of foundational Christian truths such as the incarnation and atonement provided by Christ, the necessity of love in the life of a believer, and the obligation to mortify the flesh).

As Christ said, His sheep hear and discern His voice. Those who cannot hear His voice do not evidence that He is not speaking, but instead demonstrate that they themselves are deaf. Sin has so desensitized us that we willingly suppress the truth of God and then complain that He has not proven Himself to us.

There is an assurance that goes deeper than logic and rational explanations for authenticity. This is why I think Jesus said that it was to our advantage that He go away (John 16:7). Why? So that the helper, the Holy Spirit, would come and convict and indwell God’s sons and daughters.

This indwelling occurs in the moment of regeneration,  which is the act whereby God removes our blindness and deafness and opens our eyes and ears to the reality of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-6, see also “How Does an Unbeliever Believe?”). The Spirit overcomes our rebellion and testifies to the validity of the Scriptures’ testimony to the Son. This testimony is the basis of our faith.

How do I know that the Scriptures are the word of God? How do you know that honey is sweet? By tasting it. If your taste buds are dead, then no argument will prove its sweetness to you. You can hear other people talking about its taste, you can hear scientists talking about its chemical makeup, but you will not be convinced unless you taste it for yourself. It is not the honey’s fault if you cannot taste it and it is not your friend’s fault if he cannot adequately convince you. Unless you have the ability to taste it, you cannot testify to its sweetness.

The same is true for the Scriptures. We could talk about the historical context of the Bible and the various rational evidences for its authenticity, but unless your spiritual taste buds are awakened by the Spirit, then you will not be convinced. No amount of debate can conclusively prove that the Scripture is authentic to those who have not eyes to see and ears to hear.

1 Corinthians 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.

I cannot prove that the Scripture is authentic. But the Spirit can and does.

How do I know that the Scriptures are the word of God? Because the Spirit within testifies to their authenticity. I simply know that I know.

Application:

If you have not yet come to a place where you can testify to the authenticity of Scripture, admit or at least consider that your taste buds are broken, that your eyes are closed, that your mind is muddied by sin. Ask for help. Pray Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Don’t just pray it once, but persevere in that prayer.

If you have tasted it, then you can testify with the Psalmist:

Psalm 19:7-11 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. ¹¹Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

The Spirit bears witness to the authenticity and authority of the Scriptures. Therefore, treasure them, read them, study them, speak them, sing them, memorize them, and apply them.

For help on reading and studying the Scriptures, check out the upcoming Saturday Seminar: How to Study the Bible.

Saturday, June 26
9 a.m. to 11: 30 a.m. (Doors open at 8:30 a.m.)
Flower Mound Worship Center

Holy Spirit, Scripture

In a recent sermon Chandler referenced a conversation with a gentleman who wanted some articles on the historicity of the Bible. Since then, we have had a number of requests for such materials, so we wanted to compile a list of helpful resources to consider on this topic:

Books

1. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses – Richard Bauckham
2. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels – Craig Blomberg
3. Jesus and the Gospels – Craig Blomberg
4. The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? – F.F. Bruce
5. Studying the Historical Jesus – Darrell Bock

Articles

1. The ESV Study Bible has a number of pertinent articles (you must have a registered account to be able to access these)
   • The Canon of Scripture
   • The Reliability of Bible Manuscripts
   • Archaeology and the Bible
2. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels – William Lane Craig
3. The Historicity of the New Testament – JP Moreland
4. Historical Reliability of the Gospels – James Arlandson

Small Group DVD Study
Why We Believe the Bible – Desiring God Ministries[1]

Additional Resources
Men’s Bible Study: January , 2009 – March 10, 2009 covered a theology of Scripture

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[1] DG also offers a DVD set and study guide for this seminar. Both are also available online at the DG website.

History, Resources, Scripture

“It is better to die in the desert than to live with a nagging wife.”

Matt mentioned this weekend that the book of Proverbs makes the above statement and yet if I were to search that phrase online, I would come up empty. Not a single translation includes this passage. Nowhere do I find these exact words as I search my ESV, NASB, NKJV, or even NIV.

Was Matt lying? Was he quoting some apocryphal Proverbs to which only pastors are privy? Was he just kidding?

Of course not. Rather, he was merely alluding to and summarizing an actual passage to give the idea and meaning which it conveys. Such allusion is a common tool of the preacher or teacher to communicate God’s truth without always turning to each and every passage and reading verbatim.

This habit of mentioning Scripture without quoting it directly can easily frustrate the efforts of those who desire to be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11) and search out the exact text for themselves. Oftentimes, I will get e-mails from members or attendees who are looking for a particular passage which was referenced by Matt or another pastor from the stage—thinking I will have better success in my search.

In order to help equip in this area, I thought it might be helpful to gather my own thoughts on the process by which I would go about this type of search if I was not a pastor with fancy Bible software (shout out for Logos). Here is how I would conduct my search:

• I would first search for the phrase exactly as I remembered it.
• I would next search for only the key terms in the phrase (for example: desert, nagging, wife) with no conjunctions, prepositions, interrogatives, articles, pronouns, etc. I would try various combinations of those key terms.
• I would then think of or consult a thesaurus for as many of the synonyms or overlapping terms as I could find for all the major words:
  • wife: woman, bride, companion, partner, mate, helpmate, spouse, etc.
  • nagging: annoying, quarrelsome, fussing, pestering, berating, etc.
  • desert: wilderness, uninhabited places, wasteland, etc.
  • As I came upon new synonyms or related words, I would initiate a new search in a concordance or online site for each of those terms in the book of Proverbs and see if any qualify.
  • Honestly, if that did not work, I would probably just take my time and read the entire book of Proverbs. Even if I did not find what I was looking for, I would still benefit greatly from the process.
  • I would next ask my Home Group leader or a close friend if I still could not find it.
  • If all of that failed, I would then shoot an e-mail to a pastor for his help.

All of this could make it a long and somewhat laborious task, but the joys of discovery along the way should certainly make every effort well worth the time and energy which you invest.

Having familiarity with the text of Scripture (especially one particular version) is probably the biggest help in our searches. For example, when I received an e-mail about this passage, I immediately knew that the word “nagging” was not going to be helpful because I have not seen that word in the text of the ESV. At the same time, I remembered that there are a number of passages that speak of a “quarrelsome” wife. Therefore, I simply had to search for the word “quarrelsome” and immediately found there were only five options from Proverbs. The more you read the Scriptures, the more you should be growing in your ability to narrow down future searches.

Here are a couple of searchable online Bibles to consider as resources:

www.esvstudybible.org

http://www.biblegateway.com/

http://www.blueletterbible.org/

http://net.bible.org/bible.php

By the way, Proverbs 21:19 (ESV) says, “It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman.”

Scripture

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

The Hebrew word often translated “meditate” is interesting. It is used of the cooing of a dove (Isaiah 38:14) and the growling of a lion (Isaiah 31:4); it is used to refer to moans, groans, and muttering. The author is conveying within Joshua 1 and Psalm 1 the image of one who is quietly and consistently speaking God’s word to him or herself in hushed tones.

The Scriptures say that we are to meditate on God’s law and that we will be blessed if we do. Granted meditation is not strictly synonymous with memorization, but what better way to meditate on the Scriptures day and night than by having hidden those Scriptures in your heart and mind?

Scripture memorization has not always been a steady part of my pursuit of the Lord. When I was first converted, I took a rather undisciplined and sporadic approach to memorization, but soon faded in the practice. In seminary I would occasionally have a memorization assignment in which I would “have to” (it really is a privilege, but I doubt I thought of it that way at the time) memorize 10 or 20 verses dealing with various subjects and from various books and chapters of the Bible. Though such memorization was not initially all that difficult for me, retaining the passages for more than a couple of days was much more complex.

One of the helps that I have found to the problem of forgetting that which I have memorized is the tackling of larger blocks of Scripture. By memorizing chapters or entire books, I have found that I can actually remember much more than if I try to memorize a particular verse from Ephesians, another from Colossians, one from Romans, etc. In addition, I am forced to take into account the context of the passage rather than just a select section and thus guard to some degree against the danger of misapplication and proof-texting.

The system that I use is somewhat adapted from a chapter in John Piper’s “When I Don’t Desire God.” I will link to a really helpful resource below with an extended treatment of a similar system, but the gist of my method is as follows:

Day 1: Read Colossians 1:1 at least 10 times. Close your eyes and attempt to recite the verse from memory. Open your eyes when necessary and check the Scripture where you have questions. When you can perfectly recite it 10 times in a row without looking, then you are finished for the day. You will probably want to recite it a couple of times throughout the day (in the shower, while driving, between e-mails, etc.) and that should only take a few seconds or so each time.

Day 2: Recite Colossians 1:1 from memory. Read Colossians 1:2 at least 10 times. Close your eyes and attempt to recite 1:2 from memory. Check when necessary until you can recite it 10 times from memory.

Day 3: Recite Colossians 1:1-2 from memory. Read Colossians 1:3 at least ten times.

Repeat process from previous days.

Helpful hints:

• Concentrate on each and every word as you are attempting to memorize. Think about how it fits into the flow of the passage and its force within the verse. Every word is important or else it would not be in there.
• Pray through the verse once you have it memorized.
• Say the verse out loud throughout the day (meditate/murmur on it).
• I typically try to do 5 verses a week on average. That gives me two days to recall or shore up on a verse or two where I am weaker.
• Vary your cadence from day to day. Our brains have a way of remembering sounds without really considering the words and thus any variation can be helpful for us. You may even want to purchase MP3s or visit a website which has verse audio. The ESV has this function: if you enter a verse into the upper left hand corner of the page, it will link to a page with the text and an option to listen to audio. I tried Romans 8:1 and the reader sounded like R.C. Sproul to me.
• This is for your growth and edification. Don’t condemn yourself if you have to move more slowly than another. (And don’t exalt yourself if you memorize the entire book of Romans in 3 hours).

Here is an excellent resource on the value of memorization and some tools (“tools not rules” as we say in “How to Study the Bible”) for memorization. I do not do everything that he recommends (for instance, I don’t memorize verse numbers and I didn’t write out a contract to complete a book by a particular date, though those may help you), but I do think it has a lot of good and helpful information for you to consider.

In the end, the goal is to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). Experiment and find particular practice that works for you and encourages you in your thirst for the word of the Lord.

Scripture, Spiritual Disciplines

I received the following questions from an e-mailer regarding the origin of Scripture and thought that an overview might be helpful to anyone who may occasionally read my blog.  This is a very concise summary of these issues and should only serve as a primer for the study of bibliology.  I am painting with very broad strokes here.

Here is a helpful site for further study of technical issues regarding the Scripture:
http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/category/theology/bibliology/

1. Why are the books that are in the Bible in it?
2. Why are some books not included?
3. Who decided all of this?
4. Why does the Catholic Bible have extra books?
5. Where do the Dead Sea Scrolls fit into everything, did we find anything NEW with them?

Why are the books that are in the Bible in it?
The theological answer to this involves some degree of circular reasoning.  Why are the particular books which are found in the Bible included in the Scriptures?  Because they are inspired by God and profitable for teaching, correction, etc. (2 Timothy 3:16).  How do we know that these particular books are inspired by God?  Because they are in the Bible.

The historical answer (which is subject to the theological) is based upon the initial criteria for the canon (the word “canon” is derived from the Greek word meaning “measure” or “rule”) which were as follows (taken from a final exam that I wrote for a class on the history of doctrine):

“The criteria for inclusion of books within the canon were primarily four.  First, books must have had some manner of apostolic heritage.  In order to be considered, only those books which were attributed directly to an apostle, or a person closely associated with or mentored by an apostle were included.  Matthew was a disciple/apostle and thus his writings were included; Paul was an apostle and thus his writings were included; Luke was a close associate of Paul; James was the brother of Jesus and a bishop in the Jerusalem church; etc.   Second, working from the included base of the Old Testament since Christianity arose from the seedbed of Judaism, only those books which complemented and expounded upon the Old Testament shadows were considered.  If a book contradicted the Old Testament it was excluded from consideration.  Third, books must be universally recognized, not merely being useful in certain demographical or geographical contexts.  Finally, the gospels in particular must be centered upon the bloody and gory crucifixion of Christ Jesus.  Books which did not meet each of these criteria were therefore not included in the conversation, which really was a series of monologues during most of the early church period.

Why are some books not included?
Again, first reason is circular.  Theologically, some books were not included because they were not inspired.

Historically they were not included because they do not meet listed criteria above.  This was no conspiracy like Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code would have us believe.  Rather, all of the “Gnostic gospels” (the “gospel” of Thomas, the “gospel” of Judas, etc.) clearly contradicted the very gospel which was proclaimed by all the apostles (and Galatians 1:6-9 speaks very candidly about the danger of promoting that which was/is contrary to that which was proclaimed by the apostles).  BTW, “gnosticism” was a sect which perverted the picture of Christ by introducing a number of dualisms.  They taught that the material world was evil while the immaterial or spiritual world was good.  Such a disdain for the physical world led to a denial of the incarnation and subsequent denial of the atonement.

Furthermore, these Gnostic texts were all written in the 2nd century whereas our Scriptures (New Testament) were all written in the 1st century.  The Gnostic gospels were therefore written a generation or two after the death of the last apostle (John) and thus we can confidently say that they were not authored by the supposed authors (Thomas and Judas were both dead well before either supposed “gospel” was written).  In addition, these text do not center on the cross of Christ (remember that the atonement is neglected because it was foolishness to the gnostic mind to conceive of a God incarnate suffering in the flesh) as most of them present Jesus as a spirit being who merely possessed a human body, but was not truly human and did not truly die for our sins.  Obviously, since this is an attack on the heart of the gospel, church fathers easily recognized that these books were not the product of men inspired by God.  (By the way, you can see John writing against early forms of Gnosticism in 1 John – showing that the apostles were clearly opposed to what was themes which were developing in parts of the church as perversions of Orthodoxy).

Who decided all of this?
There was rather general consensus throughout the early Church on most books of the Bible.  There was some debate as far as the authorship of Hebrews and a couple of other issues like that, but we have fairly consistent consensus.  No ecumenical council met specifically in order to decide the canon (until the Reformation – though various councils which were called for other purposes did comment on the issue of canonicity).  Rather, as the individual letters moved throughout the empire, more people accepted them as authentic.  We have to remember that each letter was written individually and therefore it is highly unlikely that anyone would have possessed each and every book of the Bible until well into the 2nd century.  Once again, this is no conspiracy, just the nature of writing in those days.  They didn’t have printing presses so the task was laborious, not to mention quite expensive.  Plus, the average person could not write and maybe had some elementary ability to read, but certainly not much.  It was very much an oral culture.  BTW, we have quotations and allusions to most if not all of the books of the Bible by church fathers by the early 3rd century.

Why does the Catholic Bible have extra books?
They have the exact same New Testament.  Nothing is different there.  The issue is the apocryphal books of the Old Testament.  The Roman Catholic Church includes those books which were written during the intertestamental period.  Early church fathers recognized that these books were “helpful” but not “inspired” and always included this distinction when listing them.  However, some Catholic doctrines (like purgatory) receive some level of support within the apocryphal books and therefore the Reformation-age Catholic church in particular officially declared the books to be in the canon in order to protect certain doctrines.

Where do the Dead Sea Scrolls fit into everything, did we find anything NEW with them?
The Dead Sea Scrolls were a very important find for critical analysis of the text, but didn’t really offer anything novel.  Rather, before the discovery of the scrolls, our earliest authentic copies of the Old Testament were from the 9th century.  Some of the scrolls found at Qumran were from the 2nd century B.C.  Given that the text was almost exactly the same as our later copies, we can have great confidence in the scribal copying process of the past.  Therefore, the Dead Sea Scrolls are very important for biblical studies as a witness to our previously held beliefs regarding the validity of the extant texts.

Culture, History, Scripture