“If we do not trust the writers of the Bible when they speak of the texts of the Bible, why do we believe anything else the Bible claims?”
As denomination after denomination, and therefore congregation after congregation, leans further and further away from the thought of the Bible as the Word of God , what used to be “good news” is driven out of the agenda of more and more so called “Christian” contexts.
Substantial changes follow suite in the teaching and preaching of the Church. If the Bible is reduced to a culturally determined and humanly defined series of incoherent texts then any hope of finding a common “word of truth” in it must be thrown overboard. What is left is simply: ‘What I think is what God says.” And since no two people think the same there can no longer be “one faith, once and for all given to the saints”. Come to think of it , there won’t even be any saints.
Although this should be a self-evident issue, long since settled in the mind of every believer, it seems necessary to go to the evidence of what the scriptures say about the scriptures. Just so as to be clear on what must first be understood before it can be rejected. Starting at the Birth of Christ and ending with a vital statement in the last book of the New Covenant I offer a series of propositions concerning the word of God to which you, dear reader, must answer. If your view of the Bible matters, then it matters eternally, if it does not do so then it claims more than you presently give it credit for. To your eternal loss.
“This happened in order to fulfil”
More than 30 times in the Scriptures of the New Covenant this phrase is reiterated. The reader of those texts is not merely an observer of things that have happened but is also a part of what is happening. When you are one of the agents in an event it is virtually impossible to be entirely objective. I am part of an ongoing event and as I am inside these events I cannot stand outside and disassociate myself from the narrative. The story told is the ongoing story. I am a believer 2025 because of the utter relevance of what the story told us around 30 AD. This concept of fulfilment was, is and shall be. The first appearing in the world of the Saviour was preconceived in more than 320 individual prophecies and their fulfilment fills much of the gospels telling the life story of the Life-giver. But the purpose was not merely to tell his story, but to impact ours. Nowhere cleaner spoken than in John 20:30-31 “Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” If the events recorded in the scriptures are said to be essential to life itself, can these scriptures then be changed randomly according to the thought-patterns of later times and still produce life? (Any such changes cannot but adulterate what is written.)
Listen to some of the fulfilment texts.
Matthew 1:21-23 “She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”
The narrative loses all meaning if the purpose for which He was born of a virgin is no longer relevant. “Because he will save his people from their sins”. The outstanding consequence of that birth is further the presence of God with his people! The presence of God is therefore established beyond doubt. The writers understood that by saying “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and for ever.” God needs not to come to the assembled church, the church assembles in the presence of the Lord. That is the meaning of “Christ in you”. Immanuel is not a mere Christmas bauble. It is the essential meaning of the Birth of Christ, “God with us.” It is our unwillingness to deliberately and consciously enter that presence which makes God appear distant. The presence is as permanent as the Name I AM. The One who is and was and is to come, cannot abandon his creation even for a moment. The only other reason given in the word is sin in us. It is part of the phenomenon of the work of The Spirit of God. If the Spirit is quenched He can no longer do his work leading to repentance.
Matthew 2:16-18 ” When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children,and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone.
Matthew 4:12-17 “Now when Jesus heard that John had been imprisoned, he went into Galilee. While in Galilee, he moved from Nazareth to make his home in Capernaum by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled.”
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,the way by the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,and on those who sit in the region and shadow of death a light has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to preach this message:“ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!”
To enter a season of “Christmas” without giving account for the reason it came to earth is surely a great mistake. The message cannot be separated from the messenger.
“He was in all respects tempted as we are.”
Following on from his Baptism by John the Baptiser, who in himself was a fulfilment of the prophecies made in the last book of the Prophets of old, (Malachi chapter 4), Jesus was immediately brought by the Spirit of God to the place of temptation. Three times over Satan places serious temptations before the Son of God as the Son of Man. Three times Jesus the Saviour of the world responds to the temptations by quoting from the book of Deuteronomy. Each time the arch enemy of God and man accepts those words as authoritative and binding. Each statement is made in reference to “it is written”. As Jesus is in all things tempted as we are does he then show us how to ward off and defend ourselves against the “wily stratagems of the evil One” by a right use of the very scriptures? How many people in the average church have ever read the book of Deuteronomy?
Do we think ourselves smarter than the Lord? If we are involved in the same fight and battle as He was while on earth are then our weapons not the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God?” It is the appalling ignorance of the very word of God which is emptying the Church-buildings of our time. That ignorance is as settled in the pulpit as in the pew.
Notice when you read these first verses of Matthew 4 that the temptations were aimed at Jesus as the Son of God. The Father had clearly declared that “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Throughout history and human thought we have always recognized that “as Father so Son”, i e if the Father is a human or a God then the son is also either a human or a God. Only perversity brings the notion that the Father begets something less than Himself. Only a darkened mind would conceive the Son to be a lesser god in essence than the Father.
Now hunger belongs to the human condition. Food is at times unavailable and hungry people will in time become desperate for food. All other concerns might be set aside and the one basic need of food for survival overrides all other issues. So after 40 days without nourishment Satan insists that if Jesus is truly the Son of God, then his hunger denies that very status. Humanity is gridlocked into a steady supply of food. Satan assumes that Jesus, if God at all, cannot be really hungry. But he does not know that Jesus is God in human form. He cannot grasp the reality of the incarnation. So when Jesus answers him from the human point of view by quoting Deuteronomy 8: 3 and deliberately says. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding from the Mouth of God”, then Jesus points to his true humanity, not his divinity. As God he feeds the hungry, as man he feeds on God. Food is never an ultimate issue for the true child of God. Later in John’s gospel (ch 4) he is again at a hunger station. His disciples have been and done some shopping and have now returned to their Master urging him to eat what they brought. His answer to them must have perplexed them. “No thank you, I have food to eat of which you know nothing.” What, they exclaim, has someone else brought any victuals? “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” Later in the writings of Paul we see how the apostle who himself often had been deprived of food had found some believers in some places to be living as if God was their belly. As if faith in God was a guarantee against hunger. “For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also eagerly await a saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” Phil 3:18-20
In the ongoing story of life, issues surrounding food are very real, and a few millions eat too much and other millions have too little. But it is the eternal word which gives the clue to a life of Godliness. Again Paul explained it well. “For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either. But if we have food and shelter, we will be satisfied with that. Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” 1 Tim 6:5-9 And he prefaced that statement with the fundamental truth for all believers. “This gives rise to envy, dissension, slanders, evil suspicions, and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a way of making a profit. Now godliness combined with contentment brings great profit.” Spoken against such as came to some sort of faith in order to profit personally from their godliness. Satan’s clever use of the natural needs of our bodies shows great success in the world and many will have faith only in direct proportion to the content of their belly.
Matthew 4 shows the importance of knowing the words of Deuteronomy. They are weapons in our struggle against principalities and powers in the heavens, for they use every physical and natural aspect of our lives to prove that we are not the Sons of God. If Satan has such respect for the very words of Moses and changes his approach because he accepts the authority of the word, how dare we withhold the words of the Former covenant from our fellow believers? Satan knows the words better than most believers, and sure enough, he will use the very words of God to bring us under his domain. The second temptation makes it clear.
Satan takes him to the pinnacle of the temple and bids him jump down from there to really make it clear to the people that he was the Son of God and that he had literally come down from heaven. And he quotes scripture to undergird his push. “If you are the Son of God..then jump.“ No harm will overtake you; no illness will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you in all you do. They will lift you up in their hands, so you will not slip and fall on a stone.” Psalm 91:10-12 When the sons of men jump or fall from great heights they generally damage and injure themselves. Playing on the dual nature of Christ the temptation is double. Either your falling or coming down will prove you to be mere human, by death or injury, or prove your divinity by not being hurt. And trusting the angels you can do as man what only God can do. The later answer in John 3:13 has not been voiced yet. “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.” But that descent was through being born, not by the will of any man but by the will of God.”
How does the Son of God answer this abuse of scripture. “Jesus said to him, “Once again it is written: ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.” It is written, but it is also written! Scripture must be interpreted by scripture. Did Satan hear Jesus claim that his attempt to test Jesus was equal to putting God to the test? Or is the reference to Jesus himself not wanting to test God by obeying the half truth of psalm 91? Either way it is the very words of Deuteronomy 6:16 which tell Satan that this does not work either. “You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.” Frequently you will be told that you must not quote words out of context. But Jesus did just that here by using a very specific event and quoting only the first half of the sentence against Satan. But it had the desired result. Satan changed tactic again.
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur. And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and began ministering to his needs.” Matthew 4:8-11
The prophetic words about Jesus Christ had made him the true inheritor of all the kingdoms of the world over and over in the psalms and the prophets the ultimate kingship of Christ is more than hinted at. So what Satan is doing is offering the things that are Jesus’ own true inheritance to him in exchange for obeisance, worship and acknowledgement of Satans right to give it. Like every other occupier of what is not his Satan pretends to own what he merely rules for a time. But the core of the matter is deeper. Satan is offering Jesus that which he could only win by his death on Calvary. So in effect the issue is this: “Worship me” and you can forget the cross! Truly a fiendish attack on the very heart of the gospel. What he received from the Father after the cross and resurrection was “ all power is given unto me” and the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world is the King of Kings and Lords of Lords.
What did Jesus say to put Satan off? “Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” Another quote from Deuteronomy chapter 6:16 “And Satan left him..” Take note how often people fall down and worship Christ later on in the gospels. Ask the question, how can he receive that worship unless he is the Son of God?
So what is our first observation about the relationship between the old and the new covenant writings. It is that the Satanic host has more respect for the former writings than most of the Churches called by His name. We recognize that we have little or no idea as to how powerful the word of God is when used properly by the saints. We are impoverished by a one sided reading of the NT only. The NT is incomprehensible without a firm understanding of the former writings. What God has not divided man should neither.
“Have you not read?”
Our next consideration will focus on the repeated questions to the rulers of the time regarding their reading of the word. And if they had read, why had they not understood what they read?Regarding marriage, the resurrection, even concerning Christ himself the question is raised: why do you not understand what is written?
“Now as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living!” Matthew 22:31-32
“He answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh?” Matt 19:4-5
“Have you not read this scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” Mark 12:10-11
Closely connected to those almost impertinent questions are the 72 times in the NT where the reader is reminded om “that which is written”. As if that which was written was still very much relevant and in operative mode.
“And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are turning it into a den of robbers!” Matthew 21:13
“Then Jesus said to them, “This night you will all fall away because of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” Matthew 26:31
“He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Mark 7:6
And nowhere is their inability to read and understand more visible than in John 5:39-40. “You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.” They read what was written but could not penetrate through to the meaning of the very words they often knew by heart. Paul explains why this is so.
“Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective. But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” 2 Cor 5:12-16
The blindness is then not a problem with actual eyesight but with a frame of interpretation that at the outset does not want to see what is evident. And that is a spiritual problem first and foremost. This insight leads us to Luke and his report in ch 24:13-35 about the disciples en route to Emmaus. The passage is so important because it shows several things that need to be addressed in the average Church fellowship.
“They were conversing with each other about the things that had taken place.”
Were they alone? Not for too long because the one of whom they spoke joined them along the way. That brings us back to Malachi 3:16. “Then those who respected the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. A scroll was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honoured his name.”
Those two wanderers respected a dead Lord, but not yet the living one. And no amount of accumulated ignorance begets truth in the inward man. Their eyes were prevented from recognizing him although they had visual remembrance of him. But prejudice and preconception prevented them from seeing what they saw. But there is also another reason. The Word wanted them to learn the essential lesson that the word written was a true witness to the Truth.
So the risen Lord listens to the disciples telling the woeful story of lost hope and then he takes them on a several mile long bible journey through the three sections of the Older testament and explains to them what was written in them about Himself. Famous are his words to them in v 25-27 “So he said to them, “You foolish people—how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures.”
And as they later, when alone again, reiterated the event they recalled the effect of that Bible Study. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road while he was explaining the scriptures to us!” Luke 24:32 Verily the coldness of heart that comes from ignorance is awful.
If we say that we love Jesus in any sense of the word but have no time for the reading of the very scriptures of which He spoke so clearly then we may well use words but they have little content. Christ explained what in all the then known scriptures was told in them of himself. The pursuit of that knowledge cannot be over emphasized. But in reality it is still very rare. The downside of that wilful ignorance is that many have views of Christ which Christ himself would not recognize. Paul and Peter preached Christ fully using only the scriptures which are so often set aside by the modern churches.
“Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue, as he customarily did, and on three Sabbath days he addressed them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” Acts 17:2-3 And the same message was proclaimed by Apollos and numerous others trained by the apostles. “ When ( Apollos) he arrived, he assisted greatly those who had believed by grace, for he refuted the Jews vigorously in public debate, demonstrating from the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.” Acts 18:27b-28
It can easily be recognized that one of the greatest needs in the Church is the bringing together of the whole bible for all of the people in every day and age. And our prayer could well be along the lines of the next occurrence on that day of resurrection.
“Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it stands written that the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:44-49
Paul found it necessary to emphasize the importance of staying within the scriptures and not twist them to our own ends. That is a part of his burden for the saints in Corinth. “I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favour of the one against the other.” 1 Cor 4:6-7 And later on he added this warning in the second letter to the same people. “Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as God has shown us mercy, we do not become discouraged. But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.” 2 Cor 4:1f
Are you still in any doubt as to the strong link between the former and later covenant texts and their dependence on each other? Let me then illumine the issue from yet another angle.
“The encouragement of the scriptures.”
“For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:4-6
I have for many years used a cliché statement when I have seen individuals and churches struggle. “If everything else fails, read the instructions.” I readily admit that I have not always followed my own advice. But those who refuse to believe that the scriptures are instruction at all are of course worse off. They will have to learn by trial and error. And it is true, one can learn that way. But as life is too short to try too many wrong solutions, and that some such blind attempts can be lethal, it makes sense to learn from the mistakes of other people. Paul claims that everything written before us may have some instructive content. Why not trust him?
Most of you are much into worship and music unto the Lord. But is the worship always based on the biblical basis for those activities? IS there not a risk of divisiveness even when it comes to worship if we do not want to learn the instructions? Is everything pleasing to the Lord just because we do it?
Many believers are discouraged, many lose hope, many are in deep quandaries about some or other life issue, but they wont come to the words of instruction. How can we defend that sort of approach to our problem? I am reminded of a jester in our midst while I was doing my National service in the Swedish Infantry. He was regularly complaining of some sort of problem which meant that he could not partake in some of our strenuous and boring tactical training. Faced with a 30 km march he feigned a sore foot and hobbled (skilfully) to the medical station. The doctor prescribed pain killers to the suffering man. Fully knowing what the instruction was the man ignored it and stuck the two tablets to his foot with a piece of sticky plaster. When he turned up at the doctor with his solution to the problem he was not only scolded but was also given two days Barracks arrest. But he avoided the march…
If we wilfully ignore instructions given, there will always be consequences. And then we complain that things went wrong.
“As it is written, “Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name. And again it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.” And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, and the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.” Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
If we are believers at all, then surely our respect for God and His instructions to His people is of great importance, and ignoring them is costly. It gives the Lord a bad name and crushes the testimony of the local church in the sight of the very people for whom we should be hope and power. This same idea is again taken up in all earnestness in Pauls 1st letter to the Church in Corinth chapter 10. Referring to the history of the Jewish people from the time of Moses he lists some of their sins and some of the blessings of God and then he lets us know that all those things were not only their story but that they were highly relevant for the New Covenant Church! “ These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did.” “These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall. No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others.”
Reading what people have done is a fair way towards avoiding doing what they did wrong. So you ask, but surely we have developed far beyond the things of those ancients? Have we indeed? The sophistications with which we excuse our sins have developed, but the sins as such have not become visibly less damaging. We have developed more refined ways of sinning, but never done anything which effectively removes sins from humanity. Without the Saviour we remain lost in trespasses and sin. Just like the people of old. “But with every trial God has prepared a way out of it.”
When all else fails, read the instructions.
“All scripture is useful”
One of the most important statements made by Paul to Timothy is also one of the most controversial ones. Paul claims that all of scripture is “god breathed”, In Greek ‘Theopneustos’. How is that to be understood? That is the point at which opinions diverge.The scriptures of which he speaks are the former covenant scriptures only, for as yet none of the new writings had as yet become documents of the Church. If the scriptures are God breathed then they can clearly not be reduced to or seen to be mere human literature. How have they been breathed out by God? And while the discussions rage the meaning is being lost. And what is left is a toothless idea that somehow when I read the scriptures there will be some flicker of divine inspiration in me. But as we all read differently and have different kinds of experience of the words, there is no longer any certainty as to what God has said to all. To each man his own truth then? Not so fast, dear reader. Here is what Paul wrote and was convinced of. And, not to put too fine a point on it, it was what the majority of Christians believed until the 20th Century.
“You, however, must continue in the things you have learned and are confident about. You know who taught you and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim 3:14-17
The life saving ability of the Scriptures is indicated by this passage. But notice again that it is not mere head knowledge of scripture that brings salvation. It is that the scriptures known form the basis of coming to the Saviour. Timothy is said to have known the scriptures from early years. He has grown up in the care of women of faith who informed him and aided his desire to know the Truth in the scriptures so that he would find his way through them to the Living Christ of which they testified.
Note the continuity required “you must continue”. Note further “what you have learned and are confident about”. Note further the relationship between “those who taught you from infancy” and himself. The lives of those who taught him must have shown not only what they believed but also that they believed. The latter only is seen in their lives. We believe basically only that which we also do. We may have many beliefs that are not translated into life action. But the NT is adamant in saying that faith is seen by the way we obey and live the word. It is the same matter of which Paul speaks so clearly “work out your salvation in fear and trembling”.
You may ask what the role of the scriptures is once you have received the saving life of Christ. And the answer is given in the last sentence above. “Every scripture is useful” precisely because it is god-breathed in one way or other. And it is useful in various ways, ways which call for different ways of treating them in the ministry of the Church. There are different levels in the ministry of the Word. Teaching lays the foundations. People need to know some basic facts about the Christian worldview, about Who our God is and what the basic story of the Bible is about. They learn to see the Bible as a whole work guided and preserved by the same Spirit of God which inspired the writers to write. They learn how to “study to show themselves approved. Workmen not needing to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim 2:15
The scriptures have the ability to reprove , that is, to correct things that are wrong in both thought and action. It is the work of holding up the plumb-line of Truth against everything that we do as individuals and as a Church. The guidelines of how to do it are there and need to be heeded. Paul indicates the right mode of doing such things. “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.” Gal 6:1-5
Strictly speaking it is not the written word as such that brings about change, because the work of conviction is done in the hearts of the listeners by the same Spirit who first gave the scriptures. It is possible to use the scriptures as “iron rods” to beat people into submission by fear and trembling, but that sort of discipline is based on fear not on faith.
Closely aligned to reproof is correction. Reproof is aimed at things of which the conscience can be made awake, things that can be seen as wrong by those reproved. Correction is more about “Strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble.” And it is more of choosing the better path among several possible paths. “You started well, now finish it.” An example of doctrinal correction is given in Galatians 3:1-3
“You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?(In the flesh?)
That kind of aberration needs addressing to the whole church so as to correct the course for all, reproof seems more to be directed at church members individually.
The overall purpose of the teaching ministry is to initiate and establish a growth pattern for every believer. They all start knowing salvation by faith in Christ alone. That starts a life long process of learning the ways of the Lord. And the work is never done, never finished. The outcome is “That the man (every member of the body) of God may be adequate, able and equipped, for every good work.” The leadership of the Church is there to facilitate that process. Again, Paul spells it out for us. What is the primary role of the Leadership? To shepherd the flock and to feed it. Yes, but even more so. “And he himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature.” Eph 4:11-13 It will readily be seen that as differentiated as the ministry of the Word is, the leadership functions are also very diverse. All depend on the God-breathed word. What they believe about the word will determine how they do the work of the Word and prayer.
“They did not know whom they were diligently searching for.”
It is not wrong to say that all the saints of old, those living under the former covenant lived in a bit of a fog. They saw, but did not understand what they saw fully. They did not know that they were looking forward to us who are living now and that their own fulfilment would only come once we who are of the new covenant had fully and in complete number, come into the salvation work of Christ. The apostle Peter knew this well.
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets who predicted the grace that would come to you] searched and investigated carefully. They probed into what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified beforehand about the sufferings appointed for Christ and his subsequent glory. They were shown that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things angels long to catch a glimpse of.”
Every reading of the older scriptures is then always reading through a darkened glass. And the light will only dawn over that reading of scripture as it is brought into alignment with the Christ. The scriptures themselves are said to be a product of the Spirit of Christ! And the same truths were proclaimed by the Holy Spirit in and through the apostles. The spirit of Christ in the prophets is not complete until the Spirit of Christ in the apostles has explained the truth to those who would listen to the gospel call. A NT believer is absolutely also a believer in the OT. To divide the Spirit of Christ by ignoring the OT deprives the apostles of any message for the NT. (And as surely makes the words of any preacher wholly without efficacy!)
The Apostle John saw and heard the words spoken by Christ and passed on to us a most vital aspect. “So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Rev 19:10
In his second letter Peter enlarges on the importance of the work of the Spirit by the word. “Moreover, we possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing. You do well if you pay attention to this as you would to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you do well if you recognize this: No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” 2 Pet 1:19-21
Scripture speaks of false prophets and allows them even to speak and be heard in the Scriptures. By contrast to true prophecy which always will bring Christ, the Messiah into focus. Neither the production of prophecy nor the interpretation of it can be done by the human mind on its own. So the very next words by Peter are these: “But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves.”
The sense is clear. Avoid them. At all cost! False teachers will propagate prophecies that cannot be upheld in the light of the work of the Spirit in the word. Prophecies that “preach another Jesus are off hand condemned from the outside. “They deny their Master” by vaunting their own ideas over those of the entire scriptures. They no longer let scripture be interpreted by scripture but they rewrite scripture after their own head. They also deny that the word in both testaments is a product of the Holy Spirit and will claim that their “prophecies” be given greater weight than what is written beforehand.
“What God has joined together, let no man break asunder.”
Are you still not convinced that there must be no separation between the words of God in the Former covenant writings and those of the Later covenant writings? Then I cannot provide any more evidence, for if that which we have considered is not eloquent enough, then nothing will do to convince you. Jude, in his letter, would have been in the same frame of mind as I would be if you, the reader, had not yet come to an agreement that “the whole Bible is the Word of God, and suitable…” Jude had intended to write to the receivers about this glorious salvation. But the feed back he had gotten was that their faith had not yet grasped the eternal nature of Faith as a gift of God by the preaching of the word. “Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.” Rom 10:17
It is then self-evident that what we believe about the Word of God will impact our faith to salvation. It is the proclamation and preaching of the truth of the written word that gives the Holy Spirit the means of conviction of that lost estate which Grace meets by offering salvation to the lost. Only the truly convicted of their own lostness want or need salvation!
But Jude realised that he needed to take one step back. So this is his fundamental greeting to those who were in danger of no longer holding the Faith in the Word high. “Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men have secretly slipped in among you—men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe—ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude v3 f
It was this recognition of the importance of the whole scriptures as the word of God which in the mouth of the 15th century reformers became the slogan “Sola Scriptura”, Scripture alone. None of them stayed by that motto. But it still highlights what is needed to say again today.
“Do not separate and break sunder what God has joined together.”
Both sets of scriptures and the intimate relationship between the word and the Spirit are joined from eternity. The life of your Church will never be what the Word describes unless you agree with the Word about the importance of the word.
You may by now have another question in your mind. Ok, so we must read them both. But reading and understanding are not the same. So how do we do it justice? How do we interpret the old in the light of the new? Knowing what you now know, you may reread the entire NT and look closely at how the NT writers quote and make use of the OT. Your eyes will be opened by the very words. Then you will have understood how the Spirit of Christ works with the words. And as you are baptised in the Spirit you will ask the Spirit to make you skilled in teaching the whole counsel of God.
The church needs nothing less.
Teddy Donobauer Dec 24