The Authority of Scripture
This audio is from a teaching recorded at our Wednesday Gathering on October 4, 2023.
Key Terms
General revelation:
God’s general revelation is God’s communication of himself through his world for everyone, so that we recognize him.
Special revelation:
God’s special revelation is God’s communication of himself through his word to his people, so that we are reconciled to him.
The Word-in-flesh:
Jesus is God’s word spoken to us, come in human flesh.
The Word-written:
Both the Old and New Testaments (the prophetic and apostolic writings) comprise the Bible, the Word-written, which is about the Word-in-flesh. The Word-written, as it shows us the Word-in-flesh, is therefore God’s final and active self-presentation in redemptive history until the Word-in-flesh returns.
Canon:
The body of writing that God has given to the church, comprising the 39 book of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament.
Verbal, plenary inspiration:
All of Scripture is from God, breathed out by him, written down as his Spirit carried along the human authors.
Old Testament higher criticism pipe:
The metaphorical pipe that liberal theologians use to deny the authority of the Old Testament by attempting to undermine its reliability.
Key Texts & Quotes
John 1:14,
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
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, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
2 Peter 1:21,
“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
2 Peter 3:1–2,
“…I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles…”
Ephesians 2:19–20,
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone…”
John Webster:
“Christian interpretation of Holy Scripture is determined by this setting; the ‘hermeneutical situation’ (that is, the constitutive elements of the business of scriptural interpretation, God, text and readers, and the field of their interactions) is not an instance of something more basic but an episode in the history of salvation.
At every point it is defined by the fact that it involves this God (the one who is light and who in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is luminously present), this text (Holy Scripture as the assistant to that presence), and therefore this reader (the faithful hearer of this God in and through this text). (“Biblical Theology and the Clarity of Scripture,” 378.)”
J. I. Packer:
“Christ’s claim to be divine is either true or false. If it is true, his person guarantees the truth of all the rest of his teaching (for a divine person cannot lie or err); therefore, his view of the Old Testament is true. If his claim is false, there is no compelling reason to believe anything else that he said. If we accept Christ’s claims, therefore, we commit ourselves to believe all that he taught—on this authority. If we refuse to believe some part of what he taught, we are in effect denying him to be the divine Messiah – on our own authority. The question, “What do you think of the Old Testament?”, resolves into the question, “What do you think of Christ?” And our answer to the first proclaims our answer to the second.” (Fundamentalism and the Word of God, 59)”
Martin Luther:
“For since the Church owes its birth to the Word, is nourished, aided and strengthened by it, it is obvious that it cannot be without the Word. If it is without the Word, it ceases to be a Church (“Concerning the Ministry,” Luther’s Works 40:37)”
William Tyndale:
“I defy the Pope and all his laws … if God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow know more of the Scripture than thou dost. (Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, 1563)”
Resources for Further Study
30-minutes of reading:
What Is the Bible? Where It Came From & What’s In It, by Bible Project [video]
The Authority and Inerrancy of Scripture, by Matthew Barrett
The Underground Translator, by John Piper [+ audio]
2-hours of reading:
Why Sixty-Six Books? The Development of the Canon, by Stephen Nichols [video]
Taking God at His Word: Why the Bible Is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What That Means for You and Me, by Kevin DeYoung
5-hours of reading:
God’s Word Alone, by Matthew Barrett
Fundamentalism and the Word of God, by J. I. Packer
