The Word of God

©Tom Dolhanty

Overview:

• Christ the King has taught us that to enter the kingdom of God we must 'be converted' and 'become like children' (Matthew 18:2-3). That is, I must recognize my complete dependence on God as my heavenly father, and place my trust in Him alone.
• When we consider more specifically what Jesus is teaching here, we see that fallen humanity is always inclined to act independently from God and to demand that all, whether from man or from God, must be submitted to the scrutiny of human understanding and the judgment of human approval. The child of God, though, trusts the revelation of God in the Scriptures and submits his reason to it. He trusts the goodness of God, and bows to the judgment of God.
• For those who love God there is a delight in the Word of God. This delight in the Scriptures is the experience of all who have been given eyes to see the kingdom of God and ears to hear the Word of God.
• Not only unbelievers, but some who profess Christ ask, 'Why should I accept the Bible as the word of God?' If this a challenge from a stubborn heart of unbelief, then nothing but conversion will help. If this is seeking to establish a foundation in the faith, then the believer should consider the testimony of the Spirit, the testimony of Scripture and the testimony of the Church.
• Only the testimony of the Holy Spirit can establish and sustain the confidence in Scripture which leads to salvation. This is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. He who has this testimony will not be moved, because he KNOWS what he has seen in the truest sense of the word 'know'. Like the testimony 'I am alive because I live', the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the spirit of the believer is direct, immediate and irrefutable.
• The Bible is unique amongst all the annals of human writing, and so the testimony of Scripture is both valid and necessary to establish the authority and veracity of the Scriptures. The Bible is self-authenticating.
• From its beginning the testimony of the New Testament Church has been that Scripture is "God-breathed" and has divine authority. This is also the testimony of Israel with respect to the Tanach which Christians refer to as the Old Testament.
• Besides the testimony of the Spirit, of the Scriptures, and of the Church there is compelling evidence to support the veracity of Scripture in many areas of human scholarship and research. These areas include philosophy, apologetics, archaeology and the natural sciences, and history. While these areas are important in the defense of the faith, they are not to be compared with the testimony of the Holy Spirit who alone can open the mind of the believer to understand the Bible.

"Unless you turn and become like children...":

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-3

The sin of our first parents became the plague of the human race, and it has tainted the life of every one of their offspring. The sin is to trust human judgment and human reason rather than the judgment and goodness of almighty God. It is to take the position that I - a created being - can live my life independently from my Creator and His laws, and that whatever truth there is to be known, I can know it by means of my human reason. It is an utterly foolish and irrational stance for a creature of time whose brief moment on the earth is marked by weakness and dependency and limitations. It is the folly and the blindness of lost humanity. Its chief characteristics, once again, are stubborn determination to be independent of God and to live by human reason rather than trust in the Creator and Sustainer of life. It is to say to God not 'I believe' but 'prove it'; not 'please help me' but 'I can make out on my own'; not 'I am lost to sin', but 'I'm not really that bad'.

The promise of Satan in his deception of our first parents was "you shall be like gods", and this has been the foolish ambition of lost humanity from that time. It is to presume that I am able to evaluate truth and goodness independently of God. Indeed, it is the sin that causes me to presume that I am capable of evaluating God Himself. Upon this sin and upon this presumption the entire world system is constructed. It is the underlying foundation of modern science, politics, education, judicial systems, and, in short, for the whole world. The world does not say, 'What has God said?' or 'What is the will of God in this or that?' or 'How may we bring glory and honour to the eternal God?' or 'We are creatures, with limitations. On our own we know nothing of origin or purpose or anything else beyond our immediate world. Let us seek God for answers.' Rather, the world says, 'What does human reason say?' and 'How does human morality instruct us?' and 'How may we exalt and advance the glory of the human race?' and 'With all of our power and all of our resources we resist the very idea of God and of the supernatural and we deny human limitation. Instead, we insist that humanity is evolving towards perfection'

Jesus Christ, on the other hand, has said 'you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you "turn" (or "unless you are converted") and become "like children". What exactly does this mean "become like children"? Surely it means that we look to God the Father with an attitude of trust and reverence; that we recognize our own smallness and powerlessness, and our absolute dependence on God for everything. Surely to become like a child is to recognize that truth and power and meaning reside in God, and that our safety and our fulfillment lies in reliance on God rather than reliance on the wisdom and the reasoning of human beings. To "turn and become like children" means that we attend to what God says, and we put our trust in that. Children, of course, notwithstanding cultural myths, are not innocent. They, like all humans, are inclined to sin and rebellion. But they are small and powerless and have not yet learned the art of deception very well. So the child trusts his or her mother and father. When a fearful situation arises, or when the child wishes to know something, he or she turns to parents - perhaps even runs to parents or clings to parents depending on the events of the moment.

This then is the light in which the true child of God - the one who has 'become like a child' must view the Scriptures. The Bible is the Word of God and it is to be received as the word of a loving father to his children. When I subject the Scriptures to the scrutiny of my reason, then I am guilty of the same sin as my first parents - the sin of cosmic rebellion. If I declare that the Bible is not to be trusted, then I have made myself the arbiter of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and error. If I declare that the Bible is corrupted, that no one can say which of it is true and which is not true, then I have declared that God is either evil because He has called me to trust a lie, or He is impotent, because He is not able to preserve His own Word. Either way, I am guilty of the very sin committed by our first parents, and will receive the same reward if I do not turn and repent and become as a little child.

Let us be clear that we are not speaking of becoming gullible, or irrational, or superstitious or anti-intellectual. Rather we are instructed to become HONEST. We are called upon to recognize our true position and our true limitations and our true dependence on God for everything. When my heart beats, it is the gift of God. When I receive food or shelter or any other material blessing it is from God. My life and my talents are given to me from God, as are my family and country and home. What is more, I can know nothing, understand nothing, see nothing, unless God gives me light. I cannot understand eternity, nor can I understand where I came from or where I am going or what my true state is, unless God shows me. I am in every sense a child and utterly dependent on the Father of all creation for everything. What Jesus is saying is that to recognize and acknowledge this is the very starting point of approaching God.

He or she who has been thus converted will demonstrate the attitude of a child in how the Word of God is approached. As a child I will trust and believe and obey and submit my own reason to the revelation of God. I will not do as my first parents did, and demand that God and His Word be submitted to the scrutiny of my reason, but I will come with an attitude of reverence and honour before the God who has kindly revealed Himself to me through the Scriptures. To elevate human reason and human independence above the revelation of God and faith in God is to disqualify oneself from entering or even seeing the kingdom of God.

Revelation versus human reason:

Before we consider the Scriptures themselves, it is important to pause and consider exactly what we mean by trusting human reason as opposed to trusting the revelation of God. Let us pause a moment and consider what it is that we really trust. Many who profess Christ believe that their trust is in the Word of God when in fact they trust their own judgment and the judgment of a fallen world or a false church. What I believe and what I trust determines what I am and what I do. What, then, do I trust as the foundation for choosing between right and wrong, truth and error, good and bad? Although this is a fundamental question of the most profound importance, many who profess Christ have never stopped to consider the matter carefully. To be more specific about the question, each person has a touchstone against which he or she measures reality - what do I look to when I must decide the nature of a matter? Ultimately that touchstone can only be the revelation of God or the reason of man. These are the only two possibilities.

Scripture is ever so clear that there is one God, the triune God of Scripture - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - three in one. There is one way to God, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man. There is one recorded revelation of God - the Jewish Tanach (the Protestant Old Testament) and the Christian New Testament. Whatever other voice is heard, it is the voice of the creature and not the Creator, and it must come to me via my human reason. God alone can speak with the voice of God. The question then is simply this, 'Do I put my trust in the revelation of God, or do I put my trust in human reason?' This human reason may take the form of science, or one of the myriad of religions other than Christianity, or the occult, or a plethora of other forms. The common characteristic for any of these is that it is the invention of the creature rather than the revelation of the Creator. The world system will tolerate any of these voices, but it will oppose the Gospel and the voice of God in the Scriptures. As I said, this difference between a foundation based on divine revelation and one established on human reason is a matter of the most profound importance and yet few modern Christians give the matter a thought, or so it seems. The whole world has been caught up in the exaltation of the creature and his crowning attribute - human reason. But the foundation upon which you stand has everything to do with the true nature of your faith and the true nature of your faith has everything to do with the true nature of your relationship with God.

It is not difficult to demonstrate where I place my trust and confidence. For example, do I consider that it is necessary for human reason to establish the veracity of the Scriptures? Do I consider that the Scriptures must be 'proven' to be true in the court of human reason in order to be accepted as true? Do I worry that some new insight or some new discovery could prove the Scriptures to be wrong? Do I look to natural science or logic or philosophy to establish the reliability of the Bible? If I do, then my foundation is human reason, not the Word of God. Let us hasten to add, though, that the Bible IS consistent with right reason, and natural science DOES, in fact, reaffirm the Bible message. Indeed, the Bible is the ONLY source which is consistent with right reason. I am not proposing a dichotomy between reason and faith. Rather, I am saying that all 'right reason' must have its foundation and its ultimate meaning in the revelation of God. And all who walk uprightly before God must have Scripture as the foundation for all truth. I am saying that trusting human reason to answer ultimate questions is irrational.

If the Word of God is my foundation, then my reason is brought under its authority. The Scriptures are my starting point. If I believe that the Word of God is validated by human argument or observation, then my ultimate authority is my reason, not the Word of God. If I am saying that the oracles of God are subject to my scrutiny, this is just to say that they are NOT the oracles of God at all. What is astonishing in the modern era is just how ignorant the typical Christian is in all of these areas, and just how blatantly offensive the typical 'Christian' is in preferring his own judgment, and the judgment of the world over that of God.

In the day to day management of our lives we make decisions continually that reflect where we have placed our confidence. Often those who profess Christ separate their 'religious' persona from the practical decisions and behaviour of their day to day existence. Indeed, this is the very nature of human religion - give the gods what will satisfy them and then go about your life with the hope that you have satisfied the demands of religion. Those, however who love the Lord their God "with all their heart, and soul and mind and strength" are focused on Him and His interests, and seek to obey His Word in all facets of their lives. This is seen as radical or even fanatical by the typical modern professor of Christianity. Let us consider just one commandment of the New Testament to illustrate this point.

Jesus instructed His followers to "seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33), and He made it very clear that his words means exactly what they appear to mean. Even in the matter of food and clothing and shelter, the attitude of the believer is to be one of trust in God rather than of spending his or her time and energy seeking to meet these requirements. This, of course, is not a call to passivism or fatalism, but it is a teaching about where my trust and my confidence is to be placed, and where my priorities are to be found. I am not to make educational planning, or vocational planning or investment planning or retirement planning my focus. I am to make the kingdom of God and the interests of the King my focus. Furthermore, lest I should worry that this might cost me my education, or career, or investments or retirement, this also is left in no doubt. It will! In fact, discipleship will cost me my very life. In the same Gospel we are told, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 16:25. Above everything this has to do with motive. For example is my education - really - a calling of God and what is my purpose in pursuing this calling? Many pretend but the true disciple looks very different than the hypocrite.

So then, is this how the typical North American Christian goes about his or her life? In each decision, and especially in each major decision, are the interests of the kingdom of God considered before my own interests? Do I continually prepare myself to lay down my dreams of higher education, or career path, or purchasing a house, or providing for a comfortable retirement in deference to the interests of Christ and His kingdom? I'm afraid that to ask the question begs the answer. The normal way to proceed is to look at my talents and my bank account and the potential for self realization and a thousand other self interests - and then to 'call down the blessings of God' on my plans. Of course, there is often some 'mental adjustment' whereby I convince myself that this, indeed, is "seeking first the kingdom of God". It is nothing other than pagan dualism. My confidence is not in God's provision at all, but in the things which I can control or at least in the provision which I can expect on a human level. And, if the truth be told, what I am "seeking first" is my own interest, and my own happiness, and my own position and so on. I have shown beyond all doubt what my true foundation is and where my real trust lies. My faith is not in God's Word. My faith is in human reason and human provision and in that which I can extract from the world to pursue my own interests.

Many of these who profess Christ really treat the Scriptures as if they were a kind of 'holy book'. They go to the Bible to find wisdom or comfort or inspiration, but they do not act at all as if Scripture is the very Word of the living God which is to be believed implicitly and obeyed willingly and literally. In this sense there are many 'holy books'. Virtually every religion of any import has its own 'holy book' - writings for the inspiration and instruction and guidance of adherents. These are very different than a collection of writings assembled under the direct inspiration and guidance of the living God. The Word of God is living and active and is kept under the watchful eye of the living God. No other writings of mankind can be compared to it.

Others who profess Christ treat the Scripture as a sort of personal treasure box or 'promise box'. Still others view Jesus as a 'good man' and the Bible as a 'holy book' which is able to provide them with a moral code to live a good life - 'just like Jesus'. Very few indeed are the ones who approach the Scriptures as the very word of the living God and the essential revelation to humanity. Very few indeed take the time to study the great teachers of the faith which Christ has given to his Church to help His disciples understand the Scriptures. There can be no real maturity in Christ without thoughtful and diligent study of the doctrines of Scripture, and it is simply arrogant to think that one can do this without the assistance of the giants of the faith. We live in an age where men and women will give their lives to the study of law or medicine or sports or recreation and yet the revelation of God is treated almost with contempt. The original languages of the Bible are ignored, the history of the Church is not understood, and the great doctrines of the faith are forgotten and replaced with the excitement or the 'revelation' of the moment.

When, after thirty years as a Christian, I began to study the Scriptures and the faith carefully, I was appalled at how ignorant I had been. Even though I am well educated with advanced degrees and even though I was quite in touch with the current Christian book mill, I was woefully and embarrassingly stupid about the foundations of the Christian faith, the history of the faith, the languages of the Bible, and even the major teachings of the great leaders of the faith. My teachers were not competent to stand before a body of believers and minister the Word of God and neither was I. And now I find that we were not alone but there has been a frightful 'dumbing down' of the North American Church for generations. The same people who spend years and years of their lives studying a profession will not give a couple of hours a week to participate in a serious study of the Christian faith. In this atmosphere of ignorance and arrogance, the great and central teachings of the Scriptures have been replaced by frivolity and entertainment and worldly philosophy.

To be "converted and become as a child" my foundation must be the Word of God. My trust must be in God and therefore in God's revelation to me. Furthermore, to say that Scripture is my foundation and yet to be ignorant of the basic doctrines of Scripture is hypocrisy. To study and prepare and discipline myself in other areas of my life, while remaining ignorant concerning the basic teachings of Scripture, or unwilling to submit myself to its instructions of the Word of God, is just to say that the Word of God is not my foundation at all. Or, in other words, it is to say that I am not at all inclined to be "converted and become as a child" with respect to God. I am inclined, rather, to trust the world, and above all to trust my own judgment. I am inclined to seek my own interests and to trust myself to realize them.

If one is not willing to base one's life on the Word of God, then nothing that I say in these essays will be of any help. This is not simply my view. Jesus said, "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority." John 7:17. Commitment to trust and obey the Word of God is the condition for understanding the revelation of God through the Scriptures.

"... thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart ..."

For the child of God to whom Christ has been revealed through the Scriptures, there is a delight found in the written Word of God which is difficult to describe. Perhaps the words of Jeremiah the prophet come as close as any in expressing this delight:

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. " Jeremiah 15:16, KJV

It is not a grudging submission to some ancient law. It is not the religious duty of some Pharisee. It is not the boasting rights of some 'good person'. It is the delight of a child who has seen something of the glory and the wonder and the sheer awesomeness of the eternal God, and who finds a "taste" of that glory in the reading of the Scriptures. The very language is child-like - "thy words were found and I did eat them". Nor is Jeremiah alone in expressing this joy in Scripture. Following is just a sampling of this sentiment from other passages:

"With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word." Psalms 119:13-16

"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!" Psalms 119:18-19

"And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." Deuteronomy 8:3

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Isaiah 40:8

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:16

Expressions of delight, of wonder, of living by God's Word, or of the Word "dwelling in you richly" are child-like expressions of faith and joy in the Word of God. These are not dry and stifling religious mantras, but expressions of the heart. This is what Jesus was speaking of when he described those able to enter the kingdom as being "like children".

One of the surest tests of my true attitude towards God is to consider my attitude toward the Scriptures. First, do I receive the Scriptures as the very Word of God to be studied and understood in their context, and to be obeyed without question? Or do I read my own logic and doctrines and preferences and cultural relevancies and denominational biases into the Bible? Secondly do I esteem the Word of God as a revelation which proceeds from the very mouth of God? One's attitude toward the Lord is immediately evident in one's attitude toward His Word. If I truly esteem the Word of God then I will be continually studying it and exploring it to understand God's will for me. And, of course, I will be OBEYING it. I will be subjecting myself to it. When I find myself or my beliefs or my practices at odds with the Scriptures, then I will set out to correct myself – not to 'read into' Scripture what I think should be there. I will be seeking to conform myself to the teaching of Scripture, not forcing Scripture to conform to my understanding. This is the habit of ALL of the great saints of God. All who have been used mightily by Christ Jesus in the building of His house can say with Jeremiah, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. “ Jeremiah 15:16, KJV

Anyone who does not love the Word of God, does not love God. Anyone who treats the Word of God carelessly, treats the Lord Himself carelessly. Anyone who has no time to dwell in the Scriptures, to memorize them, and study them, and savour them - has no heart to dwell with God, and therefore has no real love for God. The one who desires to know the Lord will test his heart and his walk continually against the light of God's Word. The one who truly seeks his or her Lord will have a genuine desire to hear, and consider and understand and obey the Scriptures. To that end, they are open to learn from the teaching of the great teachers of the faith. He who claims to be a disciple of Jesus Christ but who does not love the Word of God is a hypocrite. He who will spend years preparing for a profession, but has only a surface knowledge of the Word of God has demonstrated his true attitude toward Scripture.

For those who are leaders in the house of the Lord, the study of Scripture should be central and it should be thorough, and it should be continuous – a delight and a lifetime labour. There is, in these days, as we have said, an appalling ignorance of the teaching of the giants of the faith amongst churchgoers and also amongst church leaders. This ignorance also extends to the original languages of the Bible, the history of the Church, and to Biblical scholarship in general. This is not the behaviour of those who delight in the Word of God. Woe to those who treat God's Word so carelessly, on that day when they must stand and give account for those souls lost under their tutelage who have never heard “the whole counsel of God” preached with the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Why should I accept the Bible as the Word of God?

One might expect the unbeliever to ask 'why should I accept the Bible as the Word of God?'. In fact, many in these evil days who actually profess Christ are asking the same question - the result of two and a half centuries of sustained attack on the veracity of the Scriptures. I should say at the outset that if this question is a reflection of a fixed position - if this is a brazen challenge to the authority of Scripture - then there is no reason why you should accept the Bible as the Word of God - no reason at all. You have never accepted God or His Christ. You are still in your sins and under the wrath of God. It is just that simple. If you reject the Scriptures, then you are rejected by God because the only way you can learn of God is through the Scriptures. If someone speaks to you of salvation, and if he is speaking truth, then he is speaking from the Scriptures. There is no other source of revelation for the Gospel. There is nowhere else to learn of God or learn about yourself. If you feel you can pick and choose - accept some of the testimony of Scripture but reject the rest - then you have put yourself in the place of God. You have no basis for true faith because, "... faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Romans 10:17.

If however this question reflects an honest desire to come to a better understanding of the faith, then it is important for you to understand the testimony of the Holy Spirit, the testimony of Scripture, and the testimony of the Church concerning the place of Scripture in God's plan of redemption. I will give a brief review of each of these testimonies in the next three subsections. I will also touch briefly on the great body of evidence from other sources which teach us that the Bible is unique amongst all of the writings of mankind, and is, in fact, what it says it is. Finally, before I move on to these testimonies, I cannot emphasize too much that I give here only the most cursory of outlines for each of these areas. It is very difficult not to plunge in with gusto because there is such an overwhelming body of evidence that the Scriptures are of divine origin and worthy of all belief and trust - and obedience. However, to do so would be to defeat our purpose here. Our task on this site is to give a clear answer to the question 'What is the Gospel?' We must stay our course. I will provide substantial reference materials for each of these topics in the "Further Reading" section. I urge the reader to take a moment to review these sources and follow up with further study. It is a most rewarding exercise.

The testimony of the Holy Spirit:

Without question the most important evidence that any believer can receive to establish personal confidence and faith in the Scriptures, is the testimony of the Holy Spirit to his spirit. This is the miracle of the Bible, and it is a miracle experienced by everyone born again by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit, who is very God of very God, coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Son, testifies to the truth of Scripture in many different ways, including those mentioned below. But here I refer specifically to the reassurance that the Holy Spirit imparts to the Christian that the Bible is the Word of God. Although this reassurance can be a little difficult to understand for those outside the faith, it is, as I said, easily the most important factor in the faith and in the confidence of the individual believer. It is what caused Jeremiah to say:

"thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." Jeremiah 15:16

It is what caused the Psalmist to say:

"Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens." Psalms 119:89, and "I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word." Psalms 119:16.

It is why the wise man said:

"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him." Proverbs 30:5

and why the prophet Isaiah said:

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Isaiah 40:8

It is what caused Martin Luther to say in the year before he died:

"Let the man who would hear God speak, read Holy Scripture".

This testimony of the Holy Spirit to the Scriptures is described in many different ways and in many different places in Scripture. In the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John Jesus referred to it as 'hearing' His words. In the twenty fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke it is described by Jesus as "opening the Scriptures" to the disciples (Luke 24:32), and "opening their minds to understand" the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). It is most important to understand that this enlivening or illumination of the Scriptures is not something separate from the Scriptures. Rather it is an action of the Holy Spirit on the heart of a true believer whereby the Scriptures themselves take on a light or a beauty or where the passage of Scripture "pierces the heart" of the believer (Hebrews 4:12) or imparts a clear sense of the glory and the holiness and the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. The impartation is not separate from the Scriptures themselves. It is not as if there is a voice or an impression whispering "this is true". Rather the very Word itself, as it were, imparts light.

Perhaps the clearest picture of this testimony in the New Testament is seen when Jesus asked His Apostles who men said that He was (Matthew 16:13-19). They replied that some thought He was John the Baptist risen from the dead, others said Elijah, others said Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Jesus then directed His question to the twelve Apostles, "Who do you say that I am?" The response and Jesus' reply are as follows:

"Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Matthew 16:16-17.

What Jesus was saying to Peter is, 'You are very blessed indeed Peter, because this revelation which did not come to you from men, but from God Himself has opened your eyes to see my true identity. You, Peter, have the direct testimony of God Himself concerning who I am.' This is the testimony of the Holy Spirit of which we are speaking.

The great American theologian Jonathan Edwards spoke of this testimony of the Spirit in his sermon "A Divine and Supernatural Light". He describe this light as follows:

"...a real sense and apprehension of the divine excellency of things revealed in the Word of God. A spiritual and saving conviction of the truth and reality of these things arises from such a sight of the divine excellency and glory; so that this conviction of their truth is an effect and natural consequence of this sight of their divine glory."

In his typically masterful language John Calvin described the effect of this testimony of the Holy Spirit as follows:

"Therefore, illumined by his power, we believe neither by our own nor by anyone else’s judgment that Scripture is from God; but above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty (just as if we were gazing upon the majesty of God himself) that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men. We seek no proofs, no marks of genuineness upon which our judgment may lean; but we subject our judgment and wit to it as to a thing far beyond any guesswork! This we do, not as persons accustomed to seize upon some unknown thing, which, under closer scrutiny, displeases them, but fully conscious that we hold the unassailable truth! Nor do we do this as those miserable men who habitually bind over their minds to the thralldom of superstition; but we feel that the undoubted power of his divine majesty lives and breathes there. By this power we are drawn and inflamed, knowingly and willingly, to obey him, yet also more vitally and more effectively than by mere human willing or knowing!" Institutes Vol. 1, Ch 7, Par. 5

In order for a person to become a new person in Christ Jesus, that person must first be able to "hear" the Word of God and "see" the kingdom of God. (John 3:3; John 8:47) This is not a matter of the human intellect or of human reason, although, of course, human intellect and human reason are involved. The source of this new awareness, however, comes by revelation and not by human reason or intuition. One of the clearest metaphor's of the change that must take place is seen in the account of the healing of the blind man in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John. This man was born without eyes, and Jesus, by divine power, recreated the man's natural eyes. The comments of Jesus in John 9:3, 33-41 of this chapter make it clear that this astonishing miracle was meant to be a metaphor of the incomparably greater miracle of spiritual rebirth. This man who was born without eyes received the divine gift of physical eyes, so that he could see the natural world around him and in parallel to this miracle in his body, he received spiritual eyes so that he could see the kingdom of God and God's Messiah (John 9:38). Having seen, he believed. In this same way, the Scriptures become 'visible' to the one who has received spiritual eyes.

My own experience in receiving the testimony of the Spirit to the authority of the Scriptures at the time of my conversion is similar to that of countless others. For many years I had a Bible on my bookshelf - it is, after all, a requirement for any complete bookshelf! But I had little interest in the book, and I really did not understand it. Of course I could read passages like the 23rd Psalm and appreciate the poetry and perhaps take some inspiration as I might from any other work of poetry. But I had no appetite for the Bible as a whole, and the few times I did attempt a more serious approach, I simply gave it up as a lost cause. It seemed to me like an ancient 'holy book'. It received very little attention from me and, in fact was the most 'unread' book on my shelf.

When however the Holy Spirit by divine appointment and mercy began to open my eyes, the Bible "came alive". I first became curious and soon became completely immersed in the Scriptures. I could not get enough of the Word of God. I can say without any hesitation, "thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word became unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." This was not the effect of a slow and thoughtful study of the Scriptures and their place in the Church. That came much later. This was the direct testimony of the Holy Spirit to my Spirit that I was encountering the living God through this book called the Bible. It is hard to explain - but a most wonderful thing to experience and I thank my God from the bottom of my heart for giving me eyes to see his kingdom and ears to hear His word. It is now 35 years since the Holy Spirit first opened the Scriptures to me, and the Scriptures are more precious and more delightful and more fearful and more alive to me than ever. Like countless other Christians, I know just what was meant by the disciples on the road to Emaus when:

"They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" Luke 24:32.

The testimony of the Holy Spirit to the spirit of the child of God concerning the divine nature of Scripture is direct, personal, and very powerful - and it is wonderful. There is no testimony like it on a personal and individual level. As with every work of the Holy Spirit it is unique and individual. For some it is a dramatic change as with me. For others there is a slowly emerging awareness that the Bible is a living testimony from God Himself, and is kept under His care. For some it is more emotional, for others it is more intellectual. But for all it is a confidence imparted by the Holy Spirit of God that the Scripture is the very the Word of the living God.

The testimony of Scripture:

One might ask, 'How can Scripture be used to validate Scripture? Isn't that a circular argument?' However, a little reflection on the matter will show that given the nature of Scripture, this is precisely what one should expect. Scripture claims to be inspired by God (2Tim 3:16 ; 2Peter 1:20-21). The actual word used in the Greek is not "inspired" but "breathed out by God" or "God-breathed" (theopneustos) as the NIV version correctly translates 2Tim 3:16NIV. The infallible God, through the mediation of fallible men, has given mankind His Word in the Scriptures - this is what Scripture and the Church claim for the Bible. Moreover, Scripture claims that the Word of God is "living" (Hebrew 4:12) and that God "watches over His Word to perform it" (Jeremiah 1:12). In other words, God has directly associated Himself with the Scriptures, and He both preserves them and speaks through them. If this claim is true then this book is absolutely unique and one must approach it with this in mind. Though delivered by fallible men, this book has the seal and guarantee of the eternal and infallible God.

Thus one would expect to find in the Bible a work unlike any other work in the annals of human writing, and this is precisely what the Church claims, and what the Bible itself claims. In its revelation of the nature of man and the nature of God, in the majesty of its language, in its unity, in its prophetic accuracy, in the nature of its composition over 1500 years by 50+ authors, in the sheer scope of its reach - this is a book like no other book. It alone provides the answer that 'fits' the question regarding existence, regarding the human condition, and regarding the nature of creation and the Creator. Beyond all these things, though, is the association of this book with the living God. The guarantor of this book is none other than God Himself. He has instructed chosen men to write this book, has directed them in the writing, and has committed Himself to it. In doing this, the Almighty has not 'masked' or overridden the personality and context of the authors. Rather, we have law from Moses, the poetry of Psalmists such as King David, the prophetic utterances of men like Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Jewish symbolism of the Apostle John and the deep theological insights of the Apostle Paul. "Yet wisdom", said Jesus, "is justified by all her children." Luke 7:35, and through these "children" wisdom - the Holy Spirit - has delivered the Word of God.

How would one expect to establish the validity of such a work, except through the work itself? Human works can be validated by human methods, but the ultimate validation of a work that comes from God must be God Himself. This is not to say that human validation is not applicable, or not important. It simply means that, ultimately, the validation that really matters for a work which claims divine origin must come from God Himself. This is the nature of Scripture, and for those who have been enlightened by God, who have been 'healed of their stubborn blindness', it is God who makes this book real to them.

The Bible is a collection of 66 books written over a period of approximately 1,500 years by about 50 different authors. There are approximately 5,000 manuscripts supporting the New Testament alone, many of them dating to the second or third century. No other ancient book can be compared. Amongst these thousands of manuscripts there is marvelous agreement so that the great preponderance of differences have to do with minor language issues which do not affect the content. The Bible, though written over fifteen hundred years by fifty authors is a book of unity and harmony . This book is like a garment woven as one piece without seams. It has one focus and one purpose and theme is maintained and developed - unfolded as it were - from beginning to end, even though most of the writers could never have understood the magnitude of the scope of their writings, and even though they span 15 centuries. There is simply no other book like the Bible, even on the natural level.

Regarding the uniqueness of the Bible, the Westminster Confession of Faith states the following:

"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."

What, then, does Scripture say about Scripture?

It would take volumes and volumes to answer this question in depth and once again we would encourage the reader to explore some of the materials listed in the "Further Reading" section for this subject. For this essay, we will confine ourselves to the testimony of Jesus Christ Himself regarding the Scriptures. The Bible of Jesus and His contemporaries was the Tanach - the Jewish Bible. it consisted of 24 books which are exactly the 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament. (The Christian Old Testament follows the Septuagint order, and lists separately some of the books which are combined in the Tanach.) At the time of Jesus there would have been the Hebrew Scriptures of Jerusalem - the Tanach - and there was also a Greek translation known as the Septuagint which included 'sacred writings' called the Apocrypha. These additional writings were written after the last writings of the prophets, which ended around 400 BC, and were not considered part of the Jewish canon proper. Whatever one may think of the Bible, or think of Jesus, most scholars are agreed that Jesus of Nazareth had a very high view of Scripture and everywhere He treats it as the Word of God. He saw His entire life and death as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, and upon His resurrection from the dead He established the truth about Himself in the heart of His disciples by "opening their mind" to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).

To gain any comprehension of the Bible at all, one must understand that above everything else it is a book about Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man. From the third chapter of the first book - Genesis - to the last chapter of the last book of the New Testament - Revelations - the central figure of the Bible is Jesus Christ and the central theme is the glory of God in delivering his fallen creation through the work of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament the way of salvation was to put one's trust in the promise of God's Messiah. In the New Testament, the way of salvation is to put one's trust in the finished work of God's Messiah. Every book of the Bible is 'gathered around this person' as it were. Thus there are more than 300 specific prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the Messiah - where He would be born, how he would be announced, what His great work would be, how and why he would die, his resurrection from the dead and so on. The people of Israel were, above everything else, appointed by God to bring forth the Saviour of the world promised to Eve, and again to Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. The entire history of Israel is focused on the deliverer. The law of the Old Testament was given to teach the hopelessness of trying to please God by human endeavor and therefore the need for a saviour. It was also given to maintain the purity of the Jewish race and a level of integrity and uprightness until the Messiah was brought forth. The Bible is about Jesus Christ, just as the nation of Israel is about Jesus Christ.

Thus, when Jesus began His public ministry He affirmed, both directly and indirectly, that the Bible was to be received as the very Word of God. Moreover, He conformed His entire life to "fulfilling the Scriptures" (Matthew 26:54, 56, 14:49; Mark 15:28; Luke 4:21, 22:37; John 13:18, 17:12, 19:36). Following are specific instances of Jesus' testimony regarding the authority of Scripture (see John Piper):

Jesus:

• Believed the Psalmist Spoke by the Holy Spirit (Mark 12:35-36)
• Believed That What Moses Wrote in the Law God Himself Said (Matthew 19:3-6)
• Put the Authority of Scripture Above Satan and Above His Own Human Preferences ( Matthew 4:3-4, 10 )
• Believed That All Scripture Would Be Fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18)
• Saw Moses and the Prophets as Speaking Compelling Truth on How to Avoid Hell (Luke 16:28-31)
• Believed That the Small Affirmations of Scripture Cannot Be Broken (John 10:33-36)
• Put the Authority of Moses Above the Distortions of the Scribes (Matthew 23:1-3)
• Taught That Moses' Writings Are to Be Believed (John 5:39 -47)
• Contrasted the Traditions of Men with the Word of God in the Old Testament (Mark 7:9-13)
• Believed That Knowing the Scriptures Would Keep You from Doctrinal Error (Mark 12:19-24)
• Devoted His Life to Fulfilling the Scriptures About the Messiah
• Face set toward Jerusalem: Luke 18:31
• Cleansing of the temple: Mark 11:15-17 (compare to Isaiah 56:7)
• The people’s blindness in response to the parables fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah: Matthew 13:13-14
• His ministry is fulfillment of the Old Testament: Luke 4:16-21
• The ministry of Jesus and John the Baptist are being played out according to Scripture: Mark 9:11-13
• Jesus saw his betrayal as fulfillment of Scripture: Mark 14:21; John 3:18
• Jesus saw the disciples abandonment as fulfillment of Scripture: Mark 14:27
• Jesus saw his arrest as a criminal as fulfillment of Scripture: Luke 22:37; Matthew 26:53-54
• Jesus taught that we should not be slow to believe all that the Old Testament prophets have spoken: Luke 24:25

Thus, many times and in many different ways Jesus Christ of Nazareth confirmed the Tanach to be the very Word of God. Perhaps the most remarkable example of Jesus' view of Scripture is seen when He taught His disciples that He must be betrayed to the Romans and die the cruel and cursed death of crucifixion (Galatians 3:13) - "so that Scripture might be fulfilled" (Matthew 26:56). How could the eternal Son of God and Saviour of the world give a higher endorsement to the divine authority of Scripture than that? The eternal Son of God would certainly never submit Himself to any Word which did not proceed from His heavenly Father.

Concerning the New Testament, Jesus promised His Apostles that after He ascended into heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit to remind them of all that He had taught them and to instruct them in all truth. (John 16:13-15). Thus, Jesus provided authority for the Apostles to establish a trustworthy record of His teachings which would form the foundation of the New Testament Church (Ephesians 3:20). The Apostles, including Paul, were personally commissioned by the risen Christ, and given special authority to convey the teachings of Christ to His Church. None but them ever received such authority. And thus it is that the New Testament canon was built on Apostolic authority. The test for the authority of any writing for early Church leaders was rightful claim to Apostolic authority. Every book of the New Testament was either written by an Apostle or was written under the direct authority of an Apostle.

As we said, we have used the view of Jesus of Nazareth toward the Old Testament (the Tanach) to illustrate the view of Scripture concerning the authority of Scripture. There are very many verses which could be quoted and many demonstrations of the teaching of Scripture on Scripture which we cannot delve into here, but which we recommend as a very profitable study for those who are interested. Source material for this topic can be found in the "Further Reading" section of this site. The Bible presents itself as the Word of God which is to be received in faith and obeyed willingly and fully. He who takes a different view should be aware that it is not only Scripture he has challenged, but also the God who stands behind Scripture.

The testimony of the Church:

When the New Testament Church was born on the day of Pentecost, the Apostles already had a Bible - the Tanach. The Tanach, which consists of the "Law", the "Prophets", and the :"Writings" was and is the well established canon of the Jewish Bible. This was the Bible of Jesus and the Apostles. As noted above, there was also another version of the Old Testament extant at the time of Jesus and the Apostles. This is the Greek translation called the Septuagint, translated from the original Hebrew around 300 to 150 BC for the library at Alexandria. This translation became very widely used outside of Israel, as Greek became the common language for many. The Septuagint included the Hebrew canon and also a group of "sacred writings" known as the Apocrypha. These were books written between the time of the last Jewish prophet - Malachi - and the coming of Jesus. This was a period of about 400 years. The Apocrypha never formed a part of the Jewish canon, but the early Church, working with the Septuagint, included these 'sacred writings' in its Latin translation. At the time of Luther, with a new interest in Scripture and a revival of Biblical languages, the Church separated the books of the Apocrypha from the canonical books, treating only the latter as a part of the canon proper.

The New Testament Scriptures, as we have said, are founded upon the writings of the Apostles themselves or the writings of those closely associated with the Apostles. Thus Mark wrote his Gospel under the aegis of the Apostle Peter, while Luke, who wrote the largest portion of the New Testament, was a close associate of Paul, and part of His retinue.

It would be helpful here to say a word about the process of the formation of the Bible as we know it. In the case of the New Testament, and indeed in the case of the Old Testament also, the canon of Scripture is not something that was decided upon by the Church or by particular groups of believers - not even the Apostles. The Holy Spirit Himself established the writings that would be included in the canon. The Apostles did not set out to 'write Scripture', but they conveyed the teachings of Jesus as the need arose, and thus a group of writings appeared and were circulated throughout the early Churches. Without question the Apostles understood that their writings reflected the authority of their Lord. Therefore the Apostle Peter could describe Paul's epistles as "Scripture" (2Peter 3:15-16). The Greek term used by the Apostle Peter (graphe ) virtually always refers to Scripture in the New Testament context. Each Sunday, the readings from these manuscripts would form a part of the worship of the Church.

These writings consisted of letters written to address specific situations as well as other more general writings such as the Acts of the Apostles and the four Gospels. They were transcribed and read regularly to the Churches along with the Old Testament Scriptures. By the middle of the 2nd Century, as the Church was threatened by heresies and heretics, and as many false writings appeared claiming Apostolic association, it became clear that a more careful scrutiny was required to protect the infant Church from deception. As we have said, the touchstone for the validity of a work was Apostolic authority, but it is most important to grasp the historical fact that in its work the Church was simply recognizing what was already in place, rather than 'creating a canon'. The Holy Spirit had caused certain key writings of the Apostles and their delegates to become foundational in the building of the Church, and the Church, under pressure from false teachings, simply began to recognize these writings more formally. By 367 the entire New Testament canon, as we know it, was in place and formally recognized by Athanasius in his Easter message of that year.

So how did the early Church fathers and their followers view the Old Testament and New Testament writings?

From the earliest days, it seems, the New Testament Church viewed the Scriptures as the infallible work of the almighty God mediated through chosen men. The Tanach, as we said, was the Bible received by the Christian Church, and it was embraced as the Word of God. It is safe to say that the Apostles would never have considered any other possibility. This they were taught from their childhood, and this they learned from the Lord Christ Himself and this the Holy Spirit taught them. When heretics such as Marcion attempted to tamper with or remove the Old Testament writings from the Church, the leaders fiercely resisted him. In the case of the New Testament, Church leaders from very early days are seen to accept and adopt the writings of the Apostles as having the same authority as the Old Testament writings. One of the most important early testimonies is contained in a letter written from Rome to Corinth around 95AD. This letter, known as 1Clement, displays the same reverence for the New Testament Scriptures as for the Old. Over the next half century we have key figures in the new Church such as Ignatius bishop of Antioch and Papias of Hierapolis, expressing the same reverence for the authority of New Testament Scriptures as for the Old.

Jus past the middle of the second second Century there appear the extensive writings of Justin Martyr who had contact with much of the known Church and who clearly accorded to the writings of the Apostles all the authority of Scriptures which are received from God. By this time the Church had access to most of what we now call the New Testament, and these writings played a key part in the life of the Church. By 367, as we said, we have the first complete list of what we now call the New Testament. This compendium appears in the Easter message of that year from Athanasius, one of the key leaders of the early Church. If we do a quick list of the key Church leaders including Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, Chrysostom, and Jerome - once again we find agreement that the New Testament Canon is to be received as the Word of God. This was also the position taken, and still maintained by the Roman Catholic Church - though it reserved to its own clergy the right to interpret the Bible.

The centre of the great sixteenth century Reformation of the faith with Martin Luther was, of course, the Scriptures - "Sola Scriptura". Luther, once again, received Scripture as the Word of God. He also restored to the highest level the Apostolic authority of the Scriptures, which the Roman Catholic Church had abrogated unto itself. Before Luther, however, there were many such as Wycliffe, Huss, and others who had seen in the Scriptures the impartation of God's holy truth which had authority above all human authority. The foundation of the Reformation under Luther, and then Zwingli, Calvin, the Puritans and all who followed down to the present day is the infallible Word of God - the Scriptures. Many have risen to oppose the authority of the Bible on every ground imaginable, but one after another they have faded into history, and the Scriptures remain and the Church which honours the authority of God's Word thrives.

The true Church from the very beginning has received and taught the Old Testament and the Apostolic writings which became the New Testament as the Word of the living God.

Other testimony:

It must be emphasized and re-emphasized that the only testimony of the authority and veracity of the Scriptures that can sustain real faith is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. This is the teaching of the Scriptures themselves, it is reaffirmed by the great teachers of the faith, and it is the experience of every soul which has been born again of the Spirit of God. Why then would we even mention other testimony? The reason is that other testimony most definitely has its place, and I do not in any way diminish it or diminish the men and women who work as theologians, scholars, and apologists in this area. Both for the skeptic and for the saints, it is important to understand that the Bible is not irrational or fanciful. Indeed, the Bible is the only foundation for true rationality, and human reason is most irrational when it ventures beyond the bounds set for it. So it is important to carry out Scriptural studies on every level and in every discipline. What must be understood, however, is that human validation is just that. The discussion will go on as long as the world lasts, and as long as the discussion goes on there will be challenges and difficulties. What is proven today will be disproved tomorrow and then re-established the next day. Thank God that our faith is not subject to such variableness. What is more, the confidence that comes from human validation is nothing like the confidence imparted by the Holy Spirit. That confidence is the assurance of truly knowing and experiencing.

The first 'other testimony' I would point to is the historical Jesus of Nazareth. No serious scholar denies that there was such a person, that he lived at the time recorded in Scripture, or that he dramatically changed the history of the world. The question this raises is, 'How could a peasant from a small occupied country have done this if He was not who He said He was?' Many see Jesus simply as a "good man". But surely a good man would not have made the claims he made unless he was a lunatic! If his claims were fraudulent, then he surely wasn't good! If he was a lunatic, however, one has another problem. Could a lunatic have changed the entire history of the world as Jesus of Nazareth has done? Wouldn't that make us all lunatics for either following him or opposing him? The truth is, Jesus of Nazareth is a historical figure, and there is really no other way to explain his effect on human life except to receive his own explanation of who he is.

Someone might say, 'It wasn't Jesus that started all the rumours, but rather his followers'. Yes but this creates an even bigger problem. To understand what this problem is, consider the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The testimony of Scripture is that He rose from the dead, and spent 40 days teaching his Apostles before he ascended to heaven (Acts 1:3). Furthermore, he appeared to many of his disciples at that time, including 500 at one time (1Cor 15:3-8). Are we to believe that all of these men and women were party to a plot to claim that Jesus of Nazareth had risen from the dead when he really had not? It is almost impossible to keep such a matter under wraps with two or three people never mind hundreds of people. What's more, not only would these hundreds of people have to be co-conspirators in a fantastic plot - they would also have to be moral pariahs. They would have to be quite given to dishonesty and fraud and ungodliness. Instead, these people are reputed far and wide to be of the highest moral character. Furthermore, virtually all paid a terrible price to be faithful to their witness to the Gospel. Many including all the Apostles but one were put to death, and yet they held to their witness. Anyone who knows anything about human nature knows that this is not the behaviour of frauds and fakes and liars. Many, even of the skeptics, have had to admit that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a very difficult piece of history to deny on the evidence. Indeed, this one bit of evidence alone has caused many over the centuries to turn and consider the Christian faith more seriously.

A further testimony comes from the historical reliability of the Old Testament. Again and again the Old Testament has proven the ONLY source for critical historical information. Often it has been argued that such and such an event or situation could not be true because no other record existed except the Biblical record. And then some archaeological discovery has confirmed the record of Scripture. Tempting as it is, we restrain ourselves from delving into specific instances here, but we do encourage the reader to check the "Further Reading" for this section. We should also not give the impression that every last issue and problem has been solved. Many, many problems and perplexities have been solved. Others remain. Some new ones will yet appear. This is the nature of human knowledge and human discovery.

One of the most important evidences of the authority of Scripture appears when we consider the Biblical depiction of the nature of man as a moral being, and then consider what we see every day of the moral nature of humanity. Despite himself, man is a moral being. He is incensed when he sees injustice. He is troubled when he sees others in pain. He is plagued by guilt when he does wrong. Somehow he knows he is accountable, even though he hates it and tries to deny it. This is not the description of some collection of gases! This is not what one would expect to find in a being who is the child of random assembly of atoms and molecules. The conscience of man flies in the face of the mechanistic view of life held by modern science. The mechanistic view itself, of course, was always irrational. It is not at all surprising that the race is looking at other paradigms, such as post-modernism, to support its determination to deny the revelation of God through the Scriptures. The mechanistic view just does not work.

Finally, not only is modern science woefully irrational, not only does it fail to account for the true nature of a human being, but it simply does not fit what we all intuitively know about creation. Creation cries out "Creator", and the human heart has to work day and night to deny this witness. Whether it is the vast universe, or the astonishing and delicate complexity of the human eye, or the Monarch butterfly's migration, or the child prodigy playing Beethoven's fifth - creation demands a Creator. The miserable premise of modern science simply does not work on any level. Rationally we are to believe that there is predictability and order in a system driven by random chance. Emotionally we are to understand that we simply represent a certain combination of elements, morally we are told that in the grand scheme there is no such thing as morality or conscience or truth. It makes no ultimate difference whether I rape, pillage, and murder if I'm a bit of dust and you're a bit of dust. What is astonishing is that the human race has bought such an explanation for so long. Why?

And then we turn to the Scriptures, some of which are 3500 years old, and all of which are almost 2000 years old, and we find the explanation which "fits". It takes much 'faith' and a lifetime of hard work to deny the truth of the Bible and to oppose its authority. The Scriptures are the Word of the living God. They are a revelation from heaven to show men and women the way of salvation. They have the authority of God Himself, and they have the promise of God that He will honour those who honour Him through His Word. Let all who care to seek God place their full trust in His Word, and let them honour Him by obeying His instructions there.