We must recognize the place that the Bible holds in God’s scheme of things. Note these facts about the Bible.

(1) The Bible is authoritative! We must not allow ourselves to degenerate to the modernistic viewpoint that such matters as feelings, conscience, visions, mere common sense, the trends of men, or the traditional religions can be accepted as a true standard. Authority inherently resides in God (Romans 9). Authority was given unto Christ (Matthew 28:18-20), authority was delegated to the apostles (Matthew 16:16-18; 18:18), authority was given to the prophets by the laying on of the apostles’ hands as they were guided by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:5), the apostles and the prophets have written the word that we now have. Thus, the Bible is an authoritative as if God Himself were speaking to us from Heaven. We must do only what it authorizes (II John 9-11; Leviticus 10:1,2; I Corinthians 4:6; Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18,19).

(2) We must recognize that the Bible is inspired. The Bible is inspired word by word by the Holy Spirit; it is God-breathed (II Timothy 3:16,17; II Peter 1:20,21). I Corinthians 2:13 says, “...not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches.” According to II Samuel 23:2, we must both understand and obey the word of God. God has not inspired only the thought, leaving the individual writer to present the thought in his own words. If God had inspired only the thought, then the writers of the Bible would have had to understand that thought before they could put it into their own words. But, they did not always so understand. According to I Peter 1:10,11, the prophets searched their own writings. According to Acts 2:38; 10:44-48, and 11:17,18,  it is clear that Peter did not understand his own implication about preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. The Bible is absolute truth. It does not depend upon our interpretation for its validity.

The Bible is thus seen to be:

1. God’s word (II Peter 1:20,21; II Timothy 3:16,17);
2. God’s 'means of 'providing a limitation for his beliefs and his practices of men (II John 9-11);
3. God’s mirror, whereby a man can see the defects and good points of his own life (James 1:23,24);
4. God’s fire to refine and separate the pure metal from mere dirt (Malachi 1:2-3; Jeremiah 23: 29);
5. God’s seed, by which He can obtain children (Luke 8:11);
6. God’s dynamite, the power of God which He uses to break the hard hearts of men (Romans 1:16);
7. God’s hammer to break our stubborn will (Jeremiah 23:29);
8. God’s sword, to prick our hearts (Acts 2:36, 37; Ephesians 6:17);
9. God’s food, for man’s soul (I Peter 2:2);
10. light which God provides to illuminate man’s pathway (Psalms 119:105; Philippians 2:15,16);
11. God’s warner by which He enlightens man about his sin and warns him to flee from the wrath to come (II Timothy 4:1-5; Revelation 20:10-15);
12. God’s exhorter, the means by which He urges man toward the goal of everlasting life (Titus 1:2; I John 2:25); and
13. the basis of judgement, when we are all called before the judgement seat of Christ to give an account for the deeds done in the body (II Corinthians 5:1-11).

No one knows anything of the will of God for man today except what he has found in the Bible.

Thomas B. Warren, A Time For Sound Doctrine In A Day Of Liberalism

Home | Library | Visitor | History | Links | Articles | Study | Media | Social | Activities