Scripture is a rule unto itself, a standard within a standard. Neither personal experience nor church tradition are formative for our understanding or belief system. Scripture stands as the final arbiter in the determination of the validity of individual or corporate experience.
Apart from this essential truth of the independence of Scripture, we would face doctrinal chaos. In fact, our modern Christian doctrinal landscape is littered with the trash of doctrinal confusion. When Scripture as normative ceases to be the sole factor in the determination of doctrine, a theological mess ensues.
The Truth of Scripture is not truth because we recognize it as such. The Truth of Scripture does not come into being only in the existential moment. The Truth of Scripture is not rooted in human existence or awareness. The Truth of Scripture is rooted and exists in the Person of God, and in him alone.
Thus, we must understand the complete independence of Scripture from human existence. Scripture defines us, we do not define the Word. Consensus did not deliver the Canon. The controlling Spirit did. God has never been content to rely on man as his hope for making himself and his plan known. So, human experience is not the ground of revealed Truth. Revealed Truth broke through human experience under the guiding hand of God’s Spirit.
Yet, God chose to reveal himself through the human race. He did so by using men who were free moral agents as his spokesmen. In that fact we can see the miraculous nature of inspiration. Without overriding man’s free will, God revealed himself through the inspired writers in a unique way. He led those biblical authors to an understanding and insight they could not have achieved apart from God’s intervention in their lives (cf. Matt. 16.17).
Further, without those men ever realizing the full scope of what they were doing, each of the documents that comprise Scripture was written, preserved, and finally compiled in the Canon. What we have now we call the "Holy Bible." Paul’s words were "sacred writings" (2 Tim. 3.15). Fundamental to this concept of Holy Bible or Sacred Writings is divine inspiration. Scripture is not sacred because any assembly or council declared them to be so; Scripture is sacred and holy because it is "God-breathed."
Again, the sacredness of Scripture, the uniqueness of its Truth, is such as a result of God’s direct intervention through inspiration. Remember, God put "his words" into Isaiah’s mouth (Isa. 59.21). Because what Isaiah received was the "word of the Lord," the "words" out of his mouth were reliable and authoritative for Israel’s experience; they would accomplish their purpose; they would not pass away.
The Word came to Isaiah, not from or out of Isaiah. He delivered what he was given; he was doing far more than simply sharing his thoughts. A central message in Isaiah is that the words of God given to Isaiah were credible, because God himself, who had spoken the words to Isaiah, was himself believable.
Upon that foundation, God’s believability, his reliability, the Book of Isaiah and the whole of Scripture stands. Could Israel believe, while in exile, that God would deliver them as he had promised beforehand? For believers today, the question looms no less significantly in our lives. How much credibility does God have? Can we, yea, will we rely totally upon the Word of God?
The issue we all face is what must be done about Scripture. Do we believe it? Are we willing to stake our very existences upon its Truth? Do we find understanding in the Word for who we are and what we should do? Or, do we seek to define Truth by what we experience and see? Such is the test of our time.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Study 35 “Who Is Wise?” Part 6
Years ago, a young man I had known in high school telephoned one day. He told me he had sensed a call from God to vocational Christian ministry and wondered if I would let him preach in my church. To put me at ease, supposedly, he assured me "I don’t preach doctrine. I just preach Jesus."
I was aware then of what is etched now even more keenly on my heart: to preach Jesus is to preach doctrine. I have learned that not every "Christian" "believes in Jesus" as I do, which I hope is in a manner consistent with Scripture.
Early Christianity had to fight for its very life against what has come to be termed as Gnosticism. The heart of Gnosticism was a radical redefinition of Jesus. Men like Cerinthus and Valentinus took the Church’s teaching about Jesus and sought to make him into something far different from and far less than the Incarnate Word really was. Ultimately, the church rejected the views of this heretical movement.
Doctrine is not, as we can see, a bad thing. We Baptists have certain doctrinal distinctives that characterize our life and practice. Our self-understanding as a denomination and as individual believers is formed upon a biblical foundation articulated from a Baptist perspective.
Paul commended Scripture to Timothy as being "profitable for doctrine" (2 Tim. 3.16). Now, let us understand what doctrine is. The Greek word translated doctrine is didaskalia, a noun based on the Greek verb didaskÅ, meaning "to teach." So, didaskalia means "teaching," and also, "what is taught." Therefore, didaskalia encompasses both the idea of the teaching event and the content of teaching.
Paul told Timothy inspired Scripture is "profitable" as a source and foundation for Christian instruction. One teaches upon the authority of the Word and one teaches the Word. The "all Scripture is inspired" statement delineates clearly the boundaries for profitable doctrine. We need look no further than the Bible for our source of truth or wisdom.
What we must reaffirm at this point is the scope of "all Scripture." Are we to restrict ourselves to the Hebrew Scriptures for our doctrine as Paul did? Surely not. The early church realized that not only was the Hebrew Bible inspired, but certain writings from the first century, which had the mark of Apostolic authority, were binding for believers as well. Upon that basis, the NT Canon was developed.
Consequently, believers have at their disposal both Old and New Testaments, each co-equal with the other; each equally inspired; each equally authoritative; each equally beneficial for doctrine. The OT and the NT together constitute the revealed Truth of God. The OT was not replaced by the NT. They complement and augment one another. They are together the sufficient Word of God.
One must be warned, though, that no believer is free to randomly and indiscriminately "interpret" Scripture. While we Baptists have our doctrinal distinctives, we do not depart from the traditional core beliefs of historic Christianity. At the same time, we understand those central doctrines from the Baptist perspective.
We, as do all Christians, accept the admonition to be baptized. We, though, approve only of immersion as the biblically acceptable mode. Our form of church government is congregational, not episcopal (bishops) or presbyterian (elders), although all have biblical support as forms of ecclesiastical governance. We have a de-centralized view of denomination life: authority flows from the local congregation to the denomination, not the opposite.
We also see something unique and singular in Scripture. In God’s Word, we find our justification for belief and practice.
I was aware then of what is etched now even more keenly on my heart: to preach Jesus is to preach doctrine. I have learned that not every "Christian" "believes in Jesus" as I do, which I hope is in a manner consistent with Scripture.
Early Christianity had to fight for its very life against what has come to be termed as Gnosticism. The heart of Gnosticism was a radical redefinition of Jesus. Men like Cerinthus and Valentinus took the Church’s teaching about Jesus and sought to make him into something far different from and far less than the Incarnate Word really was. Ultimately, the church rejected the views of this heretical movement.
Doctrine is not, as we can see, a bad thing. We Baptists have certain doctrinal distinctives that characterize our life and practice. Our self-understanding as a denomination and as individual believers is formed upon a biblical foundation articulated from a Baptist perspective.
Paul commended Scripture to Timothy as being "profitable for doctrine" (2 Tim. 3.16). Now, let us understand what doctrine is. The Greek word translated doctrine is didaskalia, a noun based on the Greek verb didaskÅ, meaning "to teach." So, didaskalia means "teaching," and also, "what is taught." Therefore, didaskalia encompasses both the idea of the teaching event and the content of teaching.
Paul told Timothy inspired Scripture is "profitable" as a source and foundation for Christian instruction. One teaches upon the authority of the Word and one teaches the Word. The "all Scripture is inspired" statement delineates clearly the boundaries for profitable doctrine. We need look no further than the Bible for our source of truth or wisdom.
What we must reaffirm at this point is the scope of "all Scripture." Are we to restrict ourselves to the Hebrew Scriptures for our doctrine as Paul did? Surely not. The early church realized that not only was the Hebrew Bible inspired, but certain writings from the first century, which had the mark of Apostolic authority, were binding for believers as well. Upon that basis, the NT Canon was developed.
Consequently, believers have at their disposal both Old and New Testaments, each co-equal with the other; each equally inspired; each equally authoritative; each equally beneficial for doctrine. The OT and the NT together constitute the revealed Truth of God. The OT was not replaced by the NT. They complement and augment one another. They are together the sufficient Word of God.
One must be warned, though, that no believer is free to randomly and indiscriminately "interpret" Scripture. While we Baptists have our doctrinal distinctives, we do not depart from the traditional core beliefs of historic Christianity. At the same time, we understand those central doctrines from the Baptist perspective.
We, as do all Christians, accept the admonition to be baptized. We, though, approve only of immersion as the biblically acceptable mode. Our form of church government is congregational, not episcopal (bishops) or presbyterian (elders), although all have biblical support as forms of ecclesiastical governance. We have a de-centralized view of denomination life: authority flows from the local congregation to the denomination, not the opposite.
We also see something unique and singular in Scripture. In God’s Word, we find our justification for belief and practice.
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