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-14-
God Hath Spoken
Chapter 3
THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE
In Acts chapter 17 and beginning with verse 1, we read; "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis, and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures [the Scriptures are very reasonable], opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
"But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
"And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews" (Acts 17:1-10).
Note verse 11: "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica ..." Some men are more noble than others. What determines the nobility of a person? "...in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so."
God is no longer adding to the body of Truth. The reason written revelation is final in its authority is because it is complete. Either the Bible is our authority, or we are an authority unto ourselves.
The Object of Faith
When I was in college I had a Christian professor who pastored a Baptist Church in south Georgia. One day he told how that when he was a student in a state school, he and one other student were the only professing Christians in the class. His professor came to class and argued that the Bible was filled with errors and contradictions. Following class, the student said, "Bob, I did not know the Bible had all kinds of errors and contradictions." Bob B. was a man of classic wit, and he responded, "Why of course it does. Didn't you hear what the professor said?" Mr. B. was saying, "Where does your faith lie? in the doctor, or in the Scriptures?"
Reader, where does your faith lie? in a man who wears a clerical collar? in a man who is doctored, and who is regarded in the halls of academia? or does your faith lie in the Word of God? This is a very serious issue in our day because the charismatics believe in continuing revelation, i.e. God is continuing to add to the volume of revelation. This is the reason they judge things by experience instead of by the Book of God.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches tradition takes precedence over the Scriptures. Where the Bible contradicts their traditions, the Roman Catholic Church points to tradition as its authority.
The Mormons add to the Bible the Book of Mormon, and thereby add to themselves the plagues the Bible promises to all who add to or detract from it. Either the Word of God is our authority in matters of faith and practice, i.e. creed and conduct, or we are our own authority.
When we speak of written revelation, or use the term "Scripture" we are speaking of the 39 books of the Old Testament, and the 27 books of the New Testament. The books of the Old Testament were chiefly written in Hebrew while the New Testament was chiefly written in Greek.
The Old Testament consists of 5 books of law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; l2 books of history: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther; 5 books of poetry: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon; 5 books which we call the major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel; and l2 books of minor prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
The New Testament consists of 4 gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; one book of history: Acts; 2l epistles: Romans, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I and II Peter, I, II and III John, and Jude; and one book of prophecy: the book of Revelation.
God Himself is the author of the Bible, although He used approximately forty men to write it. We can hold up the volume of Scripture and can say with accuracy, "Thus saith the Lord." George Whitefield thundered as he held up a copy of the Bible, "The book I have in my hand is the book of God. He is the author of it and at his order, holy men of God wrote it whom he inspired and directed. Yet of all the writings of the world, this one is the most neglected. God has condescended to become an author, yet we will not read his book. Very few have given this book of God one fair reading through. Most read this book as they would a proclamation, a romance, a play or a novel."
Martin Luther preached, "Let this single book be in all minds, in all hands, before all eyes, in all ears and in all hearts." On another occasion, he said, "Reason thinks, `Oh, if I could only hear God once! To hear Him I would run to the end of the world.' Listen then, O, man, my brother, God —the Creator of Heaven and earth, is speaking to you." Consequently, Luther said, "Whom God intends to destroy, He gives leave to play with Scripture."