By Bill Mounce
There are four things that followers of Jesus believe about
the Bible. I don’t have time to cover them in detail, but let me mention them
and I’ll give you a website where you can learn more if you want.
This is really important material. The Bible wants to become
your guide, and you have to decide whether you will believe it or not.
1. Inspiration
We believe that the Bible is “inspired.” This is not the
idea that the Bible is inspiring, like a good novel or comic strip depending on
your reading tastes. The Bible is inspiring, but that’s not the point. The
doctrine of inspiration has to do with its source. Inspiration is the belief
that the Bible came from the very mouth of God, that it contains his very words.
Paul is encouraging his friend Timothy to persevere in his preaching, and
writes this.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that
the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy
3:16-17, ESV).
“Breathed out” is a helpful translation. There was not a
word in the Greek language to describe what Paul wanted to say, so Paul did
what Greek allows him to do — he make up a word. He took the word “God” and the
word “breathed” and put them together. Scripture is God-breathed; the words
came from his very mouth.
Peter says the same thing using the imagery of being
“carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
“No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own
interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will,
but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the
Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).
2. Authority
We believe in the “authority” of the Bible. Because the
words come from God’s very mouth, they carry his authority. That is the flow of
logic in Paul’s verse above. Because all of Scripture is breathed out by God,
it is therefore profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and for training
a person in righteousness. This is how Timothy, the man of God, can be made
competent, to be equipped to do his ministry.
3. Canonicity
We believe in the process of “canonicity.” This means we
believe God superintended the process of the church deciding what books belong
in the Bible. This process took place over 400 years, and we believe God’s
Spirit made sure we got it right. The sixty-six books we have are the right
ones, and all the other books that were left out deserved to be left out
because God did not write them.
4. Trustworthy
We believe the Bible is “trustworthy.” This ultimately is
the issue for us. Because we believe God is true, we also believe that his
words are true and can be trusted. We believe the Bible we have today
accurately records Jesus words and deeds, and that the later writers like Paul,
and the earlier writers like Moses, got it right. And so we look to the Bible to
hear God’s authoritative word delivered to us.
I am sorry to have covered these points so quickly, but it
is important that you as a new follower be aware of them. If you want to learn
more them, please visit www.BiblicalTraining.org, click on the “Discipleship”
link and then “Track 3,” and attend my “New Testament” class (or just click
here). There are 3-4 hours of my lectures on these four topics.
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