The Nature of Scripture

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
P. G. Mathew | Friday, June 24, 2016
Copyright © 2016, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

This is the keynote address for this conference on “The Mighty Word of God.” Before we study 2 Timothy 3:14–4:5, we want to examine the nature of Scripture, which is the mighty word of God.

Imagine a world without the holy Scriptures! It would be a world without truth. Everyone would worship not God but creation, which, in reality, is worshiping the devil. Without the truth of Scripture, no one would be saved by Jesus Christ our Lord.

The greatest, most priceless thing in the whole world is the Scripture, consisting of the Old and New Testaments. If we are born again, our delight will be in the Scripture. I receive the greatest pleasure when I am reading and meditating on Scripture.

In this world, the holy Scripture is God’s gift to his people; it is our most priceless treasure. That is why, in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the first chapter is not “Of God” or “Of Creation,” but “Of the Holy Scripture.” The Westminster divines did this because without the holy Scriptures, we cannot have any knowledge of the true and living God or of creation.

We want to speak about seven characteristics of Scripture. As we do so, may the Holy Spirit give us minds to understand and do what the word is telling us.

 

Inerrancy of Scripture

The first characteristic of Scripture is inerrancy. There is no error in the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Scripture has no errors, only truth. God is truth and one thing he cannot do is lie. Paul says, “Let God be true and all men liars” (Rom. 3:4). There is no exception; all men are liars because sin still dwells in us. Even believers can exaggerate and lie. The devil is a liar and the father of all lies. When we lie, we are like the devil.

In the original manuscripts (the autographs), Scripture does not affirm anything contrary to fact. The holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, always speak truth about everything. Some people say Scripture is true only relating to salvation; that is not true. Scripture speaks about salvation and about everything else, including creation. We cannot have true understanding about the world around us until we come to the Scripture.

Through the science of textual criticism, also called lower criticism, we can establish about ninety-nine percent of the original words of the Bible from the ancient copies available to us. We do not have the original documents, the autographs. But from the ancient copies available to us, through textual criticism we can establish correctly most of the original words. The one percent that we cannot establish without question does not affect any doctrine we believe.

 

Clarity of Scripture

The second characteristic is the clarity of Scripture, also called perspicuity. The Roman Catholic church used to prohibit the laity from reading the Bible because they said the laity could not understand it. Only the pope and the priests were permitted to read the Scriptures.

But the truth is that the message of Scripture is understood by all who read it in humility and reliance on the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:10). He also says, “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:13–14).

The reason people do not want to believe in Jesus is that they are not born again. They are not elect. Therefore, everything in the Bible is foolishness to them. They cannot understand the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. The Holy Spirit must cause them to be born again and dwell in them.

It is true that God speaks to all human beings in the Scripture and, in one sense, they understand. But only the elect understand the Scripture savingly. The non-elect understand the Scripture in a sense but they suppress its truth continually and damn themselves. All who hear the word and do not believe are damning themselves. The moment they die, they will go to hell.

We do not know when we will get sick or die. Arrogant people think that they can believe when it is convenient. But we are not sovereign and we are not God. God alone determines when we are born and when we die.

When Paul went to Philippi, he started speaking to some women gathered at the riverside. “One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message” (Acts 16:14). Without the Lord opening our hearts, which is regeneration, we cannot understand the gospel savingly because the mind of man is by nature at enmity against God. Professor John Murray said the essence of all sin is enmity, hatred toward the God who gave us existence and sustained throughout life and provided us with everything we need. But the unbeliever hates this God. Paul writes, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Rom. 8:6–8).

St Augustine said that salvation is by grace from beginning to end. If you are not saved, it is your problem, your sin, your hostility. And if you are saved, it is by grace.

 

Necessity of Scripture

The third characteristic is necessity. Without the holy Scriptures, we can have no saving relationship with the living and true God. We cannot have any true knowledge of God, knowledge of salvation, and knowledge of the world around us without the Scripture. We would be lost forever.

If you are not a Christian, I beseech you and command you to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that you may be saved. You are not doing him a favor, he is doing you one if you repent and believe. Your repentance is by grace, your prayer is by grace, your faith is by grace, and your salvation is by grace.

If you are saved, you will hear and do the will of God as you read the holy Scriptures. So we read, “From infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). How necessary are the Scriptures? Paul writes, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. . . . ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Rom. 10:9, 13).

But then Paul asks, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?” This is reasoning by the apostle Paul in a series of questions. “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” (Rom. 10:14–15). This demonstrates the necessity of the word. We must hear the word, believe the word, call upon the name of the Lord, and be saved. But where do we get the word? We do not have it unless God commissions and calls and sends a man who preaches it to us, and we hear and believe and are saved. That is the necessity of the word of God.

In John 6, when many disciples left him, Jesus asked Peter, “Why don’t you go also? Come on, go ahead. Everyone else is going away from me.” We read, “Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’” (John 6:68). No one else has it. Everyone else lies. Kings and presidents and chief justices all lie. How true are Paul’s words: “Let God be true and all men liars.”

We need every word that is given to us in the canon of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

What are the words of Scripture? They are not myths; they are truth from the mouth of God. Moses said: “They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess” (Deut. 32:47). And they are our life. Jesus said, “My word is spirit and my word is life” (John 6:63).

 

Sufficiency of Scripture

The fourth characteristic is the sufficiency of Scripture, which we read about in the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1, article 6. In the holy Scripture, we have all the words of God that we need to live for God’s glory and for our eternal happiness. We are not to add to or subtract from it. John writes, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Rev. 22:18–19). John is quoting Deuteronomy 4:2 and 12:32.

We must study the whole of Scripture, not just part, and interpret it correctly; we must preach it and live it, all by continuous dependence on the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

The whole counsel of God is to be found in the Scriptures, expressly or implicitly. It is written to thinking people who can reason. (PGM) For instance, the Scripture says that adultery is sin. Lust is adultery, Jesus said; therefore, we say that lust is also sin. Everything is in the Bible that we need expressly or implicitly.

 

Power of Scripture

The fifth aspect of Scripture is power (dunamis). There is mighty power in the word of God. Consider the following scriptures:

• Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” He spoke, and the world came into existence. And he sustains the world by the word of his power.
• John 1:3: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
• Hebrews 1:3: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
• Hebrews 11:3: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” This is ex nihilo creation.
• Psalm 36:6: “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” That is how we speak; we breathe out.
• Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
• 2 Timothy 3:15-16: “and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are mighty to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

 

Totality of Scripture

The sixth point is the totality of Scripture: Tota Scriptura. It is speaking about comprehensiveness. All Scripture is relevant to all of life. We read, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Deut. 8:3). All Scripture is God-breathed (pasa graphê theoupneustos). So we believe in tota scriptura, as well as sola scriputura (the whole Scripture and Scripture alone).

The hyper-grace movement and antinomianism, as well as legalism and every other form of corruption of Christianity are the result of the denial of tota scriptura. Proponents of these movements will pick a verse out of context and make a doctrine out of it. This is where systematic theology is important. We must study a subject based on the whole of Scripture.

Scripture is relevant to all of life. Paul said, “For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God” (Acts 20:27). Elsewhere he wrote, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31), based on God’s word. He also said, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. . . . . Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Col. 3:17, 23).

Jesus told his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18–20).Tota scriptura for the whole of life.

 

Authority of Scripture

The last characteristic is authority. God’s word has absolute supreme authority in all matters. When the president of the United States speaks, there is authority but it is not supreme authority. God alone has absolute and supreme authority. When we hear his word, we should fear and tremble and run to do it in great humility.

God’s word has absolute, supreme authority because God himself is speaking in the word. It is not just a pastor speaking, not just a father speaking, not just a mother speaking, but God himself is speaking to us. To disobey the word of God coming to us through these agents is to disobey God himself. All the words in Scripture are God’s words.

The following phrases are used to denote the word of God coming to us:

• “It is written,” Jesus said. The Greek word isgegraptai (it stands written). God’s word has authority now and forever because it comes from mouth of God himself.
• “Scripture says.”
• “God spoke through prophets.”
• “All Scripture is God-breathed,” meaning all Scripture is God-authored.

 

God himself speaks to us through his word, as Jesus himself validated. In Matthew 19:4–5, Jesus said, “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and [the Creator] said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?” He was citing Genesis 2:24: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” But notice, it does not say, “The Creator said,” in Genesis 2:24. But Jesus said, “The Creator said.”

All Scripture, including Paul’s writings, are God-breathed. In response to those who did not want to listen to Paul because they thought they were prophets, Paul wrote, “If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command” (1 Cor. 14:37–38). Paul also instructed Titus to rebuke people so that they “will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth” (Titus 1:14). The Bible is full of the commands of God. Because God commands, Paul was telling Timothy that he, a man of God, should also command because he was representing God himself.

Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). I pray that we will all look upon Scripture, all of Scripture, and Scripture alone, as the very word of God, for us. Wherever we are reading in the Bible, God is speaking to us so that we, as God’s people, may hear and do what he says, and be blessed.