Knowing God's Truth (eBook)

Chapter 2

The Doctrine of Scripture

Welcome to your first category of systematic theology: Scripture. In this chapter, we are going to examine the nature of God’s word and work through the concepts of inspiration, authority, clarity, infallibility, and power—as well as what all of those ideas mean for Christians as they interact with Scripture.

Why not begin systematic theology with the study of God? Why not start by examining God’s existence, character, and actions, since God obviously has been around (infinitely) longer than the Bible?

Essentially, the reason why we are beginning our study of systematic theology with Scripture is that we are weak, finite creatures who cannot simply rely on reason and careful thought to lead us to the truth about the God of the universe. Certainly we could come up with some good ideas about God, but we cannot even start down this road in the right way until we have laid a solid foundation for study, discussion, and thinking about him. Scripture is this foundation; we will lay it down in this chapter and seek to build everything else on top of it in the coming chapters.

In order to further understand this starting point, read the following passage:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Rom. 1:18–20)

What are these verses teaching? They are teaching that—just from the world around us—we can see certain truths about God—namely, his “eternal power” and his “divine nature.” In other words, without the Bible, and merely with the witness of the world we live in, we have enough to teach us that there is a God and that he is powerful. But what is the result of that knowledge? It is sufficient, according to Romans, to leave us “without excuse.” What we can see about God from his world is enough to make us guilty for not accepting or seeking God, but not enough to actually lead us to salvation through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

Thankfully, and graciously, God did not stop with the “general revelation” of this world that he made, which points so clearly to his identity and power. God took a step further and gave us “special revelation”—the actual written word of the Bible, which he inspired through human authors who recorded it for us.

This is why we must start our study of systematic theology with a careful examination of Scripture. We can get to a certain point in our understanding of God without the Bible; we can see that he exists and that he is powerful. But we need his word to show us the rest of what we can know of him—the rest of the truths about his character, his actions, and his way of salvation through his Son. So we will seek to lay a foundation for all the rest of our study of systematic theology—God’s word.

Remember!

Take some time to begin memorizing the following verses from Isaiah, which summarize the fundamental approach to God that he demands from his people and in which he delights.

Thus says the Lord:

“Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house that you would build for me,

and what is the place of my rest?

All these things my hand has made,

and so all these things came to be,

declares the Lord.

But this is the one to whom I will look:

he who is humble and contrite in spirit

and trembles at my word.” (Isa. 66:1–2)

Pray!

Before continuing to read this chapter, consider the way that you view Scripture. Do you seek to daily sit under its power, truth, and authority, so that you build your life on it? Do you listen to the Bible, knowing that you are listening to the very word of God? Talk to God about these things today. Ask him to remind you of the nature of his word. Pray that your study of theology would be grounded in a humble submission to all that he has spoken in the Bible!

What Scripture Tells Us about God

We have seen that our learning about God has to start in God’s special revelation—his word. Now we will look at what the existence of Scripture itself tells us about the God who created this world. He is a God who speaks. This has important implications for the way that we approach Scripture. We come to it not as a “dead” book that we search for information, but as the living word of God that has significant things to say about every area of our lives.

Read!

Take a moment to read Psalm 33:4–9, noting what the psalm declares about the power of God’s word. Why must we remember that we serve a God who speaks?

There is much that we can learn from the simple fact God—the God of the Bible—speaks to people. When we refer to the Bible as the “word” of God, we are saying that the one true God of the universe is a “speaking” God. He is not silent. He has not left human beings completely in the dark as to how they can know, love, worship, and serve him. He has spoken through his word.

So what do we learn from the very existence of the Bible?

First, we learn that the God of the universe wants to be known. This is a key point for us to consider. The God who created us has gone out of his way to communicate with human beings. He reveals himself to them through his word. He teaches them about his character, ways, and plan. He shows them how they can come into a right relationship with him. Our God speaks because he is committed to inviting people into relationship with him, so that they can actually know the God who created them!

Second, we learn that God wants to relate to his people through his word. This is not the same thing that we just said, although it is a related point. Throughout history, from God’s first words to Adam and Eve, we see that God’s primary way of relating to human beings is through his word to them. He spoke to Abraham. He gave the law to Moses. He spoke to his people through the prophets. His Son, Jesus, came as the “Word . . . made flesh,” according to John 1:14 (KJV). Now, Scripture—his word—guides Christians as they follow and relate to him. God’s word is his primary way of relating to people. That’s why his people have always been people of his word.

Third, then, we learn from the existence of Scripture that we must listen to God’s word. Since it is the communication and revelation of our Creator—the only true God of the universe—the Bible is the most important word we can listen to! We should work hard to listen to the Bible because the God who made us has actually spoken in it. (This is exactly what we will try to do as we form beliefs and make statements about the various categories of theology that we will study in the coming chapters.)

Pray!

Spend some time simply thanking God for communicating himself to us through his word. Thank him for being a God who speaks to us so that we can know about him and how to come into a relationship with him through faith in his Son. Thank him for not keeping silent but for making known to us the path of life!

Aspects of the Doctrine of Scripture

We have discussed the reason for starting our systematic theology study with Scripture and some basic lessons about God (and our right response to him) that we learn from the very existence of the Bible. Now we will begin to look at some aspects of the doctrine of Scripture.

We will start with the truth of “inspiration” and seek to carefully define what we mean when we say that the Bible is “inspired” by God. This is a very important starting point for our understanding of the Bible—you need to have a good handle on this doctrine before moving on to other categories of theological study.

Because Scripture Is Inspired, It Really Is God’s Word

What is inspiration?

Read!

Take a moment to read 2 Timothy 3:16–17, which will be explained below.

First, it is helpful to look at a couple of Bible passages that inform our understanding of this doctrine.

Here is what Paul writes about the word of God in the passage you just read: “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 complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17).

Paul’s phrase “breathed out” helps inform our understanding of inspiration. The Bible, according to Paul, is really “breathed out” by God. In other words, the Bible that we read and study is as closely tied to God as our words that we speak are tied to us!

How did God breathe out Scripture? He did it by the power of his Holy Spirit. This is what we mean when we speak of God inspiring human authors to write the books of the Bible. His Holy Spirit was actively and powerfully working in and through them as they wrote. Men such as Moses, Samuel, David, Paul,...