Truth for Life, Volume OneSample

THE DOCTRINE OF SCRIPTURE

“The sacred writings … are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 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 TIMOTHY 3:15-17 (ESV)

The authority, sufficiency, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture are doctrines that are absolutely foundational to the ongoing work of God and His church. We cannot engage a lost and hurting world with the gospel unless we are convinced of its divine origin. As J.C. Ryle wrote, without the Bible as a “divine book to turn to as the basis of their doctrine and practice,” Christians “have no solid ground for present peace or hope, and no right to claim the attention of mankind.”[1]

Paul addressed this very issue when he reminded Timothy that “all Scripture is breathed out by God.” In other words, the Bible is not a human product infused with divinity; it’s a divine gift produced through human instrumentality. Every book, chapter, sentence, and syllable was originally given by God’s inspiration.

The doctrine of Scripture, like many other Christian doctrines, can be challenging to grapple with; but the fact that something is difficult to understand does not undermine its truthfulness. Furthermore, when it comes to the doctrine of Scripture, there are matters we can consider objectively. For example, it’s easy to see that the Bible is a completely harmonious work. While it was written by more than thirty authors over a period of about fifteen hundred years, all the writers tell the same story, giving the same account of this world, the character of its Creator, and the problem of the human heart, and pointing to the same wonderful way of salvation through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God—all the way from Genesis to Revelation!

The Bible also transcends time, culture, gender, and intellect. Some books may fit a certain person, a certain era, or a certain place, but there is no other book that perfectly stands up to the challenges of every day and every age and to the questions that confront life itself. The brightest minds cannot exhaust the riches of God’s word, and yet, at the same time, even young girls and boys can read their Bibles and discover its truth transforming their lives.

The authority, sufficiency, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture are the grounds on which we must stand; and we have divine help in order to do so. The same Spirit that inspired the word of God, illumines the word of God, and convinces us it is the word of God, given to us so we may believe in Him who is the Word made flesh. It is as the Spirit does this work in you that your belief in the divine authorship of Scripture is undergirded and moves from only being an intellectual assent to a doctrine to an active hunger for more of the word—and more of the one who is both its author and its subject.

• How is God calling me to think differently?
• How is God reordering my heart’s affections—what I love?
• What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading: Psalm 12

[1] Bible Inspiration: Its Reality and Nature (William Hunt, 1877), p 6.