Let’s be honest right up front -- You need faith to believe in the Bible!

Then again, you need faith to believe in a lot of things.

Not long ago, a Korean scientist claimed he had made some significant breakthroughs in stem cell research. He was hailed as a hero. The scientific community believed the initial reports. But it wasn’t true. He fabricated the evidence -- he fudged the results. This scientist is no longer considered to be an authority!

But for a while there, people believed in what he said! He was a scientist after all! Science reporters, newspapers, and fellow country men put their faith in this man's claim, believing him to be credible, ethical, and reliable. Now he can’t be trusted! He was unfaithful to the scientific method. (and yet, his saga continues: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/08/123_50677.html)

There is a similarity here with believing in what the Bible says. The Bible claims to be an authority on the most important thing in life – truth. (Not ALL truth, it’s not that big a book!) When it comes to understanding ultimate reality, the Bible claims to know it, and claims to know it authoritatively.

So everyday we get to take an “authority test.” The Bible says one thing about faith, or morality, or whatever; and on the same day, some “popular figure” decides to advocate the exact opposite position the Bible advocates – who should you believe is telling you the truth? Some “famous person” (who may also believe that space aliens built the pyramids, and a variety of things you might find laughable or superstitious), or the text of Scripture, which has spoken to the truths of hearts and societies for thousands of years? (Granted, there are some interesting passages in the Bible too; But it's open for interpretation and reflection. You probably won't have complete access to what other authorities believe - so that requires even more faith and trust in an authority!) So here is a basic question: Where should you place your faith? The Bible (open, complete, unchanging), or man’s opinion (not entirely known and changing with each season)?

Well the Christian takes the Bible as an authority, and believes it faithfully for two reasons: 1) The Bible correspondence to reality of how humans understand our world! It is beautifully written, unified in its parts, majestic in its themes, coherent in its values, consistent in its philosophy, and all the while satisfying our longing for truth, love, justice, goodness, dignity, and eternal fulfillment. The fact that the Bible also documents historic people, places, and events -- corroborated by other fields of research (and with a flood of ancient textual support) is an added incentive to regard the scriptures as an authority.

2) Because no other world view properly answers the question, “What is the purpose of life?” (Yes, that is a challenge! If you have a defensible reason for why we exist, please pass it along!)

INTERPRETATION

We live in interesting days. Some people claim that the Bible is “an” authority, but would prefer to make it equal among “other” authorities. Certainly, “science” is an authority, but best equipped to ask questions, and is never a final authority to assert “truth” or “proof” of anything – science just goes on and on, testing, postulating, verifying, but never resting on a final foundation (science and philosophy are rather similar, aren’t they? [And with a Dory type voice, “Just keep asking, just keep asking, asking, asking, just keep asking…”])

Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7,8)

Jesus was asked plenty of questions, and at the end of the day, he always came back to endorsing the Scriptures as his final authority for life. Furthermore, after his resurrection, he commissioned the Apostles to speak with the force of Scripture about the truth of the Gospel; "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28).

So as a church, we regard the Scriptures as the FINAL AUTHORITY for our “Faith” and “Practice.” Our “Faith” tells us what we are required to believe, and our “Practice” must reflect proper worship, service, and living before God and man. We will believe what the Bible teaches, even if our society says that we must believe something else -- that's faith.

Here’s the rub: Anyone can tell you what the Bible “says.” But we seem to have the toughest time agreeing on what it “means.” Clearly, the sentence structure of the Hebrew and Greek language is understandable, interpretable, and subject to consistent rules. But getting two Christians of differing denominations to agree on what a passage actually means, says something about “another authority.”

(Here is the place to speak about the pneumatalogical nature of the Scriptures, but that opens another stream of thought -- I'm going to bypass that here.)

It’s the old Supreme Court example. Those justices are all looking at the same Constitution, but coming up with different ways in which it should be interpreted and legislated. When a potential justice is interviewed by the Senate, they are asked, “What do you think about abortion? What do you think about eminent domain?” "Why?" Because everyone has an agenda, and those in the Senate with their own agenda are trying to preserve their world view through the court. Both judges and the people who interview them seem to have a prior commitment to some agenda.

Here’s our agenda: We believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God, without error in all it teaches. Do you need help in interpreting this?

Here are some random belief’s we have about what the bible teaches:
-- We believe that God created the earth in 6 days –
-- We believe that the Bible teaches predestination –
-- We believe that Jesus Christ is returning at the end of the age –
-- We believe that God calls all kinds of people to serve him in the church -

Now depending on who you are, and for what you are looking -- those sentences are completely satisfying, or a major "cop-out." Each of those previous statements require more information...they are open to "interpretation."

Therefore, to say that we teach "the Bible" really doesn’t say too much (accept that bringing a Quran to our church won’t help with understanding the sermon).

So we also must point to a "tradition" that captures the stream of how we interpret the Bible. It’s an historical project -- we are looking for an historic "stream of interpretation." So, we will cite luminaries like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Erskine, and others. We will cite the Creeds and Confessions of the church like the Apostle’s, Nicene, Athanasian, and Westminster.

Are these men and these creeds more authoritative than the Bible? No, NO, NO! But they establish an agreeable standard for what we believe the Bible teaches, and how it should be interpreted. Sort of like case law for the Supreme Court.

Application:

Today, there are denominations who believe things that we as a church (and denomination) can’t support in light of Scripture. One hot button: Churches that permit practicing homosexuals to become pastors. We must say, "No" to this. Why? Because the Scriptures call this lifestyle a grave sin (1 Cor. 6:9, 10; 1 Tim. 1:9-11) and a lifestyle of which Christians are supposed to repent and leave (Eph 4:17-5:5).

Some “theologians” with an “agenda” have become “authorities” and have written books, papers, and treatises as to why today's homosexuality is something different than what is referenced in the scriptures. SO, in whom should we believe and place our faith? A more traditional agenda based upon an historic interpretation of the Scripture, OR, a modern, progressive agenda based upon a contemporary interpretation of the Scripture? This is a HUGE question because during the time of Martin Luther – He was branded as the “modern, progressive” objecting to the long held tradition of the Roman Catholic church (Couldn’t we say the same thing even about Jesus in his context before the Pharisees?)

So out of love for the Scriptures, and not debate, let us actually follow a defined trail to help us interpret what the Bible actually says! At the end of the day, we must rest upon the agenda of viewing the Bible as the FINAL authority on issues related to faith and practice; accepting it in its plainly spoken fashion, filtering it through the fulfilling life of Jesus, and further reflecting the authoritative voice of the Apostles whom Christ commissioned. From this vantage point, we say that our faith rests on Scripture Alone! To best interpret what that means, we follow the reasoning of the Protestant Reformed tradition.

So much more to say. But we would love to hear from you too.

Research more at: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/scripture.html

God bless.