Who Do You Trust?

In Foundations class on Systematic Theology, we have just begun the study of the Scriptures. Why do we begin with the Scriptures instead of with God? Because the Scriptures tell us who God is. Without an unwavering trust in the Scriptures, we can go no further in our Christian life.

Why do we believe in the 66 books we can hold in our hands? Are there other holy writings? Who determines what’s in and what’s out? Last Sunday we tackled the big question: did the Church create the Bible, or did the Bible create the church?

We do not take a blind leap of faith to accept the Bible as the Scriptures. God gives us many, many reasons that validate the Scriptures. We begin with two presuppositions, and they are that God exists, and that He has spoken. God communicates with us through creation, and we can see from our own natures, which are made in God’s image, that God communicates. Therefore, it is expected that God would communicate to us. Someone might ask, “Why doesn’t God just come down and tell us what we need to know?” Well, He did do that! Jesus Christ came to earth in the flesh and spoke. Much of the Scripture is a record of His very words. And He affirms that the Old Testament Scriptures are the very words of God.

The Old Testament was recognized for centuries as the words of God, and Jesus himself, along with the apostles, affirms that. The New Testament, which came later was not a random compilation. The church councils that affirmed the canon (or approved list of books), were not deciding which books were in the canon; but, rather, they were affirming which books were recognized as Scripture. There is a big difference here. The church itself did not have the authority to make a book a part of Scripture. They were only recognizing which books fit the criteria to be Scripture. One of the most important criterion was that the writer had to have been in close contact with Jesus himself or with an apostle. Most of the New Testament was written by apostles; Luke, who wrote Luke and Acts, worked closely with Paul. These men were given the authority, by Jesus, to lay the foundation of the church and to write inspired works. It is from these works that the guidelines for the church are found.

If the church had created the Bible, then that church would have a lot of authority! But if the Bible is the authority, then our allegiance is to the Scriptures and not to an institution. It also makes sense that our church would be molded by Scripture. If the Bible is, indeed, the very Word of God, then every part of our worship service should be saturated by it. That’s why we say that we “pray the Word, sing the Word, and preach the Word.”

On Sunday, we will continue our study of the Scriptures as part of our Foundations class.