The Next Chapter - Taking God at His Word, Ch 8

Stick With the Scriptures, Ch 8

DeYoung chooses to end his book where most books about the veracity of Scripture start out, with 2 Tim 3:14-17.

"2 Timothy 3:14–1714 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

DeYoung does a superb job of summing up inerrancy and the necessity of the Scriptures. His last chapter is a worthy read and worthy of re-reading from time to time. Instead of writing a summary of an exceptionally well written and concise chapter, I'd like to add some of my own comments.  

As followers of Christ, everything we believe about the Bible rests on the idea that all of it, every verse, is inspired, inerrant and infallible. While reading the Bible can be "inspiring", the term "inspired" carries eternal significance. It is the actual word of God, perfect in all it says and untainted by man's opinion or perspective whether that opinion or perspective be historical, cultural or personal.

If the Bible is inspired and true, and we believe it is both, then what it tells us about itself is true as well. It is the self-revelation of God to His creation. As such, it is not up for interpretation by man nor is it up for revision or alteration. God started it. God completed it. We don't have the option of adding to it or subtracting from it, two temptations that have plagued the church since its inception.  

Starting with the first echoes of Gnosticism in the latter half of the 1st Century and continuing through the challenges of Open Theism and a resurgence of the Universalism movement in the latter 20th and early 21st Centuries, the Scriptures have been added to, subtracted from and misinterpreted over and over again. Virtually all false doctrine and errant teaching has risen up from ignoring portions of the Bible (subtracting from) or reading more into it than is there (adding to).

The dilemma we face is how to discern these false teachings and errant doctrines. While the following list is certainly not exhaustive, here are a few thoughts to consider:

• Don't walk but run from anyone who claims that certain verses, passages or books hold less weight than others or do not apply to us. While some of the ceremonial laws have been replaced by the sacrifice of Christ, there is something of spiritual value to be learned from every verse, every word. For some passages, this requires effort. But, the lessons are there. If Scripture is inspired by God, for His glory and for the edification of His people, why would anyone say any of it is outmoded, useless or does not apply to His church? 
• Regardless of how attractive a teaching may sound, measure it against the full counsel of Scripture. Does the teaching lead to division or segmentation? Does it lead to entitlement? Does it elevate man and his needs/desires above the glory of God? Ask yourself this question, "If Scripture is God's self-revelation, would its focus be on me...or God?"
• Avoid forming a doctrine from one verse of Scripture. It's easy to read the words of a verse, particularly out of context, and say to yourself, "It says what it says so I'm going to believe it." Before making it part of your life and heart, do your homework. Read the rest of the passage, read the passage before. If you've heard a verse preached, encouraging you to appropriate a teaching, be a Berean. Check it out! 
• Be wary of new ideas and new revelations that go against traditional teaching. Be extremely careful of anything that seems to imply that "Everyone has gotten this wrong until now." Someone who has seen something in the Scriptures that has never been seen before should be suspect. We hear derogatory phrases about traditional teachings like "ancient", "narrow minded", "outdated", "limiting" and others that cause us to see thousands of years of scholarship and study in a negative light. I once sat in a class on preparing a sermon led by Steve Lawson, IMO, one of the finest preachers we have today. He said, "If you have a new idea that nobody else has ever had...you're probably in trouble." Be diligent to check all of your teachings. Look for balance. See if there are respected theologians and biblical scholars that agree. 
• Know your teachers! In an age where digital media is readily available, it's easy to hear a lot of teaching. Make an effort to find out who you're listening to. If you've decided to support them and pour your time and finances into them, be sure you know who you're supporting. To use a tragic secular example, nearly everyone wanted Cliff Huxtable to be a real person. So, they chose to love and respect the man who played him on TV. Disappointment came when the truth came out. Cliff was a persona, created by the man who played him, a man who was desperately in need of Christ, very unlike the persona he created. It's easy to play a role while being a totally different individual than the role depicts. Evidence that a persona has been portrayed is frequently huge popularity that leads to ready acceptance of what is being taught. The line of thinking goes something like this, "If so many people listen to him/her, he/she must be right!" That can very quickly become a type of blind devotion to the teacher rather than to the word of God. If the Bible is God's self-revelation, do those who teach us point to God or to themselves? An even better question may be, "Do I have access to this individual? Can I talk to him/her?"

There are other factors to take into consideration. But the ones above are good guidelines to start with. The bottom line is this, "How well does what I'm hearing line up with the word of God?...Not what what this teacher says the word of God is, but what I can see for myself."

Our statement of faith makes our doctrine of Scripture clear;

"We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises."