I was listening to a message this morning that was really good. During the message the speaker mentioned several things that as believers we needed to make sure that we did not change, that we protect. I do not remember all of the “things,” the gospel was one of them. One that was not mentioned was the Word of God. I kept yelling at my phone – which doubles as my MP3 player – the Word, the Word, the Word… but he never said it.
That does not diminish his message – well yeah, it did. Why? Because all that we know about the issues he said we needed to guard we learn about from the Word and that Word is constantly under attack. That attack is on at least two fronts.
In the past week I read a post on a “Christian” blog that suggested that we do not need to, and really should not, literally interpret the Bible. Now there are figures of speech in the Bible, but this post was not talking about figures it was suggesting a much looser approach to the Word even stating that the Bible was essentially man’s traditions passed down. That view of the Bible undermines all of the points the speaker I was listening to this morning said we had to defend. So the attack is against the reliable inspiration of the Scripture.
The second avenue of attack is to take the Bible out of the hands of people. In the same article it was stated that we needed teachers to unfold the Scripture to us because only the teachers would be able to explain the historical context. The implication is that apart from some professional milk man explaining the Bible to us, we have no hope of getting anything right. Unfortunately most churches tacitly support this in that there is no intentional equipping of the members of the church in how to study their Bibles.
The Bible itself internally does not support either of these statements. One need not go further than 2 Timothy 3:14 – 17 to counter either of them. Further, it is the command of Christ that we abide in His Word – not just the teachers, all of us. Further we are to accurately handle it as well 2 Timothy 2:15.
If our trust in the Word of God, if our understanding of the Word of God is undermined. Shortly to follow will be our faith.
We have to fight to guard our understanding and we have to hold our leaders accountable to equip those in their charge to stand strong through study in the Word.
In the past week I read a post on a “Christian” blog that suggested that we do not need to, and really should not, literally interpret the Bible. Now there are figures of speech in the Bible, but this post was not talking about figures it was suggesting a much looser approach to the Word even stating that the Bible was essentially man’s traditions passed down. That view of the Bible undermines all of the points the speaker I was listening to this morning said we had to defend. So the attack is against the reliable inspiration of the Scripture.
The second avenue of attack is to take the Bible out of the hands of people. In the same article it was stated that we needed teachers to unfold the Scripture to us because only the teachers would be able to explain the historical context. The implication is that apart from some professional milk man explaining the Bible to us, we have no hope of getting anything right. Unfortunately most churches tacitly support this in that there is no intentional equipping of the members of the church in how to study their Bibles.
The Bible itself internally does not support either of these statements. One need not go further than 2 Timothy 3:14 – 17 to counter either of them. Further, it is the command of Christ that we abide in His Word – not just the teachers, all of us. Further we are to accurately handle it as well 2 Timothy 2:15.
If our trust in the Word of God, if our understanding of the Word of God is undermined. Shortly to follow will be our faith.
We have to fight to guard our understanding and we have to hold our leaders accountable to equip those in their charge to stand strong through study in the Word.
Both points very well put! A mentor of mine used to observe that the devil was not very creative. When he finds something that works, he uses it extensively.
ReplyDeleteThe first ruse our archenemy ever used was devastatingly effective, and we live it out to this day. It sent God's Son to the cross.
He simply, I'm sure graciously, said, "Indeed, has God said...?
We shouldn't be surprised....
Thanks for raising the alarm, Mike. We need to be constantly vigilant.
I wonder what he is whispering to me, these days...?