The Authority of God's Word: Is the Scripture alone sufficient as a source of truth and authority?

This is the second of 2 posts, in which I have attempted to address two important questions when considering the authority of the Bible.

1. What is meant by the phrase "The Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God?"

2. Is the Scripture alone sufficient as a source of truth and authority?

"The true treasure of the church is the Holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God." Dr Martin Luther.

Psalm 119:33-37
"Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.
Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word."

By believing "Scripture alone is sufficient as a source of truth and authority," Christians submit to Scripture as the final measure of God's revealed Truth. This submission is based upon the belief that:

1. The Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God.

2. The revealed Word of God in the Bible is complete and needs no addition.

There are several levels of God's revelation of Himself to mankind.

Firstly is a general revelation, that God exists and that He is powerful. This is revealed to all mankind through all of Creation (that is the natural universe and everything in it) as seen in Psalm 19:1 and Romans 1:18-20, the underlying rule of a universal 'right and wrong' know as a human conscience as seen in Romans 2:14-15, and the provision of mankind's most basic needs of nourishment and joy as seen in Acts 14:15-17. This level of revelation does not give much information but is available to all people at all times, whenever we see the wonder of creation, just know and can't explain why something is 'right' or 'wrong', or the sun again rises and rain again falls to provide life on this planet it is evidence of God.

Secondly is the special, inspired revelation of God's laws and plan for humanity and indeed all of creation through His inspired Words the Scripture. This is not a general revealtion, but a very specific one. From Scripture we learn more about the character of God, and also only selcted men were inspired to write Scripture. Scripture gives account of all things necessary for Crhistianity, it begins with God's Creation of the Universe, and ends with God's final judgment of that Creation. Scripture is God's message to mankind of His design plan. From Scripture we are to teach, have the basis for correction and all training in righteousness, in accordance with 2 Timothy 3:16-17. The Scripture also records God's incarnation as Jesus Christ, the most powerful of the revelations of God to Humanity. The Scripture is completed and nothing more will be added to or taken away from Scripture in accordance with Matthew 5:18 and Revelation 22:18-19.

Thirdly is the incarnate revelation of who God is, and His plan for the salvation of His people. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, is God made flesh, revealed to mankind so that we can now know Him personally, as He intended when He created Adam in the Garden of Eden. Through Jesus' life, and subsequent death, we have the example of a perfect and sinless life, which Christians are to aspire to (although can never attain). Also God's redemptive work of sacrifice on the Cross where Jesus, who was sinless, died for the sins of many. Jesus' life is the Gospel message which is foretold in the Old Testament, as Jesus Himself said in John 5:39-40 and revealed through the New Testament, and summised in 1 Corinthians 15:2-4.

Finally is the revelation of the Holy Spirit within each believer, which affirms the truth of the Scripture, as seen in John 16:13-14. The Gospel of Jesus and salvation through Grace alone does not make sense to earthly wisdom, that nothing is ever for free. Through the Holy Spirit however, this truth is revealed, that Grace and Salvation are in fact free as Ephesians 2:8 tells us, and by the Holy Spirit openeing our 'eyes' is how Christians may believe (1 Corinthians 2:9-11). The Holy Spirit will never contradict Scripture and neither will Scripture contradict the Holy Spirit, which is also called the Spirit of Truth. This revelation of the Holy Spirit, that the Bible and Gospel of Jesus is truth and the only way to redemption for sin and entry to Heaven, will not suppliment or add to scripture in any way. Simply, it will reveal that the Scipture is true, not that Scripture is incomplete and needs any supplimetary material, doctorines or new revelations. All Christian doctorines and teachings are found within the Bible, and if found contrary to Scripture, the belief is to be rejected.

Although all Christians claim to believe that The Scripture is the Word of God, some do not submit to the authority of Scripture.

Personal revelations of Truth: Some Christians have the belief that the Spirit will reveal all truth and that in fact the Spirit is the final measure of Truth. In essence, that Scripture is to be tested by the Spirit. This is a belief that Christians are not to live according to the Scripture but according to the Spirit. They claim that the Spirit which dwells within Christian's will either support Scripture, or the Scripture is meaningless. If this were true, then the Spirit would be a higher authority than the Scripture and thus Scripture would not be infallable, since it must be validated by another, higher source of truth.

Who is to say then, where the Bible is truthful and where is it not? The modern answer is that "the Holy Spirit will guide us" but this leads to nothing more than relativism, for there is no longer an exterior test of truth. Now each person would require a personal revelation of truth and who would be correct? Since there would be no standard test for each person's revelation of truth, all must be considered true. This would demote truth from being an absolute, to being relative to one's own circumstance and whim.

This in turn leads into pluralism, as now we rely upon individual, spiritual revelations for truth, by which measure can each individuals claim be tested? There would be no way to determine which is wrong so all spiritual revelations would then be true. Gautama Buddha who gained spiritual enlightenment while sitting under a Bodhi tree, after he vowed never to arise until he had found the Truth; Joseph Smith Jr. who recieved the Golden Plates from Moroni, who Mormons believe is a resurected prophet who became an angel; and Mohhamed who claimed to have a vision of the angel Gabriel, would all be correct, since they were 'truths' derived from spiritual revelations.

2 Peter 1: 20-21 says, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Scripture is neither the will of man nor interpretation of man. Scripture was written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the author of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the Word of God. Therefore, what the Holy Spirit reveals to Christians will NEVER contradict what the Scriptures teach. God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18) and thus can’t contradict Himself.

This does not mean that the Spiritual Gifts have ended. Far from it, according to 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, the Holy Spirit will still, heal and perform other miraculous signs, grant wisdom, provide Faith, allow prophecy, discernment, speaking in tounges and interpreting them. The most miraculous gift of the Spirit though is a new and clean heart which accompanies the gifts of Salvation and Faith. What the Spirit will not do however, is give new, superior revelations to Scripture that are not already found in the Scriptures. Even though there may and will be Spiritual gifts and miraculous signs and wonders every spirit must be tested to see if it is from God. In fact, 1 John 4:1-3 tells us, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world...you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” Christ, is another title of Jesus which indicates He is the Christ or the Messiah foretold dof in the Old Testament. Jesus told us in John 5:39, that the Scriptures "testify about me." Therefore to test if a spirit exalts Jesus as the Messiah, it should be tested against a medium which already does, the Scripture. If any spiritual revelation contradicts the Bible, then it is a false spirit. The Bible is the authority because it is the Word of God concening His revelation of Himself to humanity.

Church Tradition: The Catholic Church in particular teaches the infallibility of the Pope and that Church tradition is to be considered equal to Scripture in terms of authority. This again lessens the authority of Scripture as Church tradition then becomes the primary measure of truth. If the Tradition were to contradict Scripture, then Scripture would be considered wrong.

In many cases this obedience of Church tradition will not lead away from Scriptural truth. With tradition though, there also needs to be a test of righteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 says "So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings [or traditions] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter." In Matthew 15:1-9 however, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for holding to tradition when it meant breaking the Word of God saying "...you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." Jesus is saying here that when conflicting, a righteous person will follow the Word of God rather than any conflicting Church tradition. As John Wesley stated in the 18th century, "The Church is to be judged by the Scriptures, not the Scriptures by the Church." Scripture is to be the measure of Truth, not Church traditions.

Replacing Scripture with the latest trends: Another, and possibly most serious of the threats to Scriptural authority in the Church is the tendancy of some 'Culturally relevant' churches replacing Scripture all together. This is a serious problem. Pastors who rely on a culturally relevant message rather than Scriptural truth to try to explain God and Christianity. Jesus cirtainly spoke in parables, but He refered to Scripture in His teachings more often. Using multimedia presentations, allegories from current films and music artists or using ever changing pop-psychology in sermons can be helpful, but it should stay in the proper proportion. Scripture and the Word of God needs to remain the focus of Christian teaching and preaching, not the latest theory about 'how to make friends and influence people'. Even plain old unbiblical teachings such as a Gospel of Prosperity instead of Christ is damaging and replaceing Scripture in some churches. God is not simply a Heavenly 'blessing-machine' (think vending machines), where we pray like this and He responds with those blessings. Job suffered the loss of everything including his family, Jonah suffered in the belly of a whale, Joseph was sold into slavery, Sampson was tortured and imprisoned, most of the Apostles were martyred for their faith in Jesus, Jesus was ignored, taunted, challenged, despised, beaten, tortured, abused and murdered. Is there a common thread here? Christianity is about taking up our cross to follow Him, dieing to ourselves and submitting totally to His will in our lives. About seeking the Kingdom of Heaven, not getting a free ride and being blessed with wealth here. God may chose to bless some Christians with material wealth, indeed He cirtainly does in some cases. This does not equate to every Christian being a millionaire though. Our Focus needs to be on the Giver, not the gifts, on the Word of God, not the latest motivational theories of men.

That the Scriptures are only reliable in matters of morality: Another blatant attack upon Scriptural authority is the claim of many secular, and atheistic, scientists and some Christians that Science and Religion never overlap, that Darwinian Evolution is compatable with Biblical Christianity. That is, that Science deals with the "facts of the real world" and religion deals with ethics, morals, and human values. However, The Ressurection of Jesus is an essectian Christian 'value', but it must also be a fact of history, Christ must actually HAVE been ressurected, to have any importance.

This error is called Theistic Evolution, and is a belief that God used Evolution over billions of years in creation, rather than a six day time frame. This however is an attack on Christianity at the very core. For if God used evolution, then there was billions of years of decay, disease, pain and death in God's creation. But "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good..." (Genesis 1:31) whereas death is an intruder, the "...last enemy..." (1 Corinthians 15:26) God did not introduce death into His very good creation, death was a result of Adams sin (Romans 5:12-19). Christianity is based upon the Fact that "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23) That death is a result of Sin and that Jesus defeated Death to pay for the sins of His Children. If Death came before sin, a requirement of evolution, then it could not be a result of sin. "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:18-19)

It is important to understand that the Bible is not a textbook on science, or history, or geography. The Bible is not even a textbook on theology. However, whatever the Bible says about any of these things is God's Word. God's Word is correct and no one will ever be deceived or led into error by believing what the Scripture says.

Is the Scripture alone sufficient as a source of truth and authority?

2 Timothy 3:14-17 - "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Yes, the Scripture is a sufficient source of truth and authority. All scripture is God’s word. It is God’s will. What greater authority could there be? All scripture is useful, we are to teach with it, rebuke with it, correct according to it, be trained by it. By the Scripture we become wise for salvation. Ephesians 2:8 teaches that "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith" and Romans 10:17 teaches that "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." Scripture thoroughly equips Christians for every good work.

Christians don’t need any personal revelation or “word of knowledge” to know God’s will. The Bible and its teaching will thoroughly or completely equip Christians for each and every good work. Christians don't need to rely on Church tradition to interpret Scripture for them. Fellowship with other Christians is vital for Christian growth, but we are to each search the Scriptures and hold each other accoutable to the Truth found in the Word of God. The Bible is a Christian's guide book, instruction manual, and the sufficient source for doctrine. Psalms 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

The cry of the Reformation was Sola Scriptura, that the Scripture Alone is to be the authority over believers. Scripture is the Word of God and since God is Truth and God is all-powerful, there can be no better measure of truth and authority than God's Word.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 - "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."

1 Corinthians 15:2-4 - "By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures..."

Further reading:
Biblical Authority: The Critical Issue for the Body of Christ by James T. Draper & Kenneth Keathley.

The Authority of God's Word: Is the Bible the inspired and infallible Word of God? and Where did the Bible come from? by the Modern Day Magi.

Looking for Jesus is Genesis: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, by T A Blankenship at Fire and Hammer.