How is the Bible Authoritative? (e.g. Why should I care what the Bible says?)

How is the Bible Authoritative? (Ep 3) Hello and welcome to Mything The Point, a podcast of biblical interpretation. I’m your host, Scott Tyring, an ordained United Methodist pastor. I greet you from my home studio situated next to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Mything the Point is a podcast with the goal of bringing you, the listener, insights into how to read the Bible in ways that are life affirming and hopeful. In this episode, I take on the question of how the Bible is authoritative. In previous podcast episodes, I’ve tried to lay out some of the reasons a biblical and scientific narrative for understanding life can create tension. I’ve covered some history and acknowledged the problem we have in America when we read the scriptures in English translations without training. It can lead to a poor understanding of the authors’ intent and, depending on the person, may yield bizarre or even ugly theologies and doctrine. The Bible can be used as a destructive rhetorical weapon, rather than the life-giving word it is meant to be. The good news about Jesus reveals to us a loving and forgiving God who has done everything needed to free us from self-bondage (selfish motives and evil inclinations) and the fear of death. God’s love is the lens through which we read everything. Does our reading build up people or tear them down? Does our reading give hope or render crushing judgment? Is my reading reasonable, credible, and relevant to the times we live in? The Bible has plenty of material that is confrontational in nature. The prophets of the Old Testament made a career out of confronting a wayward nation and calling them back to faithfulness and obedience to God’s covenant with Israel. The prophetic tradition was one appreciated by kings and rulers in the ancient world. Even when the prophet brought a stinging message of rebuke from God, it was meant for the good of the nation. The people of Israel understood this and preserved the prophetic oracles and writings. A prophet was considered authentic when their predictions had to come to pass. The prophet’s voice was considered an authoritative representative of Israel’s God. Consider this passage from Deuteronomy in which God speaks about the role of the prophet in Israel. I will raise up for them a prophet like you (that’s Moses, the Lawgiver) from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it. (Deuteronomy 18:18-22) So the authority of the prophet is the power of God behind them. God will hold both the people and the prophet accountable for obedience and honest dealings. A prophet who makes predictions that don’t come true are not truly speaking God’s own words. When it comes to the Bible, the New Testament authors hold a view of scripture that carried the authority of God. You have surely heard of the Bible referred to as the word of God. Indeed, the prophetic literature will sometimes preface a proclamation with, “Thus says the Lord.” The prophet speaks God’s own words to the people for the people’s sake. Consider these New Testament passages. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. (2nd Timothy 3:14-17) For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2nd Peter 1:16-21) Jesus is recorded as saying that the scriptures cannot be broken, which is a way of saying the scriptures are perpetually trustworthy as the source of divine truth. If the scriptures say it, it must hold true. He was referring to the Old Testament writings, of course. Any time the New Testament mentions scripture, the authors are talking about the Old Testament writings in light of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Bible is authoritative because the Church has experienced holy scripture carrying the truth of God. God’s own voice is experienced in the scriptures because God inspired the biblical authors. Exactly how and to what extent is a matter of debate, but divine inspiration is what makes the Bible authoritative. The scriptures as we have them collected are considered canon by the Church. The Old Testament collection of books were canonized by Jewish religious leadership sometime between the 5th and 6th centuries BC. The Protestant expression of Christianity accepts the Jewish canon as its own and adds to it the 27 books of the New Testament. The New Testament was canonized by the Church in 393 AD at the Council of Hippo and in 397 AD at the Council of Carthage and sanctioned by Pope Innocent in 405 AD. The earliest list of the 27 New Testament books is recorded by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria in 367 AD. These writings were in wide use throughout Christian communities from Jerusalem to Africa, and all throughout the Roman Empire. And these writings adhered to a consistent message about Jesus and His church which the church councils called the rule of faith. The rule of faith in the Early Christian Church as Irenaeus knew it, included: …this faith: in one God, the Father Almighty, who made the heaven and the earth and the seas and all the things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was made flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who made known through the prophets the plan of salvation, and the coming, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and his future appearing from heaven in the glory of the Father to sum up all things and to raise anew all flesh of the whole human race… (From Adversus Haereses, 180 AD) The word canon means measuring stick. To canonize a collection of writings is to say that the total content of this collection is the instrument by which we measure the living of our lives and order the life of the Church. By canonization the Church has officially stated this collection of writings is our covenant by which we live. In this sense the Bible is authoritative because the Church has said so through a process of discernment. Some writings were not included in the canon. Later writings, like the recently famous Gospel of Thomas, or the Gospel of Mary Magdalene are examples. So up to this point we’ve discussed two aspects of what makes the Bible authoritative. The first notion is that God spoke through the authors, God’s own words. Secondly, the Bible is authoritative because the Church has stated which writings are canon, a collection of works by which we measure our lives and the work of the Church. But now let’s consider personal reasons for the authority of the Bible. Gideons International publish stories every year from grateful readers who have benefited from their Bible placement ministry. Gideons place Bibles free of charge in hotels and hospitals, colleges and schools all over across the world. The testimonies of personal experience while reading the Bible attest to the validity of the claim of divine inspiration. People consistently experience God in powerful and transformative ways when reading the Bible. An immeasurable cloud of witnesses, over 3 millennia, attest to the divine authority held in scripture. We’ve already referred to the New Testament authors and their experience that the scriptures are God-breathed. Now consider the testimony of three persons who benefited from the Gideons Bible ministry. Berni Dymet (Australia) “Back in February 1995, it was a Gideon Bible that God used to save my life. Quite literally. I was standing on the 8th floor balcony of a Brisbane hotel, wondering whether to jump, and … Well, let me start back at the beginning. I used to be a tough, hard-nosed businessman happy to tread on anyone to get where I was going. Right from the beginning, I was programmed for success. As a partner in a successful IT firm, I travelled all over the world – especially in Australia – so I stayed in many, many hotels over the years. Hundreds. But something was always missing in my life. All that I had – my career, my financial success – never satisfied me. And every now and then, when there was nothing on TV in my hotel room, I’d pull a Gideon’s Bible out of the top drawer of the bedside table wherever I was staying. That’s how God started speaking to me – it’s how He grabbed my attention. I remember one time in a Brisbane hotel, standing on the 8th floor balcony looking down at the concrete driveway below. I was being pulled in two directions. My loss and grief and desperation were calling me over the edge. And somehow, through what I’d read in that Gideon’s Bible the night before, God was calling me back inside to pray. I went inside, knelt down at my bed – just as I had done as a child – and said “Lord if you’re out there, now would be a really good time.” Those were my exact words. That’s all I had. And that’s all it took for God to wrap His loving arms around me. Within just a few months of giving my life to Christ I found myself at Bible college studying a Bachelor of Ministry degree. And through that, I became involved as a student volunteer in the Australian media ministry of Christianityworks. Today I’m the CEO and Bible teacher of what’s become an organisation with a global media footprint. Every time I sit down in the studio behind that microphone I’m sharing the good news of Jesus with a weekly audience of over 15 million people through 1,050 radio stations in 160 countries around the globe. God is so amazing. And very shortly, we’ll be going to air on a government owned radio network across India, Bangladesh and Nepal on Sunday nights in a time slot that, according to the network, has over 30 million listeners each week! (That just does my head in.) Through Christianityworks’ radio ministry, we’re seeing countless lives changed – like the guerilla commander in the RDC Congo who after 13 years of killing people – “I don’t know how many have died at the end of my gun” – heard one of our Australian produced radio programs, laid down his arms and gave his life to Christ. Like the woman in Europe who wrote to me just recently about how, through one of our radio programs, the Lord pulled her back from the absolute brink of suicide! And that’s the ripple effect of those Gideon’s Bibles tucked away in the top drawer of the bedside table of so many of the hotel rooms around this country and around the world! When I think back to that turning point in the Brisbane hotel – I just shake my head in wonder. And I want to tell you that those simple, unassuming little Gideon’s Bibles played such a crucial role on my road to Damascus, in bringing Christ to me. Leroy Cannady (Battle Creek, Michigan) Leroy shares in his testimonial video, on The Gideons Facebook page, that he got into drugs and prostitution, looking for something to fill the void inside of himself. He found out that it didn’t work. He was on his third divorce, took hallucinogens and snorted cocaine, and wandered to a city park populated with homeless persons. Leroy felt there was nothing left, but to commit suicide. Men were witnessing to the gospel in the park that day, and passing out Gideons New Testaments. He was approached by one of the evangelists and listened as the man shared verses from the Bible. He came to faith in Christ there at the park. Leroy stated that he was instantly freed from dependency upon drugs. That void within was finally gone. He felt like a new person. He felt complete! Brandon Blair A preacher’s kid, Brandon grew up in church listening to his father preach from the Bible week after week. He knew a lot about Jesus from his upbringing, but Brandon testifies that he only had head knowledge of Christ, He hadn’t fully surrendered his life to Jesus, but was living for the world. When 9/11 terror attacks occurred in NYC, Brandon was compelled to join the Marines. He served two tours in combat. As he climbed abord the bus to head off for war, a Gideon handed him a pocket New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs. Brandon put it in his left pocket of his camos. Brandon was wounded in the chest by a sniper’s bullet. He cried out to God to spare his life. He survived. While in hospital, Brandon had no television to watch and no phone to call anyone. He remembered the Gideon Bible he had been given. He found it in his clothing and began to read the psalms. Psalm 40 moved him. “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.” —Psalm 40:1-2 Brandon surrendered his life to Christ, in gratitude for sparing his life. He had literally been lifted from the pit of destruction (death) and from now on Brandon decided to serve Christ with the reminder of this life. Brandon returned to the states after his tours of duty and enrolled in college and seminary. He is now a Baptist minister in Knoxville, Tennessee. God saved my life while lying in a military hospital bed. “The Word of God changed my life; just the Word was enough. I often say, ‘The military gave me a purple heart, but God gave me a new heart.’” “I may never know the Gideon that made the Testament available, but I do know his reward is in Heaven. That Scripture changed my life forever. These testimonials witness to the power of God to save lives through an encounter that happened while reading the strictures. The Bible is a mirror, the apostle James says. It reveals our inner life. It reveals our deepest need. And it reveals the only One who can meet that need, Jesus Christ. As John wrote in his gospel, “These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” I’ve covered with you 3 reasons why the Bible is authoritative for human life and for the ministry of the Church. The Bible is authoritative because the authors were inspired by God to write. As such the words of scripture carry the living and creative word of God which is able to penetrate even the hardest of hearts. The Bible is authoritative because the Church has officially claimed this collection of 66 Old and New Testament books to be so for the life of every Christian and every church congregation. And finally, the Bible is authoritative because through its pages people consistently and continually meet the living God and are saved. They are given hope. They are restored and made complete. The transformative power of God, mediated through scripture, sets lives free from all manner of evil and death. And those who are set free through the Lordship of Jesus Christ are joyfully free to serve Him in this world as they look forward to the world to come. The Bible is God’s gift to the world, developed over 2000 years of recorded history with Israel, and an additional 2000 years of faithful transmission. It is God’s gift to you, but the Bible won’t be authoritative to you until you have that encounter with the living God through reading His word. Mything The Point podcast exists to encourage such an encounter, that you might have hope in Christ and be saved in His love and set on a course of faithfulness. Until next time, “May The Word of God meet you where you are, and bring you closer to fulfilment in Him.”