Systematic Theology I1
Fall 2015
BIBLIOLOGY—Lesson 5:Authority and Sufficiency
Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran Church and father of the Protestant Reformation, was publicly rebuking the Catholic Church for its unbiblical teachings. The Catholic Church threatened Martin Luther with excommunication (and death) if he did not recant. Martin Luther's reply was, “Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or by the clearest reasoning, unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the Word of God, I cannot and will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me! Amen!”
I.The Authority of the Bible
Question:If you yourself were testing your own religious beliefs, which ONE of these religious authorities would you turn first?a) What the church says b) What respected religious leaders say c) What the Holy Spirit says to you personally d) What the Bible says
“The doctrine of Scripture’sauthorityreminds us that God’s word stands above all earthly powers. On every matter in which the Bible means to speak, the last word goes to Scripture, not to councils or to catechisms or to science or to human experience, but to the word of God. We all have someone or something that we turn to as the arbiter of truth claims. For Christians, in the final analysis, this authority must be, and can only be, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.” – Kevin DeYoung
Robert Godfrey:What Do We Mean By Sola Scriptura?
A.Definition of Authority
The Bible is the ultimate and final standard of truth and criteria of judgment and evaluation.The Bible has the right to command what we believe and how we behave.The doctrine of the Bible’s authority is a corollary to the doctrine of inspiration.
“The authority of Scripture means thatall the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or to disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.” – Grudem, 73
“The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God.”–London Baptist Confession of Faith 1689 Ch.1, #4
Question:How is the authority of the Bible related to the doctrine of inspiration?
B.Biblical Defense of the Bible’s authority
1.Jesus’ Example
John 10:35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken
“And Scripture cannot be broken.”Jesus is arguing from the scripture (Psalm 82) so that they could not evade its point as scripture is absolutely without error and is the “trump” card for all arguments.
Luke 4:3-4 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” {Deut 8:3}
2.The Apostolic Exhortation
2Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
3.The Berean’s Examination
Acts 17:11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
4.The Apostolic Example
1Peter 2:6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise)
James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
C.Various Attacks against the Authority of the Bible
1. Post-modernism:The quest for truth versus the truth itself
2. Subjectivism:What the Bible means to me
3. Traditionalism:The Bible plus
4. Sacerdotalism:What the Bible means to a religious authority
D.Practical Considerations
1.Obedience in everyday living.
"We affirm that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to increasing conformity to the image of Christ. We deny that such a confession is necessary for salvation. However, we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and the church." –Chicago Statement of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy
2.Direction for the ministry of the church.
"Let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth."– Basil of Caesarea (c. 330-379 A.D.)
Debates defending Sola Scriptura:
John Samson: Sola Scriptura
II.The Sufficiency of Scripture
“The doctrine of Scripture’ssufficiencyreminds us that God’s word tells us all we need to know for life and godliness in Christ Jesus. We don’t need new revelations. We don’t need dreams or vision. We don’t need a council of prophets or a quorum of apostles to present to us new information about Jesus Christ and the gospel. Scripture doesn’t tell us everything we might want to know. But it tells us everything we truly need to know.” – Kevin Deyoung
Matt Slick:Is the Bible Alone Sufficient for Spiritual Truth?
Kim Riddlebarger:The Sufficiency of Scripture
A.The Definition of Sufficiency
The Bible contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting Him perfectly and for obeying Him perfectly.
Sufficiency does not claim that the Bible tells us everything about God that there is to know of Him.Through scripture we can know God clearly though not completely.
B.The Biblical Defense of the Bible’s Sufficiency
2Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
Deut 8:3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Matt 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” {Deut 8:3}
1.Practical Applications of the Sufficiency of Scripture
a.The sufficiency of the Bible gives us confidence that the Bible holds the answers to all our problems related to a healthy soul.It tells us everything we need to do and think when facing these problems.
b.No other writings are of equal value to the Bible.We must be careful not to add to or subtract from the Bible.No other revelations are to be held on an equal level with the Bible.
c.God does not require us to believe anything about Himself or His work in us that is not found in the Bible.
d.The Bible defines alone what is right and what is wrong either explicitly or implicitly.God does not hold us accountable to man-made rules that are not found within the Bible
e.A Christian who understands the Bible’s truth and wisdom is competent to counsel.
Wayne Mack: The Sufficiency of Scripture in Counseling
Sam Storms: Sufficiency of Scripture and Counseling
C.General Revelation and the Doctrine of Sufficiency
III.The Illumination of Scripture
A.Definition of Illumination
The work of the Holy Spirit in removing natural blindness and hardness of heart and in clarifying the Word and its application to man.
JI Packer:Illumination — The Holy Spirit Gives Spiritual Understanding
B.The Need for Illumination
Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
"The simple and external demonstration of the word of God ought, indeed, to suffice fully for the production of faith, did not our blindness and perversity interfere. But such is the propensity of our minds to vanity that they can never adhere to the truth of God, and such is their dullness that they are always blind even to his light. Hence, without the illumination of the Holy Spirit the word has no effect" – John Calvin, The Institutes
C.Biblical Support for Illumination
1Corinthians 2:9-16 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1John 2:27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures
2 Timothy 2:7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
Seven times in one psalm the psalmist prays, “Lord, teach me your statues.”
(cf. Psalm 119:12, 26, 64, 68, 124, 135, 171)
“The way to benefit fully from the Spirit’s ministry of illumination is by serious Bible study, serious prayer, and serious response in obedience to whatever truths one has been shown already. This corresponds to Luther’s dictum that three things make a theologian: oratio (prayer), meditatio (thinking in God’s presence about the text), and tentatio (trial, the struggle for biblical fidelity in the face of pressure to disregard what Scripture says).”–J.I. Packer
D.Limitations to Illumination
1.Ignorance of the Word of God
2.Sin