Chapter 52 - Word of God

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The Holy Bible is the living (zoe) word of God. Consequently, it is the only guide for the faith and practice of the New Testament church.

Scripture

The Holy Bible is Scripture. Translated from the Greek word graphe (graf-ay’), the English word “scripture” means “holy writings.”

The New Testament refers to the Old Testament as “Scripture” 51 times. It also refers to itself as “Scripture.” In writing to Timothy, Paul acknowledged the writing of Luke as Scripture. (1 Timothy 5:18) In addition, the Apostle Peter referred to the writing of Paul as Scripture. (2 Peter 3:15-16)

Accurately Handling the Word

There are important truths that must be understood in order to accurately “handle” or interpret the Holy Bible, the living (zoe) word of God. For example, it is divine in origin and inspiration, written to more than one audience, and spiritual in nature. Further, doctrinal presupposition must be avoided.

Divine Origin and Inspiration

The divine origination and inspiration of the holy scripture of the Bible is supported internally by unity of composition, narrative events, prophetic content, and direct proclamation. It is corroborated externally by history and archaeology.

The composition of the Bible provides significant evidence of its divine origin and inspiration. Although diverse in content, it remains one cohesive document. It is a collection of 66 different books written in three different languages on three different continents by 40 different authors over nearly 1600 years. The 66 books that comprise the Holy Bible include several different styles of literature. They include legal, historical narrative, poetic, prophetic, gospel narrative, and epistolary literature. Regardless of its diverse content, the Bible presents one consistent theme and message revealed progressively from beginning to end without contradiction.

The divine origin and inspiration of the Bible are further evidenced by the events narrated within its pages. Many of the events are communicated from an eternal perspective. Therefore, they could not have been written by man alone. For example, the Bible describes the existence of God in eternity before the creation of the world and His continued intervention from eternity afterward.

In addition, the divine origin and inspiration of the Bible are evidenced by its prophetic content. Nearly one-third of the Bible is comprised of literature that is prophetic. Although written in the past, its prophecies have never failed to reveal the fulfillment of future events consistently and accurately.

Beyond its unity of composition, narrative, and prophetic content, the divine origin and inspiration of the Bible are evidenced through direct proclamation. Using phrases such as “Thus says the Lord” and “God said,” it directly quotes God 459 times. Furthermore, the human authors of the Bible often claim divine origination and inspiration (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 3:15-16, etc.) and the Bible reveals many instances in which God directly speaks through human beings. (cf. 1 Kings 14:18; 2 Samuel 23:2; 24:11-12; 1 Kings 22:24; 2 Chronicles 20:14-15; Zechariah 7:7; 1 Corinthians 14:37; 2 Peter 3:16)

Lastly, the divine origin and inspiration of the Bible are corroborated by the external evidence of history and archaeology. The historical perseverance of the Bible cannot be ignored. It has existed for thousands of years and remains the bestselling book of all time. Additionally, the divine origin and inspiration of the Bible have been gradually but consistently verified by archeological discovery.

Much more than a book of religious musings, the Holy Bible constitutes specific communication from the living (zoe) God to humanity. Its divine origin and inspiration are evidenced internally by unity of composition, narrative events, prophetic content, and direct proclamation and confirmed externally by both historical record and archeological discovery.

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                                             Audience

While the Bible was written for the benefit of all mankind, it was specifically addressed to two different audiences. About one-fifth of the Bible was written to the New Testament church. The other four-fifths were written to the nation of Israel.

The Jewish Scriptures are not prescriptive for New Testament church practice. Therefore, any attempt to prescribe conduct from them for the church constitutes a serious hermeneutical error that will lead to the deviation of church practice and a significant decrease in its spiritual fruitlessness.

Fundamentally, forcing the grace-based New Testament church to try and fulfill the constitutional law of the ancient nation of Israel is an endeavor that was predetermined to fail. Even Israel failed to satisfy its own constitutional law.

While not all Scripture applies directly to the church, all Scripture is beneficial for the church. For example, the Old Testament provides general revelation about God and His eternal plan that is beneficial for all mankind. It transcends audience and time.

In contrast, the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the Epistles were for the most part written directly to the New Testament church. The Gospels are foundational for church practice, the Book of Acts is descriptive of church practice, and the Epistles are prescriptive for church practice.

                                               Spiritual

The Bible is spiritual in nature. “God is Spirit.” (John 4:24) Therefore, His inspired writings must be spiritually appraised. (1 Corinthians 2:14) Spiritual appraisement is a gracious act of God. It occurs only by illumination from His indwelling Spirit.

Doctrinal Presupposition

To accurately interpret the living (zoe) word of God it is important to avoid doctrinal presupposition. To presuppose can be defined as “to suppose or assume beforehand.”[1] Doctrinal presupposition simply means to presuppose the meaning of biblical doctrine beforehand without sufficient evidence. The “interpretation” of biblical doctrine derived from presupposition typically involves little more than the repetition of tradition and hearsay from the pulpit.

Understanding the Bible obligates much more than presupposition. It requires faithful dependence on the Spirit of truth, fervent prayer, the counsel of mature believers, time, and inspired, inductive reasoning. (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 2:27)

The avoidance of doctrinal presupposition involves Bible study characterized by inspired, inductive reasoning. It requires that conclusions about a passage of scripture are decided from Spirit-filled observations. Thus, faithful dependence on on illumination by the Spirit is critical.

Congruent with the rules of inductive Bible study, ask questions such as the following:

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Inductive Bible Study

What is the surrounding context of the verse or passage of scripture?
Review the immediate context of the passage of study. What is revealed by the context of writing both near and far? What does the near context of words used, sentence, paragraph, chapter, and book reveal? What does the far context of the author’s other writings, the testament (Old or New), and the Bible as a whole unveil? Never ignore the context of writing!

What do the “five w’s” indicate about the biblical passage in question?
“Who” was the author and who was his audience?
“What” was their geographical, chronological, political, cultural, and spiritual settings? What inspired the author to write and what was his desired outcome?
“Where” did it take place?
“When” did it occur?
“Why” was the epistle or book written? Purpose for writing?
“How” did it happen? Circumstances?

How does the original language influence the biblical text?
How did the original language (predominantly Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament koine Greek), its grammar, and etymology (origin and history of words) influence the meaning of the verse or passage of study?

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God has put safeguards in place to protect the New Testament church from the error of doctrinal presupposition. The church was purposefully designed as one body. Leadership was intended to be part of the body. They were established as part of the body to work together with it to avoid doctrinal presupposition and preserve the purity of biblical teaching.

Unlike the one body of the New Testament church, the modern religious church is divided. Its congregation is split into "clergy" and "laity."

Leadership in the modern religious church is frequently referred to as “clergy.” It consists of people who have been specially educated to perform a leadership role in the church. Through their special education, it is assumed “clergy” has learned the Bible and how to teach it. As a result, they are typically held to a higher standard.

In contrast, the congregation of the modern religious church is often called “laity.” It is made up of “common” people. They are “common” because they have not received a special education in leadership and Bible.

The “clergy-laity” distinction of the modern religious church is vulnerable to the error of doctrinal presupposition. It depends on a small number of people, often only one person, to protect the purity of church doctrine and teaching.

Those who willingly defend a distinction between “clergy” and “laity” have yet to understand the difference between law and life (zoe). They have not recognized the difference between religious practice for God and the utter joy and freedom of life (zoe) shared with Him.

There is no “clergy-laity” distinction in the real New Testament church. Instead, there is one body. It is comprised of co-equal brothers, sisters, elders and deacons. They work together to protect the purity of its doctrine and teaching.

Summary

Divinely originated and inspired, the Holy Bible, the living (zoe) word of God, is the only guide for the faith and practice of the New Testament church. Nevertheless, it is important for the church to understand that it was written to two specific audiences and should be understood accordingly. Thus, the church must be careful not to apply the Jewish scriptures to its own faith and practice. Finally, the Holy Bible can only truly be understood and interpreted by illumination of the indwelling Spirit of God.

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