Skilled in the word of righteousness (Hebrews 5:13) Part 10
Written by: Yeow Chin Kiong
After we have established convincingly that an all-knowing, all-powerful and benevolent Supreme Being exists, we are ready to make a case for the existence of a recorded communication from Him to us, His creation.
Just as our investigation about the truth or reality of God’s existence has been necessarily based upon a “What is known to what can be necessarily inferred or deduced from what is known” framework, we must look directly at the Bible scriptures themselves. To be specific, what do the scriptures themselves claim to be? Are the scriptures being investigated mere expressions of human thought and emotions and a narrative of human actions or conduct OR are those elements something more, like a communication from a supernatural source?
Central to the argument that a message is extraordinary (for example, a communication inspired by God) is what the message CLAIMS to be. If it claims or even implies to be fiction or in any way not to be authoritative, we may be informed, moved or entertained by it but certainly it would NOT be believed, nor acted upon, as information and instruction from God. Of course, a mere claim that a collection of writings is God’s word DOES NOT necessarily “prove” it to be so. It needs to be scrutinized to determine whether it bears the characteristics of a communication from God. However, if it DOES NOT even claim to be God’s word, one need not proceed further to determine whether God is its source. As it happens, the Bible in very numerous places in its contents claim to be God’s communication to mankind. These claims are summarized as follows-
Firstly, as written records claim to be Divinely-inspired (2 Timothy 3:16), being words taught by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthian 2:13) and God’s oracles (Hebrews 5:12).
Secondly, the Divine inspiration is VERBAL, that is, identified with words and not merely ideas (Jeremiah 26:2; Matthew 5:18; Revelation 22:18-19).
Thirdly, what God says scripture says (Genesis 12:3 and Galatians 3:8, Exodus 9:16 and Romans 9:17) and what scripture says God says (Genesis 2:24 and Matthew 19:4-5, Psalm 2:1 and Acts 4:24-25, Psalm 2:7 and Hebrews 1:5, Psalm 16:10 and Acts 13:35, Isaiah 55:3 and Acts 13:34).
Fourthly, the Divine inspiration is PLENARY, that is, full, complete and extending to every part and portion of scripture. All scripture is inspired (2 Timothy 3:16), the whole Old Testament is prophetic writing (2 Peter 1:20-21 and all sections of the Old Testament are predictive of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:27, 44).
Fifthly, the Divine inspiration is INERRANT, that is, wholly true and without error in all that it affirms and not only in matters of faith and worship (John 17:17; Psalm 19:7; 119:160; John 3:12). This point is predicated on the fact that God is omniscient, that is, all-knowing (Psalm 139:1-6; 1 John 3:20) and cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2).
These points are mere truth-claims which need to be put to the test within a framework of ascertaining truth. The framework is drawn from the legal field, specifically for proving the truth or trustworthiness of witness testimony applied to the life and death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ contained in the four Gospels and the Book of Acts of the Apostles. Tests of truth are applied to withness testimony contained in these five testimonial writings. If these tests prove the trustworthiness of written testimony that Jesus did rise from the dead, His identity as Son of God is proven (Romans 1:1-4). Then, Jesus’ insistance that all scripture is from God is authoritative and must be believed. Conversely, if those tests cannot prove the trustworthiness of such testimony, implying Jesus did NOT rise fron the dead, His claims concerning scripture being Divinely-inspired cannot be accepted and we have no basis to believe that the Bible is God’s word.