Skilled in the word of righteousness (Hebrews 5:13) Part 4

Written by: Yeow Chin Kiong

Without doubt, a very important reason or motivation for training to be skilled in handling the Bible as an instruction book for life and the afterlife is that the book trustworthily contains such instruction communicated (or “revealed”) by mankind’s Creator and Sustainer.

The scriptures of the Bible are thus worthy of our attention, study, proper handling and obedience, because it is Divinely-inspired. If the Bible is proven NOT to be trustworthy as a record of truth, than we ought not to have faith or belief in it, much less to want to be skilled in handling it. It would be “pitiable” for us to act as if the scriptures were true reports or descriptions of reality when, in fact, they are not so (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

However, the Bible cannot be believed to be Divinely-inspired merely or solely because the Bible itself says that it is Divinely-inspired! (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Such would be circular reasoning (i.e. believing the Bible to be Divinely-inspired just because the Bible itself says it is Divinely-inspired). Even the words or teaching of Jesus and the apostles were believed to be trustworthy as truth AFTER their words were confirmed by their accompanying works of miracles (Mark 16:17-20; John 20:30-31; Acts 2:22, 43; Hebrews 2:1-4). There is , also the need to accept, on good evidence, that what is RECORDED in scripture (for example, the miracles of Jesus and the apostles) were trustworthy records of what actually happened (hence, Luke 1:1-4; John 21:24-25; 1 John 1:1-4).

In our time, there are two major contexts for coming to a knowledge of truth: the scientific method of laboratories to discover facts about physical reality through the use of our human senses, aided by machines and instruments and the legal method of law courts to determine what actually happened in the recent or distant past through the use of oral or recorded testimony. The scriptures refer to the former method and context in Romans 1:19-20 and to the latter in such plassages as 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 and those about the quasi-judicial trials of our Lord (eg. John 18:28 to 19:11) and the apostle Paul (eg. Acts 24:1-23). By its very nature, the veracity and trustworthiness of the Bible record can best be ascertained by the use of some legal methods of the courts.

In Part 3 of this series, I set out the usually-called “classical method or approach” to arguing that the Bible is a record of truth in all that it affirms. In summary, the argument goes (1) theism (belief in the existence of God) is true; (2) If theism is true, then miraculous works and prophecy of future events are possible, (3) the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are true in affirming that Jesus Christ is Divine by His fulfilling prophecy, working miracles and being resurrected from the dead, and (4) As Divine, Jesus’ declaration that all Old Testament scripture is trustworthy and His promise to deliver all truth to His apostles and disciples after His resurrection by the Holy Spirit necessarily implies that the whole Bible is trustworthy and true revelation of God. Almost mirroring the legal approach, the 4 major points of the Christians’ case may be systematically and comprehensively proven in the following steps.

WHAT IS REQUIRED TO “PROVE” A “PROPOSITION”?

To PROVE [= demonstrate] a PROPOSITION [= truth-claim] is to ESTABLISH ITS TRUTH [= show conclusively that it is true or matches reality] by

1. MAKING A PRIMA FACIE CASE IN ITS FAVOUR consisting of (a) sound, logical argumentation applied to (b) evidence and (c) other supporting. considerations;

and

2. REFUTTING ARGUMENTS- REBUTTAL-REBUTTAL [= arguments intending to prove that the proposition for which a prima facie case has been made is false]

through the use of METHODS OF PROOF and STANDARDS OF PROOF appropriate to the matter to be proven.

It is emphasized that the “classical method or approach” of proving the Bible to be true and trustworthy is SYSTEMATIC in that it is SEQUENTIAL (i.e. the second step necessarily follows the first step, the third step follows the second and so on). If the entire case is rejected, it must be pointed out which step has not been proven, leading to the failure of the entire line of argument. This facilitates the identification of weak links in the argument. To illustrate, if an individual cannot agree that there are realities about which we can know for sure (Point 1), the very foundation of the entire case will be called into question. So, the impossibility of such extreme intellectual skepticism,- a philosophical problem,- needs to be addressed before matters like the historical truth of the four gospels and Acts can be ascertained. This stepwise approach to understanding the truth of any matter was the point the Lord was making when He commented, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12). In practical terms, it is worthwhile spending time and effort buttressing or reinforcing earlier, more foundational points of an argument than to have to return to prove those points again much later in the line of argument!