The Last Word
Devotions for Growing Christians
The Last Word
2 Timothy 3:16-17 - “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
This year is going to be very different for some of you. You're now in college, and college can be a traumatic experience for a Christian student. Away from family, friends and home church, you’ll be vulnerable to all kinds of problems.
One of your most vulnerable areas will be your Christian faith. If you’re on a secular campus, the trauma will begin with a course in Philosophy - or a course on Religion, of all things! The Bible will be mentioned in your courses and discussions. You’ll hear so many "new things" about the Bible that you'll feel like you've been in a sheltered vacuum all your life. You'll have so many questions that you'll be frustrated and confused and not know where to begin. But when all is said and done, the issue will come down to this very basic question: What is the Bible? Sounds pretty naive, but think over the profound implications of this question before reading on.
Is the Bible merely a collection of “man's highest and noblest thoughts about God” down through history? Is the Bible simply the result of “man's unending search for the divine”? Is the Bible only a record of the various experiences that are worth passing on for the benefit and preservation of human society? Is the Bible just a "good book" containing what people have found to be timeless truth, and the best moral values to live by? Is the Bible merely a product of mankind's thinking relative to constantly changing culture, and thus contains no absolute standards whatsoever?
Or - is the Bible what it claims to be: the Word of God?
The basic issue, then, is whether the Bible is “man's words about God” - or “God's words to man.” If the Bible is only man's words about God, then we may assume that some statements may be true, but other statements may be erroneous. If the Bible is only man's words about God, great and beautiful though they may be, it can have no real basis for authority over my life. If it’s only man’s words, I may appreciate its insights. I may deem it worthy of study. I may respect its values. I may follow its principles. But it has no authority over me! How can the accumulated wisdom of fellow humans possibly make claims on my life and destiny? I am the master of my own ship. I have the last word on my own life!
But - if the Bible is God's words to mankind, then the situation is entirely different! If the Bible is God's words to humans, then humans cannot arbitrarily decide what in the Bible is true, and what is human error or miscalculation. God is not the author of lies - or deceit - or confusion. If the Bible is God's words to us, then we cannot pick and choose what values and standards in the Bible are applicable for today and what can be tossed aside as cultural hang-ons. God doesn’t lower or change His standards to adapt to society's whims. And finally, if the Bible is indeed God's words to us, as it claims to be, then it does have a basis for authority over my life. God is my Creator and He has spoken - and He has the final word.
Does the Bible really claim to be God's words to man? Yes, it does! The Bible is full of statements such as "This is the word of the Lord." The whole sense of Scripture is that God is speaking to man - not man speaking about God. The Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles were quite convinced that they were not just writing words about God. They were communicating God's words to man in writing. The Bible's consistent claim to be the words of God to man is focused in 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17.
"All Scripture is God-breathed" has also been translated "All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God" or "All Scripture is inspired by God." The term "God-breathed" gives us the correct idea of what inspiration is all about. Inspiration does not mean that man breathed out words about God, but that God breathed out words to man. In other words, the origin of Scripture is not the mind of man, but the mouth of God.
This is what our Lord had in mind when He said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). The Lord Jesus considered the written Scriptures as having absolute authority because they were God-breathed. Notice how Jesus equated the writings of Moses with the words of God in Mark 7:9-13. Should we have a lower view of Scripture than our Lord had?
The Bible, then, is not inspired because man wrote about God during "moments of inspiration," as we might say about a poet, or a musician, or an artist. And the Bible is not inspired because it stimulates or "inspires" people, as we might say about the emotions that come from a beautiful sunset, or the view from a mountain peak. No! The Bible is inspired because it is the "God-breathed" words of God, spoken to mankind.
But the Bible sounds so human! Of course! God chose human languages and human thought patterns to communicate with humans. How else could He have done it?! But does that make the men who actually penned the words mechanical robots who just received dictation? Not at all! God used the human authors' own personalities and writing styles as a channel of communication. But as sovereign God and Lord of all, He certainly controlled, guarded, and superintended the words which went down on the parchments. Therefore the Bible is not contaminated with errors - not even in the areas of historical data and numerical data! What a difference between the Bible and other writings of the same period. Just a brief examination will reveal how much absurd information and how many myths are contained in other writings.
"OK," someone says, "so the Bible claims to be the word of God and seems to present some pretty good credentials, but who's to say whether it really is or not? I'm not going to submit to it until I find a person who is a real authority on the Bible and take that person's advice." Sorry! The highest authority always has the last word. If the Bible is really what it claims to be - the words of God - we cannot consult a higher authority. There is no higher authority than God.
To be consistent, we must let the Bible speak for itself, and not allow modern scholars (brilliant though they may be) to make the final decision on the Bible. "Dr. Bible" must have the last word over "Dr. Scholar" - or else we’re not being logical. And if we are unwilling to accept the Bible's claim to be God's words to man, then let’s not be inconsistent, and come to the Bible as the last word on something else. How can the Bible be an authority on any subject If it’s not an authority on what it says about itself?
Because the Bible is God's words to man, matters of doctrine and ethics are not up for grabs. It is not just one man's words against another's. God has spoken to us, and has given us His mind on these matters. We can come to the Bible and read it as if God were speaking directly to us - because He is! We’re hearing the words right from His own mouth. This is true of all the Bible (v16).
Of course correct interpretation is important, but receiving the Bible as God's words to man is the first step. Now the Bible becomes authoritative in our lives. We submit to it. We obey it. We depend on the words of God in all important matters (vs16b-17). We come to know that the Bible has the last word!
- Dave Reid