Bible Ballistics: Whose Word?    August 4, 2013       Vol. 2 No.12

**We are trying a new format this week at the suggestion of a reader, and I’d love to have your feedback.  We desire to meet the needs of our readers and hope this will be a more “learner-friendly” format. It may seem to be a bit longer but is actually the same length in content just a bit more space taken to be easier to read, ponder and digest.**

After several recent conversations about the Bible and it’s relevance to us, I thought we’d look at the ‘Word’ this week, as one lady went so far as to say that only the actual words of Jesus Christ are inspired (you know, the ‘red’ letters). Curious thoughts, worthy of our attention and I feel compelled to address this issue of the validity of scripture briefly.

My first thought goes to the very words of Jesus himself,

    • Luke 4:4 “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”  Jesus here was not only responding to temptation but quoting the Word of God as recorded in Deuteronomy 8:3,
    •  “…. that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”

In both of these verses we see that we are to live by “every” word of God. Of course there are some broad, summary passages. Let’s look at one.  Below we see Jesus’ response to a question from the religious leaders, here he summarizes scripture but doesn’t minimize it or suggest in any way that we don’t need the “whole counsel of God”.

    • Matthew 22:35-40, “Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”  

In Psalm 138:2 the Psalmist writes,

    • “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”

God has magnified—or made more visible—His word to us. Through the Word, we can more clearly understand Him, His name and His character.  It is only through His Word and His Spirit that we can know Him or His word anyway.  To value and study the word of God is of extreme importance.

In Hosea 4:6 God speaks to Israel,

    • “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”  God reveals to us here that when we don’t know and understand His word we are subject to misjudgment and error and their consequences. Israel and her prophets had refused to hear God’s warnings and gone their own way.  Whose way are we going?
    • Isaiah 53:6 talks about his very thing, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Jesus came to pay for our “waywardness” or sin:

    • “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”,  
    • “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 3:23 & 6:23).  As we have said before, sin IS the issue. Regardless of our point of view, God calls sin, sin.  What do we call it?  How can we know what is sin?

So, what does all of this have to do with the earlier conversations that I mentioned?  Well, I think we are often hasty to think that we can relegate our need for God’s Word to just a few summary verses.  God has written all of it down and therefore all of it is important for us to:

    • Read it,
    • Study to know it,
    • and then most importantly of all, apply it to our lives.

How I view the Word of God will affect how I use it, and if I will measure all of life by it’s content.  By excluding parts of it as unimportant or of little value to “me personally”, I may come to wrong conclusions regarding issues of life.  Issues of the past, present and future—the issues of life—all of life.

I would call us to follow Paul’s advise to young Timothy in

    • 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
    • 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tell us that “..all scripture is given by inspiration of God….”
    • Let’s be sure that we are studying the Word for knowledge, wisdom and application, not just seeking empty facts, or proof texts to argue over.
    • Let’s be sure that we are feeding on the Word to “grow thereby”. (1 Peter 2:2)

A diet of only one thing gets pretty tiring after a while, as well as lacking in nutrition.  If we only study one part of scripture it will leave us ill equipped to help others or ourselves with the Word.  We must spend enough time in scripture to understand it and know how to apply it to life.

    • Yes read it through, but trust it through.
    • Keep searching the Word for new insights to God’s character, His will, His ways and His purposes.

As it says in Isaiah 55:7-9,

    • “ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” 

May we pursue God and His holiness through HIS Word(s).

    • Psalm 19:7-12

“The law of the Lord is perfect,    converting the soul:

the testimony of the Lord is sure,        making wise the simple.

8 The statutes of the Lord are right,     rejoicing the heart:

the commandment of the Lord is pure,     enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the Lord is clean,       enduring for ever:

the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:

sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them              is thy servant warned:

and in keeping of them             there is great reward.

12 Who can understand his errors            cleanse thou me from secret faults.”  (And my faults will stay secret to me if I don’t know the word….  Read all of Is 55—it’s great)

And with that we’ll call it a day!!  Have a blessed week thinking “on these things”…. And “increasing in the knowledge of God”… (Phil 4:8 & Col 1:10)