Establishing_Bible_Authority_4 Last Updated: 11/25/2012 12:11 AM
“Establishing Bible Authority”
3 Ways to Establish Bible Authority
Times & Locations Preached:
Scripture Reading: 2 Pet. 2:4-11
Accompanying Song: #495 “We Have an Anchor”
Subject: Authority_Bible
Objective: To demonstrate the four ways Bible authority are established.
Location: C:\Users\Mike\Documents\1_My_Documents\1_Christian\Topical\A\Authority_Bible\Authority_Bible_SRMN\Establishing_Bible_Authority_4.docx
Introduction:
1. In recent lessons we have been studying Bible authority
a. We have shown from the Bible that all scripture is authoritative
i. Includes the words of Jesus (Mat. 28:18)
ii. Includes the words of the apostles (Mat. 18:18)
iii. Includes all scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
b. Within scripture there are different kinds of commands:
i. Some are specific: Moses: “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.” (Gen. 6:14)
1. Moses making for HIMSELF – not someone else
2. Ark – not a sailboat or submarine
3. Gopherwood – not ash, elm, oak or some other species of tree
4. Rooms within the ark – not a hollow vessel but build compartments within
5. Cover with pitch – not leave uncovered or use some other sealer
6. Pitch inside and out – not just one
ii. Some are generic: God did not specify…
1. Hours worked
2. Tools used
3. Help to build
4. Etc.
iii. So…Moses was allowed to use his choice of expediencies
1. Expediencies are simply the ability to choose what works best for us, so long as they, in no way, violate some other command the Lord has given us.
2. In this lesson we are going to look at 3 different ways to establish Bible authority.
Body:
I. God’s Will Can Be Understood
A. Several reasons why people argue the Bible is not able to be understood:
1. Some may have tried studying the Bible and found it difficult or confusing and they gave up.
2. Others have been lead to believe that the Bible is not able to be understood by the common man, that only trained religious leaders can understand the Bible – everyone else must simply trust their interpretation.
a. The world is full of religious leaders that are as divided as can be.
b. Suppose that the Bible is so difficult to understand you need to trust your religious leader…how can you determine WHICH religious leader has the truth if you don’t have the ability to first understand the Bible and then secondly to compare what that religious leader says against it?
c. Concluding that man cannot understand the Bible is illogical.
3. Some believe that truth is subjective…in other words, whatever you believe, that is the truth FOR YOU but it might be different for someone else.
a. Not only is that illogical (2 + 2 = 4 for you and that is true but 2 + 3 = 4 for me, and that is equally true.
b. Makes God out to be one who demands the impossible (1 Cor. 1:10)
c. Defies the laws of justice
i. Note (Rev. 22:14)
ii. Those described as blessed are those who DO God’s commandments (in order to be able to do them one must understand them). The obedient are the ones who inherit the rights to enter the city (Heaven)
iii. Next verse (Rev. 22:15) of those NOT SAVED are those who practice a lie
a.) If someone cannot practice a LIE if they want to enter Heaven, that implies they need to practice the TRUTH
b.) In order to practice the truth, we must KNOW the truth
c.) In this verse God distinguishes between lies and truth - people choose to practice both, but only those who choose to practice the truth will be saved
d. Therefore, if God is going to determine to either admit a person to Heaven or send that person to Hell based upon whether they practice the truth or a lie, there must be absolute truth that we can know.
e. We should conclude that if God has revealed truth at all, it will be understandable.
f. A just God would not send someone to Hell for something that was impossible for them to understand.
g. If truth was simply whatever any person chooses to believe, then no person would be lost and that makes God a liar because His word clearly states that some people will be lost.
4. They observe the number of people claiming to be Christians in the world who all believe differently and have concluded that if Christians cannot agree upon what the Bible says, then it must not be written so that it can be understood by all men alike.
B. Bible understandable
1. (Eph. 5:17) “…do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Clearly, God intends that we understand the Bible.
2. (Matthew 28:19-20) "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (NKJV)
a. If the Bible is not understandable, how are we supposed to go to all nations and teach them to observe something we cannot even understand?
C. If we are going to understand the Bible alike, we need to look to the Bible and follow its instructions that tell us how to interpret it.
D. At Least Three Ways to establish Bible Authority:
1. Statements of Truth
2. Direct Command
3. Example (+/-)
4. Inescapable Conclusion
5. (Let’s examine each of these.)
II. Establishing Authority Through a Statement of Truth
A. Some want to limit truth only to certain scriptures (some say only N.T. scriptures apply to us today) but, in reality, anything God says is true (Psa. 119:160)
1. Does not mean that the new covenant we are in has not changed a few things…
2. For example we are no longer obligated to keep the law of Moses because the blood of Christ ushered in a new covenant.
3. But any statement of truth in the past is to be believed and trusted. Truth endures forever.
B. Jesus identified what truth is: “…Your word is truth.” [speaking of God’s word] (Jn. 17:17)
C. O.T. Example: Mal 3:6 revealed to the Jews that the God of the universe was unchangeable. That was just as true then as it is now. Although there may not be a statement that says exactly the same thing in the N.T., we understand it to be just as true today as it was then.
D. God is a just judge (Psa. 7:11). Even if there was no statement that proves this in the N.T. it would still be true.
E. N.T. Example:
1. (Col. 1:16-17)
2. Jesus is said to have been the one who made the world
3. He is also described as the one who continues to hold things together
F. Statements like these transcend the limits of time and covenants.
1. They are true and will continue to be true until the end of the ages.
2. These kinds of statements are just as true for us as they were for the very first generation.
G. So here is our first way to establish Bible authority: through any statement of truth.
H. Another way to establish Bible authority is by…
III. Establishing Authority Through Direct Command
A. Direct commands themselves come in two categories:
1. Positive commands (things we are told we must do)
2. Negative prohibitions (things we are warned not to do)
B. O.T. Examples:
1. Good examples of these are contained in the 10 Commandments:
a. (20:3) “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Negative Prohibition)
b. (20:4) "You shall not make for yourself a carved image” (Negative Prohibition)
c. (20:7) "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain” (Negative Prohibition)
d. (20:8) "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” (Positive Command)
e. (20:12) "Honor your father and your mother” (Positive Command)
f. (20:13) "You shall not murder.” (Negative Prohibition)
g. (20:14) "You shall not commit adultery.” (Negative Prohibition)
h. (20:15) "You shall not steal.” (Negative Prohibition)
i. (20:16) "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Negative Prohibition)
j. (20:17) "You shall not covet.” (Negative Prohibition)
C. N.T. Examples
1. (Ac. 17:30) “God…now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Positive Command)
2. (Col. 4:2) “Continue earnestly in prayer” (Positive Command)
3. (Eph. 5:22) “Wives, submit to your own husbands…” (Positive Command)
4. (Eph. 5:25) “Husbands, love your wives…” (Positive Command)
5. (Ac. 15:20) “…abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.” (Negative Prohibition)
6. (1 Thess. 5:22) “Abstain from every form of evil.” (Negative Prohibition)
7. (1 Pet. 2:11) “Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (Negative Prohibition)
IV. Establishing Authority Through Approved Examples
A. Many people fail to recognize that the examples that are given to us in the Bible are recorded as a pattern to follow.
1. Some have argued that examples within the Bible are not binding.
2. To that I must reply:
a. There is no statement within the Bible that says that the examples within the Bible are not binding.
b. Everything we read in the Bible is an example, since nothing in the Bible is written directly to me.
c. So if examples are not binding, then nothing in the Bible is authoritative to men today!
B. Mat. 18:18
1. Look to their examples, their writings…anything the scriptures reveal that they made as a pattern for the church to follow
C. Phil. 3:17 The example that Paul and those with him set was a “pattern” for Christians to follow
D. (Rom. 15:4) Even portions of the O.T.
a. Though church doctrine does not come out of the O.T. various principles and moral lessons, etc. recorded there for our learning
E. Those examples were to be passed on and apply to everyone (1 Cor. 4:16-17)
1. They were to imitate Paul – his conduct among them served as an example to pattern themselves after
2. Timothy understood that he needed to imitate Paul; as Timothy imitated Paul, the Christians were to remind them through his words and actions of Paul’s ways, that they might imitate Timothy
3. This was not just truth for one group, but would be differently elsewhere – Paul conducted himself in the same manner and taught the same things EVERYWHERE in EVERY CHURCH!
4. Why imitate Paul? (1 Cor. 11:1) Because Paul imitated Christ!
F. (Phil. 3:16-19)
1. There is but one way we are to conduct ourselves….
2. We are to be of the same rule and mind – the same inspired words govern us as do any other Christian so we are to study them until we all understand them alike.
3. One of the keys for doing so is to follow the example of Paul and the other apostles – they serve as a pattern to follow.
4. Those who fail to follow the pattern set forth by the apostles are enemies of the cross of Christ.
5. Those who follow earthly things – some source other than the apostles and inspired writers as their pattern – they are enemies of Christ.
G. Without following approved examples, several things would be impossible for the church to know how to organize and conduct itself:
1. Day(s) to partake of the Lord’s Supper (Ac. 20:7)
2. Elders in every church (Ac. 14:23; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5)
3. Biblical baptism Is full-submersion, water baptism (Ac. 8:38)
4. The right of ministers to take along a believing wife (1 Cor. 9:5)
5. The right for ministers to stay and work with a congregation for extended periods of time (Ac. 20:31)
H. So we have seen how Bible authority can be established by statement of truth, direct command and examples. Let’s look at one more:
V. Establishing Authority Through Inescapable Conclusion
A. We must be cautious with this one. Notice I said “INESCAPABLE conclusion” not “logical conclusion”.
1. There are a great many conclusions men have drawn from the scriptures.
2. Some of those conclusions even seem logical.
3. However, when applying authority from a conclusion we’ve drawn, it must be proven to be inescapable, that is, and scripture will not allow other reasonable possibilities of understanding.
4. In other words, when one examines the facts, the conclusion must be an essential conclusion – nothing else would be reasonable.
B. Jesus used inescapable conclusions to prove His point (Mat. 22:23-28)
a. Jesus responds (Mat. 22:29-33)
b. Saducees – not believe in the resurrection
c. Jesus addresses their false doctrine
d. No resurrection? Let’s test that theory:
i. God is the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob – Sadducees agree
ii. God is the God of the living, not the dead – again Sadducees agree
iii. If both are true, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob are alive and there is a resurrection!
iv. God of the Living + God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob = Abraham, Isaac & Jacob Are Alive = There IS a Resurrection
C. The meaning of parables are sometimes derived from inescapable conclusions
1. Lk. 15 – parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son
2. Though the parables of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin tell us that they are designed to tell us that God wants sinners to repent (Lk. 15:7, 10) the meaning of the parable of the lost son is not told to us.