TRUTH WARS: Part 2
The Authority of God’s Word
1 PETER 1:23-25
The basic problem that we face today has to do with knowledge and truth.
It is not the quantity of truth which is being debated, but the source of truth.
Epistemology deals with how we know what we know and how we know what is true.
There are three basic possibilities. (1) human reason, (2) ecclesiastical authority, and (3) divine revelation.
The person holding to human reason (or rationalism) believes he is his own final authority.
The empiricist places confidence in experimentation and in the observation of sense phenomena, affirming as true only that which can be physically demonstrated.
The mystic believes that the individual does possess irrational abilities that enable him to discern truth.
Truth, the mystic contends, cannot be known objectively; it can be encountered only subjectively.
They make the individual the final arbiter of truth.
The second basic possibility for determining what is true is ecclesiastical authority.
This approach, in effect, says that my church is ultimate authority.
The third possible basis of authority is divine revelation.
This actually falls into two areas—general or natural revelation, which is the revelation of God in His creation, and special revelation, which is the Word of God.
1 Peter 1:22–25 (NKJV) Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away,25But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The Issue Is Authority
We cannot live victoriously in spiritual warfare without a final source of authority, an authoritative Word of God.
More than 500 times in the first five books of the Bible, God says, “This is My Word.”
More than 1,000 times in the prophets, God says, “This is My Word.”
More than 4,000 times in the Old Testament and 44 times in the New Testament, the Bible is called the “Word of God.”
Acts 4:31 And they spoke the Word of God with boldness.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God….
2 Peter 1:20–21 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit inspired the writers to call both Jesus and the Bible the “Word of God.”
John 1:1-3, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Revelation 19:13 “and He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God.”
Both Jesus and the Word of God came from Heaven.
Both live forever. Jesus is alive forevermore (Revelation 1:18.), and “The Word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Peter 1:25).
Both Jesus (Hebrews 13:8.) and the Word (Matthew 5:18) are unchanging.
Both Jesus and the Word are light in a dark place. Jesus is the light of the world. (John 8:12.) So is the Bible. (Psalm 119:105.)
Both are absolute truth. “I am the truth” (John 14:6); “Your Word is truth” (John 17:17).
“God-breathed” Means “Perfect”
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Jesus said the Scriptures came from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4.)
Every word of God is pure. (Proverbs 30:5.)
Psalm 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
Take away its inerrancy, and all that’s left is human opinion.
The Holy Spirit kept the human writers of Scripture from including error in what they wrote.
The Word of God lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23). The Word of the Lord endures forever (1 Peter 1:25). Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. (Matthew 24:35)
Hebrews 3:12 (NLT) Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.
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