LAW, GOSPEL, AND FAITH IN GOD’S WORD

 

Some thoughts by

Gary Ray Branscome

 

 

          One of the problems that Christians have to deal with is the attack on Scripture. And, those attacks do not always come from those outside the church. Professors in Christian colleges often do the devil’s work by undermining faith in the truthfulness and reliability of God’s Word. And, one way they do that, is by raising doubts as to the reliability of the Greek and Hebrew texts. I know of one professor who denies that any one can “know” which books of the New Testament are actually inspired. His denial stems from the fact that the Bible does not list the books that should be included. He assumes that the Bible has to tell us which books should be included in it. Yet he fails to see that no list would ever satisfy the skeptics of this world. So, when he reads the words, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” because specific books are not named, he assumes that those words can only apply to the books of Scripture that existed at the time Paul wrote (2Timothy 3:16). However, he is wrong! He is wrong because he is assuming that the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture is Law rather than Gospel. And, because of that assumption, he is assuming that the Law has to specify every book of the Bible. Nevertheless, the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture is Gospel not Law! The purpose of the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture is to assure us of forgiveness in Christ, not to define Scripture. And because it is Gospel our faith in the inspiration of Scripture is not something to be legislated, but something God gives us when He brings us to faith in Christ. It is not the scholars of this world but the Author of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, who determines which books belong in the Bible and which do not. And, He does that by Divine providence and by His gift of faith, not by specific statements. In other words, just as the Spirit of God uses the words, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us of all sin,” to assure that all of our sins have been washed away; He uses the words, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” to assure us that we can rely on everything that the Bible says, and that it is all His Word, not a mixture of His Word and man’s word (2Tim. 3:16, 1John 1:7). Consider the following quotes:

 

“What sort of thing is faith then? Faith is the constant assent to every word of God; a thing that cannot be done except the Holy Spirit of God renews and illuminates our hearts.” [The LOCI COMMUNES, by Philip Melanchthon, 1521 edition, page 176.]

 

“Therefore, the proof that the Holy Scriptures are inspired, or, what amounts to the same thing, that they are of divine origin, and consequently possess full authority in matters of faith, is required only for those who are yet without the Church, or who, if within her pale, are not confirmed in the faith. But it lies in the nature of the case, that no proof can be given those, which they cannot, in an unbelieving frame of mind, evade; for the only absolutely stringent proof lies in the fact that the Holy Spirit bears witness in the heart of each individual, and thus convinces him of the divinity of the Word of God, by the mighty influence which it exerts upon him.” [DOCTRINAL THEOLOGY of the EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, by Heinrich Schmid, pages 51-52.]

 

“The church does not determine the cannon. God has established the cannon: a book of Scripture is canonical by virtue of its inspiration. The church witnesses to this fact, and insofar as she does so can make a beginning toward convincing us that certain books are canonical; but ultimately the Scripture must testify of itself, and the Holy Spirit must convince us through the Scriptures. What long ago persuaded the hearers of the Word to believe the preaching of the prophets and apostles now persuades us to believe their writings.” [The Theology of Post Reformation Lutheranism, by Robert D. Preus, page 304.]

 

          Through the words, “A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law,” the Holy Spirit assures me that I am now just (righteous) in the sight of God (Rom. 3:28).

Through the words, “All scripture is inspired by God,” the Holy Spirit assures me that I can have confidence in everything the Bible says, including all of the promises of the Gospel (2Tim. 3:16).

Through the words, “You shall keep them [i.e. the words of Scripture], O LORD, you will preserve them from this generation forever,” the Holy Spirit assures me that He has preserved the words of Scripture (Psalm 12:7). Moreover, because he has preserved them we can be certain that nothing has been lost. The original readings are still there! In the relatively small percentage of passages where a variant reading does exist, it exists only because God allows it to be there (perhaps as a stumbling block to the proud). None of those variant readings teach anything contrary to God’s Word, and we can have complete confidence that the text will not mislead us.

Furthermore, through the parallel between the books of the New Testament and the last twenty seven chapters of the book of Isaiah, the Holy Spirit assures me that the New Testament contains only the books He wants it to contain. Of that parallel the Keil-Delitzsh Commentary makes the following statement:

 

“It [the final 27 chapters of Isaiah] commences with a prophecy, which gave to John the Baptist the great theme of his preaching. It closes with the prediction of the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, beyond which even the last page of the New Testament Apocalypse cannot go. And in the center the sufferings and exaltation of Christ are proclaimed as clearly, as if the prophet had stood beneath the cross itself, and had seen the Risen Saviour.” (Volume 7, Page 130)

 

          While those who approach the text with the mind of a skeptic will never be convinced by that parallel, God did not place it in the Bible to convince skeptics, but to give comfort and assurance to those who trust in Christ; and it does that very well.

 

Now, the fact that the aforementioned professor views the text as “plastic” [constantly changing] is an entirely different matter. That kind of thinking is a common delusion of the secular mindset. It is rooted in the desire to make man the measure of all things. When scholars approach the text that way, having no way of determining which of the variant readings they encounter are original, their opinions constantly shift back and forth. However, instead of humbly admitting their own ignorance, they blame the text calling it “plastic”.

 

Before closing, I want to make it clear that I am not saying that our faith in Scripture is totally subjective or just rests on some feeling. On the contrary, our faith in what the Bible says is part of our faith in Christ. Therefore, just as that faith in Christ does not rest on feeling, but on the clear testimony of God’s Word, our faith in what the Bible says rests on the clear objective testimony of Scripture. Moreover, that testimony involves far more than the few passages that I have quoted. Samuel said, “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me and His word was in my tongue” (2Samuel 23:2). [See also, Isaiah 1:2, Jeremiah 1:7 and 9, Ezekiel 2:7 and 3:4, Matthew 1:22 and 2:15, Mark 12:36, Luke 1:70, Acts 1:16.] If you have a Bible program, do a search for the phrase “the word of the Lord” or the phrase, “thus saith [or says] the Lord” and you will find hundreds of passages that testify to the inspiration of what is written. And, having given us His Word, the Holy Spirit is not about to let it be mixed with man’s word. On the contrary, the words, “All scripture is inspired by God,” tell us that every word of it is the Word of God (2Timothy 3:16). And, when the Bible says, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. You shall keep them, O LORD, you will preserve them from this generation forever,” it is telling us that God will keep it that way (Psalm 12:6-7).

[NOTE: The Bible consists of a Hebrew Old Testament, and a Greek New Testament. Although the apocrypha was included in a couple translations, it was never included in that Bible. And, there is evidence that it was not even included in the Septuagint translation until after 315AD (See “All About The Bible,” by Sidney Collett, page 50).]

  

Conclusion

 

          By casting doubt on anything In the Bible that they cannot prove, secular professors wind up undermining faith. And, because they introduce doubts in the hearts of their students while feeding unbelief, they wind up serving the devil.