By Gary Ray Branscome
Throughout history there
has been one and only one way of salvation, and that is through faith in God’s
promise of forgiveness in Christ, “For there is no other name under heaven given
among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And, the words, “Search
the scriptures; for in them you think that you have eternal life: and they are
they that testify of me,” tell us that Scripture was written to testify of
Christ (John
Long before the Bible was written the
words, “And a son was also born to Seth; and he called his name Enos, then men began to call upon the name of the LORD,”
tell us that men knew about God and were calling upon Him at that time (Genesis
4:26). However, after God had His
prophets put His Word in writing, His people were warned “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor shall you take
anything from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2). [See Deut. 12:32, Josh. 1:7 and 23:6.]
Only God can add to His Word. And, the words, “You are… built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner stone,” tell us that the completed
Scriptures, the writings of “the
apostles and prophets,” are the foundation
for our faith (Ephesians 2:19-20), for it is, “Through their word,” that we “believe” (John 17:20). As it is
written, “Faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God” (Romans
Because
the Bible was written so that, “You may know that you have eternal life,
and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God,” Satan is
continually at work trying to lead people away from what the Bible says (1John
5:13). And, he generally does that by substituting some other authority
disguised as reason, tradition, or new revelation.
Human Reason
The
absurdity of man attempting to make his own mind the arbiter of all truth can
be illustrated by comparing our puny sin-corrupted mind to that of an ant.
Suppose that you could communicate with an ant. Suppose further that you gave
that ant a revelation, telling it things about the world and yourself that it
could never possibly know apart from that revelation. What would you think of
that ant if it then said, “I don’t know if I believe everything you have said.
I will decide for myself which parts to believe or reject”? Would you think
that ant was stupid and egotistic? Well that is exactly what God thinks of
people who react to His Word that way. That is why Jesus said, “O fools, and
slow of heart to believe everything the prophets have said” (Luke 24:25).
And, that is why the Bible says, “Professing themselves to be wise, they
became fools” (Romans
At
this point someone is likely to say, “God has given us our mind and the ability
to reason, and He expects us to use it,” and that is perfectly true. However,
we need to know the limitations of our knowledge, and be aware of how easily
our own sinful heart can deceive us. As it is written, “The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
(Jeremiah 17:9). That is why theologians make a distinction between the ministerial
and the magisterial use of reason. The ministerial use of reason is the
humble attempt of a believer to learn and accept what God has said in His Word.
In contrast, the magisterial use of reason involves every attempt of man to
claim knowledge beyond his ken, to profess himself to be wise, to set his own
opinions over the Word of God, to make his own worldview the arbiter of truth,
or to invent his own religion. Of all such attempts the Bible says, “The
wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1Corinthians
From
the point of view of man’s ignorance and sinful pride the Gospel itself is
foolish. As it is written, “The world through its wisdom did not know God…
But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and
foolishness to the Greeks; But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men”
(1Corinthians
Now
as I mentioned before, God expects us to apply our reason to learn and accept
what He has said in His Word. However, the words, “We have not written
anything to you, other than what you read,” tell us that the message God
wants us to get from His Word is nothing other than what the words plainly say
(2Corinthians 1:13). In other words, He wants you to place the same meaning on
His words that you are placing on my words as you read this, for I am not
writing to you anything “other than what you read”. Furthermore, the words, “No
truth of scripture comes from any private explanation,” tell us our made-up
explanations are worthless (2Peter
The context of any word or statement of Scripture
has to do with the flow of thought from word to word and sentence to
sentence. For example: in the passage, “God
called the light Day, and called the darkness Night. And the evening and the
morning were the first day,” the word “day” appears twice (Genesis 1:5).
And, each time the meaning of the word “day” is different. However, the context
tells us exactly what is meant each time. Nevertheless, some who want to get
around various statements of Scripture have started calling human opinion as to
what the words of Scripture meant to people living back then “the context”. As
a result, they wind up exalting man’s word over God’s Word, thus making
Scripture conform to their own opinion.
Whatever men think they know about the culture and customs of Bible
times is the word of man, not the Word of God. And, the words, “If you continue
in my word, you are truly my disciples,” tell us that we are not to look
outside of Scripture for doctrine, and that those who read ideas found outside of
scripture [the word of man] into Scripture are not truly disciples of Christ
(John 8:31).
The
words, “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,”
tell us that man’s word should never be placed above the Word of God
(2Corinthians 10:5). As far as God is concerned, any scientist who contradicts
what God’s Word says is just as ignorant as that ant I previously mentioned.
Those who, in the name of reason, claim that miracles are impossible because
they contradict “the laws of nature” only show their ignorance because intelligent
beings override “the laws of nature” all the time. For example: It is
contrary to the laws of nature for wood, clay, plaster and other materials to
form themselves into a house. Because it is contrary to “the laws of nature” it
will never happen by itself. However, intelligent beings cause what would
never happen naturally to happen. Likewise, in the case of miracles, God
uses His intelligence and ability to cause something to happen that would never
happen on its own.
Those
who, in the name of reason, claim that the Bible cannot be the Word of God
because it contradicts itself, again only show their ignorance. While it is
true that an actual contradiction would be an error, very often things that
appear contradictory to us only appear contradictory because of our ignorance.
For example: Suppose that you heard me say, “The Mississippi river flows south
from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico,” and later say, “I stood on the bank of
the Mississippi river and watched it flowing north on its way to the sea”. If
you jumped up and said, “Ah ha, you contradicted yourself,” you would only be
showing your ignorance, because the
Those
who, in the name of reason, claim that what the Bible says cannot be true
because it contradicts science again only show their ignorance. If they would
actually look at the evidence, they would find that even though the opinions of
men often contradict Scripture, the facts never do. Facts may be interpreted to
contradict Scripture, but in every case they could just as well be interpreted
to agree with it. Moreover, much of what is currently called science is nothing
more than atheist religion being passed off as science. For example: Charles Darwin believed that life originated in a warm
little pond. At the time he thought that idea was scientific, but it now
contradicts science. A number of experiments by Francisco Redi
(1626-1697), Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), and others convinced the scientific
community that life does not come from non-living chemicals. Nevertheless,
atheist religion – falsely called science – continues to hold to
The Traditions of Men
When
it comes to the authority of the “Church” or tradition, we need to distinguish
between indifferent matters – matters neither commanded or forbidden by God’s
Word – (such as the color of the carpet), and matters on which God’s Word is
clear. The words, “To the law and to the testimony: if they do not speak
according to this word, it is because there is no light in them,” tell us
that no “Church” has the authority to contradict what the Bible says (Isaiah
The words, “Do not be called masters: for you
have one Master, even Christ,” tell us that Christ’s Word (the Bible)
should be the highest authority in any “Church” (Matthew
New Revelations
The words, “Even
if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any gospel to you other than what we
have preached to you, let him be accursed,” warn us of the danger inherent
in “new revelations” (Galatians 1:8). Since everything necessary for our
salvation is set forth in Scripture passages so clear that they need no
interpretation, nothing further is needed for our salvation. If an alleged
revelation affirms what the Bible already says then it is superfluous. If it
contradicts what the Bible says it will only hinder the work of the Gospel. In
the past, false prophets, popes and others have claimed to be guided by God
when they were contradicting His Word. However, the words, “Let God be true,
but every man a liar;” tell us to regard anyone who contradicts what the
Bible says as a liar (Romans 3:4). And the words, “Do not add to His words,
lest He reprove you, and you are found to be a liar,” for, “All liars,
will have their part in the lake that burns with fire,” should make every
false prophet tremble, for, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God” (Proverbs 30:6, Revelation 21:8, Hebrews 10:31). Am I
saying that a false prophet can never be saved? Not at all! God may, “Give
them repentance bringing them to a realization of the truth” (2Timothy
That brings us to another kind of new revelation
that is widespread in American churches, the claim that God is speaking in, “A
still small voice”. The voice that these people hear is not an audible voice,
but a “voice” in their head. However, the Bible says nothing about voices in
the head! It is called, “A still small voice” because that is the way God’s
word to Elijah was described in 1Kings