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The Commentary

Trustworthy Scripture

Trustworthy Scripture

Many truths central to classical evangelicalism are being called into question at present, by those known as evangelicals.

We have had the attack on the cross of Christ as the penal substitution for our sins from Steve Chalke. The doctrine of justification by faith alone is contested by many who have adopted the so-called New Perspective on Paul. Now a new controversy concerning the inerrancy of Scripture is brewing since the publication of A.T.B. McGowan’s book The Divine Spiration of Scripture. There is a thorough review of that book in this issue of EN.

The Bible on the Bible

The reliability of the Bible is foundational to our faith, and Christians need to be aware of what the Bible says about itself on this matter. Here are a few pertinent texts concerning the nature of God’s words.

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind (Numbers 23.19). King Balak is trying to persuade Balaam to curse Israel and so nullify an earlier blessing (vv.7-11). Although Balaam is far from a good man he is a prophet who speaks God’s words. In this context, the purpose of saying that God does not lie is to tell Balak that there can be no falsehood in the previous prophecies, which therefore cannot be nullified by a later prophecy. Here we have words spoken by a prophet, but the propensity to lying does not apply to these words even though spoken by human lips. Of course to say ‘No’ to God lying, but allow that God might make ‘mistakes’ is to impugn God’s omniscience. Therefore, because the logic of verse 19 proceeds from the general to the particular, it is an affirmation that in any case in which God speaks he speaks the truth.

Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you (Deuteronomy 4.2). The words of God, given through Moses are unique and important in their entirety. No merely human words are fit to be added to them. No part of them is to be thought insignificant or untrustworthy and so deleted.

And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times (Psalm 12.6). The statement of the purity of the word of God here is very strong, implying freedom from imperfections. In biblical symbolism, to be purified seven times is to be purified completely. Against the context of verses 1-3, that all human words are prone to falsehood and flattery, the implication is obvious. The word of God is without error.

A sure foundation

Jesus’s understanding of the Old Testament was that what Scripture says, God says (Matthew 19.4,5). Furthermore, the New Testament writers believed their writings to be just as much Scripture as the Old Testament (2 Peter 3.16). On the Bible’s own terms, therefore, we have to conclude that, so long as the original text has been faithfully transmitted down the centuries and so long as we have an accurate translation, then in Scripture we have God’s word which is utterly reliable.

Unlike the discarded ‘assured results of higher criticism’, which duped a previous generation, Jesus promised us that the words of Scripture are more lasting than heaven and earth (Matthew 5.18). Let’s beware of striving for novelty in our theology. If we cannot accept what Scripture says about itself, why should we accept what it says about anything?

John Benton