There is considerable debate these days concerning the inerrancy
(infallibility) of Scripture. The authority of God's Word is the main issue.
But, if one yields to the authority of Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMoshiach),
he must, in turn, yield to Christ's view of the Scripture itself. Anyone and
everyone who claims to be a Christian (a believer under the authority of Christ)
must hold to the same view He did! What was it?
I. Negative Aspects
(an argument from silence--but a loud
silence!)
Jesus (Yeshua) never belittled Scripture (as some modern critics do),
or set it aside (as the Jewish leaders of His day had done with their Oral
Traditions), or criticized it (although He criticized those who misused it), or
contradicted it (although He rejected many interpretations of it), or opposed it
(although He sometimes was free or interpretive with it), nor spoke in any way
as "higher" critics do of the Old Testament (Tanakh).
II. Christ's Use of Scripture
As L. Gaussen has asserted, "We are not afraid to say it: when we hear the
Son of God quote the Scriptures, every thing is said, in our view, on their
divine inspiration -- we need no further testimony. All the declarations of the
Bible are, no doubt, equally divine; but this example of the Savior of the world
has settled the question for us at once. This proof requires neither long nor
learned researches; it is grasped by the hand of a child as powerfully as by
that of a doctor. Should any doubt, then, assail your soul let it behold Him in
the presence of the Scriptures!" 1
- He knew the Scriptures thoroughly, even to words and verb tenses. He
obviously had either memorized vast portions or knew it instinctively:
John
7:15.2
- He believed every word of Scripture. All the prophecies concerning Himself
were fulfilled 3, and He believed beforehand they
would be. 4
- He believed the Old Testament was historical fact. This is very clear, even
though from the Creation (cf. Genesis 2:24 and Matthew 19:4, 5) onward, much of what He believed has long been under fire by critics, as
being mere fiction.
Some Examples of Historical facts
- Luke 11:51 - Abel was a real individual
- Matthew. 24:37-39 - Noah and the flood (Luke 17:26, 27)
- John 8:56-58 - Abraham
- Matthew 10:15; 11:23, 24 (Luke 10:12) - Sodom and Gomorrah
- Luke 17:28-32 - Lot (and wife!)
- Matthew 8:11 - Isaac and Jacob (Luke 13:28)
- John 6:31, 49, 58 - Manna
- John 3:14 - Serpent
- Matthew 12:39-41 - Jonah (vs.42 - Sheba)
- Matthew 24:15 - Daniel and Isaiah
- He believed the books were written by the men whose names they bear:
- Moses wrote the Pentateuch (Torah): Matthew 19:7, 8; Mark 7:10,
12:26 ("Book of Moses" - the Torah); Luke 5:14; 16:29, 31; 24:27, 44
("Christ's Canon"); John 1:17; 5:45, 46; 7:19; ("The Law [Torah] was given by
Moses; Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.")
- Isaiah wrote "both" Isaiah's: Mark 7:6-13; John 12:37-41.
- Jonah wrote Jonah: Matthew 12:39-41.
- Daniel wrote Daniel: Matthew 24:15.
- He believed the Old Testament was spoken by God Himself, or written by the
Holy Spirit's inspiration, even though the pen was held by men:
Matthew 19:4,
5; 22:31, 32, 43; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37.
- He believed Scripture was more powerful than His miracles:
Luke
16:29, 31.
- He actually quoted it in overthrowing Satan! The 0. T. Scriptures were the
arbiter in every dispute:
Matthew 4; Luke 16:29, 31.
- He quoted Scripture as the basis for his own teaching. His ethics
were the same as what we find already written in Scripture:
Matthew
7:12; 19:18, 19; 22:40; Mark 7:9, 13; 10:19; 12:24,29-31; Luke 18:20.
- He warned against replacing it with something else, or adding or subtracting
from it. The Jewish leaders in His day had added to it with their Oral
Traditions:
Matthew 5:17; 15:1-9; 22:29; (cf. 5:43,44); Mark. 7:1-12.
(Destroying faith in the Bible as God's Word will open the door today to a "new"
Tradition.)
- He will judge all men in the last day, as Messiah and King, on the basis of
His infallible Word committed to writing by fallible men, guided by the
infallible Holy Spirit:
Matthew 25:31; John 5:22, 27;
12:48; Romans 2:16.
- He made provision for the New Testament (B'rit Hadashah) by sending
the Holy Spirit (the Ruach HaKodesh). We must note that He Himself never
wrote one word of Scripture although He is the Word of God Himself (the living
Torah in flesh and blood, see John, chapter 1). He committed the task of all
writing of the Word of God to fallible men -- guided by the infallible
Holy Spirit. The apostles' words had the same authority as
Christ's:
Matthew 10:14, 15; Luke 10:16; John 13:20; 14:22; 15:26, 27;
16:12-14.
- He not only was not jealous of the attention men paid to the Bible
(denounced as "bibliolatry" by some), He reviled them for their ignorance of
it:
Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:24.
- Nor did Jesus worship Scripture. He honored it -- even though written by
men.
The above leaves no room but to conclude that our Lord Jesus Christ
considered the canon of Scripture as God's Word, written by the hand of men.
Although some religious leaders profess to accept Scripture as "God's Word,"
their low view of "inspiration" belies the fact. They believe and teach that
Scripture is, to a very significant degree, man's word. Many of their
statements are in essential disagreement with those of Jesus Christ. From the
evidence of their books, we conclude that some Christian leaders are opposite to
Christ in His regard for the authority, the inspiration, and the inerrancy of
Scripture.
And now, the most important point.
III. Jesus Christ Was Subject to Scripture
Jesus obeyed the Word of God, not man. He was subject to it. If
some leaders' view of inspiration were true, Jesus was subject to an errant,
rather casually thrown-together "Word of Man." Jesus would have been subject,
then, to the will of man, not the will of God.
However, in all the details of His acts of redemption, Jesus was subject to
Scripture as God's Word. He obeyed it. It was His authority, the rule by which
He lived. He came to do God's will, not His own, and not man's. Note how
all of His life He did things because they were written -- as if
God had directly commanded. He fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about
Himself. The passages are found all over the Old Testament. We cite here only a
very few quoted in the New Testament:
Matthew 11:10; 26:24, 53-56; Mark
9:12,13; Luke 4:17-21; 18:31-33; 22:37; 24:44-47.
He Himself IS the Word of God. All the words from His lips were the
Word of God. (John 3:34). If He had desired, He could have written a new set of
rules and they would have been the Word of God. But, He did
not. He followed without question the Bible already
penned by men.
This is the sensible thing for every believer to do. May all who read this
adopt Jesus' attitude and become subject BOTH to Him as Living Word (living
Torah) AND to the Bible as the infallible, written Word of God.
Footnotes
- Gaussen, L., The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures,
(Chicago: The Bible Inst. Colportage Association, n.d.), p. 93.
- Jesus need not verify every passage in the Canon or else we would
find the whole Old Testament requoted in the New Testament, which is
unnecessary. He verifies enough of it to assure us of complete approval of it
all, including passages from all but a few books. Yet those also were in
His Canon. He did not refute any of them.
- A good summary of fulfilled prophecy, see:
Wenham, J. W., Our Lord's
View of the Old Testament, London: Tyndale Press (1953), pp. 23, 24.
- See: Matthew 26:53-56; Luke 24:25-27; John 5:39-47.
- The Pentateuch is but one book in five parts. Meredith Kline's Treaty of
the Great King, has demonstrated convincingly that it was written by one
person as a unity. Therefore, Christ's reference to any part of it as written by
Moses infers He believed it was all written by Moses.
The holy Scriptures . . .
make you wise
to
accept God's salvation (Hebrew yeshua)
by trusting in Christ Jesus
(Hebrew Yeshua HaMoshiach).
The whole Bible was given to us
by
inspiration from God
and is useful to teach us
what is true
and to make
us realize
what is wrong in our lives;
it straightens us out
and helps
us do what is right.
It is God's way of making us
well prepared at every
point,
fully equipped
to do good to everyone.
II
Timothy, Chapter 3, Verses 15-17, Living Bible
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This paper is an excerpt from Dr. Livingston's M.A. Thesis titled, A
Critique of Dewey Beegle's "Inspiration of
Scripture".
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