The Inspiration and Implementation of Scripture
Sermon series on biblical trustworthiness. Sermon 3
One of the more difficult themes for the modern atheist to wrestle with is the revelation. Not the Book of Revelation, but the concept of revelation. We have have considered what Jesus said about the Bible and we have examined one of the fanciful claims of Scripture: the Resurrection. But what does Scripture say about itself? Stated differently: Why was the Bible written? And who wrote it? The Bible answers this question.
This brings us to relevancy. Is the Bible still relevant today? In order to answer this, we are going to stay in one central passage this morning.
The Heavenly Source of the Bible (2 Timothy 3:14-16a)
Timothy is instructed to remain in what he has been taught - to remain true to the Scripture. Now when Paul writes this to Timothy, he is thinking of the Old Testament Scriptures. He had been taught them by his mother and grandmother. Remain faithful to the doctrine that you were taught.
It is surprising to me how in the past twenty years this has been lost. The “enlightened way” of modern generations has been to question everything and to “find your own way” most often devoid of truth claims. Folks, this doesn’t work and we are watching people flounder all around us. You need a set of foundational truths to be able to function. But that’s an entirely different topic.
Paul instructs Timothy and then says a very important thing about Scripture: All Scripture is God-breathed.
Now let’s just let that sink in.
There is an ancient saying in the Middle East that you cannot trust a man, who does not get so close that you can smell his breath.
God came near and breathed out this book.
This teaches us something very important. God wrote the Bible.
There is an argument from the six blind men and the elephant that people like to apply to God. If you take six blind men and place them around an elephant, they might come to various conclusions about what this is before them. This is then applied to our knowledge of God - we cannot really know Him, for we all just are touching and feeling one aspect of Him. It sounds enlightened to say and believe something like that, but as one theologian pointed out, this argument fails if the Elephant speaks to the blind men. If the elephant reveals to the blind men: “I’m an elephant” it speaks more to the stubborn misgivings of the blind man if he holds to the tail and calls it a rope.
Paul coined a new Greek word when he penned these words. Theos - God - and pneustoc - breathed. God breathed it out. How?
Peter helps us on this point when he confirms that prophecy doesn’t just come from man’s will… man was driven by the Holy Spirit to speak - or write - God’s words. When Peter write this, he is drawing from his mariner background. The term that is used here for driven is used in Acts 27 to describe a ship raising its sails and the wind driving the ship along. God moved men to write the words He wanted them to write, but without violating their personalities or style of writing. God so miraculously produced this Bible and breathed it into existence.
And it is called revelation… God revealed Himself. This may be the most staggering of all - God tells us about Himself and reveals knowledge about Him. Thus God may be big, but He also wants to be known.
The earthly Usefulness of the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16b-17)
Paul continues his instruction to Timothy and explains the purpose of Scripture in four nouns: teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. As one teacher commented: Scripture teaches us what is right, teaches us what isn’t right, teaches us how to get right, and finally teaches us how to stay right.
Paul paints a picture here of how Scripture should fill our thinking and inform our decisions.
Which is exactly right, because that is the goal that Paul states in verse 17: so that the man of God may be perfect and perfectly equipped.
Scripture teaches us how to be the person that God wants us to be - perfect. Complete is perhaps a better translation. This sounds like a tall order - unattainable. And without God’s help and instruction it would indeed be impossible. The statement that follows is perhaps even more significant: fully equipped for every good work. The Scriptures completely equip us for what God wants us to do.
Scripture tells me everything I need to know about God… and that is enough.
