Avoiding Evil

The Bible is God’s revelation of authoritative truth given to His people in clarity. This, however, does not mean that all parts of Scripture are easily understood. There are some things that are very easy to understand and then there are other things that become more difficult to grasp. The danger in this is taking what is difficult to understand and interpreting it with human presupposition and intent in order to make difficult things say what you want them to say.

“…just as our dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you. He speaks about these things in all his letters, in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.” 2 Peter 3:15b-16

To twist Scripture to our own liking is destructive. This is an area where we must allow Scripture to be its own authority. Let Scripture interpret Scripture. While there may be things that are difficult to understand, none of it is impossible! The false perception of Scripture being too difficult or obscure for ordinary, everday believers to understand led to what the reformers claimed as a second authority. Rome became dependant upon the pope to interpret or mediate the Scriptures. They even went so far as to prevent free reading and interpretation of Scripture from the average believer. The church and the pope became the “second” authority on the interpretation of Scripture next to Scripture itself. The reformers claimed that this set the pope up as being an authority over the Bible. The Bible does not need an authoritative person to read or interpret it; its understanding and interpretation is found within itself and in the work of the Holy Spirit. Those who faithfully seek its truth through the help of the Spirit of God and the guidance of the truth of God can understand the message of the Bible as a whole.

The Bible is not an obscure, difficult text that cannot be understood without the mediation of another human. Any believer, through prayer and study, can come to know the deep truths of difficult Scripture, which is what makes the Bible a book of clarity. The only authority we need to appeal to when attempting to understand a passage of Scripture is the authority of the rest of God’s Word and the power of the Spirit of God. It is through God that the Scriptures become clear to those who have the God-given ability to understand its truths.

The message of God’s word is clear, but one thing is for sure; the believer has to take the time to read the Scripture, study it, and pray through it on a daily basis. To understand the Bible and its application to your life requires faithful study and prayer. While it is possible to misunderstand some Scripture, that should not be a deterrant to consistent study in seeking the truth of God’s Word.

God has revealed Himself to us through the words of Scripture making the Bible authoritative. To understand what this means you need to understand what the word authoritative means.

au·thor·i·ta·tive

1. Having or arising from authority; official: an authoritative decree; authoritative sources. The Bible is a message that comes from authority, it is our source of authority. It’s decrees are what we should faithful and respectfully follow.

2. Of acknowledged accuracy or excellence; highly reliable. The Bible is also a text that is highly accurate and reliable. You can know for sure that what is says was true, is true, and will be true.

3. Wielding authority; commanding. The Bible weilds authority in that it commands God’s people. It teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains the people of God.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The Bible is God’s word and therefore what the Bible says possesses the authority of God. The Bible attains its authority from God, weilds its authority through God, and accuratly potrays truth about God. The Scriptures are also self-attesting, in that the Scripture affirms itself. There is no higher authority to which we can appeal in order to prove the Bible as God-breathed than the very Words of God Himself. It is not in human reasoning or understanding that we find the truth of God’s revelation in Scripture. It is the Bible that affirms the truth of God’s revelation through the Spirit of God working in the individual.

For the believer, Scripture is the final authority in which we should trust and obey. Commands and declarations in the Bible should be seen as the authoritative commands of God who desires our obedience. Christians should submit to God’s Word as they would submit to God Himself.

The doctrine of Scripture can be broken down into several different descriptive terms that provide a greater understanding of the Word of God. These terms include revelation, authority, clarity, necessity, inerrancy, and sufficiency. For the next several days I will expound on each of these terms as they relate to the doctrine of Scripture as a whole.

The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to mankind. God’s existence is far superior to human understanding, which means human attempts to understand and explain God using human reason is widely ineffective and destructive. The truth is we cannot know the vast greatness of God without God telling us. It is in God’s sovereignty that he extends to us knowledge of Himself. This revelation from God comes in two ways; natural revelation and special revelation. A natural knowledge of God is available in creation because God is the creator of the universe (Gen. 1:1). The universe and all that is in it bears the mark of its Creator. Without any direct communication from God and without the teachings of the Bible, all mankind can still have a certain awareness of God simply by the observation of all created things. Special revelation, on the other hand, can be understood as God directly acting to make something known. While there have been many sources of this special revelation including signs, visions, dreams, angels, prophets, and priests, today our source of special revelation from God is found in the Bible. Scripture is God’s primary source of truth revealed to Spirit led individuals. It is in God alone and through the Spirit alone that man can understand and accept God’s special revelation in Scripture.

“My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power. However, among the mature we do speak a wisdom, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age knew it, for if they had known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written:
“What no eye has seen and no ear has heard,

and what has never come into a man’s heart,
is what God has prepared for those who love Him
Now God has revealed them to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the concerns of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the concerns of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, in order to know what has been freeely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiriutal people. But the natural man does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishenss to him; he is not able to know it since it is evaluated spiritaully. 1 Corinthians 2:10-15

Paul says that he did not come with words from mans wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit so that mans faith is not based on the wisdom of man but on the power of God. The Bible is filled with the very words of God filled with hidden wisdom that is a mystery to the natural man. Only the Spirit can see what is hidden and through the Spirit we can know the hidden wisdom of God. Therefore the Bible is relevant today because it is a revelation from God containing the truths of God, which are reveled to those who possess the Spirit of God.

Now that the fundraiser has ended, lets add up the totals.

First off I want to thank everyone who participated in raising funds for World Vision. Each of your comments raised money to feed and care for the poor throughout the world.

There were 39 unique comments and so I will donate $39.00. The youth activities fund which pledged $2 per comment will donate $79.00. Christopher pledged $.50 per unique gravatar image and he will donate $10.00. Eliot also said he would contribute $1 per comment and so that adds another $39.00.

The fundraising blog post has earned a total of $167 for world hunger to be donated to World Vision. Remember that each $1 given to World Vision this year is matched by $7 in grants. That means our $167 donation will actually provide $1,169. For those of you who participated, you have contributed to World Vision’s efforts to feed at least 3 children for an entire year! Thank you so much for your participation and efforts to fight world hunger. If you are interested in more information, or if you would like to donate money yourself, you can do so via World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine website. Simply click this link and then click the link that says “donate”.

My youth group also worked diligently to raise funds for World Vision this year. We went 30 hours without food asking people to pledge $1 per hour that we fasted. Through the efforts of our teenagers, our church, and our community we have raised over $9,200 for World Vision. With the $7 grants that is over $64,000. That money will help feed over 170 starving people in Kenya and some may go to provide help with tsunami relief. As always, we give God the glory for what he has done through our group this year. It’s amazing to see the lives that are touched in the world through 30 teenagers who have a desire to be used by God to make a difference in the world.

I WILL DONATE MONEY IF YOU LEAVE A COMMENT!

As of right now there are 25 unique comments in my Leave A Comment; Save A Life post. That means so far I owe $25, the youth owe $50, and Christopher owes $5 for a total of $80 dollars being donated to World Vision. The potential is there for much more. If you have yet to leave a comment on the fundraising post, go quickly! You have until Friday at 9:00 a.m.