Systematic Theology – Chapter 2

So how do we know the Bible is true or not?  This chapter clarifies one sticky question I had last time I met with Josh.  It’s a term called “self-attesting.”  As Grudem puts it, “the Bible is self-attesting.”  It needs no outside, collaborating facts.  We simply need to see what it says about itself to know for ourselves that it’s true.  We cannot rely on other source to prove the Bible’s truthfulness because to do that would be to submit to other, higher authority.  This would go against a major doctrine of Christian belief – the Bible is the ultimate authority of absolute truth.  The Bible is not just true, as if proven by outside sources, but it is the truth (John 17:17) – the measuring stick by which all things are measured against.

Josh mentioned “circular argument” to help me grasp this idea, too, which is also covered in the text by Grudem.  And some might object to this type of argument, but Grudem shows by example that this type of argument isn’t unique to the Bible.  When we peer into our own method of reasoning, we see that we use this type of argument to postulate our own human positions.  And as I read more, it becomes clearer to me what and how the Bible is self-attesting.

So if the Bible is self-attesting, then how do we know it’s God’s Words?  The prophets, as they wrote the books of Bible through various means of communications from God, shows evidence.  It is written, “Thus says the Lord…”  Whenever prophets spoke in the name of God, it was words that came from God and several passages tells this.  It also tell of false prophets (see Num. 22:38, Deut. 18:18-20, Jer.1:9; 14:14;23:16-22; 29: 31-32; Ezek. 2:7; 13:1-16).  And in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul attest that Scripture is God’s Words by using the metaphor “God-breathed” in 2 Tim. 3:16.  2 Peter 1: 20-21 puts it very clearly, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.  For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”  Here we see where the New Testament attest for the Old Testament, but there are also many passages that attest to New Testament writings as also being Scripture – God’s Words.  One good example is 2 Peter 3: 15-16, Peter catagorizes Paul’s letters with “other scriptures.”  And in 1 Corinthians 14:37, Paul himself writes, “… what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord.”

So if Scripture is God’s Words, how do we know it’s truthful?  To think otherwise would be to think God intentionally lies, but Titus 1:2 says, “… God, who does not lie…”  Several passages in the Bible tells us of assurances in God’s oath and promise, which implies God doesn’t lie (see Hebrew 6:18 for example).  May be God’s mistaken sometime, but Psalm 12:6 says, “… the word of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace…”  Proverbs 30:5 again says, “Every word of God is flawless…”

So if the Bible is truth and every words in it is true, then we have to believe it and obey it.  We can not do these things if for even a minute we think that there’s a possibility of errors in the Bible.  In this part of the chapter I start to understand what it means for the Bible to inerrant – the inerrancy of the Bible.  The opponents of this claim usually base their argument around the precision of truth – how true is the Bible?  Truth is truth in terms of “ordinary language of everyday speech.”  And that’s what’s used in the Bible by the prophets and apostles as they wrote from their perspective the inspiration of God.  What’s ordinary language of everyday speech?  Grudem puts it simply like this.  When I say I live a mile from the school, that’s true.  But put to the test of a GPS system, it might actually measure 1.2 miles, which then opponents might say the original state it not true.  Common sense practically says the argument is silly to begin with.  Some might become critical on the spelling of words or uncommon (or even “bad”) grammar and use it as a basis for arguments against inerrancy.  But we cannot use today’s standards and convention of spelling and grammar to the prophets and apostles.  The message is still true whether is spelled wrong or the grammar is improper by our standards today. Yet still others would say the the Bible is only “infallible” as it applies to faith and practice of a religious belief.  The use of the infallible limits the application of the Bible (to faith and practice).  Rather, the Bible is inerrant and is applicable to every aspect of life – from ethics to even science.  The Bible doesn’t detail every truth about everything, but what it does say about something is true.  There’s several evidence in the New Testament that apostles relied on every word of the Old Testament for instructions with no implication to catogarize it to mean that some were more significant than others (see Matt. 12: 3-4, 41; Luke 4:25-26; John 4:5; 1 Cor. 10:11)

It’s difficult for me to discern right now what must come first.  Does faith come first so that we believe in a self-attesting Bible?  Or does faith come from reading and knowing the Bible.  I have heard of atheists who, in search and purpose to disprove the Bible, end up becoming believers after what they discover.  Nonetheless, its clear that reading the Bible to seek God’s personal message to each of us doe not go without faith.  By faith and prayer can we ask for God’s Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds so that we may understand what we read.

This week’s verse: 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness…”