The famous British preacher Charles Spurgeon was once asked how he responded to criticisms of the Bible. “Very easy,” he responded. “I defend the Bible the same way I defend a lion. I simply let it out of its cage.”
What he meant was that the Bible, when released, will defend itself.
What do we believe about the Bible? We have to start here. What we believe about other doctrines comes from the Bible itself. Grace Life of Senatobia has a high view of Scripture. We believe that it is inspired and inerrant. God inspired the actual words of Scripture and there are no errors. We believe that it is our authority for what we believe and is sufficient to guide us.
The 2000 Baptist faith and message states:
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.
“The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man.”
When 2 Timothy 3:16 says “All Scripture is inspired by God” it literally means “God -breathed.” God is the author of the bible. He inspired men to write what they wrote but He is the one behind it. Second Peter 1:21 says that the men who wrote the Bible were “men moved by the Holy Spirit” and that they “spoke from God.”
“It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.”
The Bible is inerrant, meaning that there are no mistakes in it and it doesn’t contradict itself. “Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy.” This means that it is literally true. It is an accurate record of God moving in history. We can trust God’s Word. Jesus said in John 17:17, “Your word is truth.”
“It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.”
Our union as Christians is centered around what the Word of God teaches, if it is not then we are not truly united. All conduct, creeds, and opinions have to be compared to what the Bible teaches. It really doesn’t matter what we think, it matters what the Bible says. Where our thinking is wrong it has to be transformed by the Scripture. Romans 12:1-2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
We deny that any other book is inspired the way that the Bible is. One of the principles of the protestant reformation was “sola Scriptura” and this means “Scripture alone.” The Bible alone is inspired and God’s revelation to man. Satan has his counterfeits and we are not going to fall for them and we will warn others about them.
The statement ends by saying:
“All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.”
In commenting on Article 1 of the Baptist Faith and Message, Al Mohler said, “The Bible is not merely a record of revelation. It is revelation itself. The Bible is not a fallible witness to the revelation of God. It is God’s perfectly inspired Word. The written Word testifies of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, as our Lord himself explained. We stated clearly that ‘all Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is himself the focus of divine revelation.’ This replaces the language stating that Jesus Christ is ‘the criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted.’ Why? Simply put, because 30 years of abuses and attacks upon the integrity of the Bible made clear that some were using this language to deny the truthfulness and authority of the Word of God.”
Christ is the focus of the Bible and Grace Life will strive to be a Christ-centered church.
It is not time to retreat from the high ground of biblical authority and theological integrity. Remember Spurgeon said, “I defend the Bible the same way I defend a lion. I simply let it out of its cage.”
It is time to let the Lion out of the cage. We need to preach, teach and live the truths from the Bible.
Grace Life of Senatobia meets every Wednesday night in a Cell Group at the Senatobia Library at 6:00 pm. Core group formation and Vision casting is underway with the prayer and goal that Sunday Worship will begin Easter of 2018.
Grace Life Senatobia 