Dakota Community Church
September 28, 2008
Scripture Alone 2
How do we know the scripture is the “authoritative Word of God” and not just a suggested guide?
1. Scripture itself.
First of all the scriptures themselves tell us so.
We know the Bible is not just a “respected voice” because of:
2. Jesus’ view and usage.
We know that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God and not just a respected voice in the community because of how Jesus treated scripture.
Notice:
The sinless claim, the relationship claims (No glass darkly), the acknowledgement of their biblical ancestry, the extra biblical knowledge of Abraham’s desire, and the claim of divinity.
John 8: 12-59
12When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
13The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."
14Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. 18I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me." 19Then they asked him, "Where is your father?"
"You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also." 20He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.
21Once more Jesus said to them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come."
22This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ’Where I go, you cannot come’?"
23But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."
25"Who are you?" they asked.
"Just what I have been claiming all along," Jesus replied. 26"I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world."
27They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." 30Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33They answered him, "We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
39"Abraham is our father," they answered.
"If you were Abraham’s children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. 40As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41You are doing the things your own father does."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
42Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
48The Jews answered him, "Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"
49"I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
{John 6:28-29 - Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."}
52At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
54Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
57"You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
58"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
Now look at how Jesus treats the scripture AFTER the resurrection.
Luke 24:13-32
13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him.
17He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"
19"What things?" he asked.
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."
25He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.
30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
Read Also:
Luke 22:21-38, Luke 24:33-53
Should believers have a lesser view of scripture than our Lord and Savior had? – NO!
Well from that we see that Jesus affirms the Old Testament scriptures but what about the New Testament. How does Jesus view the apostle’s writings? Is it possible that Jesus gives approval to the books written after his death and resurrection?
John 14:22-26
22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
Where do we find the teachings of Jesus? How do we know that they are accurate?
John 17:6-21
"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
Where can we hear the apostles’ message? The New Testament.
Read Also:
John 1:1-18, John 20:24-31, John 21:24-25
This brings us to the third point concerning whether what we have is a collection of ancient wisdom that is meant to be a respected voice that helps in the directing of Christianity or the authoritative Word of God.
3. Apostolic verification.
We know that at the time of Jesus the Old Testament canon was already established.
Jesus used it and verified it’s authenticity by His very life and ministry.
What about the New Testament canon. How do we know that these 27 books are the authoritative Word of God?
First of all it should be noted that the common idea that the church leadership got together sometime after the council of nicea and randomly decided what the canon should be is false.
The early Church had the Old Testament and the teachings of the apostles were added to it as scripture as they were written.
The canon was not decided on based on the preferences of modernist thinking or thinkers. The canon was decided on based on whether there was tangible proof of apostolic authorship or acceptance.
There are 86,000 quotations from the early church. These are found in several thousand Lectionaries that are church-service books contain Scripture quotations used in the early centuries of Christianity. None of the New Testament canon we have today is lost or missing, not one verse. You could destroy all the manuscripts of the New Testament, and destroy all the New Testaments in existence in the world, and you could reproduce all but 11-17 verses of the whole New Testament from early church writings. Sir David Dalrymple once asked himself the question, “Suppose that the New Testament had been destroyed, and every copy of it lost by the end of the 3rd century, could it have been collected together again from the writing of the Fathers of the second and third centuries?” His answer was “...as I possessed all the existing works of the Fathers of the second and third centuries, I commenced to search, and up to this time I have found the entire New Testament, except eleven verses.”
The DaVinci Code tells us that the scriptures were selected for us by Constantine in the third century but they are in fact apostolic in origin, the John Ryland’s papyrus for instance is dated at the latest “end of first century”. There is external evidence as to the validity of the Gospels. John for instance had a number of disciples amoung whom were Papius and Polycarp of Smyrna who studied under him in Ephesus and flourished in ministry early in the second century. Both of them tell us that John was the author of his gospel, and Papius tells us that John told him that Matthew was written by Matthew Levi the tax collector; that Mark was written by Peter’s travelling companion John Mark and that Luke was written by Luke the physician who accompanied Paul on all of his journeys - that kind of external affirmation of authorship does not exist for any other classical literature.
More Extra Biblical Validation:
Clement of Rome mentioned at least eight New Testament books (A.D. 95).
Ignatius of Antioch acknowledged about seven books (A.D. 115).
Polycarp, a disciple of John the Apostle, acknowledged 15 books (A.D. 108).
Irenaeus mentioned 21 books (A.D. 185).
Hippolytus recognized 22 books (A.D. 170-235).
The first “canon” was the Muratorian Canon, which was compiled in A.D. 170. The Muratorian Canon included all of the New Testament books except Hebrews, James, and 3 John.
In A.D. 363, the Council of Laodicea stated that only the Old Testament (along with the Apocrypha) and the 27 books of the New Testament were to be read in the churches.
What about extra biblical texts?
These days everyone wants to discover a new revelation so there is much interest in the Gnostic gospels and other supposedly inspired texts.
These were not left out based on some secret society or conspiracy though those make for better bestselling novels; they were left out because the early church did not quote them as divine.
The earliest copies of Thomas are third century at least 200 years between John (last Gospel) and Gnostic gospel of Thomas.
The Gnostics see the problem of the human condition as the result of ignorance rather than sin, so the cure is knowledge not a sacrificial lamb.
The problem many modern scholars have with the apostolic books is that these documents testify that miracles happened. They begin with the presupposition that miracles do not happen so they discard the documents in spite of the overwhelming evidence. That is poor scholarship.
Now you might not like what the eye witnesses have to say. The eye witnesses say that Jesus claimed to be the only way to come to God. The eyewitnesses say that there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. You can decide you don’t like what the eye witnesses say but you cannot discredit the evidence that supports that these documents are written by the eye witnesses and if they are telling the truth then it is God himself who is making these claims.
The eyewitnesses (The Apostles) knew they were writing scripture and so did the Churches.
2 Thessalonians 2:15
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
2 Thessalonians 3:14
If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.
1 Corinthians 14:37
If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.
In his second letter the apostle Peter recognizes Paul’s letters as scripture.
2 Peter 3:15-16
Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
We also see the New Testament being quoted alongside the Old Testament with equal acceptance as scripture.
1 Timothy 5:18
18For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,"[Deuteronomy 25:4] and "The worker deserves his wages."[Luke 10:7]
NOW HOW MUCH SENCE DOES THIS MAKE IN LIGHT OF ALL THIS:
Ephesians 2:17-22
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
So we have the foundation of the apostles (New Testament) and prophets (Old Testament) all joined together in Christ the chief cornerstone, upon which we are built – the church!
Jesus is the cornerstone, he confirms the Old, He speaks through the eye witnesses for the New.
All of this should help to shed light on a couple of passages and why the church does things as it does. Why the teaching of sound doctrine is a vital part of what we do.
Acts 2:42
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts 4:13
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
They were blown away by these guys because they had changed!
Jesus wasn’t running the Dale Carnegie course and now they had eliminated the “word whiskers”.
They spoke with power, they answered with wisdom, and God backed their words with proof!
The early church was not about good deeds as a way to heaven.
The early church was about solid creeds that lead to good deeds done from grateful hearts; but the belief comes first or the cross was for nothing.
Acts 6:1-3
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
