What is the Bible?

 6/11/2023

Bibliology - What is the Bible?

Resources:

• Study of the Bible - https://tbcgr.org/sermons/mp3/foundational-teachings/01-12-14PT2.mp3

Short Statement (TBC doctrinal statement): 

We believe in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writings; and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.

 Key Thoughts

• Authority – Supreme and Only
• Revelation – General and Special
• Inspiration – Verbal and Plenary
• Inerrant – corresponds to reality and never affirms anything contrary to fact.
• Infallible – not able to fail.
• Preservation – How the Bible came to us.

Key References

• II Timothy 3:16,17; II Peter 1:16-21
• Matthew 5:17-18; John 10:35; 14:26; 16:13; 17:17
• II Peter 3:15-16; Matthew 4:4; 19:4-5; Acts 4:24-26; I Corinthians 2:10-12; 14:37
• Numbers 23:19; Psalm 12:6; 18:3; 19:8; Proverbs 30:5: Hebrews 6:18
• Deuteronomy 30:15-18; I Thessalonians 2:13: 4:2; II Thessalonians 2:15; 3:14
• Romans 10:13-17; I Peter 2:1-3
• Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18-19

Key Errors

• Denial of the superintending work of the Holy Spirit
• Denial of the human authorship of the Scripture
• Denial of plenary inspiration
• Denial of verbal inspiration
• Denial of the inerrancy of Scripture
• Pitting infallibility against inerrancy
• Claiming that there are hundreds of errors in the Bible.
• Denial of the sole authority of Scripture
• Emphasis on the Spirit of God to the neglect of the Word of God
• Emphasis on the Word of God to the neglect of the Spirit of God
• Claiming some source other than Scripture as the supreme authority

Why is it Vital to our Daily Lives:

• If the Bible is what Jesus and the Biblical writers claimed it to be, then it demands our efforts to read, understand and obey it, to give the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to teach us through it and to run our lives as God has instructed in it.
• Without the Bible, any “authority” is simply a human one and lacks congruence with reality and the consistency and accuracy of the Bible.
• Denial of the God-breathed nature of the Word of God places humans in the judgment of God’s self-revelation – even if we “claim” to believe that the Bible is our source of authority but don’t live or act on what it says, then we are still effectively Denial.
• Faith is easier when you understand more about God, but not to believe in Someone greater than yourself is to have a very small God.