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Friday, July 25, 2008 God's Sufficient Word. Yesterday we looked at the meaning of 2 Peter 1:21, and Peter, in the same context in which this verse is given, talks about his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. He says, "Look, there was a time when I was up there on the mountain with Jesus, and James and John were there, and the Lord was transformed before our eyes. We saw him in his glory and it was wonderful." But then Peter recognizes that we don’t all have this experience. It was a unique experience. And yet as he later recognizes, he says, "But we have something better. So we have a more sure word of prophecy." He then goes on to give the verse I’ve just cited. Now, isn’t that interesting? A more sure word of prophecy? More sure even than the voice of God from heaven, saying "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased"? Yes, says Peter, even more sure than that. And why? Because the Holy Spirit carried the writers of the Word of God along in such a way that what is recorded is God’s direct revelation and can be received as such. Now, someone might say that Peter was referring to the Old Testament, not the New, because the New Testament was still being written at the time and therefore what Peter had in mind was the Old Testament. And when he speaks of the Word of God, he is speaking largely of the Old Testament books, and it cannot be applied to the New. That’s partially true. Certainly he was speaking of the Old Testament, but at the same time there are several verses in the New Testament in which the writers of the New Testament refer to the New Testament in the same way they are accustomed to speak of the Old. This is important because it indicates that in their minds, what was being produced in the first Christian century by those who had been called of God to receive the new revelation had the same authority as the Scriptures that had been preserved in the Old Testament times. I’ll give you two verses that make that point. In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul writes "And we also thank God continually because, when we received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe." In other words, Paul says that what he taught was not the words of mere men but God’s Word. And then there’s a second verse. Peter is writing toward the end of his second epistle, chapter 3, verses 15 and 16, and he says of Paul: "…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." In other words, you see, Peter puts the writings of Paul in precisely the same category into which he puts the Old Testament books. Let’s review. I’ve given you four reasons for regarding the Scriptures on the basis of their own testimony as the Word of God: (1) 2 Timothy 3:16, which speaks of Scripture as being God-breathed; (2) the way New Testament writers speak of the Old Testament writers as giving God’s Words; (3) 2 Peter 1:21, which speaks of Bible writers as driven by the Holy Spirit; and (4) the New Testament passages that speak of other New Testament books as the Word of God. Study Questions • How does Peter use his witness of the transfiguration on the mount to back up his teaching about Scripture? • What did the New Testament writers understand about their writings? • List the four points Dr. Boice has made so far this week about the authority of Scripture. Review Go over the passages in today’s lesson that show us that the New Testament writers knew their words were divinely inspired: 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 3:15-16. |
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