Preaching the Bible as the Word of God PDF

4 Preaching the Bible as the Word of God Randy Hurst Friends often borrow my car when visiting Springfield, and sometimes they leave things in it. I don’t know who left the tape of a well-known pastor in my car, but having never heard him preach, I popped it into the player to listen as I drove. The...

4 Preaching the Bible as the Word of God Randy Hurst Friends often borrow my car when visiting Springfield, and sometimes they leave things in it. I don’t know who left the tape of a well-known pastor in my car, but having never heard him preach, I popped it into the player to listen as I drove. The sermon was interesting, well delivered, and emotionally uplifting. But one thing was missing. Not even a phrase of Scripture was quoted or used as an illustration, much less a text as a foundation. Tragically, an increasing number of pulpits today are characterized by preachers who seemingly do not understand the essential power of God’s Word to transform lives. For a variety of reasons, including a desire to be more interesting or relevant, many have exchanged exposition of Scripture for mere sermonizing, forsaking both their God-given privilege of being His messenger and their responsibility of spiritually feeding His people. Pentecostals are people of the Word. When our Pentecostal forefathers commissioned the design of a logo for our Fellowship, they did not incor- 126 PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD porate the phrase “Not by might, nor by power…” (Zechariah 4:6), displayed on the cover of the Pentecostal Evangel for many decades. Rather, playing off the initials of “Assemblies of God,” they chose the simple phrase “All the Gospel.” Further, the only symbol on our logo is not a flame, a dove, or even a cross (all of which had been proposed), but more in keeping with the phrase itself is the image of a book—the Bible. In our Fellowship’s Statement of Fundamental Truths, the first of the sixteen doctrines singled out concerns the inspiration and authority of Scripture. It is foundational to all the rest. The authority of Scripture is our standard for belief and living. A split chancel with a central altar is common in mainline churches, but our churches place the pulpit central on the platform because we reverence God’s Word, and its proclamation is principal in our worship services. The Bible is not the object of our worship, but to truly and faithfully worship God we must worship Him as He is. This means, in essence, that we can worship Him only as He has revealed himself to be. The apostle Paul addressed this issue clearly and succinctly: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”1 Because the judgments of an infinite and holy God are “unsearchable” and His ways “unfathomable,” humanity can know about God only what He has chosen to reveal of himself. People cannot worship Him as they conceive Him to be or wish Him to be but only as He truly is. God is known by experience, but that experience must be rooted in His revealed truth. It was not the experience of the Holy Spirit baptism alone that motivated so many Pentecostal people to 127 128 RANDY HURST leave their churches and move to rented halls and storefronts. It was their hunger for the Word of God— ”the whole counsel of God.”2 In crude and poor surroundings faithful servants used the Word as more than a source of quotations to season their oratory. Instead, they offered up Scripture as the main course. This is why early Pentecostal churches often were referred to as “full gospel churches.” In fact, the largest church in the world, a Pentecostal church in Seoul, Korea, still calls itself Yoido Full Gospel Church. The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica: “We…constantly thank God that when you received from us the Word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”3 Notice that Paul states that the Word of God “performs its work” in those who believe. The preacher must clearly understand the nature and power of God’s Word. The Word is not merely a resource for sermons but is “living and active and sharper than any twoedged sword…piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”4 Every Pentecostal preacher should be of the same mind as the apostle Peter when he wrote, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and forever.”5 PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD The Bible preached and taught as God’s Word demands servants of the text, people who are, as Martin Luther expressed it, “under the Word.” The pulpit made available because of the authority of God’s Word is not for conveying personal opinion. People do not assemble to hear what the preacher thinks but what God thinks. Solomon said, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.”6 Without the guidance of divine revelation human nature will always lead to destruction. The one primary, foundational source of all divine guidance is the written Word of God. He has provided various means for revealing His will to us, such as the inner witness of the Holy Spirit and circumstances. But all other means of guidance must come under the authority of His inspired Word. The Bible is our final source of authority for all that we believe and do. Early in the last century when the Pentecostal revival spread throughout the United States and much of the world, some groups elevated immediate personal revelation of the Spirit to the level of Scripture. Orthodox Pentecostals always strongly denounced this practice as an aberration or even heretical. Unfortunately, in recent decades some Pentecostal and charismatic circles have again treated immediate personal revelation as equal to Scripture, even if they do not verbally espouse such a practice. But personal revelation must always be subjected to the authority of Scripture. God has spoken in different ways throughout history. In Old Testament times, He spoke through His prophets. The record of their words and deeds are God’s recorded revelation to His people. But the Old Testament was not the complete revelation of God. 129 130 RANDY HURST Humanity could not know God truly and fully until His Son came to earth. Jesus came to reveal what God the Father is like. Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father.” Jesus replied, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”7 Jesus Christ is the living Word. He was God in human form.8 The writer of Hebrews tells us, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.”9 After Jesus came, died, rose from death, and ascended to heaven, God inspired men to record His life and teachings and those of the apostles—constituting the New Testament. It ends with Jesus’ future return to earth and the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom. The written revelation of God’s truth is complete. However, the Church still needs to hear from God, and God still speaks directly by His Spirit to believers. But the timeless truth of God’s written Word has not changed and remains complete. Since the New Testament was written, the church has suffered times of spiritual deterioration, and revival has been needed. These times didn’t indicate a need for new truth but rather a fresh move of the Holy Spirit, who guides us into truth. In the Reformation, Martin Luther and other reformers did not introduce any new truth. They took the church back to the truth of God’s written Word, truth that was there all along but had been forsaken. Its truth is timeless. The messenger of God’s Word has a responsibility to proclaim the whole truth. We would do well to learn from our own legal system (which was established on biblical principles). When the truth is sought from a PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD witness in court, the witness is required to pledge to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Preachers and teachers of God’s Word should subscribe to the same pledge. For this reason the apostle Paul could say, “I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.”10 As Paul mentored young Timothy, he told him, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”11 For “accurately handling” the word of truth—preaching the Bible as it requires— we examine three issues: inspiration, illumination, and application. INSPIRATION God used human writers as His messengers, but it is His message they have left us. The Holy Spirit moved them to write, “breathing” (God’s word choice) the truth of God through what they said. The writers did not pen God’s Word simply from their own initiative or from their own natural knowledge and wisdom. The apostle Peter said, “No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”12 The Assemblies of God doctrinal statement makes this clear in its first fundamental truth: “The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct.” God used the experiences, thoughts, and vocabulary of the prophets and apostles. Furthermore, He directed 131 132 RANDY HURST their thoughts. When we study God’s Word to understand what the writers’ inspired meaning was, we must recognize that they were writing beyond themselves. The unique nature of God’s inspired Word brings another dimension to this process. A great help in accurately interpreting the Bible in recent decades has been the focus upon the issue of “author’s intent.” Unfortunately, this principle has been considered and utilized far more concerning the intent of the human authors than the intent of the divine author—the Holy Spirit. As the primary author, sometimes the Holy Spirit’s intent transcended that of the human author. This is the case when a prophet delivered a word he did not fully comprehend, even though he was the vehicle of its delivery. The Bible is a collection of books, and each has a basic literary form: historical/narrative, didactic/doctrinal, poetic, or prophetic. The Holy Spirit is not limited by that literary form. Sometimes approaching the Bible from a perspective of analyzing literary style is helpful, but it can also be a hindrance if taken to an extreme or applied only in a limited sense. In recent years an argument has been put forward that would disallow narrative Scripture for doctrinal application. For example, because Acts is a narrative (history) rather than a didactic (doctrinal) book, so the argument goes, chapters 2, 10, and 19 do not support our doctrine of initial evidence. However, most proponents of such an argument would accept the text “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness”13 as valid for supporting doctrine, since the nature of Paul’s epistle to Timothy is didactic. But Paul states that “all Scripture is…profitable for teaching”14—doctrine! PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD This obviously seems to include narrative Scripture such as the Gospels and Acts. The writer of Hebrews says: “We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”15 Drifting takes no conscious effort or strategy. The currents and winds of social trend and fad—in the church as well as in the world— are always in motion. As preachers, we are challenged to accommodate those who view the Word of God as merely the words of men. But we must keep a straight course and not drift from our positioning on that Word, regardless of the trend or fad. Although God used human writers, His Spirit is the author of the Bible. We must be cognizant of that fact not only generally but also specifically when we preach and teach its content. ILLUMINATION To fully and accurately proclaim the truth of the Bible, the preacher needs the illumination of the Spirit as the authors needed His inspiration when committing God’s message to writing. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would guide us “into all truth.”16 In prayer, Jesus said, “Thy word is truth.”17 The Holy Spirit helps us beyond our natural ability to understand the truth. The apostle John said, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.”18 The Bible itself provides abundant evidence that it is truly God’s Word. But a person is thoroughly persuaded of the Bible’s divine authority through an inward work of the Holy Spirit, who convinces one’s heart of the truth. A wonderful thing happens when a regenerated believer reads God’s Word. The same Holy Spirit 133 134 RANDY HURST who inspired the writers will open the understanding of those who read it. The Holy Spirit guided the writers of His Word by inspiration. The same Holy Spirit guides those who hear, read, and study God’s Word by illumination. When we read the Bible, we are not just reading history and teaching. Jesus, the living Word, is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.19 An old hymn of the church says it well: “More about Jesus in His Word / Holding communion with my Lord, / hearing His voice in every line / Making each faithful saying mine.”20 Stained glass is a beautiful art form. But by its very nature, a stained glass window requires light to reveal its beauty. People will not see what the artist intended unless they view the window from inside the church during the day or from outside at night when the lights are on inside the church. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we cannot truly understand God’s message spoken to us through the writers of Scripture. The light of His Spirit reveals God’s truth to our hearts. One who proclaims the message of truth as the Word of God must experience it beyond mere mental comprehension. We are saved not because we have accurate views of Christ’s redemptive work but because we are joined by a living faith to Him who accomplished that redemption. This experience separated the apostles’ teaching from the teaching of those called “rabbi.” The apostles were not from among the priests and teachers of Jerusalem. They were not Levites or scribes. They were, as Scripture records, “uneducated and untrained men.”21 None of the original apostles attended the school of Gamaliel or were taught by the other great Jewish teachers. Until Jesus’ call, they had been fishermen and tax collectors—simple and ordinary men. Yet PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD thousands devoted themselves to their teaching. Even the finely robed rabbis sat and listened to these common men who spoke as prophets because they had been baptized, as John the Baptist had prophesied, by their Lord with the Holy Ghost and fire. APPLICATION Inspired Scripture is “God-breathed.” The purpose of breath is to create and sustain life. Genesis 2:7 records that when God breathed into man, he became a living soul. Of all preachers, Pentecostals should continually be aware that God’s Word proclaimed by the enabling of the Spirit produces and sustains life in its hearers. Preaching the Bible as the Word of God requires that the message the Holy Spirit intends be communicated effectively, without compromise or distortion. The challenge to the preacher is to do this with vocabulary, concepts, and symbols that are relevant to the culture and generation of the receiving audience. In Pentecostal circles, speaking of the Holy Spirit’s “anointing” on preaching is common. However, many inaccurately equate such an anointing with volume, demonstrative emotion, or even perspiration. But our popular use of the term is extrabiblical. It describes a divine phenomenon in which we preach beyond ourselves—outdoing ourselves because of the Spirit’s touch, presence, and activity in our preaching. I believe two other words in the New Testament better describe this activity: energeo, which describes God’s “working” in His human agents, and zoopoieo, which is translated “quicken,” “give life,” or “make alive.” The anointing has as much to do with what is happening to the hearer as to the speaker. Pentecostal preaching 135 136 RANDY HURST with the energizing touch of the Spirit should produce the results we read about in Acts 2. When Peter preached after the Spirit’s empowering on the Day of Pentecost, Luke records, “Now when they heard this they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ and Peter said to them, ‘Repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”22 Spirit-energized preaching pierces to the heart and results in repentance, forgiveness, and transformed lives. Many preachers believe the most critical issue in preaching is knowing what to say, when in fact knowing what to say is not enough. Proclaiming the Word of God is not merely an issue of content. Our message is not only what we say, but also how we say it and who we are. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul speaks of all three aspects: “Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”23 Our emotions, attitudes, and actions are just as much a part of our message as our words. How we say things and who we are will not be determined merely by study. These elements of our message come from our character. Effective preaching must be rooted in spiritual life. This has always been true. But in a culture that is increasingly skeptical of Christianity, it is even more critical. Our personal credibility as God’s messengers will significantly determine our effectiveness. We must declare the message of Christ with clarity and boldness, but the content of our message will be greatly hindered if our manner and lives are not consistent with our words. The apostle Peter also said it well: “In your hearts set PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”24 Peter advocates here the same three points that Paul makes: what we say, how we say it, and who we are. Among a population rapidly losing faith in the integrity of government and business leaders, the integrity of God’s messengers is not an option; it’s a requirement. Although homiletics speaks of the “art” of preaching, the calling of the preacher is not as an artist, displaying his own creative capacities. The apostle Paul’s term of choice in 2 Timothy 2:15 was “workman,” a laborer. To accurately convey God’s message, the laborer—the servant of the text—must accurately handle the revelation God has provided. The Bible is not merely a well of truth; it is the water itself. Paul admonished Timothy that as God’s messengers, we must be wholehearted and diligent in our right handling of the “word of truth” that has already been delivered to us.25 The archaic meaning of “study” used in the King James Version is not misleading; however, it falls short of the strength of Paul’s call to devotion and diligence in the task. The application of God’s inspired and illumined Word cannot be dealt with exhaustively in this chapter, but these five points will be briefly considered: exposition, simplification, organization, illustration, and invitation. Exposition Most preachers are familiar with stories of biblical texts being misinterpreted. While these may appear 137 138 RANDY HURST humorous on the surface, they are tragic when we remember that what is being abused is God’s sacred revelation. Spin is defined in the dictionary as “a special point of view, emphasis, or interpretation.” More than in any other context, biblical interpretation should be a “no spin zone.” Jesus addressed the Pharisees, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men…you are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.”26 Exposition requires both what it meant (exegesis) and what it means (hermeneutics). Neither of these can be dealt with in this chapter to any significant degree. But both require disciplined study and a commitment of time on the preacher’s part. It is likely that in many if not most cases where a preacher does not preach expository messages, the reason is not that the preacher is incapable of learning how to do effective exposition, but is unwilling to commit the time required. That commitment will come only from a personal love of God’s Word or an understanding of the necessity of expository preaching (ideally, both). Simplification Expository preaching encompasses much more than merely a style. Unfortunately, many well-meaning proponents narrowly define expository preaching as a sort of “running commentary” on the text without going the second mile: working diligently to organize and illustrate the content of the text in a way that applies the truth in a fresh, relevant, and provocative way to a PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD contemporary audience. When we read the Gospels and examine Jesus’ communication with people, we find that He always used vocabulary and word pictures that came from their daily lives. He identified and connected with them, always using language they could understand and concepts they could relate to. Jesus, not the Jewish rabbis of His day, should be our model. Organization Homiletics is defined simply as “the art of preaching.” While it is imperative in preaching that we strive to “excel” to edify,27 thinking of preaching as an art has its hazards. For some, the primary emphasis in homiletics has focused on the organizational structure of a sermon. Some homileticians contrive such clever outlines that clarity actually suffers. If the homiletical structure of a sermon draws attention to itself and away from the text, its purpose is defeated. Structure should always serve the text, never overshadow it. Preachers would do well to apply to sermon outlines what Samuel Johnson, author of the first English dictionary, stated concerning composition: “Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage you think is particularly fine, strike it out!” Alliteration that flows naturally can serve to create greater understanding of a text as well as make it memorable. Alliteration that is exaggerated or strained does the opposite. I am convinced that in addition to guiding the human authors of sacred Scripture in choice of vocabulary and imagery, the Holy Spirit also influenced structure. While structure should serve the content of the text, its components will be most effective if they are 139 140 RANDY HURST part of the text. The Holy Spirit inspired the Bible to be written a book at a time, so it should be studied a book at a time. Structure that is discovered within the text will naturally serve to explain the text. The preacher who is a conscientious “laborer” will not obscure the structure of the text with his own. The structure of a message should be discovered in the text. This can’t always be done, but when it can, it will be especially effective, since in those instances the structure is part of the inspired content. For example, in three passages from the Pauline epistles concerning spiritual gifts, Paul structured the content in each passage along the same pattern. Paul’s “Spiritual Gifts” Passages Unity Variety Maturity 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 12:14-31 13:1-13 Romans 12:1-5 12:6-8 12:9-21 Ephesians 4:1-6 4:7-12 4:13-16 Similarly, the apostle Peter’s gospel preaching in the Book of Acts follows the same simple pattern. In his four presentations about Jesus in Acts (2:14-36, especially verses 20-24; 3:12-26; 4:8-12; and 10:34-43, his witness to Cornelius), Peter establishes the same basic two points in each presentation: (1) who Jesus is and (2) why He gave His life. This pattern is a very simple and effective way of sharing Christ with an unbeliever, because all people need to be confronted with the decision concerning who Jesus is and what His sacrifice means for them personally. This same pattern is followed by Mark in his Gospel, which was based on Peter’s apostolic preaching. The structure of the Gospel of Mark also illustrates the dan- PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD ger of simplistic and rigid literary analysis of Scripture (see “Inspiration”). Not only does a rigid application of a certain literary form limit understanding what the Holy Spirit intended, it can also limit understanding what the human writer intended. The general assumption concerning narrative or historical material is that the author’s intention was merely to record events as they happened, much like a journalist. An examination of the Gospel of Mark, perhaps the earliest history in the New Testament of our Lord’s life, offers a telling example. The “gospel form” was really defined by Mark. He begins the book sounding like a journalist as he opens with “This is the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”28 Early church history informs us that Mark’s ”history” was taken from Peter’s apostolic preaching. Irenaeus wrote in A.D. 175, “Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also transmitted to us in writing the things preached by Peter.” Not coincidentally, the Gospel of Mark is structured somewhat like a sermon. Like Peter’s sermons about Jesus in the Book of Acts, the Gospel of Mark answers the same two simple but critical questions: Almost equally divided, the first half presents who Jesus is and the second half presents why He gave His life. From the earliest part of chapter 1 through the end of chapter 8, Mark records seventeen miracles of Jesus and repeatedly draws attention to the significance of who He is. That is why in the first half of Mark’s gospel the word “who” occurs so often. In the first chapter, Mark clearly declares that Jesus is the Son of God. Even demons gave this testimony: “I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”29 141 142 RANDY HURST (However, Jesus did not permit them to speak.30) In chapter 2, the scribes said, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”31 In chapter 4, after Jesus miraculously calmed the storm, the disciples said to one another, “Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”32 The climax of Mark’s presentation of who Jesus is in the first half of the book comes at the close of chapter 8: “Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they told Him, saying, ‘John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.’ And He continued by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’”33 The second half of Mark describes the final week of Jesus’ life on earth: His suffering, death, and resurrection. In a series of statements Jesus reveals why He was sent into the world: “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.”34 “He said to them [His disciples], ‘The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.’”35 “‘We are going up to Jerusalem,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.’”36 Also contained in Mark are three dramatic “confessions.” In the first verse, Mark himself confesses Jesus PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD as the Son of God. This is followed by Peter’s confession at the turning point in the middle of the book, “You are the Christ,”38 and builds to the Roman centurion’s confession almost at the end of the book, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”39 37 Illustration Both in preaching and teaching, illustrations have great value in a variety of ways. They bring clarity and make a lesson or truth memorable. Whenever possible, illustrations should be found from Scripture. Augustine said, “The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed and the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.” Often Old Testament narrative stories offer appropriate and powerful illustrations of New Testament truths. The Gospels illustrate the Epistles, and the Epistles amplify the lessons taught in the Gospels. In Great Britain early in the last century, much preaching leaned to the typological and, unfortunately, created typologies where the Scriptures do not clearly define or even seem to intend them. However, I have often found that some typological applications make good illustrations for enhancing exposition. When they are used, however, it should be stated that a particular application is an illustration rather than an exposition. For example, I read a sermon by an old British preacher in which his text was taken from the marriage in Cana of Galilee: “And [he] said to him, ‘Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.’”40 The sermon basically proposed a principle that God always saves the best until last in everything in life. That is not what 143 144 RANDY HURST that text is saying, of course. However, many other passages do teach that principle, and I believe it is not inappropriate to lift that example out of the story of the marriage in Cana to illustrate a principle that is the intent of a text elsewhere. Invitation The purpose of preaching is not only to instruct, but also to incite to decision. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”41 Though Paul certainly had persuasive ability, he understood that earthly wisdom and human persuasion were inadequate to reach the Corinthians with the gospel of Christ. The reason human persuasion alone will not lead someone to a decision for Christ is found in the nature of persuasion itself. For persuasion to be effective, it must appeal to desires that already exist in a person. People essentially do what they want to do. To move people to a decision, they must see that the decision will result in gratifying a desire they already have. This is the fundamental objective of all advertising. People who are living in sin do not naturally have the desire to deny themselves, follow Christ, and do God’s will. It requires a special work of the Holy Spirit in their minds and hearts to bring people to understanding and move them to a willingness to obey the truth. People are not naturally inclined to believe the gospel, because sin blinds them to the truth. Paul says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”42 Minds that have been PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD supernaturally blinded must have their spiritual eyes supernaturally opened. Jesus said, “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.”43 The heart inclines the mind. Paul also says, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”44 Without God’s help, a person can’t understand or respond to the truth. That is why no one can come to Christ through human persuasion alone. After teaching His parable concerning the sower and soils, Jesus explained to His disciples that the seed in the spiritual harvest is “the word of God”45—the message. The Holy Spirit prepares the soil (people’s hearts) to receive the message. The messenger’s role is to enter into the Holy Spirit’s work in people’s lives. As Jesus said to His disciples, “The saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”46 In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes sharing the gospel in terms of planting and watering seed: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.”47 In this statement, God’s work in the spiritual harvest is clearly distinguished from that of His human servants. The time factors Paul describes in this process are different. When Paul and Apollos planted and watered the seed (the message), the tense in the Greek verbs used indicates specific time frames: For a period of time, Paul planted the seed; for another period of time, Apollos watered it. But when Paul describes God’s activity in this process, the verb clearly reveals 145 146 RANDY HURST that God did not merely work after the seed was planted and watered, but all along God was causing the growth. The preacher is “planting” and “watering” the message. God is causing the growth. We are dependent on God to open doors of opportunity,48 to bring understanding to hearers’ minds, and to move their hearts to decision. A revealing example of the necessity of the Holy Spirit’s work in the proclamation of the Word is found in Acts 16. When Paul and his companions went to a riverbank outside Philippi to pray on the Sabbath Day, they sat down and began speaking to a group of women: “A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”49 Paul spoke the message, but the “Lord opened [Lydia’s] heart.” As I walked through the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois, I read quotations by Billy Graham displayed on the walls. One of them caught my attention. It said, “If God should take His hand off me, I would have no more spiritual power. The whole secret of the success of our meetings is spiritual—it is God answering prayer. I cannot take credit for any of it.” Anyone who has been involved in evangelism for any period of time knows that it is a spiritual activity, and human persuasion alone cannot accomplish the task. We can do our part, but unless God works in people’s hearts, we will not see lives changed. Billy Graham knows that and so should every person who answers our Lord’s call to preach the Word. We have the privilege and responsibility of sharing the message, but only God can open a heart. PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD As great a miracle as occurred on the Day of Pentecost, the response of the crowd that resulted in salvation was not because of the sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind, or the tongues like fire resting on them, or the foreign languages being spoken by locals. Rather, it was in response to the Spiritempowered Word that was preached. Attacks against God’s Word come repeatedly. It began in the Garden of Eden when Satan influenced Eve to question the truthfulness of what God had said.50 But God’s Word cannot be destroyed. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”51 As I mentioned earlier, the only symbol on our A/G shield is a Bible. The Waldensian Christians in the 1600s had a shield similar to that of the Assemblies of God. In the center was an anvil representing the Word of God. Around it were broken hammers. Its motto read, “Hammer away, ye hostile hands. Your hammers break. God’s anvil stands!” A friend of mine was studying for his master’s degree in philosophy at Oxford University. One day, during a tutorial in which they discussed Descartes and his use of the ontological argument,52 his professor attacked his Christian faith. His faith was shaken and he prayed to God for help. In desperation, he opened his Bible. His eyes fell on these words: “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.”53 Faith flooded his heart. He realized that unbelieving hearts and minds will always create evidence for their unbelief, but the truth of God’s Word is unshakable. Like the men inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the text, we need the Holy Spirit’s help both to understand 147 148 RANDY HURST God’s Word (illumination) and to communicate its truth with “quickened” or “energized” (what Pentecostals would term “anointed”) application. If a good preacher is in command of the message, a great preacher lets the message be in command of him. Let our testimony be the same as Paul’s: “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”54 In today’s multicultural environment, when absolutes increasingly are denied and tolerance represents a primary virtue, the world needs missionaries bearing God’s truth, which is universal, applying to all cultures because it is above culture, being from heaven. A world in despair needs the “hope of the gospel.”55 God’s Word, which transcends all human philosophy and thought, is the antidote to human sinfulness, rebellion, and lostness. The pulpit has never been the place for lazy laborers. To clearly and effectively preach and teach the Bible as the Word of God requires both discipline and dependence. The discipline of thorough exegesis and hermeneutics is essential. We must also exercise conscious and focused dependence upon the Holy Spirit to illumine our understanding and help us apply the truth. The desperate spiritual needs of people demand preachers who are diligent to preach the Bible as the Word of God, so that it will perform its work.56 PREACHING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD Endnotes Rom. 11:33 (my emphasis). All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted. 2 Acts 20:27, NKJV 3 1 Thess. 2:13 4 Heb. 4:12 5 1 Peter 4:10,11 6 Prov. 29:18, NIV 7 John 14:8,9 8 See John 1:1-14; Phil. 2:6,7 9 Heb. 1:1,2, NIV 10 Acts 20:26,27 (my emphasis) 11 2 Tim. 2:15 12 2 Peter 1:21 13 2 Tim. 3:16 14 My emphasis 15 Heb. 2:1 16 John 16:13 17 John 17:17, KJV 18 1 John 2:20, NIV 19 See John 16:14 20 ”More About Jesus,” Sing His Praise (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1991), 102 21 Acts 4:13 22 Acts 2:37,38 (my emphasis) 23 1 Thess. 1:5 24 1 Peter 3:15,16, NIV 25 2 Tim. 2:15 26 Mark 7:6-9 27 1 Cor. 14:12, KJV, NIV, et al. 28 Mark 1:1 29 Mark 1:24 30 Mark 1:34 31 Mark 2:7 32 Mark 4:41 33 Mark 8:27-29 34 Mark 8:31 35 Mark 9:31, NIV 36 Mark 10:33,34, NIV 37 Mark 1:1 1 149 150 RANDY HURST Mark 8:29 Mark 15:39 40 John 2:10 41 1 Cor. 2:4 42 2 Cor. 4:4 43 John 7:17 (my emphasis) 44 1 Cor. 2:14 45 Luke 8:11 46 John 4:37,38 47 1 Cor. 3:6 48 Col. 4:3 49 Acts 16:14 50 See Gen. 3:1-5. 51 Isa. 40:8 52 Paul Edwards, ed. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (New York: Macmillan & The Free Press, 1967), s.v. “Descartes, René.” 53 Ps. 119:99 54 1 Cor. 2:4,5 55 Col. 1:23 56 1 Thess. 2:13 38 39 5 The Word: The Foundation of All Preaching Charles T. Crabtree Historically, the Pentecostal pulpit has never wavered on the subject of the inerrancy of Holy Scripture. However, in recent years there has been such an erosion of this doctrine in parts of the evangelical world that it is clear no one is immune from drifting. Any book on preaching must emphasize, underscore, and reaffirm the basis for all preaching—an unwavering faith and an undying commitment to the written Word of God. The attack on inerrancy, by its designation and nature, comes first from academia. By its nature, it is an exercise in scholarship; and because of this fact, Pentecostals who are not highly educated are often overwhelmed by a feeling of inferiority in defending this eternal truth. Such a feeling has its roots in the past. Honesty compels Pentecostals to acknowledge the strong bias against higher education that existed in the first half of the twentieth century. The fathers of the modern Pentecostal Movement voiced the inherent dangers formal education brought into the Spirit-filled church but failed to appreciate its blessings and bene- 151 152 CHARLES T. CRABTREE fits. The majority of early leaders were so afraid of what could happen to the highly trained mind they unwittingly missed an opportunity to teach a new generation how to maintain a powerful Pentecostal pulpit while producing a large number of respected scholars. In the second half of the twentieth century, the Pentecostal world in America has opened its doors wider and wider to Christian higher education. Institutions of higher learning have multiplied, and the standard of education for ministry has been generally rising in almost all Pentecostal denominations. The challenge now facing the Pentecostal preacher is how to use scholarship properly within the arena of faith. Will he look to scholars for his authority, or will he use scholarship to articulate more clearly the inerrant, inspired authority of God’s Holy Word? This challenge is a matter of spiritual life and death, for both the minister and those ministered to. No scholar on earth is educated enough to question the divinity of Jesus Christ and the infallibility of Scripture. Doing so automatically disqualifies one as an authority in divine truth. One has moved from a spiritual paradigm to a carnal paradigm. The carnal mind cannot know the things of God. The source of a carnal mind is rebellion against divine truth and authority. Scholars who question the incarnate Word of God are like students in math who decide the subject is not real and its teacher merely builds lessons on false assumptions. If such a group of students persisted, several negative things would happen. Soon after dismissing math as a true science, they would begin to think it was not worth their time to learn it. Other math students would call them fools, and mathematicians would call them ignorant. Good students of math have questions about math, THE WORD: THE FOUNDATION OF ALL PREACHING but they do not question the reality and value of math. In the same way, a good Bible scholar will have questions about the incarnate and written Word but will never question its reality or veracity. The Word of God sits in judgment on the student, not the other way around. THE SETTLED WORD Pentecostal preachers need never be ashamed of the Word they declare because it is not in flux; it is settled. Where it may be in question is inconsequential. Long before worlds were formed, churches built, or universities and seminaries founded, the Word of God was established as the ultimate revelation of eternal, absolute truth. Pentecostals have no problem with higher education until it discounts revelation by the Spirit of God. Science by itself is limited in understanding because all it can observe is present reality and physical processes. The revelation of the Word of God, both incarnate and written, comes first; and then comes science, higher education, and criticism. If a person is going to preach in the twenty-first century, it is critical to know absolute truth and how it is received. That person had better know for sure the source of spiritual comprehension. That person had better know for sure that a man or woman cannot know God through human wisdom and understanding. That person had better know for sure the Word of God is to be declared, not questioned. The certainty of this position rests upon unshakeable evidence. “All scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). It does not say “Most” scripture or “Some” scripture or even “All scripture is God-breathed ‘but’…” The state- 153 154 CHARLES T. CRABTREE ment is unqualified; it is total and conclusive. Otherwise, the Scripture would not be authoritative; at any given time it would be subject to the best opinion. Scripture would not be “settled” because nothing can be settled in the world of changing human opinion. Each opinion could be successively broken by further study and argument. The preacher of God’s Word is not doomed to sorting out what part of the Bible is inspired. He has been given the canon of Scripture, which is not composed of just a number of disconnected books but a cohesive revelation of divine quality whose source is recognized as that which could only be “God-breathed.” THE INCARNATE WORD Some argue the Bible cannot be the Word of God because of human instrumentality. Such an argument fails to take into account the incarnate Word used a human vessel yet remained divine, without sin or error. Furthermore, if human fallibility rules on infallible Scripture, then it follows by simple logic we cannot have any Scripture that is infallible and inerrant. In Milan, Italy, stands one of the most breathtaking cathedrals in the world. One of the remarkable facts about it is that it took five centuries to complete— through war, famine, and the death of many workers. Yet the cathedral is obviously the design of one mind because of its symmetry and perfection. The designer was the architect—long dead; nevertheless, workers for centuries stayed true to his “inspired” drawings. The Bible was written by forty writers over hundreds of years, but the writers were only instruments in the hand of a single Architect—still alive—who breathed THE WORD: THE FOUNDATION OF ALL PREACHING His Word through them and created divine perfection. In his book The Infallible Word John Murray makes a powerful observation about Paul’s claim in 2 Timothy 3:16: Paul was, of course, well aware God used human instruments in giving us these Scriptures. In his epistles he makes repeated allusion to the human authors of the sacred books. But the recognition of human instrumentality did not in the least inhibit Paul from making the stupendous affirmation that all scripture of God is God-breathed, which means the Scripture is of divine origin and authorship and therefore of divine character and authority (The Presbyterian Guardian Publishing Corp., Philadelphia, 1946, p. 30). Paul’s claim is nothing less than the high doctrine of plenary inspiration, for Paul is not speaking of an inbreathing into the writer of the Holy Scripture by God nor even into Holy Scripture itself. The term Paul uses represents the concept of “breathing out,” rather than that of “breathing in” and is far removed from the notion a human product or witness is so interpenetrated with truth or influence that it becomes the Word of God. The whole emphasis is upon the fact all Scripture proceeds from God and is therefore invested with divinity that makes it as authoritative and efficient as a word orally spoken by God directly to us. When it comes to the Word of God, Pentecostal preachers should be convinced in their own minds; that is the area of truth in which God has especially equipped them and ordained them to study, “correctly handle” (2 Timothy 2:15), and declare. Therefore, Pentecostal preachers should embrace constant learning and take advantage of every opportunity to better themselves through higher education. 155 156 CHARLES T. CRABTREE THE WRITTEN WORD The written Word comes to us in the form of language. It follows that the person who wrote it intends for someone to read it. That takes literacy, a foundational aspect of education. Furthermore, if the writer authorizes another to teach the writing, then the writer must naturally desire that those who so teach understand it. That means the teacher has a responsibility to be faithful not only to what the writer wrote but also to what the writer means. Spirit-filled scholars love God’s Word so much they want not only to study texts but also to understand contexts. They want to study every uncial, phrase, sentence, and paragraph. They want to compare as many ancient manuscripts in the original languages as possible. They study customs, demographics, and archeology. Every preacher of God’s Word needs to take advantage of the rich resources and products of good scholarship, not for the purpose of questioning God’s Word but to be more effective in clarifying what God’s Word says. Not only should preachers have a trained mind for God to use, but they should also be trained communicators in order to proclaim God’s Word more effectively to the culture and the contemporary church; thus, the need for hermeneutics, homiletics, and public speaking. Any preacher who does not want to become more proficient, to have greater clarity, in declaring the Word stands under self-indictment. Some of the hue and cry against Christian higher education is not motivated by a legitimate fear of undermining inerrancy but an antipathy to disciplined study. THE WORD: THE FOUNDATION OF ALL PREACHING MISUSING FAITH In some cases, higher education has led to heresy. But a great danger also lies in using faith as a substitute for scholarship. The same Bible that contains “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit’” (Zechariah 4:6) also contains “Study to show thyself approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV) and “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). Pentecostals should not fear scholarship in and of itself any more than they should fear encouraging the gifts of the Spirit. But like all good things, higher education and criticism can be and have been misused. It is a bit amusing to hear Pentecostals admonish the critics of speaking with tongues not to “throw out the baby with the bathwater” and then turn do that very thing with higher education. This does not mean Pentecostals should be indifferent to error in affirming scholarship or unmindful higher education tends to build pride instead of humility. Education can lead to a questioning of God rather than a questing for God; it can move us from “God has said” to “Has God said?” And if inerrancy and inspiration can be questioned, then the Scriptures are not really settled in heaven but actually subject to the educated guesses of earth. There is no question scholars such as Renan, Strauss, and Barth had great minds and were very educated. However, they made the fatal error of sitting in judgment on the Scriptures, misusing higher criticism to support their theories instead of seeking to bring greater clarity to, and building faith in, the veracity of God’s Word. For instance, Karl Barth could not understand the inspiration of Scripture by reason and logic, so he decided to make biblical inspiration conditional 157 158 CHARLES T. CRABTREE and subjective as opposed to authoritative and objective. The result of his struggle is a theory of logic that happens to be untrue. In his opinion, the Bible could speak an inspired word and become the Word of God as the medium of truth, but the Scripture is not inherently inspired. Barth did not accept God’s Word, so he preached his own error. If the Word of God can only be such for a particular person at a particular time, then the character of Scripture is dependent upon the circumstances of mind and environment. The results are disastrous. THE UNDERLYING BATTLE: FAITH VS. REASON The underlying battle waged against inspiration and inerrancy is not higher education against the uneducated but the tension between faith and reason. The ultimate authority in the mind of a Pentecostal preacher is one’s faith in the Word of God, accepting the fact that there will always be unresolved mysteries in matters of faith. The proud heart will not accept God as the ultimate authority, so God himself is a mystery; consequently His words and works remain unknowable, unable to be understood. The darkened mind is at enmity with the revelation of God. When people do not accept authority, they do everything in their power to discredit and question it. A rebellious child will go to great lengths in resisting a parent’s word, using its childish mind to point out perceived unfairness. Adults do the same with God; however, those who do not want to retain God in their knowledge may find themselves given over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28). THE WORD: THE FOUNDATION OF ALL PREACHING The true scholar does not seek to prove the Bible wrong by studying perceived inconsistencies and problems. Rather, the true scholar seeks to understand the Scripture more clearly through correctly handling it, examining manuscripts, understanding custom, and appreciating archeology. In other words, the true scholar believes the limitation resides in finite minds and perceptions, not the text. No one knows why the original autographs of Holy Scripture were not protected and retained. Perhaps in God’s wisdom He knew the Church would make them objects of worship, leading to superstitious veneration. What God did protect was the perfection of His text. One of the greatest miracles in history is the way God preserved His Word. He did not leave transference to chance. In spite of all the translations from one language to another, in spite of the various theories of translation, scholarly translations of the Scripture are amazingly consistent. Variant readings account for a very small percentage of the Scripture and in that very small percentage, not one major doctrine is negated or seriously affected. THE ISSUE OF TRANSLATION In recent years, a multitude of Bible translations have come to the church. Great controversy has surrounded the shift away from the King James Version as the most popular text. Pentecostal preachers can take comfort in the fact that major translations (i.e., those done with a large number of recognized scholars carefully studying the most newly discovered ancient texts along with the rich depository of manuscripts gathered through centuries) have in no way weakened the great doctrines. 159 160 CHARLES T. CRABTREE To the contrary, they confirm the truth with greater clarity for the modern believer. It would be incongruous to think God, who superintended the writing of Scripture through the Holy Spirit, would allow any generation to be robbed of saving truth. His Word is a living Word. It does not change in its truth. Translations are allowed by God so the original message will not be impeded by language as the Holy Spirit anoints God’s revelation. If modern translations were not true to the text of the original languages or if translators were evil, then new Bibles would strip Christ of His divinity, discount the blood, remove the miracles, and mock heaven and hell, which is not the case in any major translation recognized in evangelical circles. Of course, translators are not perfect people. The fact of imperfect human instrumentality is a greater proof the Bible is not a product of the human mind but of the Spirit of truth Himself; and in spite of changing linguistic vehicles, not one jot or tittle of God’s Truth has changed on its journey to the pulpit of the modern preacher. The Bible was written to make sense to any audience in any age. Good textual criticism is nothing more than a careful study and comparison of manuscripts. Pentecostals should never despise their continual discipline in scholarship, because the more the Word of God is studied, the more it confirms truth. “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8). It is a thrill to observe nonPentecostal translators who are committed to accuracy, reaffirming in every translation the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, all the gifts of the Spirit, and the validity of the Pentecostal experience. THE WORD: THE FOUNDATION OF ALL PREACHING THE CONFIRMATION OF SCRIPTURE The Pentecostal preacher can expound the Scriptures as the Word of God because the Lord of the Church Himself confirmed them in His ministry while on the earth. When confronting the devil, He pled the ultimate authority: “It is written.” End of argument. He proved the Sadducees in error and then gave the reason for their problem: “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matt 22:29, NIV). And if He had never said anything about the Word except His declaration in Luke 21:33, it would be enough to maintain faith in the Scriptures: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Hundreds of references in the Bible assure us we are in possession of the inerrant, inspired Word of God. The New Testament church was built upon the Word. The apostles declared the incarnate Word and appealed to the written Word as their authority. Some complain the Bible cannot prove itself by itself, using the argument you cannot accept the validity of an author based upon His own words; but in the case of the Bible, He is the only one who can validate what is inspired and infallible. In other words, God alone is the adequate witness to Himself and His Word. THE WITNESS OF CONVERSION Not only does God validate His Word by the witness of Christ and the internal witness of Scriptures themselves, but He also does so through the witness of changed lives: those who have read and believed the Word. No other book in the world can boast such results. The Complete Works of Shakespeare are recog- 161 162 CHARLES T. CRABTREE nized as one of the greatest examples of English literature, but all the reading and studying of Shakespeare cannot bring a sense of soul-cleansing and healing like the Bible does. The preacher must never neglect the study of God’s Word by replacing it with other great writings, even books based upon the Scriptures. Because the Scriptures are inspired and God-breathed, they alone can satisfy the needs of the soul and spirit. They are alive with divine inspiration. In the classic face-off between Jesus and the devil in the wilderness, the Son of God as the Son of Man revealed the vital relationship between human beings and God’s Word. Satan began his tempting of Christ with a challenge to use miracle power to meet the necessities of physical life. The devil knew the Lord had been fasting for forty days and nights and had to be famished. “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (Matthew 4:3). Satan tempts every preacher with similar words. “If you are full of God and called of God, then use your faith to meet the necessities of physical life and gain material possessions.” Christ replied with a revelation far exceeding any insight of modern psychology: “Man [made in the image of God] does not live on bread [physical nourishment] alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Pentecostal preachers need to understand that when they enter the pulpit filled with the Spirit—Word of God in hand and its message in their hearts—they are the ordained authority of God to speak life into the soul and spirit of their listeners. What a responsibility! What a privilege! Paul’s admonition to Timothy to “preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2) was not spoken neutrally, matter-of- THE WORD: THE FOUNDATION OF ALL PREACHING factly. Paul had been the religious fanatic who ministered death before he met Christ; out of his Damascus experience came an apostle who ministered life. The hallmark of his ministry thereafter was Christ crucified and risen, based upon fulfillment of the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3). So when Paul commanded Timothy what to preach, he was telling his “son in the gospel” to minister life, not death, by preaching the authoritative, life-giving Word of God. THE QUESTION OF RELEVANCY One of the buzzwords in the contemporary church is “relevant.” Is the church relevant? Is the Bible relevant? Is the pulpit relevant? The answer to that question is conditional. The church, the Bible, and the pulpit are relevant only if they are ministering spiritual life through the power of the Spirit. They are relevant only if they are fulfilling their divine purpose. Is the church relevant? If it is seeking to minister primarily to the physical and psychological needs of its members, it is not relevant in the eyes of God. If its first concern is to attract young people to the physical church, prepare people to be successful in the world, and minister to the social and material needs of the community, it may be relevant to people but not to God. Is the Bible relevant? If it is used as a textbook of tradition, a resource of wise sayings, a reinforcement for prejudice, a proof text for legalism, or a reading program, it is not relevant. As a matter of fact, it can be a tool for spiritual death rather than life. Is the pulpit relevant? If it uses the Bible simply to find a text to support a sermon outline or speaks only to popular themes and avoids “all the counsel of God” (Acts 163 164 CHARLES T. CRABTREE 20:27, KJV), if it is used as a hobbyhorse for an angry preacher, if it is seeking to make sinners and carnal Christians feel comfortable in the light of eternity—then the pulpit may be relevant to people but not to God. The preacher’s relevance, authority, purpose, and power are all kingdom based. In other words, his relevance is to be what is relevant to Christ. His authority is not “what people think” but “what the Lord says.” His purpose is to please God first, the people second— not the other way around. His power is in the Holy Spirit, not church politics or human ability. The living Word of God is always relevant to men and women constitutionally. One of the most poignant longings of the human heart is for authoritative guidance. Proof of this is seen by the ever-increasing popularity of the occult. Nearly every secular newspaper and magazine offers horoscopes. Books and charts on astrology are being written and promoted by a growing number of fortune-tellers, warlocks, and witches. However, the preacher has a “more sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV), which will hold up under scrutiny and lead men and women to the saving truth of Christ. The Bible contains all the truth needed to set forth the way of salvation and Christian growth and development. It is a textbook on eternal truth but uses knowledge to underscore, illustrate, and apply divine truth for human understanding. The Bible is not a textbook on science, history, psychology, or any other educational discipline, but everything it says about these subjects is true. The preacher must not fall into the trap of trying to defend the faith by spending an inordinate amount of time studying false religions and attacking human theories. T. F. Zimmerman, the former general superin- THE WORD: THE FOUNDATION OF ALL PREACHING tendent of the Assemblies of God, loved to tell about a banker from the Midwest who was invited to the U. S. Mint for a weeklong seminar on how to detect counterfeit money. Upon his return, he told his friends he had never studied harder with such intensity for a week. However, they never studied one piece of counterfeit money. After a week of living with and studying the genuine, they did not need to do so. They knew the real so well the false could not deceive them. LIFELONG LEARNING Preachers must be lifelong students of the Word of God for at least two reasons. First, to gain approval from God, because God is serious about the integrity of His Word. He does not want His ministers misrepresenting or mishandling the truth of the Scriptures. Second, to avoid losing integrity as interpreters of the Word. Ministers who are not serious students of the Bible eventually bring shame to themselves and a reproach to their calling. The goal of biblical study is to bring the truth of God to the human race. That is accomplished by “accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The proper use of hermeneutics is of great value in guarding against improper interpretation, especially in application. For instance, a good hermeneutic will help the preacher divide illustrative truth from absolute truth. It is quite clear the absolute truth of spiritual humility is illustrated by washing feet. Jesus was teaching His disciples they were not above menial tasks. Some have focused on the statement “You also should wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14) as not only the truth being set forth by Jesus but also an ordinance to be practiced 165 166 CHARLES T. CRABTREE by the church. The greater application, however, was love, not law. The disciples of that day of open sandals and dusty feet were to routinely wash feet. In our day, the illustration itself does not apply; it is not a custom of hospitality. However, having the loving and humble heart of a servant remains as the absolute truth, in our day translating perhaps into a willingness to cut the grass, serve tables, pick up people for church, straighten up the sanctuary after communion, and so forth. In the culture where Paul was ministering, braided hair on women was a symbol of great pride; it was often used by the wealthy to display jewels and expensive ornaments. In writing Timothy, Paul taught against ostentatious display (1 Timothy 2:9). Today, however, the illustration referring to braided hair makes very little sense. If Paul were alive today, he would still preach the truth of modesty and temperance but would use other illustrations. The same would hold true regarding women keeping silence in the church. We know from correctly handling the Word of truth women were filled with the Spirit, prophesied, and taught. Paul was using an illustrative truth or circumstance to teach order and respect in corporate worship. Much care must be taken under the supervision of the Holy Spirit by any proclaimer of the Word of God. It is the greatest of all responsibilities to be “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1, KJV); let us not be guilty of preaching “self” but faithfully preach Christ and His Word. THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD Thank God, the preacher is not without divine help in discharging the grave responsibility of proclaiming THE WORD: THE FOUNDATION OF ALL PREACHING the gospel. The reign of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of God’s Word are providentially linked in order to reveal, illuminate, and apply the Word through God’s called ones. By being open to the Spirit’s anointing upon their minds and hearts, Pentecostal preachers can be greatly benefited in both study and proclamation. The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead quickens our mortal bodies, and the same Spirit who breathed inspiration and divine truth through the writers of the Word is available to reveal to the preacher what God is saying in and through His Scriptures. Pentecostals are not exempt from error and should be especially careful not to stray from the Word of God. For example, if left unchecked and not brought under the authority of the Word of God, vocal gifts can open the door to a false interpretation of truth. For some time, the charismatic/Pentecostal world has used the term “rhema word.” In the purest sense, the Holy Scripture is the rhema word, but can God and does God give the church an inspired Word not in the language of the Bible? Certainly! But in its meaning and purpose that Word is subject to the inerrant Word. The danger comes in elevating a rhema word to the level of Scripture. Be assured, all the dreams, visions, rhema words, and prophetic utterances will never add to or change the Word of God. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, they will simply bring revelational truth to what is written. The Word of the Lord is to be proclaimed by men and women ordained by God and filled with the Holy Spirit. The results of being faithful to that Word fill many books with glorious testimonies in the library of Pentecost. May we again believe that as the Word is 167 168 CHARLES T. CRABTREE preached, wonderful signs and wonders will follow. May again the Pentecostal pulpit believe sin’s power is broken by the truth of salvation even as the Word is declared. May again the Pentecostal pulpit believe the Lord will send His Word in healing as the preacher delivers the good news in the authority of Jesus’ name and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This chapter was originally published in Pentecostal Preaching by Charles T. Crabtree and is used by permission. 6 The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy NOTE: This was the statement that launched the International Congress on Biblical Inerrancy, an interdenominational joint effort by hundreds of evangelical scholars and leaders to defend biblical inerrancy against the trend toward liberal and neo-orthodox conceptions of Scripture. The Statement was produced at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago in the fall of 1978, during an international summit conference of concerned evangelical leaders. It was signed by nearly 300 noted evangelical scholars, including [James Montgomery] Boice, Norman L. Geisler, John Gerstner, Carl F. H. Henry, Kenneth Kantzer, Harold Lindsell, John Warwick Montgomery, Roger Nicole, J. I. Packer, Robert Preus, Earl Radmacher, Francis Schaeffer, R. C. Sproul, and John Wenham. The ICBI disbanded in 1988, its work complete. The congress ultimately produced three major statements: this one on biblical inerrancy in 1978, one on biblical hermeneutics in 1982, and one on biblical application in 1986. A published copy of the statement may be found in Carl F. H. Henry in God, Revelation and Authority, vol. 169 170 THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY 4 )Wheaton, Ill., Crossway Books, 1999), on pp. 211-219. PREFACE The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian Church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God’s written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority. The following Statement affirms this inerrancy of Scripture afresh, making clear our understanding of it and warning against its denial. We are persuaded that to deny it is to set aside the witness of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit and to refuse that submission to the claims of God’s own Word that marks true Christian faith. We see it as our timely duty to make this affirmation in the face of current lapses from the truth of inerrancy among our fellow Christians and misunderstanding of this doctrine in the world at large. This Statement consists of three parts: a Summary Statement, Articles of Affirmation and Denial, and an accompanying Exposition. It has been prepared in the course of a three-day consultation in Chicago. Those who have signed the Summary Statement and the Articles wish to affirm their own conviction as to the inerrancy of Scripture and to encourage and challenge one another and all Christians to growing appreciation and understanding of this doctrine. We acknowledge the limitations of a document prepared in a brief, intensive conference and do not propose that this Statement THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY be given creedal weight. Yet we rejoice in the deepening of our own convictions through our discussions together, and we pray that the Statement we have signed may be used to the glory of our God toward a new reformation of the Church in its faith, life, and mission. We offer this Statement in a spirit, not of contention, but of humility and love, which we propose by God’s grace to maintain in any future dialogue arising out of what we have said. We gladly acknowledge that many who deny the inerrancy of Scripture do not display the consequences of this denial in the rest of their belief and behavior, and we are conscious that we who confess this doctrine often deny it in life by failing to bring our thoughts and deeds, our traditions and habits, into true subjection to the divine Word. We invite response to this Statement from any who see reason to amend its affirmations about Scripture by the light of Scripture itself, under whose infallible authority we stand as we speak. We claim no personal infallibility for the witness we bear, and for any help that enables us to strengthen this testimony to God’s Word we shall be grateful. I. SUMMARY STATEMENT 1. God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God’s witness to Himself. 2. Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: It is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it 171 172 THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY affirms; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises. 3. The Holy Spirit, Scripture’s divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning. 4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives. 5. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church. II. ARTICLES OF AFFIRMATION AND DENIAL Article I. We affirm that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative Word of God. We deny that the Scriptures receive their authority from the Church, tradition, or any other human source. Article II. We affirm that the Scriptures are the supreme written norm by which God binds the conscience, and that the authority of the Church is subordinate to that of Scripture. We deny that church creeds, councils, or declarations have authority greater than or equal to the authority of the Bible. THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY Article III. We affirm that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God. We deny that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation, or only becomes revelation in encounter, or depends on the responses of men for its validity. Article IV. We affirm that God who made mankind in His image has used language as a means of revelation. We deny that human language is so limited by our creatureliness that it is rendered inadequate as a vehicle for divine revelation. We further deny that the corruption of human culture and language through sin has thwarted God’s work of inspiration. Article V. We affirm that God’s revelation in the Holy Scriptures was progressive. We deny that later revelation, which may fulfill earlier revelation, ever corrects or contradicts it. We further deny that any normative revelation has been given since the completion of the New Testament writings. Article VI. We affirm that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration. We deny that the inspiration of Scripture can rightly be affirmed of the whole without the parts, or of some parts but not the whole. Article VII. We affirm that inspiration was the work in which 173 174 THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY God by His Spirit, through human writers, gave us His Word. The origin of Scripture is divine. The mode of divine inspiration remains largely a mystery to us. We deny that inspiration can be reduced to human insight, or to heightened states of consciousness of any kind. Article VIII. We affirm that God in His work of inspiration utilized the distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers whom He had chosen and prepared. We deny that God, in causing these writers to use the very words that He chose, overrode their personalities. Article IX. We affirm that inspiration, though not conferring omniscience, guaranteed true and trustworthy utterance on all matters of which the Biblical authors were moved to speak and write. We deny that the finitude or falseness of these writers, by necessity or otherwise, introduced distortion or falsehood into God’s Word. Article X. We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further affirm that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the original. We deny that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs. We further deny that this absence renders the assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant. THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY Article XI. We affirm that Scripture, having been given by divine inspiration, is infallible, so that, far from misleading us, it is true and reliable in all the matters it addresses. We deny that it is possible for the Bible to be at the same time infallible and errant in its assertions. Infallibility and inerrancy may be distinguished but not separated. Article XII. We affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit. We deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood. Article XIII. We affirm the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture. We deny that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose. We further deny that inerrancy is negated by Biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern technical precision, irregularities of grammar or spelling, observational descriptions of nature, the reporting of falsehoods, the use of hyperbole and round numbers, the topical arrangement of metrical, variant selections of material in parallel accounts, or the use of free citations. Article XIV. We affirm the unity and internal consistency of Scripture. 175 176 THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY We deny that alleged errors and discrepancies that have not yet been resolved violate the truth claims of the Bible. Article XV. We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy is grounded in the teaching of the Bible about inspiration. We deny that Jesus’ teaching about Scripture may be dismissed by appeals to accommodation or to any natural limitation of His humanity. Article XVI. We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy has been integral to the Church’s faith throughout its history. We deny that inerrancy is a doctrine invented by scholastic Protestantism, or is a reactionary position postulated in response to negative higher criticism. Article XVII. We affirm that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring believers of the truthfulness of God’s written Word. We deny that this witness of the Holy Spirit operates in isolation from or against Scripture. Article XVIII. We affirm that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture. We deny the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claims of authorship. THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY Article XIX. We affirm that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to increasing conformity to the image of Christ. We deny that such confession is necessary for salvation. However, we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and to the Church. III. EXPOSITION Our understanding of the doctrine of inerrancy must be set in the context of the broader teachings of Scripture concerning itself. This exposition gives an account of the outline of doctrine from which our Summary Statement and Articles are drawn. A. Creation, Revelation and Inspiration The God, who formed all things by his creative utterances and governs all things by His Word of decree, made mankind in His own image for a life of communion with Himself, on the model of the eternal fellowship of loving communication within the Godhead. As God’s image-bearer, man was to hear God’s Word addressed to him and to respond in the joy of adoring obedience. Over and above God’s self-disclosure in the created order and the sequence of events within it, human beings from Adam on have received verbal messages from Him, either directly, as stated in Scripture, or indirectly in the form of part or all of Scripture itself. When Adam fell, the Creator did not abandon mankind to final judgement, but promised salvation and 177 178 THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY began to reveal Himself as Redeemer in a sequence of historical events centering on Abraham’s family and culminating in the life, death, resurrection, present heavenly ministry, and promised return of Jesus Christ. Within this frame God has from time to time spoken specific words of judgement and mercy, promise and command, to sinful human beings, so drawing them into a covenant relation of mutual commitment between Him and them in which He blesses them with gifts of grace and they bless Him in responsive adoration. Moses, whom God used as mediator to carry his words to His people at the time of the exodus, stands at the head of a long line of prophets in whose mouths and writings God put His words for delivery to Israel. God’s purpose in this succession of messages was to maintain His covenant by causing His people to know His name—that is, His nature—and His will both of precept and purpose in the present and for the future. This line of prophetic spokesmen from God came to completion in Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Word, who was Himself a prophet—more than a prophet, but not less—and in the apostles and prophets of the first Christian generation. When God’s final and climactic message, His word to the world concerning Jesus Christ, had been spoken and elucidated by those in the apostolic circle, the sequence of revealed messages ceased. Henceforth the Church was to live and know God by what He had already said, and said for all time. At Sinai God wrote the terms of His covenant on tablets of stone as His enduring witness and for lasting accessibility, and throughout the period of prophetic and apostolic revelation He prompted men to write the messages given to and through them, along with celebratory records of His dealings with His people, plus moral reflections on covenant life and forms of praise and prayer for THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY covenant mercy. The theological reality of inspiration in the producing of Biblical documents corresponds to that of spoken prophecies: Although the human writers’ personalities were expressed in what they wrote, the words were divinely constituted. Thus what Scripture says, God says; its authority is His authority, for He is its ultimate Author, having given it through the minds and words of chosen and prepared men who in freedom and faithfulness “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (1 Pet 1:21). Holy Scripture must be acknowledged as the Word of God by virtue of its divine origin. B. Authority: Christ and the Bible Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is the Word made flesh, our Prophet, Priest and King, is the ultimate Mediator of God’s communication to man, as He is of all God’s gifts of grace. The revelation He gave was more than verbal; He revealed the Father by His presence and His deeds as well. Yet His words were crucially important; for He was God, He spoke from the Father, and His words will judge all men at the last day. As the prophesied Messiah, Jesus Christ is the central theme of Scripture. The Old Testament looked ahead to Him; the New Testament looks back to His first coming and on to His second. Canonical Scripture is the divinely inspired and therefore normative witness to Christ. No hermeneutic, therefore, of which the historical Christ is not the focal point is acceptable. Holy Scripture must be treated as what it essentially is—the witness of the Father to the incarnate Son. It appears that the Old Testament canon had been fixed by the time of Jesus. The New Testament canon is likewise now closed, inasmuch as no new apostolic witness to the historical Christ can now be borne. No new 179 180 THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY revelation (as distinct from Spirit-given understanding of existing revelation) will be given until Christ comes again. The canon was created in principle by divine inspiration. The Church’s part was to discern the canon that God had created, not to devise one of its own. The word ‘canon’, signifying a rule or standard, is a pointer to authority, which means the right to rule and control. Authority in Christianity belongs to God in His revelation, which means, on the one hand, Jesus Christ, the living Word, and, on the other hand, Holy Scripture, the written Word. But the authority of Christ and that of Scripture are one. As our Prophet, Christ testified that Scripture cannot be broken. As our Priest and King, He devoted His earthly life to fulfilling the law and the prophets, even dying in obedience to the words of messianic prophecy. Thus as He saw Scripture attesting Him and His authority, so by His own submission to Scripture He attested its authority. As He bowed to His Father’s instruction given in His Bible (our Old Testament), so He requires His disciples to do—not, however, in isolation but in conjunction with the apostolic witness to Himself that He undertook to inspire by his gift of the Holy Spirit. So Christians show themselves faithful servants of their Lord by bowing to the divine instruction given in the prophetic and apostolic writings that together make up our Bible. By authenticating each other’s authority, Christ and Scripture coalesce into a single fount of authority. The Biblically-interpreted Christ and the Christ-centered, Christ-proclaiming Bible are from this standpoint one. As from the fact of inspiration we infer that what Scripture says, God says, so from the revealed relation between Jesus Christ and Scripture we may equally declare that what Scripture says, Christ says. THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY C. Infallibility, Inerrancy, Interpretation Holy Scripture, as the inspired Word of God witnessing authoritatively to Jesus Christ, may properly be called ‘infallible’ and ‘inerrant.’ These negative terms have a special value, for they explicitly safeguard crucial positive truths. ‘Infallible’ signifies the quality of neither misleading nor being misled and so safeguards in categorical terms the truth that Holy Scripture is a sure, safe, and reliable rule and guide in all matters. Similarly, ‘inerrant’ signifies the quality of being free from all falsehood or mistake and so safeguards the truth that Holy Scripture is entirely true and trustworthy in all its assertions. We affirm that canonical Scripture should always be interpreted on the basis that it is infallible and inerrant. However, in determining what the God-taught writer is asserting in each passage, we must pay the most careful attention to its claims and character as a human production. In inspiration, God utilized the culture and conventions of his penman’s milieu, a milieu that God controls in His sovereign providence; it is misinterpretation to imagine otherwise. So history must be treated as history, poetry as poetry, hyperbole and metaphor as hyperbole and metaphor, generalization and approximation as what they are, and so forth. Differences between literary conventions in Bible times and in ours must also be observed: Since, for instance, nonchronological narration and imprecise citation were conventional and acceptable and violated no expectations in those days, we must not regard these things as faults when we find them in Bible writers. When total precision of a particu- 181 182 THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY lar kind was not expected nor aimed at, it is no error not to have achieved it. Scripture is inerrant, not in the sense of being absolutely precise by modern standards, but in the sense of making good its claims and achieving that measure of focused truth at which its authors aimed. The truthfulness of Scripture is not negated by the appearance in it of irregularities of grammar or spelling, phenomenal descriptions of nature, reports of false statements (for example, the lies of Satan), or seeming discrepancies between one passage and another. It is not right to set the so-called phenomena of Scripture against the teaching of Scripture about itself. Apparent inconsistencies should not be ignored. Solution of them, where this can be convincingly achieved, will encourage our faith, and where for the present no convincing solution is at hand we shall significantly honor God by trusting His assurance that His Word is true, despite these appearances, and by maintaining our confidence that one day they will be seen to have been illusions. Inasmuch as all Scripture is the product of a single divine mind, interpretation must stay within the bounds of the analogy of Scripture and eschew hypotheses that would correct one Biblical passage by another, whether in the name of progressive revelation or of the imperfect enlightenment of the inspired writer’s mind. Although Holy Scripture is nowhere culture-bound in the sense that its teaching lacks universal validity, it is sometimes culturally conditioned by the customs and conventional views of a particular period, so that the application of its principles today calls for a different sort of action. THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY D. Skepticism and Criticism Since the Renaissance, and more particularly since the Enlightenment, world views have been developed that involve skepticism about basic Christian tenets. Such are the agnosticism that denies that God is knowable, the rationalism that denies that He is incomprehensible, the idealism that denies that He is transcendent, and the existentialism that denies rationality in His relationships with us. When these un- and anti-Biblical principles seep into men’s theologies at presuppositional level, as today they frequently do, faithful interpretation of Holy Scripture becomes impossible. E. Transmission and Translation Since God has nowhere promised an inerrant transmission of Scripture, it is necessary to affirm that only the autographic text of the original documents was inspired and to maintain the need of textual criticism as a means of detecting any slips that may have crept into the text in the course of its transmission. The verdict of this science, however, is that the Hebrew and Greek text appears to be amazingly well preserved, so that we are amply justified in affirming, with the Westminster Confession, a singular providence of God in this matter and in declaring that the authority of Scripture is in no way jeopardized by the fact that the copies we possess are not entirely error-free. Similarly, no translation is or can be perfect, and all translations are an additional step away from the autograph. Yet the verdict of linguistic science is that English-speaking Christians, at least, are exceedingly well served in these days with a host of excellent translations and have no cause for hesitating to conclude that the true Word of God is within their reach. Indeed, 183 184 THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY in view of the frequent repetition in Scripture of the main matters with which it deals and also of the Holy Spirit’s constant witness to and through the Word, no serious translation of Holy Scripture will so destroy its meaning as to render it unable to make its reader “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). F. Inerrancy and Authority In our affirmation of the authority of Scripture as involving its total truth, we are consciously standing with Christ and His apostles, indeed with the whole Bible and with the main stream of Church history from the first days until very recently. We are concerned at the casual, inadvertent, and seemingly thoughtless way in which a belief of such far-reaching importance has been given up by so many in our day. We are conscious too that great and grave confusion results from ceasing to maintain the total truth of the Bible whose authority one professes to acknowledge. The result of taking this step is that the Bible that God gave loses its authority, and what has authority instead is a Bible reduced in content according to the demands of one’s critical reasoning and in principle reducible still further once one has started. This means that at bottom independent reason now has authority, as opposed to Scriptural teaching. If this is not seen and if for the time being basic evangelical doctrines are still held, persons denying the full truth of Scripture may claim an evangelical identity while methodologically they have moved away from the evangelical principle of knowledge to an unstable subjectivism, and will find it hard not to move further. We affirm that what Scripture says, God says. May He be glorified. Amen and Amen.