God's Sufficient Word.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Theme

Word of the Living God.

This week’s lessons teach us how we know that the Bible is God’s revelation to man.

Lesson

In several places where the New Testament quotes a passage from the Old Testament, it says that God said this or that, but when you look at the actual verses in the Old Testament, you find that it’s not actually God speaking, but it’s men speaking. This is possible only if we understand that the biblical writers were so convinced that the words of Scripture were the words of God, they could substitute the words Scripture and God interchangeably.

Let’s look at some examples that make that clear. Matthew 19, verses 4 and 5, says, " ‘Haven’t you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator "made them male and female," and said, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh"?’ " Or again, in Hebrews 3:7: "So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice….’ " And then in Hebrews 1:6-7: "And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’ In speaking of the angels he says, ‘He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.’ But about the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever.’ "

Each one of those verses refers to the quotation as if God himself had said it. But when you turn to the Old Testament from which the quotes were taken, you find that it’s not God who actually speaks the words in the historical circumstance, but rather it’s men or women. The only way in which it’s possible for the New Testament writers to have spoken of the Old Testament text in that way is if the writers of the New Testament were so united in their thinking that God and the Scriptures are the same, that they can say that Scripture says something when they really mean that God says it. Or they can say God says it when in point of fact men have been recorded as saying something in the Scriptures. So, you see, what they are saying in their own way is the point we’ve made earlier–namely that the Scriptures in all they contain are the result of the breathing out of God.

Now a third point: 2 Peter 1:21 says, "For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

We recognize as we read this verse that it’s certainly true that men spoke. In one sense therefore the Scriptures are the products of human beings. They bear the traits of the human authors. They differ in literary character, vocabulary, and many other things. Indeed, they’re even written in different languages depending upon the language of the human author.

But while Peter recognizes this truth, he nevertheless goes on to say that these men spoke not of themselves but rather as they were moved by God’s Spirit. The word moved itself is very interesting. It’s the same word that you find in the second chapter of Acts. The Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost and is described as the rushing of a mighty wind. The word rushing is the same word that you find translated here as moved. Again, in Acts 27, Paul is on his way to Rome when his ship is storm-tossed and about to be shipwrecked. Unable to steer the ship, the sailors lower the sails and then, as Luke tells us, they were driven by the wind. This word driven is the same word again. It means in the context of 1 Peter that the men who wrote the Word of God were writing as men in their own vocabulary. They did not lose their human traits any more than the ship ceased to be a ship. But God came upon them in such a way that the result of their efforts was precisely what God desired to have recorded. In other words, they had no more control over where they were going than the ship did that was in the power of the gale. You see, it’s this that makes the Word of God so valuable.

Study Questions

• What biblical proofs do we have that the Scriptures are actually God’s words?

• In what ways are the Scriptures the words of men?

• What do we learn about Scripture from 2 Peter 1:21?

Review

In order to firmly establish an understanding of Dr. Boice’s teaching about God and Scripture, carefully review the passages Dr. Boice used to make his point: Matthew 19:4-5; Hebrews 1:6-7; 3:7; 2 Peter 1:21.

This daily devotional study is from the Bible teaching of Dr. James Boice on the broadcast The Bible Study Hour. You may order the audio version of his studies here.