Who God is
111. The Authority of God’s Word
There are going to be many times in the life of the believer when he would have to make a choice between “sense knowledge” and “Word knowledge.” If you make God’s Word your FINAL AUTHORITY, no matter what circumstances are saying, you will always please God and be a winner.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
We need to have a “fearful” respect for the Word of God and its authority.
The Word of God created everything, it upholds everything, and every creature and creation is subject to the Word of God. Many times it does not feel like it or look like it, and this is where faith comes in. In my life, faith in God’s Word has always proved profitable. It has always proved reliable. It has always accomplished things in my life that could not have been accomplished any other way.
For some people it is not easy to believe God’s Word.
The people who find it easier to believe God’s Word are those who have little else to trust in and those who have childlike faith. The Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19 had many things to trust in. He was a successful man with much authority. He was young and wealthy. He was also religious and attempted to live a good and moral life. He had been successful. Because of those many things in which he could trust, he could not trust God’s Word.
Another story in Matthew 8 involved a Roman Centurion who also had much to trust in.
However, this man had a working knowledge of authority and a great respect for authority. He was able to detect in the words of Jesus an authority he had never witnessed before. He accepted the words of Jesus as final authority and he received his miracle.
Matthew 8:5-13 says, “Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ The centurion answered and said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.’ When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Then Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.’ And his servant was healed that same hour.”
We need the mindset that understands these things.
1. God’s Word as revealed in the Bible has all power.
2. God’s Word has authority over all circumstances.
3. God’s Word is to be obeyed by us as if God was standing there telling us what to do.
World-renowned author and Bible teacher Derek Prince wrote about the authority of God’s Word in his book “The Spirit-Filled Believer’s Handbook” (chapter 3).
The following is a portion of this work.
The Authority of God's Word
In our study of this subject, let us turn first to the words of Christ Himself. He is here speaking to the Jews and is justifying the claim which He has made, and which the Jews had contested, that He is the Son of God. In support of His claim, Christ quotes from the Psalms in the Old Testament, which He designates by the phrase "your law." Here is what He says:
"Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"?' If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?" (John 10:34-36).
In this reply Jesus makes use of the two titles which have ever since been used more than all others by His followers to designate the Bible. The first of these titles is "the Word of God"; the second is "the Scripture." It will be profitable to consider what each of these two main titles has to tell us about the nature of the Bible.
When Jesus called the Bible "the Word of God," He indicated that the truths revealed in it do not have their origin with men, but with God. Though many different men have been used in various ways to make the Bible available to the world, they are all merely instruments or channels. In no case did the message or the revelation of the Bible originate with men, but always and only with God Himself.
The Bible – God's Written Word
On the other hand, when Jesus used the second title, "the Scripture," He indicated a divinely appointed limitation of the Bible. The phrase "the Scripture" means literally "that which is written." The Bible does not contain the entire knowledge or purpose of almighty God in every aspect or detail. It does not even contain all the divinely inspired messages that God has ever given through human instruments. This is proved by the fact that the Bible itself refers in many places to the utterances of prophets whose words are not recorded in the Bible.
We see, therefore, that the Bible, though completely true and authoritative, is also highly selective. Its message is intended primarily for the human race. It is expressed in words which human beings can understand. Its central theme and purpose are the spiritual welfare of man. It reveals primarily the nature and consequences of sin and the way of deliverance from sin and its consequences through faith in Christ.
Let us now take one more brief look at the words of Jesus in John 10:35. Not merely does He set His personal seal of approval upon the Bible's two main titles – "the Word of God" and "the Scripture" – He also sets His seal of approval quite clearly upon the Bible's claim to complete authority, for He says, "…and the Scripture cannot be broken."
This short phrase, "cannot be broken," contains within it every claim for supreme and divine authority that can ever be made on behalf of the Bible. Volumes of controversy may be written either for or against the Bible, but in the last resort Jesus has said all that is necessary in five simple words: "the Scripture cannot be broken."
When we give proper weight to the Bible's claim that the men associated with it were in every case merely instruments or channels and that every message and revelation in it has its origin with God Himself, there remains no logical or reasonable ground for rejecting the Bible's claim to complete authority. We are living in days when men can launch satellites into space and then, by means of invisible forces such as radio, radar or electronics, control the course of these satellites at distances of thousands or millions of miles, can maintain communication with them and can receive communication from them.
If men can achieve such results as these, then only blind prejudice – and that of a most unscientific character – would deny the possibility that God could create human beings with mental and spiritual faculties such that He could control or direct them, maintain communication with them and receive communication from them. The Bible asserts that this is in fact what God has done and still continues to do.
The discoveries and inventions of modern science, so far from discrediting the claims of the Bible, make it easier for honest and open-minded people to picture the kind of relationship between God and men which made the Bible possible.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit
The Bible indicates plainly that there is one supreme, invisible influence by which God did in fact control, direct and communicate with the spirits and minds of the men by whom the Bible was written. This invisible influence is the Holy Spirit – God's own Spirit. For example, the apostle Paul says:
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16).
The word here translated "by inspiration" means literally "inbreathed of God" and is directly connected with the word Spirit. In other words, the Spirit of God – the Holy Spirit – was the invisible, but inerrant influence which controlled and directed all those who wrote the various books of the Bible.
This is stated perhaps more plainly still by the apostle Peter.
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation" (2 Pet. 1:20).
In other words, as we have already explained, in no case does the message or revelation of the Bible originate with man, but always with God.
Then Peter goes on to explain just how this took place.
"For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21).
The Greek word translated "moved by" means more literally "borne along by," or we might say, "directed in their course by." In other words, just as men today control the course of their satellites in space by the interplay of radio and electronics, so God controlled the men who wrote the Bible by the interplay of His divine Spirit with the spiritual and mental faculties of man. In the face of contemporary scientific evidence, to deny the possibility of God's doing this is merely to give expression to prejudice.
In the Old Testament the same truth of divine inspiration is presented to us in another picture, taken from an activity which goes much further back into human history than the contemporary launching of satellites into space. The psalmist David says:
The words of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times (Ps. 12:6).
The picture is taken from the process of purifying silver in a furnace or oven built of clay. (Such clay ovens are still used for various purposes among the Arabs today.) The clay furnace represents the human element; the silver represents the divine message which is to be conveyed through the human channel; the fire which ensures the absolute purity of the silver, that is, the absolute accuracy of the message, represents the Holy Spirit. The phrase "seven times" indicates – as the number seven does in many passages of the Bible – the absolute perfection of the Holy Spirit's work.
Thus, the whole picture assures us that the complete accuracy of the divine message in the Scriptures is due to the perfect operation of the Holy Spirit, overruling all the frailty of human clay and purging all the dross of human error from the flawless silver of God's message to man.
Eternal, Authoritative
Probably no character in the Old Testament had a clearer understanding than the psalmist David of the truth and authority of God's Word. David writes:
Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven (Ps. 119:89).
Here David emphasizes that the Bible is not the product of time but of eternity. It contains the eternal mind and counsel of God, formed before the beginning of time or the foundation of the world. Out of eternity it has been projected through human channels into this world of time, but when time and the world pass away, the mind and counsel of God revealed through Scripture will still stand unmoved and unchanged. The same thought is expressed by Christ Himself.
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matt. 24:35).
Again, David says:
"The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever" (Ps. 119:160).
In the last century or two persistent criticism and attack have been directed against the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. However, by far the greatest part of this attack has always been focused on the book of Genesis and the next four books which follow it. These first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch or Torah, are attributed to the authorship of Moses.
It is remarkable, therefore, that nearly three thousand years before these attacks against the Pentateuch were conceived in the minds of men, David had already given the Holy Spirit's testimony to the faith of God's believing people throughout all ages.
"The entirety of Your word is truth" (Ps. 119:160).
In other words, the Bible is true from Genesis 1:1 right on through to the very last verse of Revelation.
Christ and His apostles, like all believing Jews of their time, accepted the absolute truth and authority of all the Old Testament Scriptures, including the five books of the Pentateuch.
In the account of Christ's temptation by Satan in the wilderness, we read that Christ answered each temptation of Satan by direct quotation from the Old Testament Scriptures (see Matt. 4:1-10). Three times He commenced His answer with the phrase "It is written…" Each time He was quoting directly from the fifth book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy. It is a remarkable fact that not only Christ, but also Satan, accepted the absolute authority of this book.
In the Sermon on the Mount Christ said:
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. [This phrase 'the Law or the Prophets' was generally used to designate the Old Testament Scriptures as a whole.] I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matt. 5:17-18).
The word jot is the English form of the name of the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, roughly corresponding in size and shape to an inverted comma in modern English script. The word tittle indicates a little curl or horn, smaller in size than a comma, added at the corner of certain letters in the Hebrew alphabet to distinguish them from other letters very similar in shape.
Thus, what Christ is saying, in effect, is that the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures is so accurate and authoritative that not even one portion of the script smaller in size than a comma can be altered or removed. It is scarcely possible to conceive how Christ could have used any form of speech which would have more thoroughly endorsed the absolute accuracy and authority of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Consistently throughout His earthly teaching ministry He maintained the same attitude toward the Old Testament Scriptures. For instance, we read that when the Pharisees raised a question about marriage and divorce, Christ answered by referring them to the opening chapters of Genesis (see Matt. 19:3-9). He introduced His answer by the question:
"Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning "made them male and female"?" (v.4).
The phrase "at the beginning" constituted a direct reference to the book of Genesis since this is its Hebrew title.
Again, when the Sadducees raised a question about the resurrection from the dead, Christ answered them by referring to the account of Moses at the burning bush in the book of Exodus (see Matt. 22:31-32).
As with the Pharisees, He replied in the form of a question:
"Have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"?" (Matt. 22:32).
Christ here quotes from Exodus 3:6. But in quoting these words recorded by Moses nearly fifteen centuries earlier, Christ said to the Sadducees of His own day, "Have you not read what was spoken to you by God?" Note that phrase "spoken to you by God." Christ did not regard these writings of Moses as merely a historical document of the past, but rather as a living, up-to-date, authoritative message direct from God to the people of His own day. The passage of fifteen centuries had not deprived the record of Moses of its vitality, its accuracy or its authority.
Not merely did Christ accept the absolute accuracy of the Old Testament Scriptures in all His teaching, He also acknowledged their absolute authority and control over the whole course of His own earthly life. From His birth to His death and resurrection there was one supreme, controlling principle which was expressed in the phrase "that it might be fulfilled." That which was to be fulfilled was in every case some relevant Scripture passage of the Old Testament. For example, the Bible specifically records that each of the following incidents in the earthly life of Jesus took place in fulfillment of Old Testament Scriptures:
His birth of a virgin; His birth at Bethlehem; His flight into Egypt; His dwelling at Nazareth; His anointing by the Holy Spirit; His ministry in Galilee; His healing of the sick; the rejection of His teaching and His miracles by the Jews; His use of parables; His betrayal by a friend; His being forsaken by His disciples; His being hated without a cause; His being condemned with criminals; His garments being parted and divided by lot; His being offered vinegar for His thirst; His body being pierced without His bones being broken; His burial in a rich man's tomb: His rising from the dead on the third day.
The entire earthly life of Jesus was directed in every aspect by the absolute authority of the Old Testament Scriptures. When we set this fact side by side with His own unquestioning acceptance of the Old Testament Scriptures in all His teaching, we are left with only one logical conclusion: If the Old Testament Scriptures are not an absolutely accurate and authoritative revelation from God, then Jesus Christ Himself was either deceived or He was a deceiver.
Coherent, Complete, All-sufficient
Let us now consider the authority claimed for the New Testament.
We must first observe the remarkable fact that, so far as we know, Christ Himself never set down a single word in writing – with the exception of one occasion when He wrote on the ground in the presence of a woman taken in adultery.
Nevertheless, He explicitly commanded His disciples to transmit the record of His ministry and His teaching to all nations on earth.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20).
Previously He had said:
"Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes" (Matt. 23:34).
The word scribes means "writers," that is, those who set down religious teaching in written form. It is therefore clear that Jesus intended the record of His ministry and teaching to be set down by His disciples in permanent form.
Furthermore, Jesus made all necessary provisions for the absolute accuracy of all that He intended His disciples to put down in writing, for He promised to send the Holy Spirit to them for this purpose.
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26).
A further, similar promise is contained in John 16:13-15. Notice that in these words Christ made provision both for past and for future; that is, both for the accurate recording of those things which the disciples had already seen and heard and also for the accurate imparting of the new truths which the Holy Spirit would thereafter reveal to them. The past is provided for in the phrase "He will...bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26). The future is provided for in the phrase "He will teach you all things" (v. 26) and again, in John 16:13, "He will guide you into all truth."
We see, therefore, that the accuracy and authority of the New Testament, like that of the Old Testament, depend not upon human observation, memory or understanding, but upon the teaching, guidance and control of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the apostle Paul says, "All scripture [Old Testament and New Testament alike] is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16).
We find that the apostles themselves clearly understood this and laid claim to this authority in their writings. For example, Peter writes:
"Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle...that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior" (2 Pet. 3:1-2).
Here Peter sets the Scriptures of the Old Testament prophets and written commandments of Christ's apostles side by side, as being precisely equal authority. Peter also acknowledges the divine authority of the writings of Paul, for he says:
"And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation – as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures" (2 Pet. 3:15-16).
The phrase "the rest of the Scriptures" indicates that even in the lifetime of Paul the other apostles acknowledged that his epistles possessed the full authority of Scripture. Yet Paul himself had never known Jesus in His earthly ministry. Therefore, the accuracy and authority of Paul's teaching depended solely upon the supernatural inspiration and revelation of the Holy Spirit.
The same applies to Luke, who never received the title of apostle. Nevertheless, in the preamble to his Gospel, he states that he "had perfect understanding of all things from the very first" (Luke 1:3). The Greek word translated "from the very first" means literally "from above."
In John 3:3, where Jesus speaks of being "born again," it is the same Greek word which is translated "again" or "from above." In each of these passages the word indicates the direct, supernatural intervention and operation of the Holy Spirit.
Thus we find, on careful examination, that the claim to absolute accuracy and authority of both Old and New Testaments alike depends not on the variable and fallible faculties of human beings, but on the divine, supernatural guidance, revelation and control of the Holy Spirit. Interpreted together in this way, the Old and New Testaments confirm and complement each other and constitute a coherent, complete and all-sufficient revelation of God.
We have also seen that there is nothing in this total view of the Scriptures which is inconsistent with logic, science or common sense. On the contrary, there is much in all three to confirm such a view and render it easy to believe.
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