I believe that The Bible is the perfect Word of God. It is as applicable today as it was when God first spoke through its writers.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 (NIV, 1984)
The Bible is Perfect.
This doesn’t mean that translations and paraphrased versions are works of perfection because different people might interpret certain things in different ways. I believe that The Bible is God breathed and is perfect for that reason. To say that God’s Word is imperfect would lead one to believe that God is imperfect. If God were imperfect, believing in Him as Omnipotent Father, or in the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus, or in the guidance of The Holy Spirit would be utterly pointless. If even part of God’s Word was untrue, the rest of it would be discredited
The Word of God is Infallible.
I might seem to be a little repetitive, but there are people that believe that parts of The Bible as we know it today should not be included in it and so they say The Bible has faults. Not only do I trust the early church fathers’ wisdom and believe that God’s hand was in the process of canonization, I don’t think God would have allowed The Bible to carry on throughout the generations if it included something that doesn’t belong. Others look for contradictions and inconsistencies in The Bible. It’s an easy task when you take things out of context.
Scripture is Living and Applicable Today.
God has not and will not stop speaking to us through Scripture. His Word is living in that sense and no matter how many times you read any particular passage of scripture, there’s always a chance that God will say something new to you. One thing to keep in mind though is that Scripture cannot mean something today that it could have never meant when it was written. For example, you can’t say that God is telling you to trade in your old computer for a new one because of something you read in The Bible. He might be telling y0u to steward your resources well though, and you can apply that to your life today.
Sometimes We Need Some Help.
While studying Scripture, you are bound to get stuck in a few places. It is important not to throw those parts of The Bible out just because you don’t understand or don’t like it. Hopefully you have someone in your life who’s had a longer walk with Christ than you. Those people are amazing resources to help you through those difficult passages. I think that it’s important not to lean fully on your own understanding of Scripture for your spiritual growth. Everyone needs a spiritual mentor of sorts, even if only for a season.
Great piece Tony. Only wish that more Christians would look at the bible as infallible, complete for all things and totally inerrant for all matters. It is shocking to me the lack of obedience (and reverence) that is becoming more and more prevalent with liberal theology and the tossing out of straight forward scriptural instructions for what “feels” right or correct. It’s almost like the word “obedience” has become a bad word.
Totally. I think my biggest pet peeve is when someone says that a part of the Bible is not applicable to our culture because some things that were not culturally acceptable then are now. God’s Word supersedes cultural norms and acceptances.
“If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.”
-Deuteronomy 25:11-12 NASB
Sorry I just stumbled upon this little article and thought it was funny. I’m assuming your aim is to just show how friggin’ awesome the Bible, but you’re mostly just defending it from criticisms of imperfection and inapplicability. Why exactly should I base my life around this book? More specifically, what makes the Bible more substantial than any other “sacred text”? Why label myself a Christian when I can live a morally righteous life another way, without a horde of deluded zealots who make arguments based on circular reasoning? (the bible is infallible because it is God’s word and he is perfect, God is perfect because the Bible says he perfect and the bible is infallible)
PS- Why is it “utterly pointless” to believe in a God that is not perfect?
PPS- Why did God give me a foreskin just so I’d have to cut it off. I mean really, my dick?
Thank you for your comments. I will try to respond to them as best as I can. Keep in mind that even though I believe The Holy Bible to be perfect, I do not think that our understanding of it always is. I approach The Word of God with humility because I know I am not perfect and am consequently prone to misunderstand it.
When looking at that verse in the context of the law in Deuteronomy, it sounds absurd to us in our current age. Cutting off a hand doesn’t make sense in the US as punishment for anything, so it’s easy to point to verses like this and say that the Bible is not applicable today. Try looking at verses like the one you quoted in the context of the entire Bible as the story of redemption.
Laws were not made for the righteous. Just like a set of rules set up in a household with young children, laws are always being written when people do the wrong thing. In the context of the Bible, man sinned and a law was written, man sinned again and another law was written. Sin is ultimately punishable by death. This pattern continues until Christ Jesus comes on the scene. He came to fulfill the law. The only punishment that covers all of the laws is death. Christ, who is fully God and fully man, fulfilled that punishment for everyone through His death on the cross. You can apply truth learned through seemingly inapplicable passages of scripture when looking at them from this perpective. You can also learn from them when looking at them from the perspective of the time when they were written.
You can trust that The Bible is true and worthy of basing your life around it because of its accuracy in areas where it can be checked against other historical records. The Bible is proven to be correct in every detail when compared to other historical records. Other ancient works that are widely accepted as true are partially accurate when compared to historical records.
I don’t think anyone should label themselves Christian if they don’t believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. If someone says they believe in Christ but not the inerrancy of The Bible, I would pose the question of why they believe in Christ.
When I said “utterly pointless to believe in God”, I should have said “to put faith in God.” You can believe that something imperfect exists, but do you put your faith in it? I’m sure you believe that gravity will keep your feet on the ground. If you were walking down the street and everything that is not anchored to the ground, including yourself, started floating away for a few moments, would you be able to have faith that gravity will always keep you planted on the ground? From my perspective that would be a pointless faith because it a faith in something that has failed and is undependable.
In regards to the foreskin thing, check out Galatians 6:15. The Jewish culture used circumcision as as an act of sacrifice and setting themselves apart as God’s people. The only thing that is needed to set Christians apart from the world today is acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Savior. The new life they have (new creation) comes through Jesus Christ’s resurrection.