....................................................................................................................................
by Dr David
Livingston
There is
considerable debate these days concerning the inerrancy (infallibility) of
Scripture. The authority of God’s Word is the main issue.
But, if one yields
to the authority of Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach), he must, in turn,
yield to Christ’s view of the Scripture itself.
Anyone and everyone
who claims to be a Christian (a believer under the authority of Christ) must
hold to the same view He did! What was it?
I. Negative aspects (an argument
from silence — but a loud silence!)
Jesus never
belittled Scripture (as some modern critics do), or set it aside (as the Jewish
leaders of His day had done with their Oral Traditions), or criticized it
(although He criticized those who misused it), or contradicted it (although He
rejected many interpretations of it), or opposed it (although He sometimes was
free or interpretive with it), nor spoke in any way as ‘higher’ critics do of
the Old Testament (Tanakh).
II. Christ’s use of Scripture
As Louis Gaussen has asserted, ‘We are not afraid to say it:
when we hear the Son of God quote the Scriptures, everything is said, in our
view, on their divine inspiration — we need no further testimony. All the
declarations of the Bible are, no doubt, equally divine; but this example of
the Savior of the world has settled the question for us at once. This proof
requires neither long nor learned researches; it is grasped by the hand of a
child as powerfully as by that of a doctor. Should any doubt, then, assail your
soul let it behold Him in the presence of the Scriptures!’
1.
He knew the Scriptures thoroughly, even to words and verb
tenses. He obviously had either memorized vast portions or knew it
instinctively: John 7:15.
2. He believed every
word of Scripture. All the prophecies concerning Himself were fulfilled, and
He believed beforehand they would be.
3. He believed the Old
Testament was historical fact. This is very clear, even though from the
Creation (cf. Genesis 2:24 and Matthew 19:4, 5) onward, much of
what He believed has long been under fire by critics, as being mere fiction.
Some examples of historical facts:
·
Luke 11:51 —Abel was a real individual
·
Matthew 24:37–39
— Noah and the flood (Luke 17:26, 27)
·
John 8:56–58
— Abraham
·
Matthew 10:15; 11:23,
24 (Luke 10:12)
— Sodom and Gomorrah
·
Luke 17:28–32
— Lot (and wife!)
·
Matthew 8:11
— Isaac and Jacob (Luke 13:28)
·
John 3:14
— Serpent
·
Matthew 12:39–41
— Jonah (vs. 42—Sheba)
·
Matthew 24:15
— Daniel and Isaiah
4. He believed the
books were written by the men whose names they bear:
·
Moses wrote the
Pentateuch (Torah): Matthew 19:7, 8; Mark 7:10, 12:26 (‘Book of Moses’ — the
Torah); Luke 5:14; 16:29,31; 24:27, 44 (‘Christ’s
Canon’); John 1:17; 5:45, 46; 7:19; (‘The Law [Torah]
was given by Moses; Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.’)
·
Isaiah wrote ‘both’
Isaiah’s: Mark 7:6–13; John 12:37–41 [Ed. note: Liberals
claim that Isaiah 40-66 was composed after the fall of Jerusalem by
another writer they call ‘Deutero-Isaiah’.
The only real ‘reason’ for their claim is that a straightforward
dating would mean that predictive prophecy was possible, and liberals have
decreed a priori that knowledge of the future is impossible
(like miracles in general).
Thus these portions must have been written after the events.
However, there is nothing in the text itself to hint of a different author.
See The Unity of
Isaiah. In fact, even the Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll was a seamless
unity.
But as Dr Livingston said, since Jesus affirmed the unity of
Isaiah, the deutero-Isaiah theory is just not an option for anyone calling
himself a follower of Christ.]
·
Jonah wrote Jonah: Matthew 12:39–41
·
Daniel wrote
Daniel: Matthew 24:15
5.
He believed the Old Testament was spoken by God Himself, or
written by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, even though the pen was held by
men: Matthew 19:4, 5; 22:31,
32, 43; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37.
6.
He believed Scripture was more powerful than His miracles: Luke 16:29, 31.
7.
He actually quoted it in overthrowing Satan! The O.T. Scriptures
were the arbiter in every dispute: Matthew 4; Luke 16:29, 31.
8.
He quoted Scripture as the basis for his own teaching. His
ethics were the same as what we find already written in Scripture: Matthew 7:12; 19:18,
19; 22:40; Mark 7:9, 13; 10:19; 12:24,
29–31; Luke 18:20.
9. He warned against
replacing it with something else, or adding or subtracting from it. The Jewish
leaders in His day had added to it with their Oral Traditions: Matthew 5:17; 15:1–9; 22:29;
(cf. 5:43, 44); Mark. 7:1–12.
(Destroying faith in the Bible as God’s Word will open the door
today to a ‘new’ Tradition.)
10. He will judge all
men in the last day, as Messiah and King, on the basis of His infallible Word
committed to writing by fallible men, guided by the infallible Holy
Spirit: Matthew 25:31; John 5:22, 27; 12:48; Romans 2:16.
11. He made provision
for the New Testament (B’rit Hadashah) by sending the Holy Spirit
(the Ruach HaKodesh).
We must note that He Himself never wrote one word of Scripture
although He is the Word of God Himself (the living Torah in flesh and blood, see John, chapter 1).
He committed the task of all writing of the Word of God to
fallible men — guided by the infallible Holy Spirit. The apostles’ words had the
same authority as Christ’s: Matthew 10:14, 15; Luke 10:16; John 13:20; 14:22; 15:26,
27; 16:12–14.
12. He not only was not
jealous of the attention men paid to the Bible (denounced as ‘bibliolatry’ by
some), He reviled them for their ignorance of it: Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:24.
13. Nor did Jesus
worship Scripture. He honored it — even though written by men.
The above leaves no
room but to conclude that our Lord Jesus Christ considered the canon of
Scripture as God’s Word, written by the hand of men.
Although some
religious leaders profess to accept Scripture as ‘God’s Word,’ their low view
of ‘inspiration’ belies the fact.
They believe and
teach that Scripture is, to a very significant degree, man’s word. Many of
their statements are in essential disagreement with those of Jesus Christ.
From the evidence
of their books, we conclude that some Christian leaders are opposite to Christ
in His regard for the authority, the inspiration, and the inerrancy of
Scripture.
And now, the most
important point.
III. Jesus Christ was subject to
Scripture
Jesus obeyed the
Word of God, not man. He was subject to it. If some leaders’ view of
inspiration were true, Jesus was subject to an errant, rather casually
thrown-together ‘Word of Man.’
Jesus would have
been subject, then, to the will of man, not the will of God.
However, in all the
details of His acts of redemption, Jesus was subject to Scripture as God’s
Word. He obeyed it.
It was His
authority, the rule by which He lived. He came to do God’s will, not His own,
and not man’s.
Note how all of His
life He did things because they were written — as if God had directly commanded.
He fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about Himself.
The passages are
found all over the Old Testament. We cite here only a very few quoted in the
New Testament: Matthew 11:10; 26:24, 53–56; Mark 9:12, 13; Luke 4:17–21; 18:31–33; 22:37; 24:44–47.
He Himself is the
Word of God. All the words from His lips were the Word of God. (John 3:34).
If He had desired,
He could have written a new set of rules and they would have been the Word of
God. But, He did not. He followed without question the Bible already penned by
men.
This is the
sensible thing for every believer to do. May all who read this adopt Jesus’
attitude and become subject both to Him as Living Word (living
Torah) and to the Bible as the infallible, written Word of
God.
The holy Scriptures
… make you wise to accept God’s salvation (Hebrew Yeshua) by
trusting in Christ Jesus (Hebrew Yeshua HaMashiach).
The whole Bible was
given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and
to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps
us do what is right.
It is God’s way of
making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone. – II Timothy, Chapter
3, Verses 15–17, Living Bible
(This
paper is an excerpt from Dr Livingston’s M.A. Thesis titled, ‘A Critique of
Dewey Beegle’s book titled: Inspiration of Scripture’. Copyright 2003
David Livingston, reproduced with permission.)
We
encourage our readers and subscribers to check out Dr Livingston’s website
at: Ancient Days. Dr Livingston
(1925–2013) was also the founder of Associates for Biblical Research,
the most reliable biblically-based archaeological society.
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