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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation (Article V)

Article V - Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation
The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation;
so that whatsoever is not read therein,
nor may be proved thereby,
is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith,
or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those
canonical books of the Old and New Testaments of whose authority was never any doubt in the church.

The names of the canonical books are:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, The First Book of Samuel, The Second Book of Samuel, The First Book of Kings, The Second Book of Kings, The First Book of Chronicles, The Second Book of Chronicles, The Book of Ezra, The Book of Nehemiah, The Book of Esther, The Book of Job, The Psalms, The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes or the Preacher, Cantica or Songs of Solomon, Four Prophets the Greater, Twelve Prophets the Less.
All the books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive and account canonical.


Strictly speaking, the Bible isn’t A book.  The Bible is an anthology, a collection of (in this case) 66 different books, authored by dozens of different men, and written over the course of anywhere from 700 to 3500 years depending on which scholar you prefer to believe.

Some of the Bible’s authors were highly respected priests and prophets (like Samuel).  Some were seemingly random guys who professed a calling from God, came out of nowhere, did their thing, and then disappeared back into obscurity (like Amos).  Some Biblical writers were highly educated and well-connected (Luke and Paul for examples).  Some were near illiterate members of the 1st century working class (Peter). 

With the exception of a couple of Paul’s letters in the New Testament, you can find some “expert” who will dispute the authorship and authenticity of every book in the Bible.   Some people sincerely believe that the entire Bible is a conspiracy of fiction put together by a Catholic committee.

But I, and my church, and millions of Christians like us believe that the Bible is the actual Word of God Himself, the Holy Scripture [that]  containeth all things necessary to salvation.

How can we (and you) trust our souls to the words of a disputed ancient anthology?

See what I did there?

I described the Bible in a way that implied that every element was unreliable.  I never offered any evidence for why the testimony of multiple writers would be LESS reliable than the testimony of just one.  But if you were iffy on the topic, you’d think that it was.

Now think for yourself.  Which is MORE reliable, the testimony of one witness or the corroborating testimony of 3 or 4 dozen witnesses?

We trust the Bible.  I stake the fate of my soul and the purpose of my life on the integrity of the Bible because the authors of the books of the Bible present a single, unifying theme.  There is a common mind behind all of their works.  (And some of these writers had never read the works of the others.)

But what about the time lapse between books?  

Yeah.  The dispute over the age of books has been a major source of skepticism.  Critics point out that the oldest fragments of the Old Testament only date back to the 2nd century B.C. which isn’t that old for a collection that begins “In the beginning….”

Critics also note that the oldest fragment of the New Testament dates 125 A.D., that somewhere around 80-90 years after Jesus was crucified.  The criticism is that these can’t be eyewitness accounts.  The witnesses would’ve be dead.

I have a copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.  (No, I’m not rambling. Stay with me.)   My books says that Shakespeare died in 1616, but the earliest copyright on the book is 1980.    How can I believe a book dated 366 years after the supposed author of its plays died?

Because I know that my copy of Shakespeare is just a copy.   All the copyright date tells me is that the original stories were completed and circulating BEFORE 1980.

We don’t have the original manuscript of any of the books of the Bible.  The dates of our COPIES do not tell us when the Bible was written. The dates of the copies do tell us that the New Testament was completed and circulating well before 125 A.D.  The dates of the copies assure us that the Old Testament is OLDER than 2 B.C.

The early leaders of the Church poured over the books, testimonies, and evidence available in the first 300 years after the Resurrection and affirmed what the descendants of eyewitnesses had been affirming for centuries.  The 27 books of the New Testament and the 39 books of the Old Testament are the Word of God, just like the big red volume on my bookshelf is the words of Shakespeare.*

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:   20, 21) 

The arguments against the authenticity of the Bible as God’s Word are based on more assumptions, presumptions, and leaps of logic than even faith requires.   

The Bible on your coffee table may contain errors in translation, after all neither Jesus nor Moses spoke English.  (Actually nobody spoke English during the time the Bible was being written.)  So, in some verses there are legitimate questions about which English term best fits which Greek or Hebrew word.

But those mini-arguments aren’t what drive churches apart.  The big, looming question is:  Did God really deliver His Word through all those different dudes in all those different settings?

No.  No.

The question REALLY is, COULD God do it? 

Is it reasonable, rational, or logical to believe that all those texts by all those people are really the product of ONE supernatural source?

In other words, is the Bible too complicated to be Divinely authored?

In other, other words: Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?  (Jeremiah 32:27)

The answer already given is:  Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. (Jeremiah 32: 17)

If you believe that God is love, then believe the Bible that told you, God is love (1 John 4: 8, 16)

If you believe that Jesus lived, and taught, and defended the powerless, then believe the Bible that told you of Jesus.
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. (John 5: 39)

You embrace the parts of the Bible that bring you comfort and hope and make you feel good about yourself and the future.  Well then you don’t get to redact the other parts that make you feel uncomfortable and sinful and concerned about judgment for how you live.  

Same book.  Same God.  Same truth.

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. 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. (Matthew 5: 17, 18)

The Bible is the Word of God, the testimony of Jesus Himself.  If you reject the Bible, you turn your back on aspects of Jesus that are non-negotiable.

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”
When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? …”
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  (John 6: 60-66)

Don’t do that.  Hold to Jesus.  Hold to the Word made flesh.  Hold to the Word. 

Then Jesus said to the twelve,  “Do you also want to go away?”  But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” (John 6: 67, 68)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064



*To my fellow English nerds: I am aware that I open up a possible argument of whether or not Shakespeare claimed some of Bacon’s work as his own.    My point about copies and copyrights still stands.

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