A Needful Thing (Article V, continued)

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 Romans 3: 2, the Apostle Paul declared the greatest example of Divine favor to the children of Israel was that to them were committed the oracles of God. 

The Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) is not the oracles of ISRAEL.  It is the oracles, i.e., the Word of GOD.

Of the New Testament of the apostles, Paul said:

We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.  (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

Was Paul right?

Is the Bible, Old Testament and New, the Word of God ENTRUSTD TO the church? 

Or is the Bible the words of the men CREATED BY the church?

If the Bible is nothing more than the myths, imaginings, and theological musings of men, then the church and church-folks can change it, ignore parts of it, declare certain principles to be irrelevant ----- just because we want to.    If the Bible is just a collection of words that religious people thought up, then it is not inerrant, not eternal, not even necessary; and we can interpret its contents anyway we want. 

But.

If the Bible is the actual Word of God, then we have to handle its contents as God has said they must be handled.  If the Bible is actually the Word of God then the church, and church-folks, and church-thinkers do not own the Bible.  We are only stewards of it.

If the Bible is the oracles of God, then we are subject to it.  It is not subject to us.

Through all the mechanisms of inspiration and revelation the Bible was GIVEN  to the church by God.    

And so the Bible is not just inspirational.  It is necessary.    

Not just poetic.  Necessary.

But, generally speaking, we don’t treat the Bible as necessary.  We treat the Bible ornamental.  We decorate our speech with vaguely scriptural sounding clichés we haven’t actually read for ourselves.

We treat the Bible as inconvenient because it’s too long, too boring, too hard to understand, and/or too demanding and convicting.

We treat the Bible as something optional.  We pick.  We choose.  We selectively ignore or reinterpret into inconsequence.

We treat the Bible as everything except what it is.

The one needful text among all others.

David called Scriptures the only way a man could get his life straight.

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.  (Psalm 119: 9)

Isaiah said the Word of God was the only thing in this life that is guaranteed.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40: 8)

Paul called the Bible altogether profitable.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3: 16, 17)

Jesus called the Bible, God’s sanctifying truth.

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17: 17)

True, profitable, guaranteed, life changing.

Absolutely NECESSARY.

Not simply a collection of narrative suggestions.  The genuine and NECESSARY Word of God.

Which means that our faith, where it is derived from the Bible (and not from traditions and preferences) is necessary for salvation.

We are stewards of the Truth, which means that   we are accountable to the true Author for how we handle it, 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)

We don’t get to make up stuff about what’s in the Bible and we don’t get to make up stuff and put it in the Bible. 

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)  

We don’t get to demand what the Bible does not require.  We don’t get to toss aside what the Bible demands.

Because the Word of God is NECESSARY.

For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?  Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written:

“That You may be justified in Your words,

And may overcome when You are judged.” (Romans 3: 3-4)

---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

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Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064