A Circular Argument?

Tomorrow we begin a sermon series on our core beliefs, “Walking in the Truth.” And right off the bat I’ll be emphasizing our statement about Scripture—here it is (from our GBC Statement of Faith):

“The Word of God. We believe all Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the verbally inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original writings, complete as the revelation of God’s will for salvation, and the supreme and final authority in all matters to which they speak.”

So we’re starting with this assertion about the Bible.  But maybe you’re thinking, “Is this logical?”  Why start there—saying that the Bible claims to be the true, authoritative, inspired Word of God.  Seems like we’re just saying, “You should believe the Bible because the Bible tells us to believe the Bible.”  But that’s not it.  Because that’s a circular argument.  Better to take a linear path and start with the NT as the extremely well attested ancient literature that it is—no presupposition about its divine origin—and just read it:  pick it up and read; read the story of Jesus.

In the four Gospels we meet Jesus of Nazareth, a commanding, captivating figure—his words, personality, healing touch, dramatic actions, his penetrating insight into the deep recesses of the human heart (“He knows me!”)—so striking.  Jesus is a man of truth and love; he gives hope to the hopeless, subdues demonic forces, and confronts the self-important.  Eventually he’s killed for threatening the religious status quo.  And after that, according to the staggering yet uniform witness of the New Testament and early Christian writings, he’s raised from the dead.  This is one exceptional person!  (Objecting that a resur­rec­tion has no place in what we call “history” only holds water if you insist in advance either that there’s no God or that God can’t inter­vene in his created sphere.  I prefer not to be so closed-minded.)

If, as has been true for millions of people through the centuries, you meet this Jesus through the Gospel accounts and find that his words have the ring of truth and his love brings the comfort your heart has always longed for:  if you find that this Jesus knows you—both your intricate motives and deepest hopes—then, I believe, you’ll be drawn to entrust your soul into his eternal care.  Millions of people have come to Jesus this way—not because they were told in advance to accept the Bible as God’s Word, but because they read (or heard) the historical record and, upon “seeing” Jesus Christ, by God’s grace they were swept off their feet with love, thanks, and hope:  they were born again and became true Christians.

From that point it’s pretty straightforward to develop a “doctrine of Scripture.”  Once you give your heart to Christ, it follows quite naturally to adopt Jesus’ view of the Bible.  And he saw the Bible, Old and New Testaments, as the uniquely inspired, authoritative, ever-truthful Word of God.  Jesus looked back on the “Law and the Prophets” as coming from God and certain to be fulfilled (Mark 12:36; Matt 5:17-18; Luke 24:44; John 10:35).  And he looked forward, delegating his authority to the apostles (Matt 10:40; John 13:20) to continue his ministry and interpret his life (John 20:21; 2 Cor 5:20).  The apostles realized that they spoke for God (1 Cor 14:37; 1 Thess 2:13; 2 Peter 3:16; 1 John 4:6) as they transmitted the definitive witness to Jesus’ life and teaching.

By taking this linear approach (not circular), we can put our confidence in the Bible not merely because it claims to be God’s Word (though it does), and not merely because some­one may have told us we should recognize it as Holy Scrip­ture (though we should).  Instead, we can embrace the Bible as God’s timeless truth for all of life because we know Jesus Christ, the living, reigning Son of God, our Savior—whose Word we trust completely!