Scripture

By Robert Saucy

In a society saturated by the doctrine of tolerance and an air of post-modernism, one might wonder about the role and significance of the once almighty Scripture. Despite what some would consider a time of revival in the church, confidence in the Scripture is consistently being undermined by cynical attitudes and critical thinking. Saucy's commentary is relevant for the times and speaks to the questioning heart and mind. He confirms not only our need for Scripture, but also its authority, its inerrancy, and its impact.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Jun 9, 2001
• ISBN: 9781418557478

Robert Saucy

Robert L. Saucy was distinguished professor of systematic theology at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, in Los Angeles.

Book preview

SCRIPTURE

OTHER BOOKS BY ROBERT L. SAUCY

The Church in God’s Program The Bible: Breathed from God

The Case for Progressive Dispensationalism

The Common Made Holy (coauthor)

Women and Men in Ministry: A Complementary Perspective (coauthor)

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SCRIPTURE

Its Tower,

Authority,

and Relevance

ROBERT SAUCY

Charles R. Swindoll, General Editor

Roy B. Zuck, Managing Editor

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SCRIPTURE

Swindoll Leadership Library

Copyright © 2001 by Word Publishing. All rights reserved.

Published by Word Publishing, a unit of Thomas Nelson, Inc., P. O. Box 141000, Nash­ville, Tennessee 37214. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations used in this book are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations identified NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations identified NRSV are from the Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version, copyright © 1999 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of the United States of America. Used by permission.

Published in association with Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS):

General Editor: Charles R. Swindoll

Managing Editor: Roy B. Zuck

The theological opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily the official posi­tion of Dallas Theological Seminary.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Saucy, Robert L.

Scripture: its authority, power, and relevance / by Robert Saucy

p. cm.—(Swindoll leadership library)

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 0-8499-1367-5

1. Bible—Evidences, authority, etc. I. Title II. Series.

BS480 .S324 2001

220.1–dc21

2001026268

CIP

Printed in the United States of America

01 02 03 04 05 06 BVG 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

00-Scripturefinal_0005_001

To my colleagues, the administration, faculty, and staff at

Talbot School of Theology,

whose words and walk

have enriched my life

and made my ministry

there a true delight in the Lord.

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Why Is the Bible Called the Book of Life?

2. What Is Divine Revelation?

3. What Is General Revelation?

4. What Is Special Revelation?

5. Are the Bible’s Teachings Unique?

6. How Else Is the Bible Unique?

7. Is the Bible the Inspired Word of God?

8. How Did Christ View the Scriptures?

9. Is the Bible a Human Book?

10. Is the Bible Reliable?

11. Does the Bible Contradict Itself?

12. What Has the Church Believed about the Bible?

13. Which Books Belong in the Bible?

14. Is the Bible Important Today?

Endnotes

Bibliography

Scripture Index

Subject Index

Foreword

MY GREATEST PASSION IN LIFE remains explaining the Scriptures in the clearest terms possible and then watching God’s Word take hold in people’s lives. In fact I have dedicated my life to that singular focus. I spend the majority of my time poring over the ancient text, mining it for the gold that lies within. The Bible is not man’s book about God; it is God’s book about man.

In every age people have aimed their flaming arrows of criticism at the sacred Scriptures, and never more so than today. Our own genera­tion’s battle for the Bible has raged on and off with varying degrees of casualties. And believe me, it is a battle. The inerrancy of Scripture is not a doctrine to be trifled with. For me, it is a bedrock issue, one of a few fundamentals of the faith.

The Word of God is the source, the revelation of all we know about life, death, and the hereafter. It is the guidebook for living this life success­fully, the owner’s manual for how to have a relationship with the Savior. Without this unique revelation from above each of us would remain lost in a sea of relativism.

I believe that this book, Scripture, by Robert Saucy, will become a recognized work in classrooms, churches, and studies around the world. He is no newcomer to theological studies undertaken at the highest levels of scholarship. He earned the Master of Theology degree in 1958 and the Doctor of Theology degree in 1961, both from Dallas Seminary. For many years he has served at Talbot School of Theology, defending the Bible against its critics. He has witnessed firsthand the rise in attacks from the front lines of the academic battlefield. Dr. Saucy knows all too well that once Scripture is relegated to anything less than the very Word of God, all manner of doctrinal error is certain to follow.

Special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Quantico, Virginia, are trained in spotting counterfeit currency. They are not asked to study the fake bills; in fact they spend weeks poring over the authenti­cally minted money. The legal tender becomes their daylong study as they learn every detail of our country’s treasury notes. The minted plates are the authority, the final word, on what is considered legal and useful. Without that authority, that standard, various subtle errors could creep into our nation’s currency.

And so it is with the Bible. Without the Word of God as our standard, the church is open to every wind and wave of doctrine. Scripture is our watermark, our official, authorized Word from God Himself. I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am to Dr. Saucy for pouring his time and energy into this work. And I am equally grateful for you, and for your interest in understanding, in a deeper way, the vital truth of sola Scriptura, Scripture only.

—CHARLES R. SWINDOLL

General Editor

Acknowledgments

I AM GRATEFUL to Dr. Charles Swindoll for the invitation to write this book. His presidency of Dallas Theological Seminary made me aware again of how much I am indebted to the faithful faculty of that school. When I was a student there, the faculty not only expounded the Bible but by their teaching and life truly proclaimed the Word of God, which must always be central in our ministries and lives.

A special thanks is also due to Dr. Roy B. Zuck for his gracious but firm prodding as his helpful comments kept me going in the midst of a busy time. His careful editorial work has made this a much more useful book. My thanks also to the editors and staff at Word Publishing for their part in bringing this work to life.

I am also indebted to the administration, faculty, and secretarial staff at Talbot School of Theology. Their encouragement and help in so many ways, and the example of their own love of the Word of God provided a delightful motivational environment for this work.

My grateful thanks also to my wife, Nancy, who faithfully and patiently (and not a few times sacrificially) supported me in so many ways during the writing of this work and in our life together for forty-five years.

Above all, I praise the Lord for His infinite love and grace to me. Because of His revelation of Himself in His Book, the study for this book was a joy and a personal blessing. Despite regularly reading and teaching from the Bible for many years, to step back and look again at what the Bible is has caused me to recognize as never before the amazing treasure that God has given us in the Scriptures. Sometimes it is easy to forget what we have in the Bible. Like Jesus, whose appearance in His first coming was like an ordinary man, the Bible appears in the humble garb of human words and sentences. But also like Jesus, the Bible is divine, the very Word of God.

I hope that this book will help readers see the absolute uniqueness of the Bible among all the other books in the world. There is something about the Bible that makes it completely different from all other books ever written. It is the very speech of God through which He addresses us as His creatures so that we might enjoy that fellowship of life for which we were created.

My setting forth the nature of the Bible in this work and defending it against its critics, therefore, has one simple goal: that through it you will come to see again (or for the first time) the inestimable value of the Bible and to treasure it above all books. I hope you will revere it as the authorita­tive Word of God and let it rule your beliefs and conduct. And above all I hope that you will regularly spend time in it, mining, contemplating, and ingesting into your heart its truths as divine nourishment for your soul.

Introduction

A glory gilds the sacred page,

Majesty like the sun;

It gives light to every age,

It gives, but borrows none.

—William Cowper

The existence of the Bible as a book for the people is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced.¹

—Immanuel Kant, philosopher (1724-1804)

Introduction

THE BIBLE is the most important book in the world. This is the con­viction of Christian believers, but also of thoughtful political statesmen, royalty, and renowned intellectuals. King George V of England declared, The English Bible . . . in a secular aspect, is the first of national treasures, and is, in its spiritual significance, the most valuable thing that this world affords.² At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, as she held the Bible in her hands as an expression of faith and allegiance, the archbishop of Canterbury declared, Here is Wisdom; this is the Royal Law; these are the Lively Oracles of God.³

Patrick Henry, the colonial American patriot famous for his immortal words,Give me liberty or give me death, said of the Bible, This is a book worth more than all the others that were ever printed.⁴ Sounding a similar note, the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, after recommending the reading of the entire Bible in the Russian translation, declared, One gains, for one thing, the conviction that humanity possesses, and can possess, no other book of equal significance.⁵

In more recent times Billy Graham said of the Scriptures, No other book can touch its profound wisdom, its poetic beauty, or the accuracy of its history and prophecy. . . . The Bible embodies all the knowledge man needs to fill the longing of his soul and solve all his problems. . . . I want to be saturated with the Bible. I want to know it by heart before I die.⁶ No wonder he constantly says in his messages, The Bible says. . .

The inestimable value of the Word of God for believers is evident in their willingness to sacrifice their lives for possessing it. In the great persecution of the church in A.D. 303, the Roman emperor Diocletian was determined to destroy the Scriptures. Any copy of the Bible that was found was burned. Thousands of believers and their families were martyred for possessing portions of the Word of God. This killing and destruction of the Scriptures went on for two years, after which a victory column was erected over the ashes of a Bible with words that indicated that the Bible is extinct. But only twenty years later the emperor Constantine proclaimed the Bible the infallible judge of truth. Enemies of God have made similar attempts to destroy the Bible in a variety of ways. But God has preserved it—sometimes at great cost on the part of His people, a cost which for them was nothing in comparison with the treasure of Scripture.

This eminent status that Christians have accorded the Bible has earned them the epithet People of the Book. This name was apparently first coined by Muhammad, who applied it primarily to Jews but also to Chris­tians because of the importance they both placed on a written revelation. Muslims have also come to be included in this terminology because of the significant place that all three of these religions place on their sacred scriptures in comparison to the place of writings in other religions.

To the Jews their sacred writings were the full revelation of God to His people. But for Christians, that place belongs to Christ, who is God, who came to this earth to reveal Himself personally (Heb. 1:2). As such, Christ is the living Lord and final authority over the church. But this does not reduce the Scriptures to some kind of secondary authority, as is sometimes suggested. For how do we know Christ, except through the Bible? And how does He exercise His authority except through His Word, even as He did while here on earth? As we will see later, there is an intrinsic connection between the Word of God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ and the Word of God revealed in the Bible.

The Bible is essential in Christianity because it is the record of God’s saving intervention in human history. Yet even more than simply the history of God’s saving activity, the Bible itself is part of that activity. His Word tells us what His actions mean, and it reveals how we can receive His salvation.

The absolute necessity of the Bible for Christianity has been illustrated by comparing it with the sacred writings of Hinduism. If all the writings of Hinduism were destroyed and no Hindu remained alive, so that Hinduism was totally absent from all human minds on earth, it is still conceivable that Hinduism could arise again, because it is basically a way of life. If people thought this way once, there is no reason why they could not do so again. On the other hand, if all copies of the Scriptures were obliterated and all remnants of Christianity were completely gone from the face of the earth, including all historical references to its existence, it would be impossible for Christianity to rise again. Why? Because it is more than a way of life. It is a historical religion founded on the actions of God in history, and the Bible records that salvation history.

The Bible is different from all other books because it is God’s Word. Other books, no matter how profound, are only human words. The num­ber of people who view the Bible as an infallible authority is probably increasing in the world as liberal churches are declining and Christianity is growing significantly in many parts of the world.

But there is also a disturbing dichotomy between this high esteem for Scripture and the actual function that it plays in people’s lives. Especially in the Western world, a growing religious pluralism and a corresponding tolerance of all views, coupled with a continuing destructive rationalistic criticism of the Scriptures, are undermining conviction in its final au­thority, even in many good churches. Diverse views on how to interpret the Bible also leave many people in doubt as to what it actually teaches. Together these forces are gnawing away at the Scriptures as the pillar of truth that supports the believer’s life.

Most significantly, lack of trust in the effectiveness of Scripture plagues many believers today. We honor the Bible as God’s holy Word, but we don’t read it. When perplexed with life’s problems, we are more likely to turn to other sources than to the Scriptures for help and comfort. The reasons for this lack of confidence are many and complex. First, we are embedded in a cultural climate of antiauthoritarianism. We don’t want anyone, whether human or divine, to tell us what to do. Closely allied with this is the failure of many believers to obey the Scriptures, to receive them into their hearts in obedient trust in such a way that their lives are transformed. Therefore many people conclude that the Scriptures are not very effective.

The Bible, of course, claims to occupy the central place in God’s re­lationship to His human creatures. Only by the Scriptures can we come to the knowledge of God, which, Jesus said, is eternal life (John 17:3). The Scriptures sustain and nourish that life so that we may grow in our experience of God. Thus the prominence of Scripture as the Book of human history accords with reality, and failure to give it that place in our lives results in loss.

But what is this book that we call the Bible? How did we get it? What makes it authoritative? Is it really inerrant? Why are sixty-six books in­cluded and others excluded? How are its teachings related to the teachings of the church or human reason? How can we understand its teachings? What do we need to do to experience the transforming power of the Bible? These and other questions are the subject of this study, with the goal that the Scriptures will fulfill their promised dynamic in our lives.

One

The Scripture is a tree, or rather a whole paradise of trees of life, which bring forth fruits every month, and the fruit therof is for meat, and the leaves for medicine. It is . . . as it were a shower of heavenly bread sufficient for a whole host, be it never so great, and as it were a whole cellarful of oil vessels; whereby all our necessities may be provided for, and our debts discharged. In a word it is a pantry of wholesome food against mouldy traditions; a pharmacist’s shop (Saint Basil calleth it) of preservatives against poisoned heresies; a code of profitable laws against rebellious spirit; a treasure of most costly jewels against beggarly rudiments. Finally, a fountain of most pure water springing up into everlasting life.

—From the Address to the Reader, prefixed to

the Authorized [King James] Version

of the Bible of 1611 by its translators

One

Why Is the Bible Called the Book of Life?

THE BIBLE is unique among all the world’s books because its words are charged with the life and power of God. Not that God is linked to ink and paper or ancient scrolls. But His presence is communicated through the truth of His Word. The unique power of His Word has been experi­enced by believers and unbelievers alike. J. B. Phillips, who gave us one of the first paraphrases of the New Testament, testifies to his own experience in carefully studying the Scriptures. In the preface of his work he wrote, The present translator . . . is continually struck by the living quality of the material on which he is working. Some will, no doubt, consider it merely superstitious reverence of ‘Holy Writ,’ yet again and again the writer felt rather like an electrician rewiring an ancient house without being able to ‘turn the mains off.’ ¹

Similarly, the French savant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), whose philosophical views paved the way for humanistic liberalism, was also struck by the unique dynamic of the Bible. I must confess to you, he wrote, that the majesty of the Scriptures astonishes me; the holiness of the Evangelists speaks to my heart and has such striking characters of truth, and is, moreover, so perfectly inimitable, that if it had been the invention of men, the inventors would be greater than the greatest heroes.² One does not hear many words like these today from leading philosophers, but that is due, no doubt, not so much to the fact that the Bible no longer impacts the human heart but to the fact that it is less likely to be read.

THE POWER OF GOD’S WORDS

We have all heard the saying Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me. But experience tells us all that this is not really true. Words do hurt us, but they also heal. Even of human words, the Bible says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Prov. 18:21). A sooth­ing tongue is a tree of life; but perversion in it crushes the spirit (15:4). The power of the human tongue is like a rudder that controls a ship or a small fire that ignites a whole forest (James 3:4-6; see also Prov. 25:15).

If human words are that powerful, how much more are God’s words! Human words, of course, are limited by the creaturely limitations of in­dividuals. But there is no such limitation to the power of the words of the infinite God. Jesus said to His disciples, The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life (John 6:63), that is, they have the power of the Holy Spirit and are life-creating. On this occasion many who were fol­lowing Jesus turned away to walk with Him no more. But the disciples, having received His words, experienced their power. When asked if they too would leave, Peter, who undoubtedly spoke for all of them, responded, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life (6:68).

The writer to the Hebrews declared, The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, . . . and able to judge the thoughts and inten­tions of the heart (Heb. 4:12). Interestingly the word living is applied by the same author to God Himself (3:12; 9:14; 10:31; 12:22). The living God sends His Word forth with His life. And because the Word is living, it is also active.

In a stinging indictment of the false prophets who spoke their own words with not the slightest benefit to the people, God proclaimed the power of His true word: Is not My word like fire . . . and like a hammer which shatters a rock? (Jer. 23:29, 32). To the prophet Jeremiah, God declared, Behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it will consume them (5:14). When the prophet refused for a time to speak the word that God gave him, he felt something of this same effect in his own heart and in his bones, as the word became like a burning fire (20:9).

Throughout Scripture God effects His will by His powerful word. All the vastness of the universe came into existence by His word. Eight times in Genesis 1 we read the words, And God said. . . . As the Scripture writer says, The worlds were prepared by the word of God (Heb. 11:3). And the psalmist affirmed, By the word of the LORD the heavens were made (Ps. 33:6). And all things continue to exist, for they are sustained by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3).

God’s words are like powerful messengers that run throughout the earth to accomplish His will. He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly (Ps. 147:15). The apostle Paul prayed that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly [literally, ‘run’] and be glorified (2 Thess. 3:1). When God’s ancient people cried out in their sickness (which was due to sin), the psalmist said, He sent His word and healed them (Ps. 107:19-20). And when God’s word runs, it runs powerfully and effectively. My word . . . which goes forth from My mouth . . . shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it (Isa. 55:11).

The early church faced much persecution. Starting out as a small group of common people with few great men by human standards, they nevertheless prevailed over all adversaries. The impact of their preaching of the gospel, the word of God, was felt across the then-known world. The word of God kept on spreading (Acts 6:7); the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied (12:24); the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing (19:20). The apostle Paul was im­prisoned for his witness for Christ, which has been the experience of many believers throughout church history, but the word of God, he wrote, is not imprisoned (2 Tim. 2:9). Imprisonment may halt the movements of human messengers, but it cannot stop the power of God’s message. In fact, imprisonment may actually turn out, as in Paul’s case, for the greater progress of the gospel (Phil. 1:12).

Jesus Christ is God’s personal Word to man. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). As God’s powerful presence is in His Son, the incarnate Word, so the same powerful presence is in the word that proceeds out of His mouth. At the end of this age, heaven will open and the triumphant warrior, the King of kings and Lord of lords, whose name is The Word of God, will come riding on a white horse to destroy the nations by the sharp sword that comes from His mouth (Rev. 19:11-16). The picture is nothing less than the personal Word of God exercising His power by the authoritative word from His mouth. The words that proceed from the mouth of God share the power of the incarnate Word.

LIFE THROUGH THE WORD

The God of the Bible is the living God. He alone has life in Himself, and all other life is dependent on Him. As the psalmist said, For with Thee is the fountain of life (36:9). Every living creature came into existence and is sustained by Him. Turning away from God therefore leads only to death. This is exactly what many have done—turned away from God. Instead of gratefully acknowledging Him and the goodness of His bestowed life, the first humans disobeyed God. Then, cut off from the source of life, the state of their existence came to be what the Scriptures call death.

One cannot look at the condition of human existence in the world today without recognizing this fact. Strife and suffering seem to be on the increase. And where these are not personally experienced, there is still an inner unrest of heart, a discontent that constantly pursues more and more pleasure, power, and some kind of spiritual experience. The greatest need of people is life, the life that God intended. He offers this to anyone who will receive it, and He does this through His Word.

In the ancient Near East, people sought the forces of life, which were thought to be connected to gods, by magical incantations and rites. In contrast, God’s people find life in a right relationship to God through His Word. Moses set before the people of Israel two paths, the path of life and prosperity and the path of death and adversity. The outcome would be determined by following or rejecting the Word of God (Deut. 30:15-20). The word that Moses brought from God was not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life (32:47). The prophets too stated that life depends on walking faithfully according to God’s statues and ordinances (for example, Ezek. 18:9; 20:11). Amos foresaw a day when the judgment of God will bring famine, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD. As a result the people will stagger from sea to sea, as the foundation of their life was removed (Amos 8:11-12).

People today experience similar results when they turn from God’s words in favor of their own words. The fundamental truth throughout Scripture remains true: As creatures of God we do not have life in ourselves. It is available only because of the grace of God. Even Jesus, who was hu­man as well as divine, applied the words of Moses to his own life: Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD (Deut. 8:3; see Matt. 4:4).

Life is found in God and is given through His Son. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life, and I am . . . the life (John 11:25; 14:6). So the earlier disciples believed and found it to be true, confessing that in Him was life, and the life was the light of men (1:4). To them Jesus was the Prince [or ‘author’ or ‘pioneer’] of life (Acts 3:15).

But the life-giving Lord gives Himself through His living Word. The apostle John wrote, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have see with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life (1 John 1:1, NIV). The Word of life was the living incarnate Word whom they had seen and touched. But it was also something that they had heard (1:3). It was a message