Strongholds of Truth
Two weeks ago, Theology 101 began an emphasis on truth. We looked last week at Christ as the embodied or incarnate truth. We noted Christ declared Himself to be the person of truth, saying, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
On another occasion, Christ said of the Scriptures, “These are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). This week we turn our thoughts to the Bible, God’s inspired Word, as the enduring sourcebook of truth.
Over many centuries, holy men of God, inspired and guided by God’s Spirit, compiled a written record of the truth God revealed about Himself using dreams, visions, types, figures, events and inspired prophets.
The compilation of the books of the Bible and their endurance across the centuries has given believers a trustworthy and truthful written record of God’s revealed truth. This week Theology 101 seeks to look at the inspired Scriptures as a believer’s authoritative source for God’s revealed truth about Himself.
Trustworthy
When Jesus spoke to the Father in the lengthy prayer recorded in John 17, He prayed specifically for His disciples, saying, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (17:17).
Just as Christ expressed confidence in God’s word as truth, so His followers across the ages have believed the Bible is without any mixture of error, being totally true and trustworthy. It is a Christian’s sourcebook of divine truth.
The witness of 1 Peter 1:22–25 is a mighty testimony to the truthfulness of the written word of God. Through obeying the truth of this Word as incorruptible seed, sinners purify their souls unto sincere love for one another from pure hearts (v. 22).
By this Word which lives and abides forever, unbelievers are born again (vv. 23–25a). The truth of the Bible is the good news that has been proclaimed across the ages (v. 25b).
Divine revelation
All Scripture is an inspired testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation. We might say the Bible is the written Word that bears testimony to the living Word.
With truth for its matter and Christ for its subject, the Bible as the word of God is “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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