What did Jesus say about the reliability of scripture? What was the attitude of the Bereans? Is pride a cause of apostasy?
Testimony of Jesus
When moderns deny the reliability of the Scriptures, they undermine the very basis of belief in Jesus, because it is those same Scriptures which testified in advance of Jesus. Jesus criticized religious who lacked belief in the Hebrew Scriptures testifying to Him.
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me (John 5:39)
Did Jesus uphold what was written in the prophets?
It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. (John 6:45 NIV)
Even though the Church is under a different covenant, the lessons of the Old Testament are still extremely valuable for Christians.
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. (1 Corinthians 10:11 NIV)
Many wish to set aside the Hebrew Scriptures as mere myth and untruths. Yet, Jesus defended the Scriptures vigorously. For example:
Scripture cannot be set aside (John 10:35 NIV). …the Scriptures cannot be altered (NLT). …the Scripture cannot be broken (NASB, KJV). Scripture doesn’t lie (MSG).
Prophecies of Jesus
It is well known among Christians that there are over 300 Old Testament prophecies specifically fulfilled by Jesus. The mathematical odds of an imposter fulfilling all of them is so incredibly large as to be impossible. Something on the order of 1 in 10 followed by hundreds of zeros.
Jesus had no control over most of these prophecies. Here are but a few: the time of His birth, the place of His birth, His mother being a virgin, His betrayal for 30 pieces of silver, not a bone would be broken, His hands and feet pierced, and His clothes would be divided by lot.
So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” (John 19:24 NASB; Psalm 22:18)
The Passover Lamb was a picture of Jesus and its bones were to remain unbroken. Jesus was frequently referred to as the Lamb of God.
These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” (John 19:36 NIV; Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20)
Using a parallelism of David, the Psalms predict a “holy one,” a Davidic Messiah, whose body would not be abandoned to the grave.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. (Psalm 16:10 NLT).
This Davidic Messiah suffers, dies and is raised.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?... But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” ... you lay me in the dust of death... they pierce my hands and my feet... They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment... (Psalm 22 NIV).
Though His life is an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:10–11 NIV).
Resurrection to everlasting life or everlasting contempt was known in the Old Testament.
Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever. (Daniel 12:2–3 NLT).
The disciples did not immediately understand how these scriptures referred to Jesus.
For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. (John 20:19 NASB)
The prophecy of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is amazing in its detail, even including the amount of money used in the bribe, thirty pieces of silver.
I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. (Zechariah 11:12-13 NASB).
In other passages Judas’ position was predicted to be vacant and another to take his place.
“Brothers,” he said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David… (Acts 1:16-20 NLT; Psalm 69:25; 109:8)
Paul
Though the canonization process for the New Testament took hundreds of years to reach universal consensus, much of it was recognized as Scripture from the beginning. Peter recognized Paul’s letters as part of the Scriptures.
… Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15-16 NASB)
While many modern preachers do not even open their Bibles, Paul’s custom was different. He used the Bible as a preaching tool.
As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. (Acts 17:2 NLT)
Some moderns don’t like those passages which contradict their heretical theology, calling them clobber passages, or using the Bible as a club. Let's not be shamed by such descriptions. Paul calls the word of God an even more effective weapon of offense, the sword of the spirit.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17 KJV)
Perhaps a reason that so many do not like the Bible is the same reason that some won’t look in the mirror, afraid of what they will see.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 KJV)
What was Paul’s opinion of the Old Testament, the law and the prophets? Did he discard it as myth, or because some did not believe, did he change to preaching a different message, perhaps one that was more “culturally relevant”?
And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. (Acts 28:23-24 KJV)
The Hebrew Scriptures, which we Christians call the Old Testament, contain a myriad of passages which point to Jesus. Some are metaphor or symbolism, such as the Passover lamb and the cult (or culture) of animal sacrifices. Others are detailed prophecies, such as the entire chapter of Isaiah 53.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:3-12 KJV)
Many people wanted Paul to explain his proposition of Good News from the Hebrew Scriptures.
So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening. (Acts 28:23 NLT)
Paul wrote to the Romans with this same proposition in mind, that the Holy Scriptures promised this Good News beforehand.
“Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures” (Romans 1:2 KJV)
The New Testament emphasizes a different kind of righteousness, by faith. This too was prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures, as Paul testified.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17; Habakkuk 2:4)
The question is really not whether or not we trust the Bible, but whether or not we trust that God is influential enough to have preserved a written record of what He considers to be the most important events and instructions in human history.
Who should we trust, liberals or conservatives, fundamentalists or progressives, heterodox or orthodox Christian theologians? Let’s not trust the words of any man. Let’s trust the word of God. If we don’t trust the Bible to be true, what have we? There is nobody else that we can trust. Because human beings are unreliable sources, does that mean that God is unreliable?
Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” ... As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:4, 10)
Of course this is speaking of a righteousness of the law, the ability to live without sin. The Bible also speaks of a different kind of righteousness, by faith. Lack of belief that God could breathe into the Scriptures is actually a lack of faith in God, a lack of faith that God could and did inspire Scripture. Yet, as the children of Abraham by faith, we believe God, and that faith makes us righteous in a different sense, as imperfect as we are.
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3 NASB)
Do we trust this Jesus, who spoke over and over again against the vain traditions and fads of contemporary religious leaders, and continually emphasized the reliability of Old Testament Scriptures? Is Jesus still a stone of stumbling to modern heretics, who claim He was not born of a virgin, and was not resurrected from the dead? What of those who still trust in Him?
God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” ... As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” (Romans 9:33; 10:11 NLT)
Do we believe Paul when He upheld the Scriptures or do we believe moderns who invent ideas from their own imaginations? If we don’t believe the Scriptures, what hope do we have? Where is the guarantee of truthfulness in any other source? They are just competing ideas from mere mortals.
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. (Romans 15:4 NIV)
The whole world is run by very well-educated and highly intelligent people who simply cannot solve humanity’s problems. And yet we persist in claiming that we are wise and know so much. In reality are we not ignorant know-it-alls, claiming to have the answers to the sins of our ancestors, yet totally incompetent, and in desperate need of a Savior?
As God says in the Scriptures, “I will destroy the wisdom of all who claim to be wise. I will confuse those who think they know so much.” (1 Corinthians 1:19 CEV)
We are incredibly intelligent beings. Look at the marvels of modern medicine, science, construction and technology. But at the same time, look at the problems of wars, terrorism, poverty, health, slavery, crime and suffering. Our self-sufficient pride in our human wisdom and intelligence must be destroyed.
As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” (1 Corinthians 1:19 NLT)
Those who say that they don’t believe that God could have inspired the stories of the Bible may be on an ego trip, bragging about themselves. Paul wrote about our human tendency to boast in ourselves, but cautioned us to boast in someone else.
Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:31 NIV)
What does God really think about worldly wisdom? When clever men seek to ensnare us into thinking that God’s word is a collection of fables, their words are exposed as mere human fabrication, and they are trapped.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.” (1 Corinthians 3:19 NLT)
Church Standards
It’s not a church leader’s responsibility to judge the lives of those outside the church, but we must judge what is and is not allowed in the church. Paul condemned those in the church in Corinth who tolerated a publicly known sexual sin.
In our day some not only tolerate a variety of sexual sins, but condone them and even ordain those who engage in such things to church leadership. Any presbyters in the church, including bishops, who cannot fulfill their responsibility to discourage sexual sin in the church, but instead tolerate and encourage them, should be removed from office. We must remove such watering down of the truth from among us.
It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:12-13 NLT; Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21,24)
Bereans
While many today who believe in and preach from the scriptures are insulted for doing so, the Bereans who diligently searched the scriptures are commended as being noble (KJV), fair-minded (NKJV), and open-minded (NLT).
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17:11 NIV)
Apollos
One of the most effective preachers of the early church was Apollos. He did not use the vain traditions or fads of his day to bring people to faith, but proved his case from the Scriptures.
For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. (Acts 18:28 NIV)
Focus on the Scriptures
What should a local church focus on, the Scriptures or pop culture, social action and the words of Christian writers? What did Paul encourage Timothy to do?
Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them. (1 Timothy 4:13 NLT)
What special advantage did Timothy have?
You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:15 NLT)
Anti-Patriarchalism
A very subtle deception has crept into the church from society, anti-patriarchalism, which is a subtle way of bringing in an anti-male bias, which, while purporting to protect women, actually denigrates them, taking God’s blessings from our precious mothers, wives, sisters and daughters, and brings an unnatural and unbearable burden upon all women.
There is not much distance between criticizing patriarchalism and denouncing the patriarchs, and eventually the greatest of all patriarchs, Jesus, who chose twelve more patriarchs for the church, rather than six men and six women. Rather than learn why Jesus did that, we have become His teachers, telling Him there is a better way. And so we destroy our families even more than our faulty ancestors did.
What happens next in the church when we begin to discount not just the history written by the patriarchs, but the faith of both Old and New Testament patriarchs. Yet, it is the faith of the patriarch Abraham that forms a basis for Christianity.
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. (James 2:23 KJV; Genesis 15:6)
Pride
Are we afraid to confront our own human pride, which often imagines that we know better than Scripture which was inspired by God? That’s a self-destructive attitude, only causing all humanity harm. That’s why God rejects such human pride. He knows that we need His help.
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6 NIV)
Why would God want us to be humble and look to Him and His word for help? Could it be, as Peter emphasizes, that God recognizes something that we too often forget, the temporary nature of our lives, and the permanent nature of His own word?
As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:24-25 NLT; Isaiah 40:6-8)
Did you notice what was preached? Was it vain traditions, fads or something else entirely?
False Prophets
There have always been false prophets. They are detected not by whether or not they can perform signs and wonders, but by whether or not they lead people astray to worship other gods (Deuteronomy 13). It was a capital crime in ancient Israel. But, we have gone to the other extreme. We make them bishops. Though the new covenant does not recommend capital punishment, we should still follow one principle from the Hebrew Scriptures.
You must purge the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:5 NIV)
Jesus testified to the reliability of scripture? The Bereans looked for truth? Our world is proud and apostate? Let’s strive for truth.
