The Infallible Word

A. STATEMENT OF SCRIPTURE

1. John 17:17-"Thy Word is truth."
2. 2 Timothy 3:16-"All scripture is given by inspiration of God."
3. 2 Peter 1:21-"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

B. STATEMENT OF TRUTH

The Bible is the Word of God. God is the Author of the Bible. The Bible is God's message to man.

C. EXPOSITION OF TRUTH

- THE MEANING OF "BIBLE"

The word "Bible" is derived from the Greek "biblia," and means "the books." Ancient books were written by hand as scrolls upon the bibulous or papyrus reed and from this custom came the Greek word which finally came to be applied to the sacred books.

However, the Bible should not be thought of as being in the plural, for it is one complete whole. The Bible is not only "the books" but it is "the Book" (Hebrews 10:7). It is THE Book which stands as high above all other books as the heaven is high above the earth.

- WHAT THE BIBLE CONTAINS

The Bible contains sixty-six books which are divided into the Old and New Testaments. The word “Testament” means “Covenant” and is a term by which God was pleased to designate the relation that existed between Himself and His people.

• Old Testament (thirty-nine books.) The Old Testament deals with man’s beginning, his knowledge of sin, and his need of salvation. It also gives the calling and history of the Jewish nation.
• New Testament (twenty-seven books). The New Testament gives the history and application of the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ.

- GOD USED HUMAN INSTRUMENTALITY

In writing the Bible, God used possibly forty men over a period of about 1,600 years, beginning about 1,500 B.C., when Moses began to write the Pentateuch, to about A.D. 97, when the Apostle John finished his writings.

Throughout the Bible God used men to do the writing. Only three times did God Himself write as follows:

• God wrote the Ten Commandments upon tables of stone (Exodus 31:18).
• God wrote with a finger upon Belshazzar's wall (Daniel 5:5).
• Jesus wrote upon the floor of the Temple (John 8:6).

The first, the giving of the Law, was broken by man; the last, an act of grace, was trampled under foot by man.

- HOW GOD WROTE THE BIBLE

God wrote through men whom He had chosen, by what is known as inspiration. It is stated that all Scripture was given by inspiration of God (2 timothy 3:16). The term "given by inspiration of God," comes from one Greek word meaning "God-breathed." It actually means that God breathed out through these men, or literally, these men became God's vocal chords. Inspiration is God speaking through men, and the bible is, therefore, just as much the Word of God as though God spoke every single word it it with His own lips. The Scriptures are the result of divine inbreathing, just as human speech is uttered by the breathing through a man's mouth.

D. APPLICATION OF TRUTH

Since God is the Author of the Bible, it becomes God's message to man. As such, it is the highest authority that man has to govern him in matters of faith and practice. There is no higher authority for man than that of God's Word. What more definite authority could man desire than that invested in the word of His Creator?

It is not the authority of the church to decide what the Scriptures teach, but rather it is the authority of the Scriptures to decide what the church should teach.

F. DEFINITION OF TERMS

• SCRIPTURES: This word is derived from the Latin, and means "the writings."
• PAPYRUS: A reed or bulrush from which a parchment was made which was the ancient paper.
• PENTATEUCH: The first five books of the Old Testament.