“The Incomparable Christ” – Colosians 1:13-20; John 14:9

“Paul’s Prayer” – Colossians 1:9

“Measuring Christian Maturity” – Colossians 1-4

Christian Maturity is measured according to Faith, Hope, & Love

Last in Series on The Nature of Scripture

“False Teachers” – Jude

History repeats itself because we weren’t listening the first time.

Evangelicals are in danger of loosing their influence because they tend to try to adjust their message to suit the changes in culture. Michael Spencer, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, said that evangelicals are in danger of becoming irrelevant because they are becoming less doctrinaire. Christine Wicker, in her book, forecasted from an unbeliever’s point of view the death of evangelicalism because American culture was becoming less doctrinaire. Americans, in general, do not want to be taught a Christianity that emphasizes doctrines as central to its identity; that is, they do not want to be taught that you must believe particular things about God, Christ, salvation, humanity, and particular things about the future.

Christian Smith is a sociologist at a university on the east coast. In his book, he concluded that, contrary to popular opinion, American teenagers are very interested in religion. However, the average American teenager is interested in religion only to the extent that it is moralistic, therapeutic deism. They want the comfort and security of having some moral guidelines but which is not too morally narrowing. They want their religion to be therapeutic in that they want to attend services that make them feel good. They are not coming to religion because they want to believe truth. They don’t want to believe in God as He is; they just want to avoid the consequences of living immorally and to feel good.

Deism is a view of God that became popular in the eighteenth century. Its core belief is that God created the world in a very precise way, like a Swiss watchmaker would make a watch; God, after setting the world in motion, turned His back on the world and now has nothing more to do with it; the world continues to function on its own in the way that God designed it; according to deism, God does not intervene in its affairs or its functioning; for deism there was no need of Jesus Christ to enter the world as Savior for any of its inhabitants and no need of God to answer any prayer.

Generally, American teenagers are only interested in a religion that gives them some moral guidance and makes them feel better, and they have a minimalistic and, ultimately, heretical view of God.

If Christianity is to continue to be the Christianity that was handed down to us by the apostles, we need to continue to emphasize that the Bible teaches certain things that we are to believe and it teaches certain things we are to dismiss and, on certain things, there is no middle ground.

Jude 3-10
Jude wanted to write a letter of encouragement to his congregation but had to write about false teachers who had slipped in among them. These false teachers showed up not looking like what they are but, as Jesus said, wolves in sheep’s clothing. They are like clouds without rain. They look like caring teachers but in reality are there to lead astray. They turn the grace of God into license for immorality, denying the Lord God and Jesus Christ. They discourage commitment to a moral life style. They endlessly talk of grace but present it as a license to unbounded immorality. They deny that Jesus is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe. Just because someone talks about Jesus does not necessarily mean that they are saved. You cannot just accept a Jesus of any kind, but you must receive Him as He really is, what the Bible tells us He is. It is necessary to your salvation that you recognize Jesus Christ as the everlasting God the Son, to whom God the Father has given the duty of judging the righteous and the unrighteous. These false teachers do not like living with restrictions or submitting to anything. They defile their bodies and despise authority and dignitaries. We do not have the authority to rebuke spirit beings; only God has that authority; therefore, Michael the archangel called upon the Lord to rebuke Satan when he was struggling with him over the body of Moses. But these false teachers had no reluctance to do so.

Jude demands that the recipients of his letter contend for the faith, that they proclaim the central doctrines given to them by the apostles, about Christ and about grace, about God and about salvation, about humanity and the eternal things to come, the faith once for all delivered. There aren’t doctrines about God for America and doctrines about God for Ethiopia. There aren’t doctrines about salvation for the eighteenth century and doctrines about salvation for the twenty-first century. The faith does not shift; the doctrines of the Bible do not change. They are given once for all.

Jude 20
Jude urges his listeners to “build themselves up in their most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.” Join together in reminding each other of those crucial, unchangeable elements of the faith. Commit to build each other up in the unchanging elements of the faith and pray in the Holy Spirit for each other that we will remain true to those unchangeable elements of the teaching of Scripture.

Series on The Nature of Scripture

“Are the Scriptures True?” – Ephesians 4:25

We have seen that, although the Holy Scriptures were written by men, their origin is with God, in particular, the third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And we have also seen that the New Testament is inspired writing the same as the Old Testament.

Jesus spoke nothing contradictory to the Old Testament; His words all came from the Father and found their way into writing by the Holy Spirit.

But none of this makes any difference, however, if it isn’t true.

So, are the writings from Genesis to Revelation true? Truth is that which is real.

Is scripture telling us the truth?
The Bible testifies to its truthfulness.

Ephesians 4:25
Scripture itself requires Christians to be truthful to each other. The body of Christ cannot remain healthy if we are not truthful to one another; we cannot have a workable relationship with one another if we are not truthful to each other.

2 Timothy 3:16
The context of this verse is Paul’s reminder in verses 1-9 that we live in terrible times, characterized by people loaded down with sin, people who are always learning but never acknowledging the truth, even opposing the truth.
Paul clearly states that all scripture is inspired. And he tells Timothy this in contrast to the times which are filled with error and falsehood. He is telling Timothy that, unlike the world around, he is telling Timothy the truth.
Paul states the inspiration of scripture here in order to teach the doctrine of inerrancy, that the scriptures are without any mixture of error. Inerrancy and inspiration go together hand-in-glove. Anything that God inspires is also true.

2 Peter 1:20-21
Peter agrees with Paul’s statement above, saying that prophecy did not originate with man but men spoke from God, moved by the Holy Spirit.
Then Peter reminds his readers that as there were false prophets among the men of old, there will be false teachers among us, introducing condemnable heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them. These false teachers will gain many followers and by reason of them the way of truth shall be slandered.

Whether you are in the first century of this era or in the present century, there are going to be false teachers. We see them in the pulpit and on TV saying things that are not true and causing the truth to receive a bad reputation. Peter wants us to know that, in spite of these false teachers, the Holy Scriptures are inspired and totally true.

The doctrine of inspiration teaches the doctrine of inerrancy. Whether the Bible teaches on history or science or salvation or speaks of the last days, it is all true. All of Holy Scripture is inspired and, therefore, all of it is true.

Matthew 5:17
Jesus tells us that He will not contradict the Old Testament but will speak in harmony with it, that He has come to fulfill the Old Testament scriptures. Jesus had nothing original to say; He spoke with the same Mind as the One who originated the Old Testament scriptures. He further warns that anyone who breaks the least commandment in the law and teaches people the same will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven but the one who keeps and teaches the commandments will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus holds the entire Old Testament to be completely true and completely relevant. Jesus speaks of the Old Testament scriptures with the same confidence that Peter and Paul do.

John 10:35-36
If God, according to the Old Testament, called those, to whom the word of God came, gods, then how can anyone say anything against Jesus for saying He is the Son of God, when the Father has sanctified Him. Jesus reminds them that the scriptures cannot be broken, that what scripture says is true. Scripture may make you uncomfortable; it may disrupt your life; but nothing in scripture is untrue.

John 17:16-17
Jesus in His prayer for the disciples says, “Your word is truth,” and He asks the Father to set them apart through His truth.

No matter what scripture costs you to obey it, scripture reflects reality. No matter how ridiculous some scripture may appear, it is nevertheless true.

Series on The Nature of Scripture

“Jesus had nothing original to say” – John 14:10-18; 15:26-27

The entire Christian canon of scripture from Genesis through Revelation is the word of God.
One reason you can trust the words of Jesus is that He had nothing original to say.

John 14:10-18, 24
Jesus says that the words He speaks are not only His own but the words of the Father. He also says that anyone who has faith in Him will do even greater things than what He is doing, but keep in mind that Jesus is not talking to you or me; He is talking only to the disciples who are present with Him at the moment; chapter 14 is for the apostles only. The reason Jesus has nothing original to say is because He is the Son; and what sons do is report and represent their fathers. Jesus is not appearing as a unique individual, but as One who represents the Father, and He never gets to be God the Father. Everything that happens in the world from God is a Trinitarian reality. All things are from God the Father, through God the Son, by means of God the Holy Spirit. God speaks to us through the Son by the Holy Spirit. God the Father created everything in the heavens and the earth through the Son by the Holy Spirit. God reveals Himself to His creatures through the Son by the Holy Spirit. God redeems His creatures through the Son by the Holy Spirit. God the Father resurrects us through the Son by the Holy Spirit. Nothing is original with the Son. When the Son speaks you are hearing a common message that originates with God the Father. When the Holy Spirit speaks you are hearing a message which is passed down through the Son but which originates with God the Father.

John 15:26-27
The Holy Spirit does not testify about Himself; the Spirit does not make Himself the center point of history. The Holy Spirit comes to counsel and comfort the apostles by testifying to them about the Son. Neither does the Son come to magnify Himself; the Son comes to convey to the world the Father, to manifest the Father to the world, to point the world to the Father. The Spirit comes to magnify the Son and to point the world to the Son. Everything goes back to God the Father.

John 14:17
Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth because no scripture is in error. The Holy Spirit also does not speak anything that is original with Him; rather He reminds the apostles of everything which Jesus has said.

Ephesians 2:17
Jesus preached “peace to you who were far away” (the Gentiles) and “peace to those who were near” (the Jews). Through the Son, Jesus, we all have access to the Father by one Spirit. No one has immediate access to the Father, but our access is mediated by God the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus teaches us to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus the Son by the Holy Spirit. All prayer is a Trinitarian reality as well. As Christians, everything for us is a Trinitarian reality.

John 17:6-10
We love no member of the Trinity to the exclusion of the Others.
We must believe, speak, and teach as Trinitarians. Why does Jesus spend so much time emphasizing to the apostles that the words are not originally His and the words of the Spirit are not originally His? Everything originates with the Father.

Series on The Nature of Scripture

“Nag Hammadi Scrolls, Marcion, & Canonizing the Bible”

In the second century A.D. (140 to 180 A.D.), there was a group calling themselves Christians who believed that the apostles did not have the right perspective. They also believed that the church was wrong in believing that there were only four legitimate gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John). They thought that the church wasn’t recognizing all the gospels that they should recognize. They held that there were other gospel writings of the apostles that ought to be read and held up as being in common with the Old Testament.

The Nag Hammadi writings, which were found in the desert of Egypt near the town of Nag Hammadi in the 1940’s, are copies of these other gospel accounts from the second century A.D. They were composed by Gnostics originally in the Greek language but had been translated into the Coptic language, which was a mixture of Egyptian hieroglyphics and Greek characters. What makes these writings so dangerous is their titles, such as “The Secret Book of James,” “The Gospel of Truth,” “The Treatise on the Resurrection,” “The Secret Book of John,” “The Gospel of Thomas,” “The Gospel of Philip,” “On the Origin of the World,” “The Book of Thomas,” “The Wisdom of Jesus Christ,” “The Revelation of Paul,” “The First Revelation of James,” “The Second Revelation of James,” “The Revelation of Adam,” “The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles,” “The Revelation of Peter,” “The Letter of Peter to Philip,” “The Gospel of Mary,” “The Act of Peter,” “The Gospel of the Hebrews,” “The Letter of Paul to Peter,” and “The Gospel of Judas.”

The Gnostics argued that you should not limit the number of gospels in the canon to four. These writings, available in English, are seducing an entire generation of young people and those who have just attained some maturity as adults as being an alternate collection of Christian writings. So, in the second century we had the Gnostics with which the church had to contend in considering what books should be included along with the Old Testament as divinely inspired scripture.

Then on the other hand, also in the second century, we have a man named Marcion. He attracted a group of followers known as Marcionites. He and his followers were based in Rome along with a large group of Gnostics. Marcion argued that, rather than having too few books in the New Testament, too many had been added in. Marcion advocated throwing out all of the Old Testament scriptures. Marcion held that the God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath and judgment and not a God of grace and love and not the Father of Jesus Christ. He argued that the church needed to get rid of the writings of the Jews. He was the first and utter anti-Semitic. He discounted the entire Jewish religion as being false. He also wanted to cut out everything in the New Testament writings that sounded too much like the Old Testament. When he had finished cutting up the New Testament, he ended up with nothing left but a carefully edited version of Luke and ten of Paul’s epistles. Marcion’s version of Christianity had no root in the Old Testament or the religion of the Jews. Marcion argued that his was the first New Testament canon.

In this atmosphere of one group yelling for more to be added while another yelled for less, people in the church wondered what the canon of scripture ought to be.

A lot can be said against Marcion, including that he was a dirty, low down anti-Semite but one thing that you cannot say against Marcion is that he lacked integrity; because he walked and lived in continuity with his deepest convictions. Which is more than many Christians can say of themselves. How many Christians can say that they read the Old Testament for spiritual benefit with any frequency? How many can say that God has given them any of the Old Testament books for their edification and Christian walk? Marcion, true to his beliefs, got rid of the Old Testament; but we, having kept them in the canon, just never read them.

What do you do about Isaiah 63:1-6, in which the Lord trampled the heathen nations in wrath and anger, spattering His garments with their blood? Do you acknowledge and praise Him or do you try to hide Him? Are you careful about the vision of the living God you provide to the unbelieving world? Do you like the God of John 3:16 better than the God of Isaiah 63? Or do you emphasize the fact that God is a God who despises sin to the point of trampling the city of sinners until their blood runs freely and spatters His garments? The God in Isaiah 63:3 is the Lord Jesus Christ and He will show up in Revelation 19, at the end of the ages, wearing a white garment again and to His side will be strapped a sword that He will draw and use to decimate the sinners and, when He is finished, He will exit that battle covered with the gore of those who stood against Him. Do you love that God? The God of Isaiah 63 is the God who showed up at the crucifixion, except that this time He stomped upon His only begotten Son.

Marcion didn’t like the portrayal of God that appeared in Isaiah 63:3, so he got rid of it. You have not been given permission to paint a portrait of God the way you would like to picture Him. You must paint a picture of God in accordance with how God has revealed Himself, and part of the way in which God has revealed Himself is in Isaiah 63:3. Jonathan Edwards used Isaiah 63:3 as a key text in his famous sermon during the first great awakening in the early period of this country.

What do you do with the Caananite wars, in which God ordered the Israelites to destroy all the flocks of the Caananites and to put to death all the Caananite men, women, and children, even the women who were with child? What do you do with the God who commands the death of the unborn? Marcion hated and despised Him to the point that he just got rid of Him.

The church responded to Marcion by saying that the entire Old Testament, without division and without preference, must be included in the Christian canon of scripture because we are not given permission to paint a portrait of God after our own image or according to our preferences. We are responsible to view God, to love God, to obey God, to submit to God according to the portrayal that He Himself presented of Himself. So who do you love? The God who is or the God that you created?

Paul commands Timothy to preach the whole counsel of God. He is commanded to preach the God of the Caananite wars, the God of John 3:16, the God of Isaiah 63, and the God of Romans 5. (2 Timothy 3:16)

Jesus Christ taught the Old Testament. Jesus Christ taught Himself from the Old Testament. Jesus Christ brought the entire Old Testament with Him into the temple and read from it.

The entire Old Testament, without mixture or any omission, is to be understood as the fundamental aspect of the church’s scripture.

The reason why the church accepted the entire Old Testament into the canon is because it was Jesus’ book. So that solved the question of the Old Testament.

Now what do we do with the Gnostics who were declaring, “Add, add, add?” Once the question of the Old Testament had been settled, the question about what to include in the New Testament became easier.

The Bible is the Old Testament, the text of Jesus Christ, and the scriptures written down by the apostles and the disciples of the apostles, to whom the Holy Spirit came and whom Jesus taught, whose writings did not originate with themselves but from God. What they wrote was not the word of men but of God. What they wrote was produced through them by the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Whether Old Testament or New Testament, it is the word of God.

“All Scripture is God-Breathed” – 2 Timothy 3:16

2 Peter 1:20-21

So Peter agrees with Paul.

2 Timothy 3:16

Thus far, Peter and Paul are expressing their views on the Old Testament; that is what they meant by “the scriptures” in these verses.

1.   2 Peter 3:14-16

2.   1 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 7-13

3.   1 Corinthians 2:4-11

The New Testament writings are Holy Scripture
on equal ground with the Old Testament.

“How To Read a Book – Part II” – Mark 1

Dr. Bingham’s series on The Nature of Scripture resumes August 1.