Jon Osborne
The inclination to attack God's Word is both a real and continual problem. There is in this century, as in every previous century, the tendency of man not to listen and submit to God as revealed in Holy Scripture. He prefers his own human experience and the consensus of opinion as his final authority upon which he insists on building his worldview. Many people believe we must abandon the view of the infallibility of Scriptures, and replace it with one that will satisfy the imagination of man. In reality, this substitute is spiritually impotent, and an enemy of Christianity. Therefore, the Bible is the authoritative, Divinely inspired, and infallible word of God. It reflects the unchanging character of God, and is a written revelation of God's relationship with man.
Scripture is not man-made; it is the very word of God from cover to cover and thus it is inerrant and infallible. It was written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. II Peter 1:20-21 states, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." The apostle Paul also teaches the inspiration of Scripture when he says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." (II Timothy 3:16). An important distinction needs to be made. It is not that God inspired books written by men so that they became the Bible, but that God moved men by the Holy Spirit to write the Word that was "given by inspiration" from God. Thus we must come to the Scriptures acknowledging that they are Divine and the Absolute Word of the Living God.
Notice what our Lord Jesus Christ says about the authority of Scripture. When the Jews were charging him with blasphemy, He appealed to the Scriptures. In defense of these accusations, Christ appeals to Scripture and says, "the Scripture cannot be broken." (John 10:35). Christ appeals to the writings of Scriptures as the final court of appeal. He closes the mouths of all critics by saying that it "cannot be broken." When the Scripture speaks, the issue is settled once and for all!
Not only is the Word of God authoritative and Divinely inspired, but the Bible also reveals and reflects the character of God. The Lord describes His character in Malachi 3:6 when he says, "For I am the Lord, I do not change." In Titus 1:1-2, we learn from Paul that God "cannot lie." Since the Bible reveals an unchanging, authoritative, and infallible character of God, it too is unchanging, authoritative, and infallible. To sum this up, E.J. Young says in Thy Word is Truth, "According to the Bible, inspiration is a superintendence of God the Holy Spirit over the writers of the Scriptures, as a result of which these Scriptures possess Divine authority and trustworthiness and, possessing such Divine authority and trustworthiness, are free from error." (Pg. 27)
Scripture speaks authoritatively to man in terms of a covenant. Man was originally placed on earth under the terms of the covenant of works. Scripture tells us that when man rebelled against God and broke the covenant of works, God would make a second covenant with man (the covenant of grace) that His people might be saved. Therefore, Scripture can be said to be a written expression of God's covenantal relationship with man.
The necessity of Scripture hinges on the fact that man has broken the covenant of works; he needs the grace of God not only for salvation, but also for any intellectual hope. The revelation of the grace of God is presented by God in Holy Scripture. The authority of Scripture is evident because it is God who speaks through Scripture. In "Nature and Scripture" Cornelius Van Til says, "The kind of God that speaks in Scripture can speak only on His own authority. So the authority of Scripture is as basic as its necessity." (The Infallible Word, Pg. 265)
In all matters of controversy between believers and unbelievers, the Scriptures should be accepted as the highest court of appeal. The truth or falsity of one's worldview is determined by the Word of God revealed in the Old and New Testaments. No one may know the redemptive plan of God apart from hearing the testimony of Scripture; when the Creator speaks, the creature must humbly submit.
Though the Word of God is our only rule of faith and practice, many theologians view the Bible as the word of God only when people experience it as such. According to this view, the Bible contains the word of God, but it is not objectively the word of God. In other words, the final authority is man's experience rather than the Bible. However this is completely against what the Bible says about itself. The Bible is the word of God no matter what any unbeliever may claim. The apostle Peter said in reference to the Scriptures: "…Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." There's nothing subjective about that! In "The Attestation of Scripture" John Murray says, "The authority of Scripture is an objective and permanent fact residing in the quality of inspiration...the two pillars of true faith in Scripture as God's Word are the objective witness and the internal testimony." (The Infallible Word Pg. 45, 51)
In conclusion, the church and individuals should hold to the view that the Bible has Divine authority and that it contains propositional truth. We should not take the authority out of Scripture. When we do, we assume ourselves to be our own final authority, just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden. When the authority is taken out of Scripture, truth becomes subjective, and relativism will lead to chaos. If the church would humbly and dutifully submit to God's Word revealed in the Old and New Testaments and proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ, then "the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him." (Psalm 67:6,7).