Again this is Foundational Faith - We are not talking about the particular theological house that you’ve built over time, nor arguments about grey issues of Christianity and the differences between my house and yours, but rather the immovable foundation that we should all be building upon - these are the few essentials that we can all find agreement. Christian theology must be built upon these three strata of indispensable foundations.
1. Accepting the person and saving work of Jesus.
2. Accepting His offer of salvation by God’s grace alone through faith alone.
And if the the first two are essential (and they are) then what upholds them (the Bible) must be essential as well.
3. Accepting the Bible to be inspired by God and authoritative for doctrine and practice.
As we’ve seen in the previous episodes of Foundational Faith, the Christian faith is uniquely different from all others - It is full of grace and truth. And it’s source of truth - the Old and New Testaments which we call the Bible are no different. There are no other religious writings that compare to the vast scope that the Bible encompasses.
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1. What is the Bible
It is a collection of 66 books written over a time span of 1500 years by closely 40 different authors, from various countries, ethnicities, in three different languages, in multiple literary forms - all of which attest to the same God.
And just knowing those few numbers and facts alone - should cause anyone to stand back and appreciate the book far more than they might never have.
The Protestant Bible is a collection of 66 books that are separated into two parts. The first and much larger part of the Bible is called The Old Testament made up of 39 books. (These were all written before Jesus lived - The same scriptures Jesus read written on large scrolls are the same Old Testament that we have inside our bibles today.) The second and smaller part of the Bible is called the New Testament and is made up of 27 books. (These books were all written after Jesus died and resurrected). These two testaments put together is what we call the Bible. The word “Bible” is a transliteration of the Greek word, Biblos which means “book” and can also mean “scroll” or “parchment”.
It’s important to note that the Old Testament (the same Jesus had the we have today) was already believed by the Jewish people, and had been for centuries to be God’s inspired Word to them. And not only did Jesus believe the collection of Jewish writings were breathed by God, but that those scriptures spoke and pointed to Him!
2. How to read and understand the Bible
We should read it inductively based on three steps. This is called Inductive Bible Study.
- observation - What does the passage say? Read the passage over and over again and answer the questions: Who’s talking, where are they at, who are they talking to, what are they saying, when are they speaking and why are they speaking, …etc.
- interpretation - What was the author’s intent? Your putting yourself into the mind of the author and trying to determine their intent.
- application - What is God speaking to me? It should be no wonder that God uses His word to personally speak to us - to maybe convict us, encourage us, but to ultimately move us in some way.
It’s important to do these in order. Sometimes, we just want to hear what God might be speaking to us so we go straight to the application. But the application is usually always informed by the observation and interpretation. So, take your time and in every step in order.
Lastly, as we’ve noted before, the Bible was written in numerous literary forms. There are narrative historical accounts, poetry, symbolic/figurative language, wisdom literature, prophetic literature, gospel, oratory, and epistle. We need to be mindful of these because we interpret poetry differently than epistles. We interpret historical accounts as being descriptive whereas we interpret epistles or letters as being prescriptive.
3. Is it Bible foundational to salvation?
This is kind of a tricky question - the answer is a big yes and a little no. Let me explain - Yes! The bible is absolutely foundational to your salvation - but does it save you? No.
I’d never entertain the thought of becoming a member of a church that did not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. Likewise, I’d never attend (join or become a member of) a church that preaches anything other than the Bible.
My advice to anyone who ask me for a church to attend, is always the same - Find a church that teaches the Bible. It grounds you in truth. If you want to know God, - then know his word. Jesus himself believed that the scriptures were breathed by God. If that’s true, then we’d be in dangerous territory to deny that. It would be a very confusing place to be in to believe and trust in Jesus as God’s Son but deny or even downplay the scriptures that make that point. So I cant emphasize it enough - Yes, the Bible is foundational to Salvation - both to your inward faith and to your outward life.
But with all that said, the Scriptures do not save you.
So sometimes, the emphasis on the bible can become too much. It’s rare and even though more people and cultures need to extol the Bible today than maybe ever before, overemphasizing the role of the Bible can reach a point that is a bit drastic - and that’s called Biblio-idolatry. Biblio meaning book and Idolatry meaning worship - it simply means the worship of a book.
(Story about that Scriptural Confirmation)
And ironically - God’s word doesn’t even mention anything about Scriptural Confirmation. The practice of Scriptural Confirmation can’t even be confirmed by Scripture. So, there’s one example, where a devotion to God’s word can go overboard and actually cause one to miss the Point of God’s Word or more accurately the Person behind the Word.
Like I said, I think this is rare today generally speaking, but it’s not new. Jesus saw this in his time in the gospel of John chapter 5, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees. The religious elite were upset to the say the least because Jesus was not observing some of the Jewish laws - namely breaking the Sabbath.
John 5:39 - 40 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
Likewise, the Apostle Paul (Himself being a Jew and was once a leading Pharisee) said that the Old Testament laws concerning food and drink and festivals and holy days - all the observances that were held in high regard by the Jews… He says that these were shadows of things to come - but the substance is Christ. Col. 2:17.
So while we want to know and learn the Word of God, more than that we want to worship the author. And while we want to extol the Word of God we want to worship the substance not the shadow.
If I were to come home from work and my kids ran up to greet me and starting reaching out to my shadow, not only would I be sad, because I’d want them in my arms, they’d be disappointed too. They’d only have a dark area or shape produced by my body standing in between rays of light to grasp at but never touch or hold. Sure my shadow would cause them to know that I was home from work, and nearer to them than I was before, but never close enough to actually touch or embrace.
We don’t want to do that - We don't want to be grasping for shadows while the substance is reaching out to us! The Bible and John the Baptist are alike in that no matter how great they are in and of themselves, they both can only point us to Jesus.
And it is appropriate that we end here: Jesus is where we began our series and He is where we land.
We all have a theological house. And there is much room in the body of Christ for different styles and types of houses - the pallet of grey is vast. There is probably more grace than we might even know for the differences among all of our houses, but the foundation is one.
I’m not someone who is apathetic towards theology and doctrine - someone who just thinks that whatever one believes is fine - if I did, I wouldn't do this podcast or try and persuade you. If you listen to me for any amount of time, I will say things and take stances on certain positions that you will probably disagree with. And that’s okay. I say that only to make the point that both can be true - As I believe Augustine said, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
I invite you to inspect your foundation, change things, move things around, look for cracks, talk to others, and if need be, tear down your structure and start over. Know that no matter how great, comfy or pleasant a house might be now, it will suffer ruin if not placed upon the foundation of God.
So I pray for us all - that we would all
Build upon the Person and work of Jesus.
Build upon the salvation that is by brought by God’s grace alone and by Faith alone and
Build upon the Inspired word of God.
And reap the fruit of suffering the oncoming storms and winds that life so often throws at us with strength, confidence and joy.
