Q & A with Pastor Jon: Can we trust the Bible?

Jon Beck

Q & A with Pastor Jon is a teaching time utilized to answer questions that I have been asked over the course of my ministry. Remember, these are my personal study notes and not a manuscript of the sermon. They are provided as an outline each week for our Tabernacle Church family. The church provides a live stream of the service each Wednesday at 6:30 on Facebook. We also provide the services through YouTube. You can find our Worship Guides, Family Devotional Guides, Prayer Lists, and other resources at our Church Website.

Yes, we can trust the Bible

  • God has preserved His Word through the ages.
  • The Bible is His Word for us today.
  • We need nothing else and we there is no need to look for any other revelation. (No new word is coming)
  • Therefore, WE CAN TRUST THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD.

I. The Scriptures. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and are the only sufficient, certain and authoritative rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience

Abstract of Principles  – The historic statement of faith of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, written and adopted in 1858.

The Scriptures – The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000

John 17:17

2 Tim 3:16-17

Matt. 5:18; 24:35

1 Pet. 1:22-25

“If we are to trust God and obey Him absolutely, we must have a collection of words that we are certain are God’s own words to us.  If there are any sections of Scripture about which we have doubts whether they are God’s words or not, we will not consider them to have absolute divine authority and we will not trust them as much as we would trust God Himself.” 

Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), pg. 54

Canon – Literally means a rule or standard for testing straightness. The term is most closely associated with the collection of the 66 books of the Bible that the church has recognized as the written and inspired Word of God.

  • In Standard – The standard of faith for the church.
  • In Content – The correct collection and list of inspired books.

Therefore, to say we have the Canon of Scripture is to say we believe that the Holy Bible is all that God has intended us to have for His inspired Word.  We will find no new letter, we will receive no new revelation, we should recognize no other books as from God Himself.

The Bible is One Book

  • It is both one book and many books.
  • It has unity and diversity.
  • It has many human authors for its parts, it is primarily one book by God Himself.
  • God used the many authors over a period of approximately 1500 years to write the Bible progressively, each building on what has already been given.
  • Since it is an infallible unity, all parts agree.

The Bible Has Two Testaments

  • The most obvious and significant division in the Bible is that it has two large sections known as testaments.
  • A testament is a covenant between God and Man.
  • The first is the Old Testament.
  • It revolves around the special covenant which God made with Israel, described in the first 5 books.
  • The rest of the O.T. shows how Israel broke that covenant and how God was preparing for a new and better covenant.
  • The New Testament revolves around the New Covenant which Jesus instituted to fulfill the Old Covenant.
  • The OT looks forward to the NT
  • The N.T. consists of the 4 Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation.

 The Bible Has Been Preserved

  • The actual original parchments and papyri have long ago perished, but the inspired Word has been preserved by God through the ages.
  • The is called providential preservation.
  • There are no lost books, sentences, words or even letters.
  • It is the means of salvation and the main means of revelation in this age.

For Further Study

Bibliology – The Bible

  • From the Series: An Introduction to Christian Belief: A Layman’s Guide

What is the Bible? – Basic Truths Series

  • Christian Communicators Worldwide

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