Acknowledging the Divine character of scripture

The trend today in evangelicalism, even in Reformed scholarship, is to emphasize the humanness of Scripture. Now, there is something to that—the Bible, as is so often said, did not fall out of heaven leather-bound with maps equipped. There is a historical process. These were real humans who wrote it. There were historical circumstances; we acknowledge all of that and would not think of denying it. And yet, the direction of the Bible’s testimony and emphasis is solidly on the side of divine authorship. Yes, men were used to write this. But Peter said men spoke from God as the Holy Spirit superintended the whole process. Hebrews 1:1’s summary of the Bible is that God spoke through the prophets. We do not deny the prophets, but it was God who spoke.

And this is why attacks on the divine character of Scripture or the inerrancy of Scripture will always have the effect of weakening the Church and its witness. This is going on today. The church is being barraged from within, and it is popular and sophisticated, to embrace these theories that would undermine, in some ways, our high view of the  divine character, nature, and authority of the written Word of God. Leon Morris says this: If men, however, think of the gospel only as another philosophy, however profound it may be, then they will never have the burning zeal which sent the first Christian preachers through the world to proclaim what God had done for man. The reason that these Thessalonians did not cave in under persecution, that they gave themselves and the word sounded forth from them, was that they were persuaded they had been entrusted with the very word of salvation that God had given to the world.

Do we believe that? See, if we do, we will receive it and place ourselves under it. We will embrace it and will be the servants of this gospel as it goes forth in the world. But we must first know it as the authoritative, true Word of God. Only then will we suffer scorn and, without apology, without asking permission, will spread the gospel light into the darkness of the world. I should point out as well that when Paul says it is the word of the Lord, he is referring specifically to Jesus. For Paul, the Lord is Jesus Christ. It is used generally of the Godhead, but Paul will be directing it directly to Jesus Christ. And one thing this means is that a gospel-spreading witness is not merely one that proclaims the Bible in a general sense, but more pointedly, in a more central way, it is the biblical witness to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only Saviour who came and saved through the blood of his cross. That is the gospel we spread.¹

Richard D. Phillips