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DAILY DEVOTIONAL 
By Carl Shank 11 Jul, 2024
Biblical Authority For All Areas of Life Do you recall the old vacation Bible school song? — “The B-I-B-L-E / Yes, That’s the Book for me / I stand alone on the Word of God / The B-I-B-L-E.” When I asked the artificial intelligence site, Calude.ai, for a recent summary of “biblical authority,” it offered the following — “Here's a concise summary of major views on biblical authority: 1. Inerrancy: The Bible is without error in all matters. 2. Infallibility: The Bible is inerrant in matters of faith and practice, but not necessarily in historical or scientific details. 3. Limited Inspiration: Only certain parts of the Bible are divinely inspired. 4. Neo-orthodox: The Bible becomes the Word of God through personal encounter. 5. Liberal: The Bible is a human document containing spiritual insights but not divine revelation. 6. Canonical Criticism: Focuses on the final form of the text as authoritative. 7. Historical-Grammatical: Emphasizes original context and language for interpretation. 8. Allegorical: Seeks hidden spiritual meanings beyond the literal text. 9. Existential: Emphasizes personal interpretation and application. 10. Post-modern: Views biblical authority as culturally constructed.” Again, AI has missed the point of “inerrancy.” Biblical inerrancy does NOT claim the Bible is without error in all matters , but rather the Bible is without error in “ all that it claims. ” While this may be seen as “infallibility,” according to AI’s summary, it really outlines what evangelicals have claimed forever as “inerrancy.” But we are ahead of ourselves. Biblical authority presumes faith-submission belief. The presupposition of most writers here, including the internet Wikipedia article on “biblical authority,” is that the Bible is just another book that can be subjected to autonomous, human critical thinking and dissecting. Once we start with a supposed “neutral” human position, we are then allowed to critique anything by anybody, including the Word of God, and even “God” himself. No one starts without critical presuppositions that inform and even dictate what the results of study and reflection and life choices involve. Those who choose to place their critical suppositions on the Bible are predisposed to disbelieve many parts of the Bible, or even reject the Bible’s claim to authority itself. This is a fact that has been demonstrated over and over again in the literature about the Bible. What we do not like, we do not like. And we therefore do not take the Bible’s precepts at face value. That is especially true in a post-modern world that has gone way beyond the old modernistic liberalism of the nineteenth and even twentieth century. We do not want God telling us what to believe, how to live and how to make choices on everything. Consequently, biblical authority is a non-starter for many people. Can a non-believer in Christ as Savior and Lord of their life submit to biblical authority? Not really, and certainly not evenly. The debate about certain Bible verses and declarations centers around a presuppositional tablet of belief and practice. The biblical Christian takes God’s Word on the authority of God himself, who cannot lie and who does not deceive. Biblical faith requires submission to the overriding Lordship of Christ over all of life and thinking. Without that submission, there is no consistent or thorough biblical authority. This does not mean that there are no hard places in the Bible to understand and relate to modern culture and society. Moreover, our natural and sinfully laced examination of the Bible darkens and prevents much understanding of these so-called “hard” places. Books and seminars and sermons on such supposed “difficulties” have failed to satisfy many people due to their internal rejection of God as Lord of their life and thought and choices. On the other hand, those who have a willing submission to God’s authority over their lives have increasingly found resolutions to such “hard” places in Scripture. Presuppositional “openness” to God and what God says in the Bible is at the forefront of biblical authority. Biblical authority is “contextual” authority. The so-called verse separations we see in our Bibles betray our understanding of biblical authority. We must always relate each “verse” to the context of that verse, locally and then extensively throughout the Bible. Picking and choosing verses we “like” or “don’t like” or have trouble with is no way to read or understand the Bible and its authority. Unfortunately, large parts of the Church of Christ over the years have fed into such an erroneous system of understanding and living out what the Bible says and means. Context is truly king here. Biblical authority is “all of life and thought” authority. Those who dichotomize faith from the rest of life have foreseen trouble with biblical authority. God gives us a “world and life” point of view in the Bible. Either we admit and accept such a viewpoint or we do not. I have a friend who helps doctors and nurses in their medical training. That training in our day is in many aspects diametrically opposed to the teaching and authority of Scripture in their professional practice and life. This anti-God study and practice militates against biblical authority in their profession. And, in a number of cases, they cannot legally practice medicine with an overriding submission to Scripture in their minds and hearts. Or, they must hide such belief and submission as they practice medicine. That does not mean we have no Christian doctors or nurses. What it does mean is that some aspects of current medical care are “off-limits” to them, if they seek to be submissive to God and the Scriptures. I admit that I am a “bottom-line” kind of Christian. There is truth and there is falsehood. Do I believe we should write and talk with and debate with unbelievers about biblical authority? Yes and no. Yes, if there is a genuine willingness to find God’s truth. No, if this is just an academic exercise with no resolution perceived or intended. At the end of the age and judgment, God is not going to adjudicate people according to where they lived or what cultural time line they occupied. His judgment will be based on his character and Word. No fudging then and there. After over forty years in Christian ministry and theological study, I have been disappointed time and again over endless debates with unbelievers over the Bible’s authority and integrity. Do I believe God preserved his Word through the ages? Yes, I believe in God’s overriding providential sovereign control of people and events and church councils and debates on the integrity of the Bible. Unless God does an invisible, yet definite, spiritual opening of eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand and submit to the Bible, that never happens. We live in a world of choices. Biblical authority is a choice. “The B-I-B-L-E / Yes, That’s the Book for me / I stand alone on the Word of God / The B-I-B-L-E.”
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Oct 17, 2024

Continue to the End

Matthew 24:16; Colossians 2:7; John 15:6


“Theywho are continually surrounded by temptations to apostasy, have need to be continually attended by exhortations to perseverance.' (Matthew Henry) It was on this account that Paul earnestly exhorted the disciples in Lystra and lconium 'to

continue in the faith.' This was an advice which was not easy for them to follow, for

their circumstances were peculiar. They had heathenism all round them, dark, bigoted, and persecuting, and therefore, in continuing to be Christians, they did not only risk their property, position, and dearest friendships, but hazarded their very lives. The stones were yet lying on the ground that had nearly killed Paul, and might next be gathered up by murderous hands to cast at any one of themselves. There is no open persecution meanwhile, but even in these quiet times it is neither an easy thing to come to the faith, nor an easy thing to continue in it in holy simplicity and firmness. Owing to the inherent corruption in us, we are all to a greater or less extent wrongly biased, and all our natural sympathies draw us to sin rather than to righteousness, and to error rather than to truth; and unless we take this deep undercurrent of our nature into account, we may insensibly get upon the rocks and make utter shipwreck of our faith. But besides this general danger common to all, there is a peculiar one forcibly presented in these words of inspiration: 'The time

will come, when they will not endure sound doctrine, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth.' In our own time these words seem getting not a little of startling fulfilment. There is with many a growing intolerance of the revealed and supernatural in every form; nay, as if in fulfilment of John's words, 'He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son,' not a few now speak as if the very acme of scientific progress would be to prove that there is neither Creator nor Redeemer, but that man himself is all in all.”


Continue to the end. Perseverance is not a popular or easy concept, even for Christian believers. Part of my church assignment for next spring is to teach a course on “apologetics,” or defense of the faith and how to navigate an unbelieving world in today’s marketplace. There have been a number of significant books and seminars and podcasts given on this area of Christianity and Scriptural studies. The reality is that although there seems to be a rise of interest in the supernatural or general “spirituality,” there is an increasing rejection of the claims of Jesus Christ in our lives and thoughts. We have a world filled with false religions and abounding in the false claims of science and learning. Any Christian in most any college or university is increasingly laughed out of the academic world and study. Or completely ignored and “gaslighted.” Antichrist, or the spirit of antichrist, is plainly evident in the world. The gospel word for believers is to “continue to the end.” Keep on keeping on!


A Puritan Prayer —

Lord, today you have set before me out of your word a glorious mystery—a righteousness of your Son that I did not know or care about before. I see now my happiness lies there. 


No matter what happens to me in the world, and no matter what happens to my name or my worldly possessions, I am forever secure if I have Christ to clothe me. Lord, if righteousness did prevail, then you would be honored more than ever. 


We would have the joy of our hearts, we would be delivered from the temptations we encounter, and your saints would not suffer as they do. Amen.” (Jeremiah Burroughs)


(Jeremiah Burroughs, while one of the most distinguished of the English Independents, he was one of the most moderate, acting consistently in accordance with the motto on his study door (in Latin and Greek): "Opinionum varietas et opinantium unitas non sunt ασυστατα" ("Difference of belief and unity of believers are not inconsistent"). In 1646, Burroughs died from complications resulting from a fall from his horse on the way back from the Westminster Assembly. [Wikipedia])


"We must unquestionably receive its [the Bible's] statements of fact,  bow before its enunciation of duty, tremble before its threatenings, 
and rest upon its promises." – B.B. Warfield


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