WORDS OF FAITH
“… nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine …”
1 Tim. 4:6
Central Church of Christ Naples, FL
June 12, 2011
Number 41
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Unity and the Inspiration of the Bible
Critics of the Bible have spewed forth their diatribe and
claptrap for centuries. Men such as Benedict de Spinoza, Julius
Wellhausen, and more recently, Karl Barth, and Rudolph Bultmann,
have devoted much energy to destroying the simple truth
that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible, plenary, verbally inspired
Word of God Almighty. Men such as those just listed have sought
to demean the Bible by bringing it down to the level of mere humanly
originated writings in order to justify their own lusts and release
their own consciences from the consequences of disobedience
to God’s Word. Worldly lusts are easily appeased and indulged
when one can “write their own rules!”
Paul told Timothy the following great words of encouragement,
exhortation, and warning: “Preach the word; be instant in
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Tim. 4:2-4).
Paul also admonished Timothy and all Christians to “study
to show thyself approved unto God,” (2 Tim. 2:15). It is necessary
for all Christians to diligently study God’s Word. However, if the
Bible is not God’s Word, such diligence would be futile and singularly
unprofitable. Therefore, the offering of proof that the Bible is
God’s Word and that it is without contradiction or error is a needed
endeavor, that the church and the world may, without trepidation,
place their fullest confidence in the Bible as God’s authoritative
revelation to men.
UNITY: ITS MEANING AND NECESSITY
The word “unity,” may be defined by the following: “1. being
one: the state of being one 2. combining into one: the combining
or joining of separate things or entities to form one 3. something
whole: something whole or complete formed by combining
or joining separate things or entities 4. harmony: harmony of opinion,
interest, or feeling”(Encarta,World English Dictionary).
Please notice that “unity” is defined as oneness and the
combining of separate elements into a single unit and that harmony
is necessarily present. Such is a useful working definition of unity
as it will be used by this author.
It is inconceivable that a literary work that spans nearly sixteen
hundred years as respects its authorship and was written by
some forty men from a vast divergence of experiences, socioeconomic
backgrounds, temperament, geographic and governmental
locations, cultures, and times; could be the result of human invention.
If one will consider the writings of modern authors and their
disunity involving a single event, one must admit that something
beyond human thought is behind the unity of God’s Word. The
current news media is an example of the aforementioned disunity.
After a national event has taken place the news media covers
the story by a variety of sources: television, Internet, radio,
newspapers, news magazines, plus many more. Each source of information
will vary in its presentation. Some will approve of the
event and its participants, others will not. Some will call the happenings
wise, others will call them foolishness. Some will call for
change, others will call for a continuation of the actions of those
involved. Some will call it right, some will call it wrong. Dear
reader, please understand that only an irrational person will declare
that a singular event is both right and wrong at one and the same
time. The wavering and discordant views of today’s social commentators
(some Biblical critics have accused the inspired writers
of being nothing more than social commentators) shows very
vividly that there is a great difference between the writings of men
and the Book of God!