P1 The Wedding you must not miss that is revealed in scripture

Jeremiah 31:31-34 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

Introduction: Preparing for a wedding

Not long ago my mother gave letters written by my wife's late mother to my wife that contained information about preparations for our wedding. Debi's mother had written the letters with a detailed list of what needed to be done before our wedding day.  When Debi saw her mother's handwriting, it rekindled wonderful memories of a wonderful woman of God. We both were reminded about all the preparations that went into our wedding, and how hard Debi's mother had worked to make our wedding day so very special and unforgettable. The Lord has been good to us both in giving us nearly 18 years of wonderful marriage to one another.

The Theme of God's marriage to His people from Old to New Testament

When we turn to the Bible, we get to read in the Old and New Testaments all that God did in providing salvation for His people.  Whether the reader may realize it or not, there is a grand plan including a glorious wedding at the center of God's redemptive work in scripture. The idea of God being a Groom and His people being a bride is repeated throughout both Testaments. In the Old Testament we see Yahweh marrying Israel, only to see Israel break covenant with Him. Despite Israel's failure, Yahweh predicts through the prophets that His people will be restored to Him. The Old Testament ends with prophecies and promises stating that God will restore His people, without explaining exactly how he will accomplish the feat.

In the Gospels we discover the glorious and unexpected sequel to the Old Testament. God would use the people of God, Israel, to supply the means by which His Son could enter into time through the virgin birth. By way of the Fully Divine Son's incarnation, the restoration of the people of God would come about through the Groom - The Son. Old Testament scriptures abound in the prediction of the Messiah coming into history to redeem His people.  However the one detail not revealed in the Old Testament regarded the nature of the bride for the Messiah, the Son.

As one proceeds further into the Gospels, Acts and Epistles, God's glorious plan for a wedding is unfolded that includes His Son paying the price for His future bride, the Church. The church is the means by which God will gather His choice people from every tribe, nation and tongue to be the Bride for the Son. Passages such as Ephesians 5 connect the ongoing theme of Christ the Bridegroom and the church the bride. The idea of Jesus Christ being the Divine Bridegroom reveals Him to be equal and Divinely united in glory and honor to the Person of the Father, Yahweh in the Old Testament. 

The Jewish people, who would reject their Messiah in the Gospels, are not cast away, but are temporarily set aside by Yahweh in this age so that the full number of Gentiles may be gathered by the Spirit through missionary efforts. Why? As the New Testament reveals, God is in the business of gathering a bride composed of the least likely people of His chosen purposes who will bring about His glory - the church. 

Once we come to the Book of Revelation, the full picture of the wedding for the Son and His bride, the church, is made complete.  We discover that the church will be transformed in the rapture and Israel will be prepared and purified through the tribulation period to be converted by grace through faith the Son's second coming. Revelation also reveals that more people will be given saving grace by the Spirit to believe on Jesus Christ before being martyred. Upon His return, converted Israel will finally fulfill her role among the nations in Christ's Millennial reign in Revelation 20. Following the Millennium, the bride will be united to the Son in full radiant glory in Revelation 21-22, with the marriage lasting into eternity and God's redemptive plan fully complete.  

Truly this is a wedding that you must not miss, being that God has sent forth His Spirit to call forth sinners unto faith and repentance and thus be a part of the bride. This is the overall picture the Bible portrays regarding the Wedding you must no miss.  In tomorrow's post we will begin to look more closely at this amazing theme of God's desire to gather a bride for His Son. 

P8 Conclusions about inerrancy, Bible translations and authority

Job 23:12 “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

Introduction & Review

For the past seven posts we have explored the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy with the aim to better understand what Biblical inerrancy is and is not. Today's post concludes this blog series by understanding Biblical inerrancy in relationship to translation and authority. Such a study is crucial for pastors, Bible teachers and anyone who aims to know the inerrant Lord Jesus Christ through His inerrant Word. The link for today's post and the entire document of the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy" can be found at: http://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf  My prayer is that these series of posts have been an encouragement to readers in showing why Biblical inerrancy is still crucial to today's issues. 

THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY

Exposition (-concluded)

TRANSMISSION AND TRANSLATION

"Since God has nowhere promised an inerrant
transmission of Scripture, it is necessary to affirm that only the autographic text of the original documents was inspired and to maintain the need of textual criticism as a means of detecting any slips that may
have crept into the text in the course of its transmission."

"The verdict of this science, however, is that the Hebrew and Greek text appear to be amazingly well preserved, so that we are amply justified in affirming, with the Westminster Confession, a singular providence of God in this matter and in declaring that the authority of Scripture is in no way jeopardized by the fact that the copies we possess are not entirely error-free."

"Similarly, no translation is or can be perfect, and all translations are an additional step away from the autographa. Yet the verdict of linguistic science is that English-speaking Christians, at least, are exceedingly well served in these days with a host of excellent
translations and have no cause for hesitating to conclude that the true Word of God is within their reach."

"Indeed, in view of the frequent repetition in Scripture of the main matters with which it deals and also of the Holy Spirit's constant witness to and through the Word, no serious translation of Holy Scripture will so destroy
its meaning as to render it unable to make its reader "wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2Tim.3:15)."

INERRANCY AND AUTHORITY

"In our affirmation of the authority of Scripture as involving its total truth, we are consciously standing with Christ and His apostles, indeed with the whole Bible and with the main stream of Church history from the first days until very recently. We are concerned at the casual, inadvertent, and seemingly thoughtless way in
which a belief of such far-reaching importance has been given up by so many in our day."

"We are conscious too that great and grave confusion results from ceasing to maintain the total truth of the Bible whose authority one professes to acknowledge. The result of taking this step is that the Bible which God gave loses its authority, and what has authority instead is a Bible reduced in content according to the demands of one's critical reasonings and in principle reducible still further once one has started."

"This means that at bottom independent reason now has authority, as opposed to Scriptural teaching. If this is not seen and if for the time being basic evangelical doctrines are still held, persons denying the full truth of Scripture may claim an evangelical identity while methodologically they have moved away from the evangelical principle of knowledge to an unstable subjectivism, and will find it hard not to move further. We affirm that what Scripture says, God says. May He be glorified. Amen and Amen."

P7 Understanding Inerrancy in its relationship to infallibility and interpretation of the Bible

Job 23:12 “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

Introduction & Review

For the past six posts we have explored the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy with the aim to better understand what Biblical inerrancy is and is not. Today's post continues by comparing Biblical inerrancy and infallibility. Such a study is crucial for pastors, Bible teachers and anyone who aims to know the inerrant Lord Jesus Christ through His inerrant Word. Below is the next section of the document that aims to give an exposition or unfolding of how Biblical Inerrancy is relevant to the major themes and sections of scripture. The link for today's post and the entire document of the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy" can be found at: http://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf  May these series of posts prove informative and edifying to readers. 

THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY

Exposition (-continued)
INFALLIBILITY, INERRANCY, INTERPRETATION

"Holy Scripture, as the inspired Word of God witnessing authoritatively to Jesus Christ, may properly be called infallible and inerrant. These negative terms have a special value, for they explicitly safeguard crucial positive truths."

"Infallible signifies the quality of neither misleading nor being misled and so safeguards in categorical terms the truth that Holy Scripture is a sure, safe, and reliable rule and guide in all matters. Similarly, inerrant signifies the quality of being free from all falsehood or mistake and so safeguards the truth that Holy Scripture is entirely true and trustworthy in all its assertions."

"We affirm that canonical Scripture should always be interpreted on the basis that it is infallible and inerrant. However, in determining what the God-taught writer is asserting in each passage, we must pay the most careful attention to its claims and character as a
human production. In inspiration, God utilized the culture and conventions of his penman's milieu, a milieu that God controls in His sovereign providence; it is misinterpretation
to imagine otherwise."

"So history must be treated as history, poetry as poetry, hyperbole and metaphor as hyperbole and metaphor, generalization and approximation as what they are, and so forth. Differences between literary conventions in Bible times and in ours must also be observed: since, for instance, non-chronological narration and imprecise citation were conventional and acceptable and violated no expectations in those days, we must not regard these things as faults when we find them in Bible writers."

"When total precision of a particular
kind was not expected nor aimed at, it is no error not to have achieved it. Scripture is inerrant, not in the sense of being absolutely precise by modern standards,
but in the sense of making good its claims and achieving that measure of focused truth at which its authors aimed."

"The truthfulness of Scripture is not negated by the appearance in it of irregularities of grammar or spelling, phenomenal descriptions of nature, reports of false statements (e.g., the lies of Satan), or seeming discrepancies between one passage and another. It is not right to set the so-called "phenomena" of Scripture against the teaching of Scripture about itself. Apparent inconsistencies should not be ignored. Solution of them, where this can be convincingly achieved, will encourage our faith, and where for the present no convincing solution is at hand we shall significantly honor God by trusting His assurance that His Word is true, despite these appearances, and by maintaining our confidence that one day they will be seen to have been illusions."

"Inasmuch as all Scripture is the product of a single divine mind, interpretation must stay within the bounds of the analogy of Scripture and eschew hypotheses that would correct one Biblical passage by another, whether in the name of progressive revelation or of the imperfect enlightenment of the inspired writer's mind." 

"Although Holy Scripture is nowhere culture-bound in the sense that its teaching lacks universal validity, it is sometimes culturally conditioned by the customs and conventional views of a particular period, so that the application of its principles today calls for a different sort of action."

MORE TOMORROW....

P6 Understanding Inerrancy in its relationship to Christ's Authority & the Bible

Job 23:12 “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

Introduction & Review

For the past five posts we have explored the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy with the aim to better understand what Biblical inerrancy is and is not. Today's post continues by taking this subject and understanding it in the broader scheme of the Bible's major themes and parts. Such a study is crucial for pastors, Bible teachers and anyone who aims to know the inerrant Lord Jesus Christ through His inerrant Word. Below is the next section of the document that aims to give an exposition or unfolding of how Biblical Inerrancy is relevant to the major themes and sections of scripture. The link for today's post and the entire document of the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy" can be found at: http://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf  May these series of posts prove informative and edifying to readers. 

THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY

Exposition (-continued)

AUTHORITY CHRIST AND THE BIBLE
"Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is the Word made flesh, our Prophet, Priest, and King, is the ultimate Mediator of God's communication to man, as He is of all God's gifts of grace. The revelation He gave was more than verbal; He revealed the Father by His presence and His deeds as well. Yet His words were crucially important; for He was God, He spoke from the Father, and His words will judge all men at the last day."

"As the prophesied Messiah, Jesus Christ is the central theme of Scripture. The Old Testament looked ahead to Him; the New Testament looks back to His first coming and on to His second. Canonical Scripture is the divinely inspired and therefore normative witness to Christ. No hermeneutic, therefore, of which the historical Christ is not the focal point is acceptable. Holy Scripture must be treated as what it essentially is - the witness of the Father to the incarnate Son."

"It appears that the Old Testament canon had been fixed by the time of Jesus. The New Testament canon is likewise now closed in as much as no new apostolic witness to the historical Christ can now be borne. No new revelation (as distinct from Spirit-given understanding of existing revelation) will be given until Christ comes again. The canon was created in principle by divine inspiration. The Church's part was to discern the canon which God had created, not to devise one
of its own." 

"The word canon, signifying a rule or standard, is a pointer to authority, which means the right to rule and control. Authority in Christianity belongs to God in His revelation, which means, on the one hand, Jesus Christ, the living Word, and, on the other hand, Holy Scripture, the written Word. But the authority of Christ and that of Scripture are one. As our Prophet, Christ testified that Scripture cannot be broken. As our Priest and King, He devoted His earthly life to fulfilling the law and the prophets, even dying in obedience to the words of Messianic prophecy. Thus, as He saw Scripture attesting Him and His authority, so by His own submission to Scripture He attested its authority." 

"As He bowed to His Father's instruction given in His Bible (our Old Testament), so He requires His disciples to do not, however, in isolation but in conjunction with the apostolic witness to Himself which He undertook to inspire by His gift of the Holy Spirit. So Christians show themselves faithful servants of their Lord by bowing to the divine instruction given in the prophetic and apostolic
writings which together make up our Bible."

"By authenticating each other's authority, Christ and Scripture coalesce into a single fount of authority. The Biblically-interpreted Christ and the Christ-centered, Christ-proclaiming Bible are from this standpoint one.
As from the fact of inspiration we infer that what Scripture says, God says, so from the revealed relation between Jesus Christ and Scripture we may equally declare that what Scripture says, Christ says."

MORE TOMORROW...

P5 Understanding Inerrancy in its relationship to Creation, Revelation and Inspiration

Job 23:12 “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

Introduction & Review

For the past four posts we have explored the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy with the aim to better understand what Biblical inerrancy is and is not. Today's post continues by taking this subject and understanding it in the broader scheme of the Bible's major themes and parts. Such a study is crucial for pastors, Bible teachers and anyone who aims to know the inerrant Lord Jesus Christ through His inerrant Word. Below is the next section of the document that aims to give an exposition or unfolding of how Biblical Inerrancy is relevant to the major themes and sections of scripture. The link for today's post and the entire document of the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy" can be found at: http://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf  May these series of posts prove informative and edifying to readers.

THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY

Exposition
"Our understanding of the doctrine of inerrancy must be set in the context of the broader teachings of the Scripture concerning itself. This exposition gives an
account of the outline of doctrine from which our summary statement and articles are drawn."

"Creation, Revelation and Inspiration
The Triune God, who formed all things by his creative utterances and governs all things by His Word of decree, made mankind in His own image for a life of communion with Himself, on the model of the eternal fellowship of loving communication within the Godhead."

"As God's image-bearer, man was to hear God's Word addressed to him and to respond in the joy of adoring obedience. Over and above God's self-disclosure in the created order and the sequence of events within it,
human beings from Adam on have received verbal messages from Him, either directly, as stated in Scripture, or indirectly in the form of part or all of Scripture itself."

"When Adam fell, the Creator did not abandon mankind to final judgment but promised salvation and began to reveal Himself as Redeemer in a sequence of historical
events centering on Abraham's family and culminating in the life, death, resurrection, present heavenly ministry, and promised return of Jesus Christ. Within this frame God has from time to time spoken specific
words of judgment and mercy, promise and command, to sinful human beings so drawing them into a covenant relation of mutual commitment between Him and them in which He blesses them with gifts of grace and they
bless Him in responsive adoration."

"Moses, whom God used as mediator to carry His words to His people at the time of the Exodus, stands at the head of a long line of
prophets in whose mouths and writings God put His words for delivery to Israel. God's purpose in this succession of messages was to maintain His covenant by causing His people to know His Name - that is, His
nature - and His will both of precept and purpose the present and for the future. This line of prophetic spokesmen from God came to completion in Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Word, who was Himself a prophet - more than a prophet, but not less - and in the apostles
and prophets of the first Christian generation." 

"When God's final and climactic message, His word to the world concerning Jesus Christ, had been spoken and elucidated by those in the apostolic circle, the sequence of revealed messages ceased. Henceforth the Church was to live and know God by what He had already said, and said for all time."

"At Sinai God wrote the terms of His covenant on tables of stone, as His enduring witness and for lasting - accessibility: and throughout the period of prophetic and apostolic revelation He prompted men to write the
messages given to and through them, along with celebratory records of His dealings with His people, plus moral reflections on covenant life and forms of praise and prayer for covenant mercy. The theological reality
of inspiration in the producing of Biblical documents corresponds to that of spoken prophecies: although the human writers' personalities were expressed in what they wrote, the words were divinely constituted." 

"Thus, what Scripture says, God says; its authority is His authority, for He is its ultimate Author, having given it through the minds and words of chosen and prepared men who in freedeom and faithfulness "spoke from God
as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" 

(1 Pet.1:21). Holy Scripture must be acknowledged as the Word - of God by virtue of its divine origin."

More tomorrow....

P4 The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy - Articles of Affirmation and Denial (12-19) that further define inerrancy

2 Peter 1:20-21 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Introduction:

In order to specifically assert what inerrancy is and is not, the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy drafted 19 articles of affirmation and denial.  Today's post will feature the remaining articles (12-19).  The aim of this section of the statement is precision in making certain to readers what constitutes Biblical inerrancy and infallibility.  Such a section is important to combat other positions that attempt to view the Bible as being anything but the Word of God.  Again I commend the reader to explore the link for the below articles at the link: http://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf

From the document "The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy"

ARTICLES OF AFFIRMATION AND DENIAL

Article XII

We affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.

We deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood.

Article XIII

We affirm the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness 

of Scripture. 

We deny that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose. We further deny that inerrancy is negated by Biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern technical precision, irregularities of grammar or spelling, observational descriptions of nature, the reporting of falsehoods, the use of hyperbole and round numbers, the topical arrangement of material, variant selections of material in parallel accounts, or the use of free citations.

Article XIV

We affirm the unity and internal consistency of Scripture.

We deny that alleged errors and discrepancies that have not yet been resolved vitiate the truth claims of the Bible.

Article XV

We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy is grounded in the teaching of the Bible about inspiration.

We deny that Jesus' teaching about Scripture may be dismissed by appeals to accommodation or to any natural limitation of His humanity.

Article XVI

We affirm that the doctrine of inerrancy has been integral to the Church's faith throughout its history.
We deny that inerrancy is a doctrine invented by Scholastic Protestantism, or is a reactionary position postulated in response to negative higher criticism.

Article XVII

We affirm that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring believers of the truthfulness of God's written Word.

We deny that this witness of the Holy Spirit operates in isolation from or against Scripture.

Article XVIII

We affirm that the text of Scripture is to be interpretedby grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture.

We deny the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claims to authorship.

Article XIX

We affirm that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to
increasing conformity to the image of Christ.

We deny that such confession is necessary for salvation. However, we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and to the Church.

More tomorrow....

P3 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Articles of Affirmation and Denial 1-11 that define inerrancy

2 Peter 1:20-21 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Introduction:

Happy New Years to every reader who comes on this blogsite today! We have been in a study of the most comprehensive statement regarding Biblical inerrancy in modern times: "The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy". The group who drafted this document: "The International Council on Biblical Interrancy" (ICBI), desired to express in the clearest terms possible what Biblical inerrancy is and is not. In order to accomplish this purpose, The ICBI drafted 19 articles of affirmation and denial.  Today's post will feature the first eleven of those articles.  The aim of this section of the statement is precision in making certain to readers what constitutes Biblical inerrancy and infallibility.  Such a section is important to combat other positions that attempt to view the Bible as being anything but the Word of God.  Again I commend the reader to explore the link for the below articles at the link: http://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI_1.pdf

From the document "The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy"

ARTICLES OF AFFIRMATION AND DENIAL

Article I
We affirm that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative Word of God.

We deny that the Scriptures receive their authority from the Church, tradition, or any other human source.

Article II
We affirm that the Scriptures are the supreme written norm by which God binds the conscience, and that the authority of the Church is subordinate to that of Scripture.

We deny that Church creeds, councils, or declarations have authority greater than or equal to the authority of the Bible.

Article III
We affirm that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God.

We deny that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation, or only becomes revelation in encounter, or depends on the responses of men for its validity.

Article IV
We affirm that God who made mankind in His image has used language as a means of revelation.

We deny that human language is so limited by our creatureliness that it is rendered inadequate as a vehicle for divine revelation. We further deny that the corruption of human culture and language through sin has thwarted God's work of inspiration.

Article V

We affirm that God's revelation in the Holy Scriptures was progressive.

We deny that later revelation, which may fulfill earlier revelation, ever corrects or contradicts it. We further deny that any normative revelation has been given since the completion of the New Testament writings.

Article VI

We affirm that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration.

We deny that the inspiration of Scripture can rightly be affirmed of the whole without the parts, or of some parts but not the whole.

Article VII

We affirm that inspiration was the work in which God by His Spirit, through human writers, gave us His Word. The origin of Scripture is divine. The mode of divine inspiration remains largely a mystery to us.

We deny that inspiration can be reduced to human insight, or to heightened states of consciousness of any kind.

Article VIII

We affirm that God in His Work of inspiration utilized the distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers whom He had chosen and prepared.

We deny that God, in causing these writers to use the very words that He chose, overrode their personalities.

Article IX

We affirm that inspiration, though not conferring omniscience, guaranteed true and trustworthy utterance on all matters of which the Biblical authors were moved to speak and write.

We deny that the finitude or fallenness of these writers, by necessity or otherwise, introduced distortion

or falsehood into God's Word.

Article X

We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further affirm

that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the original.

We deny that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs. We further deny that this absence renders the assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant.

Article XI

We affirm that Scripture, having been given by divine inspiration, is infallible, so that, far from misleading us, it is true and reliable in all the matters it addresses.

We deny that it is possible for the Bible to be at the same time infallible and errant in its assertions. Infallibility and inerrancy may be distinguished, but not separated.

More Tomorrow....