Sunday Night, Feburary 7, 2020 PM

We have several different scripture passages we may look at tonight as we continue our study coming to the Bible. Again, the goal is to ask important questions, basic vital questions about the Bible, and then answer those questions with the Bible.

And, just to hear the self, the testimony of the scriptures about the scriptures. You know, God does not leave us in the dark to hunt and peck around and try to stumble into the truth of what His Word is, but He tells us in His Word.

So He does not place the answer somewhere obscure and difficult and only meant for a few to know, but He tells us in His Word what His Word is. And we have finished with one important question, which is, which translation?

And we've talked about the various aspects about translations, and I think perhaps one of the ones that helped me the most was just seeing what a priority God puts on a translation into the language that somebody knows best.

He wants His Word to be in the language they know best. And to see that attested to time and again in the Word is such an encouragement to support that work and to engage in that work. Now the next question we are asking is this, who wrote it?

Who wrote the Bible? And we have an answer in the Word of God, who is the author of the Bible? Who wrote the holy scriptures? It is an answer that is a dual answer, and it has more than one facet to it.

The biblical answer is this, that God and men wrote the Bible, and you would be accurate in saying that. You would also be accurate in saying that God wrote the Bible, as long as you were not inferring by that that men didn't.

And you would also be right in answering the question who wrote the Bible by saying men wrote the Bible, as long as you weren't inferring that God didn't write the Bible. So we are going to look at those answers from the texts themselves and see what does God have to say about who wrote His Word.

Dual Authorship of Scripture

So it's God and men, it's dual authorship. And one example is in Acts chapter 4 verses 24 through 26. As I read, you can follow along and see if you can spot it. Can you spot the affirmation that it's dual authorship?

God and man wrote the Bible, the holy scriptures. So Acts chapter 4 verses 24 through 26. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the mouth of your servant David have said, why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things?

The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. Did you spot it? In verse 25, he says that they pray together, they confess together that the maker of all things by the mouth of his servant David spoke these words.

And then we have a quotation from Psalm 2. David composed Psalm 2. He wrote down those words, ordered them for the corporate worship of the people of God at some point. And so David is definitely the author of Psalm 2.

But it also says that God was the one who spoke these things by the mouth of David. So instantly, you're confronted with this truth of dual authorship. Who wrote Psalm 2? David wrote Psalm 2. Who wrote Psalm 2?

God wrote Psalm 2, dual authorship. And so when we think about what is the relationship then between God and man in the authorship of Scripture, we may consider that a difficult thing to discern. In what manner is it true that God is the author of Scripture and that man is the author of Scripture?

And what relationship does each author have in the work of the production of Scripture? So this is a question that's been asked many times, and sometimes it's hard to come to an answer. But is it like God used these various authors and basically turned them into puppets?

And basically, when it was time to write Scripture, he took over and then, you know, their eyes defocused, and they just began to write, and they had no idea what was going on. It doesn't seem to be the case.

Is it something that they were writing down their passionate, deeply felt beliefs and feelings and thoughts? And when they were done, they thought to themselves, one of my better pieces, I think. I'm going to keep that around.

I felt kind of inspired when I was writing. But they had no concept that God was involved at all. Was it entirely of God and the human part was just there barely? Was it almost entirely human and the part that God plays was incidental or maybe just afterwards?

What is the relationship between God and man in that situation? And we struggle for illustrations. I remember I went to a talk given here in the city, I think it was in 2003, by J .I. Packer, who came and gave a talk on the doctrine of Scripture and inspiration.

And even the venerable J .I. Packer used an illustration that later on, the person who was discipling me had to modify for me. But J .I. Packer had the idea of, it was a Saturday, mom went away to do errands and groceries and shopping, and the project of the day was to paint the fence.

And so the dad, with his five-year-old boy, decided to paint the fence. And so they got busy painting the fence, but the five-year-old could not reach, you know, but a third of the way up this fence or halfway up the fence is the farthest reach you could get.

So the dad would pick him up and help him in painting the fence and moved him along and all those different things. And the kid was doing a great thing, and so the dad showed him how to paint and so on and so forth.

And then when the mom came home, she saw the painted fence, and she says, who painted the fence? And of course, the five-year-old says, I did. And dad says, yeah, we both did. And that was J .I. Packer's way of trying to get at what is inspiration, what is the relationship between God and man in the writing of Scripture?

And of course, there's some biblical language behind that, I think, which would support the illustration. But even in this, there is some degree to which, in that illustration, the divinity, the divine aspect or the father aspect of the illustration can almost take over and eliminate some of the reality of the human side of the authorship of Scripture.

The best illustration we have is actually the incarnation. How can we possibly understand the Word of God as being both divine and human? Are we not given that understanding in the nature of Jesus Christ, that He has two natures in one person?

That He is, as David Miller says, He is as much God as God is God, and He is as much man as man is man? He has two natures in one person. And the fact of the matter is, we have that same understanding of the Word of God.

The testimony of the Scriptures give witness to that very aspect, that these words are as much the words of God as any word of God can be. And they are also the words of men, very truly human words. And even as we confess the sinlessness of the humanity of Christ, do we not also confess the inerrancy of the words of God, though they be written by humans who were indeed flawed?

No, these are truly the words of God and the words of man, but they are without error. Luke 1 .35, Christmas passage, and the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you, therefore also that holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

The mystery of the incarnation, one who is fully man and fully God in a unique fashion. 2 Timothy 3 .16, key passage in all these kinds of discussions, all Scripture is inspired, is given by inspiration of God.

And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. This word inspiration is, means God-breathed is the actual term, it's a compound term in the Greek, the word for God and the word for breath, actually close to the word we have for spirit.

So all Scripture is God-breathed, it is divinely inspired, but when we think of inspired, we think of inhaling, but it's more exhalation, it's God-exhaled as R .C. Sproul would want to say it. God-exhaled Scripture, he breathed it out.

And we, so we have that connection to the imagery of the Holy Spirit in the terms of the Spirit being the breath and the wind, that the Scriptures come by the inspiration of God through the Holy Spirit.

Just like the incarnation, we have the central figure of the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary and the incarnate Son of God coming forth. And so, a lengthy quote from Herman Bavinck, my go-to theologian, so Scripture says about itself that it is divinely inspired or God-breathed.

There's the transliteration of the Greek word theoknoustos. It is not a work of God's general providence, but of a saving purpose in special revelation. Holy Scripture must judge us, not the reverse. The Holy Spirit opens our heart to trust, believe, and obey God's Word in Scripture.

Our hope is in Christ, the true man in whom human nature is restored. Salvation is in the one who considered nothing human as alien. I like that. Salvation is in Christ, and he considered nothing that is truly human as alien.

He took it all, took the whole humanity. And through his Holy Spirit, joins us to himself through a word that is also fully human and wholly true. And so, when we move forward in our study of who wrote it and so on as we consider the nature of God's Word, we're going to come back to this incarnational model to help guide us through some pitfalls one way or another.

So, we'll come back to that idea and try to flesh it out a little bit more. 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 19 through 21, Peter says, and so we have the prophetic word confirmed which you would do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. The image in that word moved is that they were born along by the Holy Spirit, so that everything that they wrote was superintended with the truth of God.

So the point is that when we affirm the full humanity and the full divinity of Jesus, two natures in one person, is this miracle of the incarnation that is wrought by the Spirit of God. So also, when God breathed the Scriptures, the Greek word is graphe, as he breathed out the Scriptures, the writings, the holy writings, it was men's words and God's words fully and perfectly and truly and wholly that.

So again, we're going to study Scripture, who wrote it, well God wrote it, man wrote it, but let's start on the side of God. God is the author of Scripture. What does the word of God have to say about that?

Scripture as the Word of God

So some examples, and there are many, we'll be going back to 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 in a moment, but you see the list of Scriptures there, and basically what we have are a list of examples in which some passage, you know, taken out of the Old Testament, obviously written by Moses or by Isaiah or by Jeremiah, clearly we know who wrote it, and the time that they wrote it down and the circumstances that were involved.

And yet, and yet, these passages clearly affirm God spoke this. And then sometimes, we have examples where the term Scripture is used to affirm God's word, wherein we know it's God speaking. And Scripture did this, and Scripture said that.

How are we to understand what's going on? This is affirming that the Bible is the word of the Lord. So in Acts 13, 47, we read, for so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.

So it's Acts again, Acts 13, 47. Well, what's going on here? This is Isaiah. This is Isaiah 42 and 49 being referenced. This is Isaiah writing this, but it's the word of the Lord. It's the word of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 6, 16, and what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

So again, what's the point? The point is that this is Ezekiel who wrote that down, but it is affirmed with absolute clarity and accuracy that it is God who said this. So again, we know that the human authors were involved, but look, God is the one who said it.

God is the one who said it. God is the one who wrote this down. And then on the other side of it, in Romans 9, 17, we read this, for the scripture says to the Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth.

Well, who said that to Pharaoh? Who raised Pharaoh up for the purpose of bringing him down, for the purpose of glorifying his name? That's definitely God. Nobody else. God said that to Pharaoh. And here, with complete accuracy, Romans 9 is affirming it is the writings, the holy scriptures that says this.

So what are we being told? Scriptures are the word of God and the word of God are the scriptures. So we're getting that conviction from, we're getting it from the Bible itself. Galatians 3, 8, another example of the same type.

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying, in you all the nations shall be blessed. Who told Abraham that in him all the families or all the nations of the earth would be blessed?

God did. And it's also affirmed that the scriptures preached the gospel to Abraham. Do we see the correlation, the very close correlation of the word of God and scripture? So who is the author of scripture?

Well, obviously God is. So back to 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God would be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Every time in the New Testament we come to this term in the Greek for scripture or graphe, meaning writings, every single instance refers to holy scripture. So in that sense, in the New Testament, it's a technical term.

This isn't about someone's private journals, you know, dear journal, today it was rainy. You know, every time this word is used, it's referring to holy scripture. These are God's words. And so it's interesting that in other places that we even have the New Testament being referred to in the same way as the Old Testament, the scriptures.

Paul has just said in 1 Timothy 3 that Timothy grew up with the holy scriptures. He grew up with the word of God. Well, what did Timothy grow up with? He grew up with the Old Testament. And Paul said that these scriptures were, made Timothy wise into salvation, led him to Christ.

But so also the New Testament is also considered holy scripture. 1 Timothy 5 .18 is an example. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Definitely Old Testament.

But wait, the laborer is worthy of his wages. Well, that's New Testament. That's New Testament. And both are being called holy scripture and appealed to. 2 Peter 3 .16, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of things in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction as they do the rest of the scriptures.

Peter talking about Paul. There are some things in his writings that are hard to understand. That's no excuse for these evil people twisting these things. But then again, they twist the other scriptures as well.

So what is Peter recognizing about the writings of the apostle Paul? These are, this is holy scripture. It is recognized as the word of the Lord. This is the word of holy God. And as the word of the Lord, it bears the character of God.

If God is the author of scripture, then what does that mean? What kind of words are these? What kind of, what kind of writings are these? You know, it's, it's in, I think the title is, yes, it says the holy Bible.

Why is it called the holy Bible? Because these are the words of the holy God. And so they bear the stamp of his character. They cannot be inconsistent with his character. For an extrapolation of that, you can read Psalm 119.

But for a shorter version, Psalm 19, verses 7 through 11, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold.

Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. Everything said there about the word of God is precisely that because they are God's words.

So they are, they are altogether true. They are altogether perfect. They are altogether desirable. They are altogether good. And for those made in the image of God, designed to live according to the word of God, how precious are the scriptures to us.

And they're perfect down to the last squiggle, and Jesus says so. So Matthew 5, 17 through 18, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets, I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot nor one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Not one, not one yod and not one serif. Not the smallest letter, not the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, or the smallest little stroke on the side of a letter, down to that. Jesus would often in talking to the religious leaders, he would say, have you never read?

And then tilt their whole universe on the reading of a particular word and it's tense, down to the very littlest detail about the word of God. It's all perfect and it's all true, it's all from God. So, summary, we understand that scripture is verbally inspired, meaning that the words of the Bible are inspired, not just the thoughts, concepts, not just the sense, but the actual words of the Bible are inspired.

Scripture is God-breathed, the writings are God-breathed, each word is to be considered breathed out by God. Holy men were born along by the Holy Spirit, writing the very words of God. And that happened in various ways.

Sometimes we read God writing down his ten commandments on the tablets himself. I'll take this part. He writes it down exactly. And sometimes we have dictation in the Bible. God says, repeat after me.

The prophet says, yes, sir, and he's writing down exactly what God says. And sometimes we have other forms of scripture where we're recording the history of David that we read about tonight. It was a combination of those.

Here are the details of what happened with David, and then here comes the direct word from God to the prophet Nathan. So you have a combination of those things in one section. But scripture is verbally inspired.

The words of the Bible are inspired. The scripture is completely inspired, all of it. All scripture is God-breathed. All scripture is inspired of God. So all of it, not just some of it. And James isn't in here, so I totally agree with James.

There are some parts of the scripture I like better than the others. I totally agree, I get it. But all of it is inspired, even though I'm drawn to certain parts than other parts, and that's okay. Scripture is divinely inspired.

God is the one who inspired all of the words of scripture. It's not inspired in the sense of it's just better writing than most. No, it's God breathing it out. And also that the human authors were inspired.

It's not just the text, but the authors as well. The inspiration extended to the authors, that they were born along, not just their words, but who they were and what they were writing. And in the providences of God and their circumstances and so on.

But these are truly human words, but they are the words of God. Scripture is the word of God written down in the words of man. But the human authors were inspired as they wrote. And we'll get to more of that later, but many times you can actually read their awareness of that fact.

References made by the prophets and the apostles about things that were said and done that aren't written down in Holy Scripture. They're written in the Book of Jasher. Good luck finding one of those copies today.

All that's written down over in this thing over here, in the Battles of the Kings. But it wasn't written down on the scroll of kings, in the first scroll or the second scroll. Many things that Jesus did and said, that I suppose if they were all recorded, all of the books that would be written, the earth could not contain.

But these have been written, these have been written, so that you will know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That you, by calling on his name, you will be saved. So there's all sorts of things that went on and were said in the lives of the prophets and the apostles and so on.

They were mighty fine and good and so on. But there was an awareness when it was Holy Scripture. And so we recognize that. So when we're thinking about the word of God, we obviously emphasize the fact, yeah, God is the author.

God is the author. But we should also affirm, God and men wrote the Bible. And so next time we have opportunity, we're going to look at the human authors of scripture. And how this is a very human book, even though this is the very book of God.

He authored it. Questions or thoughts as we close? You don't have the experience. Yes. You certainly know that God is able to do that. And some experiences that we have today can shed some light on what it might have been like for the authors of scripture to be writing the words of God.

Having an awareness of that. Yeah, so some scripture is what they saw in a vision. Some scripture is what God told them to write down. Some of it is, these are the generations of, or this is the historical record of, there's a lot of variety in the word of God.

Yes, sir. I think in terms of, if we were taking it from our human standpoint, then yes. Yeah, I would. Yeah, I would say that. Obviously, God has an idea of why everything that was included is included.

And I also know that in some of the places that I need to develop a better appetite for, when I do, there are riches there I never expected. And so there's always more room to go. Job talked about wisdom that you had to dig deep for.

Go down into the mines, to dig tunnels, and almost the idea of putting yourself at great risk to go to get great riches. But the main point was great labor was needful to go get those riches way down deep, the deep wisdom and all that, which of course we understand there's also wisdom that lies around on the ground, the low hanging fruit of Proverbs.

But then there's wisdom you've got to dig deep down. I think in the same sense, all the scripture is God's word, all of it is inspired, perhaps it is that the parts that we designate as more important to us are those places where the beauty and the light of Christ is most accessible to us.

And in the other parts, the treasure of Christ is still there, but there's a whole lot of mining that has to go on to get down to those riches, or to make those connections, or to understand the passage and its gospel glory in the context.

It takes a lot more work, it takes a lot more work. And because it feels more remote, I think that that's why it's more difficult for us. Yes, yes, some people were really good miners, like Spurgeon. Yeah, diggers, better diggers.

So, all right, let's close by singing the doxology.