Bringing Clarity to the Term Christian – Part 2

 

Thank you for coming back to Powerful God – Practical Faith. In our last blog post, we introduced a blog series called “Bringing Clarity to the Term Christian”. If you did not get a chance to review the introduction, please review it in our “Archives” or “Recent Posts” menu.

In this blog post, we will be explaining Statement 1 of our 14 summary statements explaining “What a Christian is”. Lets begin…….

Statement 1 says….

A Christian is a person who has submitted himself to the truth and authority of the Bible as the Only Inspired and Infallible Word of God, in which God has revealed Himself to man and is the means by which God introduces, provides and sustains the Christian life to whomever he so chooses.

Although at first glance, this statement may seem to be out of sequence with the rest of the statements we have offered, or at best, it may seem to be better placed, sequentially, somewhere other than at the beginning, it was very purposeful that I placed this statement first. The reason I believe this statement should begin our list is because without God “speaking”, without God giving his declarations, decrees, and truths about himself, and his creation, there is no such thing as a Christian. The foundation of Christianity itself rests on what God has spoken. The Christian acknowledges that the Holy Scriptures is God’s means of revealing himself and his plan to mankind.

Many people believe that the Holy Scriptures, which we also call the Bible, is just a collection of ancient documents, written by men, selected by men, and used by men to manipulate and coerce the masses into adhering to “some” code of conduct or behavior, moral or otherwise, for the sole purpose of social and spiritual control. But nothing could be further from the truth.

In the book of 2 Timothy, God, through the writing of Paul, that great apostle and martyr for Jesus Christ, defined what Scripture “actually” is:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Paul, when he originally wrote this letter to Timothy in the Greek language of his day, he used a unique term that we often translate as “inspired” in English. The original Greek term was Theopneustos. This word is a combination of two words: Theos – meaning God and Pneo- meaning to breath out or breath. Therefore Paul describes the whole of the Holy Scriptures as “God Breathed”. This is an incredibly expressive term meaning simply that the Bible is God’s Word, coming directly from Him to us. The Bible is God “truly  speaking” to us.

God is the author of the Bible. I often wonder if Christians, myself included, sincerely take the time to consider and recognize the Bible as “God Breathed”. The Bible, especially here in America where, it can still be printed and read freely, is often taken for granted. Even though it is perhaps the most printed work of antiquity of any kind, many of us don’t realize what we “really” possess in owning the Holy Scriptures, and…. what it cost so many before us, many with their lives, even, to preserve it and to deliver it to us.

In this great passage by Paul, the purpose God has given His Scripture is very clear:

• Teaching – To impart knowledge or understanding of God’s truth.
• Reproof – To tell us of the wrong we have done against God and his truth.
• Correction – To tell us how things can be made right with God in light of his truth.
• Training – To tell us how to live consistently in God’s truth.

This, in summary, is the whole reason why the Holy Scriptures exist. I believe every book and every verse in the Bible was placed there by God to achieve these four very powerful actions.

Because the Bible is God speaking, and because the Christian believes that God is holy and perfect in all things, it then follows that whatever God speaks to us is holy, perfect, and infallible, meaning without error. To put it plainly, if God is righteous, then whatever He speaks…or “breaths out”…. is right.

Below are a just a few selected passages from Psalms chapters 18, 33, and several from 119, that expresses this consistent theme of God’s Word being synonymous with His character.

As for God, His way is blameless;
The word of the Lord is tried (or proven);
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

Psalm 18:30 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

For the word of the Lord is upright,
And all His work is done in faithfulness.

Psalm 33:4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Righteous are You, O Lord,
And upright are Your judgments.
You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness
And exceeding faithfulness.

Psalm 119:137-138 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
And Your law is truth.

Psalm 119:142 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The sum of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.

Psalm 119:160 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Let my tongue sing of Your word,
For all Your commandments are righteousness.

Psalm 119:172 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Note:

I would encourage you to take some time to read Psalm 119. All 176 verses reference the value, and necessity of God’s Word. Psalm 119 is very insightful reading!

Now there may be a number of us who don’t have a problem with God speaking to us through His Sacred Scriptures, but do have a problem with the “means” by which He chose to produce those sacred scriptures; namely by using men to write them. Therefore, because God used men to write the Bible, some draw the conclusion that what Christians claim to be Holy Scripture could not be infallible and thus are simply stories, sayings, and semi-accurate accounts of events observed by men and nothing more.

Understanding this argument, it surely would not have been difficult at all for God to use some other means to communicate to us in and through time and to simply exclude man in this process altogether. But God, by his free will and sovereign choice, decided to use men in a very special way to produce “God Breathed” words.

Another well known follower and martyr for Jesus Christ, the Apostle Peter, wrote this notable statement:

For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 

2 Peter 1:21 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

In this declaration by Peter, we find yet another interesting term God uses to express His activity in giving His Word to us. The word we translate as “moved” in this verse is the Greek term “Pheromenoi“, which means to bear or be carried along.

 

If this word looks somewhat familiar to you, it is probably because it is very similar to a word you may have come across in your natural science class; “pheromone”, which is a chemical emission by an animal, (which was given to animals by God I might add), that when sensed by other animals of like species, influences or changes their behavior for a specific purpose.  Scientist adopted this word because they recognized and defined this invisible, transmitter-like emission as a necessary communication “carrier” for many animals, altering their typical course of life in order to signal danger, target new food sources, find homes, and make preparations to produce and nurture additional offspring. What I have read and watched documentaries on, related to animal pheromones, is rather amazing.

 

In a similar fashion, Peter is saying that even though God’s Word was never derived from a human source, in the course of human activity, God the Holy Spirit supernaturally influenced, guided, or “carried along” men in order for them to speak words that could only originate from God Himself.

I am intrigued by the terms “God breathed: and “carried along” because they really speak of God’s unique ability to engage human experience while at the same time use it supernaturally to speak to us. When we read the Bible, we realize that God used a vast number of men, many of which were several centuries apart from one another in time, with different personalities, lifestyles, temperaments, social backgrounds, and life experiences to construct a fluid, common, consistent, and harmonious record, that could only have been planned, directed and authored by God himself.  When taken as a whole and in the context in which it was written, the Bible is truly a supernatural work.

Therefore, when we state that the Christian has submitted himself to the authority of Scripture, I mean that he has accepted the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, as completely true. I don’t mean that he has attained full knowledge of what all the Bible means, but what I do mean is that the Christian who has been brought to faith in Jesus Christ through the Word of God, has willfully conceded to its truth and validity and seeks to grow further in the knowledge and understanding of it.

I also know that a Christian’s submission and commitment to the Holy Scriptures can never derive from just an intellectual knowledge of it. It is both head knowledge and heart knowledge. It is spiritual revelation coupled with reason. I have read books and heard many  messages and debates that give positive arguments on the authenticity of the Bible, its often ignored agreement with science, its consistency with non-biblical historical records, and many other intellectual “proofs”, and I sincerely believe them. But, I also know that there will be another person, looking at those same sources of information who would reject the Bible in total and be convinced, despite evidence to the contrary that the Bible is untrue and unreliable. Why is this? The reason is  that to really “know” the truth of the Holy Scriptures is to have the Truth Giver reveal truth to you. For the Christian, the reception of truth and subsequently salvation, are both gifts from God.

I end this blog post with two bible passages: One, a command given to Timothy by the Apostle Paul, and the other, a quote of Deuteronomy 8:3 given by Jesus in the book of Matthew…..

You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,  and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:14-15 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”

 Matthew 4: 4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

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Thank you for reading.  This post was a little longer than I would like to keep them but I hope it was insightful and helpful to you.  I also would like to apologize for the late delivery of this post for many of you who may have been waiting for it. An out of town business trip delayed the completion of it last week.

Please do come back for Part 3 of “Bringing Clarity to the Term Christian. I will let you know via Facebook and Twitter when it becomes available for viewing.

God Bless you and yours…….