Scripture reading: II Timothy 3:14–17

Words about the Word

Scripture cannot be broken. (John 10:35)

Some of the assumptions we have about life are so much a part of the warp and woof of our faith that we are unconscious we even hold them. Like the glasses (for some of us) that sit on our noses, we have become so habituated to wearing them and seeing the world through them, that we aren’t even aware of their presence. However, there are moments when it is important to stop looking through the lens and look at them! Do we need a new prescription? Are we seeing things clearly? Are these glasses giving us an accurate picture of the world around us?

What is true about our glasses is equally true of the Bible. As Christians we turn to the pages of Scripture instinctively again and again for comfort, guidance and inspiration. Arguments are settled, and questions are put to rest once we know what the Bible says about the matter. It is through this Book that we interpret life in this world as well as in the world to come. As children we were taught that we could have assurance of God’s love for us simply because this is what the Book says: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

Today I want to encourage you to take off these “glasses” for a moment. Rather than looking through the Bible, I want you to look at it. What is this book and how did we get it? Who wrote it? How do we know its claims are true? And most importantly, do these “lens” give an accurate description of the truth about God, man and salvation . . . or should we exchange these “glasses” for another pair?

In July of 1974, some four thousand members of the Church of Jesus Christ from more than 150 nations gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland for the International Congress on World Evangelization. In an effort to affirm their common faith as disciples of Jesus, the participants drew up and signed “The Lausanne Covenant.” For almost four decades this document has served as a global expression of Biblical Christianity for followers of Christ from a multitude of nations and differing theological traditions. The second article in the Covenant was on the Bible. It is a beautiful and succinct expression of what Christians everywhere and in every age have believed about the book that is so foundational to all that we hold dear. Read it slowly. Every word is important. Let it lead you from theology to doxology!

We affirm the divine inspiration, truthfulness and authority of both Old and New Testament Scriptures in their entirety as the only written Word of God, without error in all that it affirms, and the only infallible rule of faith and practice. We also affirm the power of God’s Word to accomplish his purpose of salvation. The message of the Bible is addressed to all mankind. For God’s revelation in Christ and in Scripture is unchangeable. Through it the Holy Spirit still speaks today. He illumines the minds of God’s people in every culture to perceive its truth freshly through their own eyes and thus discloses to the whole church ever more of the many-colored wisdom of God. (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21; John 10:35; Isaiah 55:11; I Corinthians 1:21; Romans 1:16; Matthew 5:17–18; Jude 3; Ephesians 1:17–18; 3:10, 18).

Thank God for a good pair of glasses!

If there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may
as well be a thousand. If there be one falsehood in
that book it did not come from the God of truth.
—John Wesley

point to ponder • Does Scripture determine your theology, or does your theology determine your understanding of the Bible?

prayer focus • Discernment and wisdom for teachers in seminaries and Bible schools, who have the monumental task of equipping students to “rightly divide the word of truth.”