For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you 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.
II Peter 1: 16-21
In spite of our foolish attempts to decrease God's standing to something resembling our own, the fact is that God is so completely different (holy) from us that the only possible way we can truly know Him is as He has chosen to reveal Himself to us. That comes down to two specifics. First He reveals himself to us in the manifest glory of creation. Then he reveals Himself through the prophets and apostles.
To be sure, the Bible is neither culturally driven, nor is it politically correct. It is important that our beliefs are firmly grounded in God's inerrant Word -- and not on human speculation about God. This is why we must trust the Bible as the only infallible rule of life, faith and all beliefs about God. Church councils and confessions, as well as scholarly writings, are useful and helpful understanding and communicating our Christian faith but they are the works of man and are not infallible. The 66 canonical books of the Bible are the only writings which are God breathed an infallible. As Paul explained to Timothy: "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 may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."
II Tim. 3: 16-17
This written revelation traces back to the time when God Himself inscribed the Ten Commandments on stone tablets and then instructed Moses to write Israel's Law and history in the first five books of our Bible. Living according to this written revelation has always been the central tenet of God's Covenant people. Both leaders and laity should know God's written Word, obey that Word, and pass it to the next generation un blemished and unchanged. Our best confession (IMHO), The Westminster, has stated it this way:
"The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God."
Allow me to be very clear: Jesus and the apostles believed the Scriptures to be divine revelation, to be studied and obeyed. When Satan tempted Him, Jesus responded with the written Word (Matt. 4). When two disciples were on the road to Emmaus, Jesus revealed Himself to them with the words of Scripture.
Paul believed that all Scripture was inspired by God and Peter placed Paul's writing on an equal footing with the books of the Old Testament. Accordingly, the orthodox and faithful Church correctly regards the apostles' written teaching about Christ to be the completion of the testimony of God begun by Moses. In other words, what the Bible says, God said. All that the Biblical writers wrote should be received as the infallible revelation of God and God's direct, immutable instructions to His people. None of us should ever treat scripture as if it were a loose leaf Gospel from which we may remove pages we don't like – or conversely into which we may add things we wish God would permit.
--Pastor Jim
