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Teach Biblically

By October 19, 2014October 20th, 2014Core Values Series, Sermon Series Pre-Campaign)

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State of the Bible Research

2 Timothy 3:14-4:4

Three reasons why we teach biblically:
  1. Because it is the foundation of our faith (2 Timothy 3:14-15)
    • Catechism of the Catholic Church: “As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.'”
    • The Westminster Confession: Chapter 1 Paragraph 5 – “We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture. And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.”
  2. Because it is God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
    • cf. 2 Peter 3:15-16
    • “The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on out traditional ethical concepts, while for the Christian who bases his life on the Bible, it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness of evil. The “reasonable” people’s failure is obvious. With the best intentions and a naive lack of realism, they think that with a little reason they can bend back into position the framework that has got out of joint. In their lack of vision they want to do justice to all sides, and so the conflicting forces wear them down with nothing achieved. Disappointed by the world’s unreasonableness, they see themselves condemned to ineffectiveness; they step aside in resignation or collapse before the stronger party…Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God — the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God. Where are these responsible people?”
      • Dietrich Bonhoeffer Letters and Papers from Prison
    • “Has it not become terrifyingly clear again and again, in everything that we have said here to one another, that we are no longer obedient to the Bible?  We are more fond of our own thoughts than of the thoughts of the Bible.  We no longer read the Bible seriously, we no longer read it against ourselves, but for ourselves.”
      • Dietrich Bonhoeffer  in  Dietrich Bonhoeffer. p. 252 by Bethge, Eberhard 
  3. Because we are told to (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

 

Matthew 24:35