Condensed Theology Lecture 4
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Transcript of Condensed Theology Lecture 4
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Condensed Theology
A Primer in Systematic Theology
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Bibliology:
The Doctrine of Scripture
What does the Bible teach about
itself?
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Where Were Going Six lessons on the Bible Addressing the following subjects:
Revelation & Inspiration
Authority Sufficiency
Unity
Necessity Power
Truthfulness Inerrancy
Infallibility
Clarity Illumination
Hermeneutics Grammatico-historical exegesis
Canonical interpretation
Redemptive-historical interpretation Canonicity
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Topics for Discussion
1. The sufficiency of Scripture
2. The unity of Scripture
3. The necessity of Scripture4. The power of Scripture
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The Sufficiency of Scripture
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Defining Scriptures Sufficiency:
What It Is The sufficiency of Scripture may be
defined as the principle that the Bible
contains all things necessary for life andsalvation
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Defining Scriptures Sufficiency:
What It Is Not To say that the
Scripture is sufficientfor faith and life does
not mean that it issufficient for allknowledge of everysubject
You wont learnGeneral Relativityfrom the Bible
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Defining Scriptures Sufficiency:
What It Is Not To say that the
Scripture is sufficientfor faith and life does
not mean that itanswers everyChristian religiousquestion we may
have Did Adam have a
belly-button?
John 21:25: And there are alsomany other things which Jesus
did, which if they were written indetail, I suppose that even theworld itself would not contain thebooks that would be written.
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Defining Scriptures Sufficiency:
What It Is Not To say that the
Scripture is sufficientfor faith and life
should not beconstrued to implythat we do not needtools outside of
Scripture forunderstanding it
Language
History
Geography Culture
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Defining Scriptures Sufficiency:
What It Is The sufficiency of Scripture may be
defined as the principle that the Bible
contains all things necessary for life andsalvation
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Understanding Sufficiency
Biblically
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
2 Tim 3:15-17: and that from childhoodyou have known the sacred writings which
are able to give you the wisdom that leadsto salvation through faith which is in ChristJesus. All Scripture is inspired by Godand profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness; sothat the man of God may be adequate,equipped for every good work.
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
2 Tim 3:15: and that from childhood youhave known the sacred writings which
are able to give you the wisdom thatleads to salvation through faith whichis in Christ Jesus.
It is the Scriptures that lead to salvation
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
2 Tim 3:17 so that the man of God maybe adequate, equipped for every goodwork.
The word translated adequate does notmean enough to get by; it is a ;r t i o j(rtios), and means pertaining to beingqualified to perform some function.Helpful glosses include fully qualified orproficient.
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
2 Tim 3:17 so that the man of God may beadequate, equipped for every good work.
The word translated equipped is evxh r t i s me,n o j
(exrtismnos), and means to make someonecompletely adequate or sufficient for something.Helpful glosses include, to make adequate, orto furnish completely, or to cause to be fully
qualified.
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
2 Tim 3:17 so that the man of God maybe adequate, equipped for every goodwork
. The Scripture is all that we need forobeying him perfectly; we need nothingmore for the performance of good works
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
Ps 19:7-11: The law of the LORD is perfect, restoringthe soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, makingwise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right,rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD isclean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD aretrue; they are righteous altogether. They are moredesirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeteralso than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keepingthem there is great reward.
Ps 119:1: How blessed are those whose way isblameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD.
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
Josh 1:7: Only be strong and very courageous;be careful to do according to all the law whichMoses My servant commanded you; do not turn
from it to the right or to the left, so that you mayhave success wherever you go.
Prov 30:5: Every word of God is tested; He is ashield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not
add to His words Or He will reprove you, andyou will be proved a liar.
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
Deut 4:2: You shall not add to the word which Iam commanding you, nor take away from it, thatyou may keep the commandments of the LORD
your God which I command you. Deut 12:32: Whatever I command you, you shall
be careful to do; you shall not add to nor takeaway from it.
Deut 29:29: The secret things belong to theLORD our God, but the things revealed belongto us and to our sons forever, that we mayobserve all the words of this law.
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
Rev 22:18-19: I testify to everyone whohears the words of the prophecy of thisbook: if anyone adds to them, God will addto him the plagues which are written in thisbook; 19 and if anyone takes away fromthe words of the book of this prophecy,
God will take away his part from the tree oflife and from the holy city, which arewritten in this book.
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
Christ rebukes the Pharisees for their recourse totradition outside of Scripture. This, by implication, pointsto the sufficiency of Scripture to furnish one for everygood work.
Mark 7:5-8: The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him,Why do Your disciples not walk according to thetradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impurehands? And He said to them, Rightly did Isaiahprophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: This people
honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away fromme. But in vain do they worship me, teaching asdoctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting thecommandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.
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Understanding Sufficiency Biblically
When we speak of the sufficiency of Scripturewe refer to the inspired Bibles uniquecapacity for leading people to salvation and
for fully qualifying the believer and forfurnishing him or her completely with all he orshe needs to perform every good work.
We need nothing more and nothing less thanthe teaching, reproof, correction, and trainingin righteousness that comes from Scripture
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Sufficiency and Redemption
History
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Sufficiency and Redemption
History The doctrine of sufficiency does not imply thatGodcannot add any more words to what he hasalready authoritatively communicated to us in hisword; instead, it implies only that human beings
cannot do so This is why we can read commands in both
Deuteronomy andRevelation not to add to thewords which God has given
The amount of Scripture given at each stage ofredemption history was sufficient; that is, itrepresented all the words that God intended forhis people to have for each era
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The Unity of Scripture
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Unity Inferred from Sufficiency
2 Tim 3:15: and that from childhood you haveknown the sacred writings which are able to giveyou the wisdom that leads to salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus. If the Scripture is sufficient for salvation at each
stage of redemption history, and if salvation isnever by works, but by faith alone in the
promises of God, then it must be that themessage of the Scripture is unified, centering onthe gracious saving work of God in the gospel
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Unity Inferred from Sufficiency
The Bible:
Sufficient forsalvation at
each stage ofredemption
history
Salvation:By grace
alone throughfaith alone inChrist alone
The Bible
teaches onemessage
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Unity Inferred from Inspiration
2 Tim 3:16: All Scripture is inspired byGod [= God-breathed] and profitable forteaching, for reproof, for correction, fortraining in righteousness
Since the Bible has a single, divine author,it follows that the Bible is a unity
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Unity Inferred from the Character of
God Titus 1:2: in the hope of eternal life,
which God, who cannot lie, promisedlong ages ago.
Since the single, divine author is incapableof lying or contradicting himself, theScripture cannot lie or contradict itself
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Biblical Affirmations of Unity The unity that we may legitimately infer from
sufficiency, inspiration, and the character of Godonly goes so far
We read that we cannot add any words to Gods
word, yet Scripture continued to be produced We read that certain dietary and domestic duties
were necessary for Gods people to obey, andwe see them roundly dismissed elsewhere in the
same unified Bible. How are these notcontradictions?
What, then, is it that ties the two testamentstogether as one uniquely Christian book? Orbetter, who is it?
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Biblical Affirmations of Unity: Unity
in Christ John 5:39-46: You search the Scriptures because youthink that in them you have eternal life; it is these thattestify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me sothat you may have life. I do not receive glory from men;but I know you, that you do not have the love of God inyourselves. I have come in My Father's name, and youdo not receive Me; if another comes in his own name,you will receive him. How can you believe, when youreceive glory from one another and you do not seek theglory that is from the one and only God? Do not thinkthat I will accuse you before the Father; the one whoaccuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for hewrote about Me.
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Biblical Affirmations of Unity: Unity
in Christ Luke 24:27: Then beginning with Moses and
with all the prophets, He explained to them thethings concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Luke 24:44: Now He said to them, These areMy words which I spoke to you while I was stillwith you, that all things which are written aboutMe in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and
the Psalms must be fulfilled.
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Biblical Affirmations of Unity: Unity
in Christ Heb 1:1-2: God, after He spoke long ago
to the fathers in the prophets in manyportions and in many ways, in these last
days has spoken to us in His Son, whomHe appointed heir of all things, throughwhom also He made the world.
Rom 10:4: For Christ is the end of the lawfor righteousness to everyone whobelieves.
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Biblical Affirmations of Unity
Acts 8:26-35: But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, Getup and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem toGaza.So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopianeunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, whowas in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem toworship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and wasreading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go up and
join this chariot. Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah theprophet, and said, Do you understand what you are reading? Andhe said, Well, how could I, unless someone guides me? And heinvited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage ofScripture which he was reading was this: He was led as a sheep toslaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not
open his mouth. in humiliation his judgment was taken away; whowill relate his generation? For his life is removed from the earth.The eunuch answered Philip and said, Please tell me, of whomdoes the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else? ThenPhilip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture hepreached Jesus to him.
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Biblical Affirmations of Unity
Rom 4:23: Now not for his sake only wasit written that it was credited to him
Rom 15:4: For whatever was written inearlier times was written for ourinstruction, so that through perseveranceand the encouragement of the Scriptures
we might have hope.
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Biblical Affirmations of Unity
1 Cor 9:9-10: For it is written in the Law ofMoses, You shall not muzzle the ox whilehe is threshing. God is not concernedabout oxen, is He? Or is He speakingaltogether for our sake? Yes, for our sakeit was written, because the plowman ought
to plow in hope, and the thresher to threshin hope of sharing the crops.
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Biblical Affirmations of Unity
1 Cor 10:6, 11: Now these thingshappened as examples for us, so that wewould not crave evil things as they alsocraved.11Now these things happened tothem as an example, and they werewritten for our instruction, upon whom the
ends of the ages have come.
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The Necessity of Scripture
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General and Special
Revelation
To understand the Bibles necessity,we must first understand that there are
two kinds of revelation
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General Revelation
Ps 19:1-6: The heavens are telling of the glory of God;And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night revealsknowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out throughall the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world.In them He has placed a tent for the sun, Which is as abridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as astrong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of
the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; Andthere is nothing hidden from its heat.
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General Revelation
Rom 1:18-21: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven againstall ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truthin unrighteousness, because that which is known about God isevident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since thecreation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power anddivine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood throughwhat has been made, so that they are without excuse. For eventhough they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or givethanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolishheart was darkened.
Rom 1:28: And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God anylonger, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those thingswhich are not proper,
Rom 1:32: and although they know the ordinance of God, that thosewho practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do thesame, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
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General Revelation
Though God has certainly revealed himselfthrough creation, such knowledge of Godthrough general revelation is not sufficient to
give us the knowledge that leads to salvation. Itis sufficient to condemn us in our idolatrousunbelief and to leave us without excuse at the
judgment; but nothing more.
Therefore, Scripture (a special revelation of
God) is necessary for a saving knowledge ofGod. Without it, we would not be able to knowGod.
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The Necessity of Special
Revelation
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Necessity of Special Revelation
Rom 1:21: For even though they knew God, they did nothonor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futilein their speculations, and their foolish heart wasdarkened.
Eph 4:17-19: So this I say, and affirm together with theLord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles alsowalk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in theirunderstanding, excluded from the life of God because ofthe ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of
their heart; and they, having become callous, have giventhemselves over to sensuality for the practice of everykind of impurity with greediness.
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Necessity of Special Revelation
1 Cor 1:18-23: For the word of the cross is foolishness tothose who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it isthe power of God. For it is written, I will destroy thewisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever i willset aside. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age? Has not God madefoolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom ofGod the world through its wisdom did not come to knowGod, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of themessage preached to save those who believe. For indeedJews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we
preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and toGentiles foolishness. Because of the darkness of our hearts, we would not and
could not reason our way from General Revelation to theLord
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Necessity of Special Revelation
Rom 10:13-17: For Whoever will call on thename of the lord will be saved. How then willthey call on Him in whom they have notbelieved? How will they believe in Him whom
they have not heard? And how will they hearwithout a preacher? How will they preach unlessthey are sent? Just as it is written, Howbeautiful are the feet of those who bring goodnews of good things! However, they did not all
heed the good news; for Isaiah says, Lord, whohas believed our report? So faith comes fromhearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
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Necessary for Maintaining
Spiritual Life
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The Bible Is Necessary for
Maintaining Spiritual Life Deut 32:47: For it is not an idle word for
you; indeed it is your life. And by this wordyou will prolong your days in the land,
which you are about to cross the Jordan topossess.
Matt 4:4: But [Jesus] answered and said,"It is written, Man shall not live on bread
alone, but on every word that proceeds outof the mouth of God.
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The Bible Is Necessary for
Maintaining Spiritual Life Ps 19:7-11: The law of the LORD is perfect, restoringthe soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, makingwise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right,rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD ispure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD isclean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD aretrue; they are righteous altogether. They are moredesirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeteralso than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keepingthem there is great reward.
1 Pet 2:2: like newborn babies, long for the pure milkof the word, so that by it you may grow in respect tosalvation.
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The Power of Scripture
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The Power of Scripture
Heb 4:12: For the word of God is livingand active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the
division of soul and spirit, of both jointsand marrow, and able to judge thethoughts and intentions of the heart.
Jer 23:29: Is not My word like fire?
declares the LORD, and like a hammerwhich shatters a rock?
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The Power of Scripture
1 Cor 14:24-25: But if all prophesy, andan unbeliever or an ungifted man enters,he is convicted by all, he is called toaccount by all; the secrets of his heart aredisclosed; and so he will fall on his faceand worship God, declaring that God is
certainly among you.
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The Power of Scripture
1 Thess 2:13: For this reason we alsoconstantly thank God that when you received theword of God which you heard from us, you
accepted it not as the word of men, but for whatit really is, the word of God, which also performsits work in you who believe.
Jas 1:18: In the exercise of His will He brought
us forth by the word of truth, so that we would bea kind of first fruits among His creatures.
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The Power of Scripture
Acts 7:38: This is the one who was in thecongregation in the wilderness together with theangel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai,
and who was with our fathers; and he receivedliving oracles to pass on to you.
1 Pet 1:23: For you have been born again not ofseed which is perishable but imperishable, that
is, through the living and enduring word of God.
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Conclusion
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Conclusion
1. The Scripture is sufficient
2. The Scripture is unified
3. The Scripture is necessary4. The Scripture is powerful
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Glossary
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General Revelation: The knowledge ofGod that is evident in and throughcreation. Such knowledge is sufficient to
condemn, but not sufficient to save. Special Revelation: The knowledge of God
that has been made known through hisword (in all its formsremember our first
lecture on bibliology). Such knowledge issufficient both to condemn and to save.