Iron Works Foundations

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

I. The Gospel is the good news of how Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man, died on the cross to pay the penalty for sins and rose bodily from the dead so that all who turn from their sins and trust in Christ alone would be forgiven of their sins and have eternal life.

II. Where do we find in Scripture?

A. Rom 1-3

B. "Roman Road"

C. John 3:16; 1 Cor 15:1-4

Christ5:8

Man3;23; 6:23

Response10:9-11

God1:19-21

The Good News: A Fuller Statement

The Triune God created man to glorify and enjoy Him forever. Man, however, sinned against God and stands condemned. But God sent His eternal Son Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, to take our place. He obeyed God’s law perfectly, died on the cross to pay the penalty for sins, and rose bodily from the dead, so that all who by God's grace alone turn from their sins and trust in Christ alone would be forgiven of their sins and have eternal life!

What is Scripture? Lesson 2:

I. General Revelation: General knowledge of God made known everywhere in creation and the conscience of man. Ps 19:1-2; Rom 2:14-15; 1:18-21.

A. Reveals God's glory; people accountable.

B. Not sufficient to give us all we need to know about who God is, who we are, and what God requires of us for life and salvation.

II. Special Revelation: A. Direct revelation from God now embodied in Scripture that reveals more fully who God is, His plan of redemption in Christ, and what He requires of people for life and salvation. (Heb 1:1-2; 2 Tim 3:16)

B. WCF 1.1. "…Therefore it pleased the Lord…to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church…to commit the same wholly unto writing: which maketh the holy Scripture to be mostnecessary; those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased."

Summing up General and Special Revelation:

WSC1: What is the chief end of man? A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.

WSC2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?A. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.

WSC 3: What do the Scriptures principally teach? A. …what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

 

 

What is Scripture Pt 2I. Inspiration

II. Infallibility and Inerrancy

What is Scripture Pt 3

I. SCAN: Sufficiency, Clarity, Authority, Necessity

II. Canonicity: what and how?

III. Structure and Interpretation of Scripture

The big question: "What is the Bible?"

The Bible is a library of "books" (different kinds of writings) breathed out by God, that speak truly on all that it teaches on all of reality and cannot and does not err, is sufficient for everything we need for faith and life, is clear in its statements on faith and life, is needed to reveal who God is and what God requires for faith and life, and is the sole infallible rule for faith and life.

I. The Inspiration of Scripture: A. WCF 1.2 1.2 Under the name of holy Scripture,

or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments…All which are given by inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life.

B. Definition: All the words in all of Scripture are God words breathed out through human writers in harmony with their minds, personalities, cultural situation, and vocabulary.- Is God or man the author of Scripture? -- YES…but…God is the ultimate author.

1. 2Tim 3:16 - "All Scripture is breathed out by God…"

a. theopneustos: "produced by the creative breath of the Almighty…the Scriptures owe their origin to an activity of God the Holy Ghost and are in the highest and truest sense His creation. It is on this foundation of Divine origin that all the high attributes of Scripture are built." – B.B. Warfield (1851-1921)

b. "…everything in the Bible comes from the mouth of God." – Kevin DeYoung

B. The nature (how) of inspiration - organic: All the words in all of Scripture are God words breathed out through human writers in harmony with their minds, personalities, cultural situation, and vocabulary. 1 Pet 1:20-21:

20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

 "…the Holy Spirit acted on the writers of the Bible in an organic way, in harmony with…their own inner being, using them just as they were, with their character and temperament, gifts and talents, education and culture, vocabulary and style.

The Holy Spirit illumined their minds, aided their mem-ory, prompted them to write, repressed the influence of sin on their writings, and guided them in the expression of their thoughts even to the choice of their words."- Why might this be important? - How does this affect the way you read Scripture?

"Since God has effected an identity between their words and His, the way for us to get into his mind, if we may thus phrase it, is via theirs. Their thoughts and speech about God constitute God's own self-testimony." – J.I. Packer

B. Other texts: 2 Sam 23:1-3 1 Pet 1:10-12; 1 Thess 2:13; 1Tim 5:18; Gal 1:11-2:21 w/2 Pet 3:15-16

C. The extent (what) of inspiration ("breathed-outness"): Are only parts of the Bible inspired?

1. All the words in all of Scripture are God's words.a. Verbal: every word (jot/tittle!)–Matt 5:18;

1 Cor 2:13

b. Plenary: every part (Gen-Rev)–2Tm 3:16

2. Discuss: Why is this important to maintain?

a. Scripture is not merely a witness to or about God. Nor does it merely become the Word of God when it is illumined to us to be so (Karl Barth)

b. Scripture is objectively the Word of God independent of what we think about it.

c. Either every word of all of Scripture is God's Word, or none of it is.

1) Power of Scripture denied (Heb 4:12-13).

2) Trust in Scripture destroyed.d. Jesus would be a liar.e. A key focus of Satan's strategy is to

undermine God' Word. Why?

IV. Infallibility and Inerrancy: A. Infallibility: Scripture cannot err

1. Some modern scholars influenced by Enlightenment thinking and modern science have said infallibility only applies to matters of faith and morals, but not history and science—it can and does err in those matters. Responses:

a. History: archaeology consistently confirms the biblical record.

b. Science: Scripture uses "phenomenological" (the way things appear) Language: sun rise/sun set, etc.

c. Anthropomorphic (man conformed) language: Scriptures assigns human characteristics to God and other things.

d. "Truth, however, does not always demand the kind of precision that we find in modern science."

B. Inerrancy = Scripture does not err. It is true in all it teaches.

1. Refers only to the original manuscripts2. The abundance of manuscript copies

enables us to get back to the original writing.3. Differences minor–no doctrine affected.4. No need for original autograph, but text.

Original manuscripts vs. copies

1. The autographs contain original text, but the original text can exist without them. 2. A text can be preserved in a multiplicity of manuscripts. 3. Providentially, when it comes to the quantity of manuscripts, the New Testament is in a class all its own (more than 5,500 manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek alone. No other document of antiquity even comes close.

5. The multiplicity of manuscripts allows us to access the original text. 6. How to recognize the original text: many minor textual differences/scholars can determine, with a relative degree of certainty, which of these readings were original and which were not. 7. The authority of Scripture does not reside in a physical object (the original autorgraph), but in the original text. And the original text has been preserved in another way, namely through the multiplicity of manuscripts.

How do we know this is God's Word? A. WWJV? B. Evidences

1. WCF 1.32. MAPS

C. WWJVD. Only the Holy Spirit gives confirmation.

Why is this important to keep in mind? You can't argue someone into kingdom. The power of God's Word (Heb 4).

SCAN

Sufficiency of Scripture

Clarity of Scripture:

Authority of Scripture: Contrast authorities.

Necessity of Scripture: you need it to know God

Canonicity