I do a lot of my reading while exercising on an elliptical treadmill. I have a pencil in the machine’s cup holder and a little wire gizmo which keeps the pages of my book open. Whenever I see something which is worth remembering, I put a little pencil mark beside it in the margin. And when there is a word I don’t know, I put parentheses around it, so I can look it up later.
In a book, which I read a couple of years ago, I marked two words which I am using this evening for our title. Let’s consider “Revelational Epistemology.” At the time, I thought I could understand the word “revelational” – something which has been revealed. But “epistemology” was new, so when I was later reviewing all those little tick marks, I looked it up. It is a relatively new word – at least it isn’t in Webster’s Dictionary – but I found a definition in Google. Epistemology is the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge. The term is derived from the Greek “epistēmē” and “logos” which speak of “knowledge” and “‘words.” This means that “REVELATIONAL epistemology” is the study of knowledge which has been revealed. And, as the author of that book meant it, it is the study of the knowledge which has been divinely revealed.
It has often been said that God has given us two books to teach us about Himself – creation and Scripture. Romans tells us “the invisible things of (God) from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the thing that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” As a result, the natural man is without excuse when he denies the existence of His Creator. But especially because of the corruption which sin has caused – a study of natural science will never properly teach men about sin, righteousness, judgment and salvation. In creation, we receive enough knowledge of God to know we are condemned, but not enough to save us. We see the Lord’s majesty and power in those beautiful Canadian Rockies, and we see our insignificance. We see live and death, but we can’t see eternal life and God’s grace or love. For the fuller story we need the miraculous revelation of God’s second book – the Holy Scriptures.
So, as I say, God has given us two books – creation and special revelation. But there are many chapters in each of those books. The study of creation can begin at any of a hundred points – the atom, the living cell, the universe. And the Book of Hebrews tells us that there are also various chapters in God’s special revelation. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.” There is a difference between learning about Jehovah by reading His biography – the Bible – and learning about God by knowing God the Son. “Jesus saith unto (Philip), Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” In the few minutes we have this evening, we can only consider the chapter which we call “the Bible.”
This written chapter is almost as important as the living second chapter. The Bible is almost as important as Christ Himself. Because, it is in the pages of the Bible, that we are first introduced to the Saviour. The Bible is like a friend who has invited us to gathering where God the Son is also present. In these days when “truth” is considered to be relative and made subject to everyone’s prejudices and pre-conceived ideas, it is essential that when we speak to our neighbors about Christ Jesus, it is from the Word of God.
I have four simple, well-worn points, but they are things which need to be reiterated once in a while.
The Bible has been given to us by DIVINE INSPIRATION.
Even though, when we are trying to introduce our friend to Christ, we don’t necessarily need to prove this: But we are presenting Christ through and absolutely unique Book – the very words of God Himself. We must come to our friends with the confidence that every verse in the Bible has been “God-breathed.” Paul used those words when speaking to Timothy – “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” The Biblical word “inspiration” literally means – “breathed by God” – “theopneustos.” And Peter wrote: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
Earlier, in his most famous sermon, Peter reminded the crowd that “the Holy Ghost spoke by the mouth of David.” It is not that the David was emotionally energized by God’s Spirit, and in that condition he began to wax eloquent. He wasn’t like Tchaikovsky, so moved by Wellington’s victory over Napoleon, that his mind filled with the music of the “1812 Overture.” It wasn’t like Elizabeth Browning, who was so filled with affection for Robert that out flowed the words: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” The inspiration of the word of God was not given to its poets, prophets and preachers. No, the very words themselves were God breathed. And that makes the Bible unlike any other book the world has ever seen.
And because of the Spirit’s work, the Scripture is not only inspired but INFALLIBLE.
It never affirms anything that is not true. “God cannot lie” – Titus 1:2. Numbers 23:19 – “God is not a man, that he should like; neither the son of man that he should repent; hath said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” While the Bible does record the lies of various sinners, such as Satan in Genesis 3 or Cain in Genesis 4 when he denied knowing where Abel was after he murdered him… While the Bible accurately records the lies of sinners, it doesn’t contain any deception in its revelations.
Furthermore, it often communicates information which is above and beyond the intellect of the human penman. Speaking “of … salvation… the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.”
In thinking about the Bible’s infallibility, consider the nature of prophecy. Every Biblical prophecy of future events was given to people who didn’t know what they were talking about. Yet, hundreds of Old Testament prophesies have been literally fulfilled, so we can see their precision. The prophets spoke accurately, because they were moved by the Spirit, and their words were God-breathed. This is why Paul could finish his statement to Timothy – “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” adding: “All scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” Perfection can come only through a proper agreement with a perfect standard. And to be thoroughly prepared and furnished unto all good works, there must be the supply of everything needed.
We know that our neighbors are not going to believe every word of God – because their hearts are inclined to go in the other direction, just as ours were in our pre-conversion days. But today, you and I need to be convinced that the Bible is inspired by God and therefore infallible.
Also with those two characteristics it is AUTHORITATIVE.
When Paul was in Athens among the intellectual Greek heathens, he reflected the authoritative nature of the Word of God, when he said, “God … now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” What authority did the God of the Jews have over the philosophers and intelligencia of Greece? He had all authority as the Creator and Sovereign of the universe. And by what authority did Paul command those people to repentance? His authority came from the written Word of God. And we possess that same divine authority today.
The liberal, atheistic, moral philosopher may tell the potential murderer not to pull the trigger. And so might the evangelistic pastor of a Bible-believing church. They might utter the same exhortation and command. But the unbeliever has far less authority than the Bible-believer with Exodus 20 in his mind – “thou shalt not kill.” “Surely your blood of your lives will I require it… at the hand of every mans’ brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” – Genesis 9:5-6. As much as the world might like to de-emphasize them, over and over again God says, “Thou shalt not, not shalt not.” And when Christians hold God’s word in their hands they can authoritatively repeat what God has said.
One more point about God’s Word is that it is SUFFICIENT.
There are so many things that we don’t need when presenting the gospel to someone. For example, we don’t need to know human psychology in order to bring a person to the Lord. In fact, we don’t really bring anyone to the Lord at all; the Lord draws whom He will. All we need is to authoritatively tell people, “Christ Jesus has said, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” We don’t need a heavy dose of human intellect, enabling us to debate others about the unknowable things of the infinite God. All we need to know is that Christ Jesus gave His life on the cross to purchase sinners from the judgment they deserve. We certainly don’t need to know the specifics about a person’s sin. We don’t need to know that a woman in front of us has had an abortion or the man to whom we are witnessing has a pornography problem. What we need to know is that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
There is no home court advantage in knowing the latest trends or self-help techniques. Do we really need to know what Joel Osteen or John MacArthur believe, in order to tell someone what Jesus has said? We don’t even need to know the meaning of the Greek words in Romans 6:23. All we need to know is “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” With the Word of God in our hands and our hearts, we are sufficiently armed for every good work. Again, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God… (and with it ) the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
Ours is a “Revelational Epistemology.”