Thus far in our study of Romans we have had three messages on the Bible. Romans 3:1-2 – “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” Perhaps the greatest blessing Israel ever received was the honor of possessing the written Word. Our second message on the subject began with Romans 3:10 – “As it is written.” But it was not a exposition of the rest of the verse. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” In that message, I merely used that verse to jump to some of the many other verses in Romans where Paul quoted, or referred to, the Scriptures. The third message that we’ve had on the Bible came from Romans 3:19 – “Whatsoever the law saith.” From there I just outlined some of the wonderful characteristics of the Word of God. This message today picks up and moves on one step beyond those others. The subject is about one of the key doctrines of Biblical theology – authority.
For a long time now, I have been leaving my house at about 6:10 every day of the week, except Sunday. Let’s say that tomorrow, as I walk around the corner of Riverside Harbor Drive and Maplewood street, a car pulls up in front of me, and a police officer hops out. Let’s say that shines a flashlight in my face and demands to see my identification. When I ask him for a reason, he begins to tell me that it is not lawful to take walks before 7 a.m. on Monday mornings. To walk is perfectly fine on Sunday mornings, which I will not do, but on Monday mornings it is illegal. Do you know what I’d say? “That is ridiculous. I want to see the statute which makes such a stupid statement.” If that cop is going to arrest me, then I want to see the law which gives him the authority to do so. Authority, it’s all about authority.
Without wasting any ink on non-essentials, the Book of Romans jumps into the subject of salvation. Paul has skillfully and thoroughly condemned us all as sinners before God. Then he attacked the common misconception that through our tiny obedience to the laws of God, we might be able to escape eternal judgment He has told us that there is only one way to be truly righteous and that is by the grace of God. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” The only way that sinners can be just before God is by the justification of God.
Those three things: we are sinners, works of obedience can’t deliver us, and justification is by grace, are principles which run contrary to our proud and self-righteous hearts. To people who are steeped to think in the opposite direction on each of those points, the idea is as silly as it is to say that it is illegal to walk around the block at 6:15 in the morning. Paul if you’re going to make stupid statements like these then you need to be able to offer chapter and verse. I want to know by whose authority you are making these ridiculous statements. And that is exactly what Paul does – over and over again, throughout Romans and the rest of his epistles.
Father Abraham was not chosen by God because of anything that he did or was going to do. He wasn’t a righteous man, because “there is none righteous, no not one.” How did he become a saint of the Lord? Abraham was justified by faith without the deeds of the law – the Mosaic law had not yet been written. “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.” Tell me again, how did Abraham become one of the Lord’s saints and servants? He simply gave up trying to improve himself, repented before God and trusted the Lord to save him. He believed the promise of God, and his faith was accepted by the Lord and imputed as righteousness. Come on, that was it? There wasn’t anything else? That sounds too simple. That sounds ridiculous. There must have been something more. No, there was nothing more – because that is what the scripture says. “What saith the SCRIPTURE? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
Let’s thinks once again about those scriptures to which Paul referred.
Did you know that the first time the word “scripture” is used in our English Bibles it’s in the Old Testament? It came from the lips of an angel of the Lord. In Daniel 10:18 we read: “Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the SCRIPTURE of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” The Hebrew word translated “scripture” means just what “graphe” means. And here the “writing” is characterized with the word “truth.”
Now listen to this quote and try to determine who wrote it: “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” That was from James 2:23. But was he referring to the Old Testament Scriptures or was it to the writings of Paul? The context shows that it was from Genesis. But then Peter says in chapter 3 of his Second Epistle: “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother PAUL also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other SCRIPTURES, unto their own destruction.”
The simple definition of the word “graphe” means “writings,” but the Biblical and theological meaning refers to the “Holy Writings” – the written revelation of God.
Whichever, the difference between your second favorite book and the Bible begins with the Author. When Paul said that Abraham was justified by faith without deeds of righteousness, he could say it with authority, because he was quoting the greatest of all authorities. Patrick O’Brian may have studied hundreds of books and other documents before writing his series on the Napoleonic Wars, but he was not there in 1805 and didn’t actually see a naval battle. Even if he was 250 years old, and had fought along side Nelson at Tra-fal-gar, he certainly could not crawl inside the mind and heart of that one-armed Admiral. And he had no control over the winds and waves which drove those majestic ships. So quoting O’Brian or C.S. Forrester as authorities on the naval war with Napoleon Bonaparte could get a person into a little bit of trouble – they contain a bit of history, but they aren’t historical. On the other hand to quote the Bible is to delve into the very heart of accuracy and authority. Yes, I know that Moses was a mere man, David was a fool at times, and so was the Apostle Paul, but … “No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy (and all the rest of the scriptures) came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
This does not mean that there is not plenty of support and supplementary evidence for what we read in the Bible. For example, our hearts echo much of the statements that God makes about our lives and souls. Archeology testifies to a great deal of ancient Biblical history. Science agrees with the statements that the Bible makes relating to the physical world. And history is history no matter who might be recording it. But it’s not history books, secular biographies and digging in the dirt which establishes the scriptures. “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 perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
What saith the scripture? It has material that can fascinate and thrill the human mind for the rest of our earthly lives. It can excite linguists for decades. But then it reaches through the ears, past the brain and into the heart and soul of a man. It speaks about a thousand different things for which man has no other source of information. It reveals the unimagined and the unimaginable. “AS IT IS WRITTEN, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” How could we ever know that God is a Trinity, if He didn’t reveal that to us? We might guess about the existence of heaven and hell, because justice and righteousness might demand such things, but God’s plan of salvation is beyond the depraved human heart.
The most important things are unknowable without the scriptures.
Thankfully we have Paul to help us – and Peter, and John, and James and Christ and others. What I’m saying is that we have scriptures to help us understand scriptures. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” Our Bibles are about 1500 pages in length for a reason. One is that through repetition, addition and multiplication we might see all that the Lord wants us to see. A child might be able to draw a picture of the front of his house. It may have the door in the proper place and the right number of windows. But it is flat – one dimensional. Then an artist or architect could draw your house at a slight angle, with shading, exact colors, and some landscaping, making it far easier to recognize as your house. But finally a computer technician might use one of his programs to redraw your house, enabling you to see it inside and outside from any angle and all angles. He could be able to lift off the root, see through walls and arrange and rearrange all the furniture. Similarly, when the Lord gets through using Moses, Abraham, Christ Jesus and then Paul, we begin to see justification by faith from as many angles as necessary to really grasp the subject.
We can know what saith the scriptures through searching them. That is what the Lord Jesus told us to do. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” That means: read your Bible with a desire to know what those verses and chapters reveal. Don’t read for entertainment or out of duty. Study them as if you were a DNA expert looking for the explanation of life, because in these scriptures there is the explanation of life – and death. But at the same time search those scriptures with the illumination of prayer and dependence upon the Lord. That was one of the problems that the Pharisees had when it came to the Word of the Lord. They had the Word, but they neglected the Lord.
And by the way, those scriptures need to be searched daily – regularly – consistently. There is an awesome responsibility that comes to us with the ownership of a Bible. In fact we have that responsibility even if we refuse to own a Bible. We need to know “what saith the scripture.” Our lives, and our eternities, depend on what it says.