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The Authority of Scripture Acts 5:17-32; 2 Peter 1:20-21

In the year 1517 the German priest Martin Luther wanted an academic debate about some of the practices of the Christian church. He gave notice of this debate by posting his ideas – his theses.

There were 95 of them … 95 points of concern about corruption and false teaching, particularly the notion that you could be assured of salvation by purchasing indulgences.1

He debated representatives of the Roman church. He wrote numerous sermons and papers, calling for reform within the church. Luther never wanted to break away from the church or splinter it; he merely wanted it to make a “course correction” and get back to the teachings of the apostles.

But the church was steeped in centuries of tradition and papal authority, and Luther simply couldn’t get Pope Leo X to listen.

In April 1521 the emperor, Charles V, convened a diet – an imperial assembly – to settle the issue in a town called Worms, Germany. (I know. It looks like we’re talking about the nutritional value of nightcrawlers … but it’s a meeting … in “Varms.”)

At this assembly, Luther was told again to recant, to reject his theses that had created such division.

Here’s how Luther responded: “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well-known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted. My conscience is captive to the Word of God.2 … Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”3

With those words Martin Luther was branded a heretic and declared an outlaw of the empire. But with those words he put forth the principle of sola Scriptura – the notion that the Word of God is the decisive authority in a Christian’s life.

I can’t help but notice that Luther’s response was very much like the response of the apostles, as we just heard in Acts 5. The political and religious leaders told them to stop, and they responded, “We must – we must – obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

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A Biblical Worldview Do you have that kind of conviction in your faith life? Do you have that kind of rock-solid foundation that compels you to stand up for what you believe, even in the face of great opposition? Can you say that your conscience is captive to the Word of God?

Take a moment right now and ask yourself: What is the primary source of guidance and direction in your life? What is the authoritative lens through which you see the world?

I can tell you this: If you answered anything other than the Word of God, you will be disappointed. Everything else in this world falls short.

Ultimately, only Scripture leads us to the love and grace of Jesus Christ. The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, points us to Jesus. And only Jesus has the words of truth and wisdom that lead to an abundant life now and eternal life later.

When we are trying to make sense of the world and determine how to get the most out of life, we have all kinds of possible guides and teachers:  Science helps us understand the world and greatly improves modern life.  We can also rely on human reason and logic to guide us.  Politics and government offer guidelines for civilized living.  We even have great traditions and a heritage that binds us together.

The problem is science answers the how and the what … but it can never answer the “Why?” Why does the universe exist? Why am I here? What is my purpose?

The problem with reason and logic is that we are flawed, biased individuals who naturally want to protect our own self-interests.

Similarly, laws and politics serve a purpose, but any government is ultimately made up of flawed, imperfect people. Culture and popular opinion are constantly changing and shifting.

Traditions link us to the past, but they can also blind us to new possibilities.

We have many possible guides and points of view to choose from, but everything in this world falls short. Only the Bible leads us to Jesus. Only the Word of God is powerful and perfectly sufficient for our lives.

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The Authenticity of Scripture How do we know this? Because the Bible tells us so.

I’ll admit, there’s a bit of circular logic here. It’s a little like me telling my wife that I’m a great driver. She’ll say, “Who told you that?” “I do – I tell myself that every time I get in the car.”

But if I’ve never been in an accident, and if I’ve never gotten a ticket, and if my insurance company is giving me a good-driver discount, then maybe there’s some truth to my claim. (At least that’s what I keep telling myself.)

So consider this about the Bible: It’s not just one book, but a book of books. Sixty-six books, to be exact, written over 1,500 years by about 40 different authors. It was written in three different languages on two separate continents.

Despite all of that, its message is perfectly consistent, without any contradictions.

Many of the events recorded in both the Old and New Testaments have been independently verified by archaeological and historical sources.

Many Biblical authors claim they were eyewitnesses to the events they wrote about. If any of those authors were lying, there should have been plenty of people around who could discredit them. But no one ever could.

Many of the writings of classic Greek authors such as Plato and Aristotle are believed to be reliable and genuine – even though we have only a few dozen copies that were made within 1,000 years of the author’s life.

There are well over 24,000 manuscripts of New Testament writings, 5,000 of them in the original Greek, all dated to within 100 years of the author’s life.

Although there are fewer original copies of the Old Testament writings, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 showed that the Scriptures handed down through the generations were tremendously accurate … there were only a handful of differences, and most of those were variations in spelling and style.4

The bottom line is that from a purely human standpoint, the Bible as we have it today is very much the same as it was 2,000 years ago – and that should give us a high level of certainty as to its authenticity and reliability.

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The Superiority of Scripture But is it really the Word … of God? Does it really deserve to be the leading authority for how I live my life?

Ultimately, that’s a matter of faith … and obedience. Yet I would say there’s a good case to be made for why Scripture – and Scripture alone – is the best authority for what I believe and how I live.

First, I believe that the Bible is divinely inspired – that is, God Himself gave the words to those 40-some authors to write down. And that makes it infinitely better than any human reasoning.

The Apostle Paul wrote that “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). The Apostle Peter wrote, “You must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).

The men who were eyewitnesses of Jesus believed that every word of Scripture – the Old Testament writings as well as the teachings of the apostles – came from the Holy Spirit, not from human invention.

Because the Bible is divinely inspired, I believe that means it is also divinely infallible.

Let’s return for a moment to Martin Luther. In his day, the word of popes and church councils were seen to carry the same weight as the Word of God.

But Luther knew that human popes and councils could make errors and contradictions.

As just one example, only 100 years earlier, from 1409 to 1414, there were three men who all simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. If you really want all the gory details, go home and Google “Western Schism.” The bottom line is that you had one pope in Rome, another in France, and a third who rose to power in Pisa.

Naturally, the question was, who was the rightful leader of the church? Which pope had the authority to speak on Jesus’ behalf?

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If Scripture is the deciding authority, you don’t have that problem. As the Word of God, Scripture cannot be in error, and it does not contradict itself.

Don’t misunderstand: The doctrine of sola scriptura does not mean that Scripture is the only authority. But it should be the ultimate, decisive authority for the Church and for every Christian.

If a pastor, priest, or even a pope contradicts Scripture, if they contradict one another, Scripture should be the deciding factor, the supreme authority.

I hope that everything I preach to you is an inspired word of God that has the potential to touch hearts and change lives.

But my word is not the final word. Scripture says you should “test the spirits”5 – you should test the prophets and test us preachers and make sure that everything we say is in line with the word of God.

The Word of God is divinely inspired and divinely infallible, and it’s also filled with divine wisdom.

Paul always made it clear that the faith of believers should not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power and wisdom of God.6 He emphasized that Scripture not only makes us wise for salvation, but it is also divinely useful … “for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Last week I got to thinking that if you park in the ramp at Mayo Clinic downtown, it can be tough to try to find your way to the Critical Care Unit. There are a lot of twists and turns and hallways and buildings. It’s easy to get lost or confused … if you’re not following the signs on the floor, telling you which way to go.

Scripture is a lot like that. It’s a “lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105) that helps you avoid getting lost or confused.

God’s Word shows us the way to go. It convicts us of our sin … it shows our need for a Savior … it leads us to Jesus … and then it trains us and teaches us how to more faithfully love God and love others … it equips us to carry out our mission.

It’s not a history book, it’s not a science book, it’s not even a book on how to win friends and influence people … and yet it is filled with wisdom that applies to every aspect of humanity. 6

Here’s one example. Can you tell me where the Bible addresses the transgender issue? Of course not. There’s no chapter or verse that deals with that topic.

But Scripture does talk about the brokenness introduced by sin. The Biblical narrative tells me that our sense of identity and self-worth was damaged in the Fall, and so we grope about in the world, trying to figure out who we are and where we belong.

The Biblical narrative also tells me that each one of us is made in the image of God, that we have great worth, that we are fashioned by God Himself, that through Christ we are His beloved children, and that there is forgiveness and restoration even in the midst of brokenness.

Scripture guides us and informs us so that we can give thoughtful consideration to any issue we may encounter. It instructs us in a way to live that will be a blessing to us and to those around us.

Scripture is also divinely powerful. It is living and active.7 The Gospel of Jesus “is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). The Word of God has the power to change lives for eternity … we are saved by grace, through faith, and that faith comes from hearing the Word.8

God’s Word contains everything we need to know to be assured of salvation. I can learn about the historical Jesus, the carpenter’s son who lived in the first century. But only through Scripture can I learn about His love and His sacrifice … find meaning in His death … learn how He paid the penalty for my sin and opened the gates of heaven.

When Luther was reflecting on Psalm 119, he wrote: “Human wisdom and the liberal arts are noble gifts of God, good and useful for all kinds of things … . But they can never thoroughly tell us what sin and righteousness are in the eyes of God, how we can get rid of sins, become pious and just before God, and pass from death into life. (We learn this) in the Bible alone, which is the Holy Spirit’s book.”

The Effectiveness of Scripture Admittedly, the doctrine of Scripture alone is greatly responsible for the hundreds of denominations we have in the world today. When Luther and the other Reformers put the Bible into the hands of the people, in a language they could understand, and used Scripture as the primary authority rather than any pope or church official, they opened the floodgates for every Christian to “test and judge what is right and wrong in matters of faith.”9 7

Individual Christians started to have their individual interpretations of what the Bible really means, and that created a tension between the blessing and the chaos of sola scriptura that is still played out today.

Historian Mark Noll points to Christianity in Mongolia as an example. There were virtually no Christians in Mongolia in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Then, in 1972, John Gibbons and his Mongolian wife began translating the New Testament.

When the Communist government collapsed in 1989, other Christians came in. But before long, different groups were arguing about how to translate certain words into the Mongolian language.

Within 15 years, there were six or seven versions of the New Testament, and a great deal of antagonism between the different groups.

Yet today there are 330 congregations with close to 50,000 Christ-followers. Why? Because the Bible was opened up for them. In spite of competition and arguing, the Gospel won out. The Word of God that tells of new life in Christ got to grow and spread in that nation in a divinely powerful way.10

Biblical Response If you believe, as I do, that the Bible is a divine book … if you believe that these words were given by God through men for your benefit, then what higher authority could there be in your life?

Even if we don’t like what it says, even if it seems too hard to follow, even if it takes us into the unknown and makes us uncomfortable, what better authority is there? Everything else in this world falls short of the divinely high standard set for us in the words of Scripture.

Only the Word of God is powerful and sufficient for our lives. So what are you doing to build your life on its wisdom and its promises?

Are you reading it? Do you know what it says? You don’t have to start with an ambitious goal like reading it from cover to cover or a chapter a day. Start simple. Start with one of the Gospels and commit to reading for 5 minutes a day. If you find you’re ready for more, as I suspect you will be, stop by the Word station in the Gathering Place and look for a Bible reading plan that’s just right for you.

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Are you studying Scripture? Are you mediating on the Word? Are you taking the time to think about what you just read and turn it over and over in your mind to grasp what it means for you?

This is one of my favorite pictures when I talk about studying the Bible. Martin Luther likened meditation to a cow chewing its cud.11 We should “chew” upon a thought, deliberately, reflectively, diligently taking our time to “digest” the full meaning of the Scripture.

And finally, are you abiding by it? Are you not just hearing the Word, but doing what it says?12 When the living Word of God – Jesus Christ – says something through the written Word of God – the Bible – are you paying attention? Are you allowing Scripture to be your primary source of instruction and guidance and the only hope for your life?

As children, we implicitly trusted our parents when they said, “This is for you own good.” As we’re older, we put our trust in doctors when they tell us we need to make some changes in order to have a healthier, fuller life.

So why wouldn’t we trust God when it comes to our faith … when He tells us there is life and power in these words?

Why wouldn’t we turn to the Scriptures so that we can go where God would have us go and do what God would have us do? Why wouldn’t we put our trust in the words that bring blessings to our life now and the promise of eternal life to come?

Why wouldn’t we spend some time every day hearing from the God who loves us, the God who died for us, the God who waits for us with open arms, the God who saves us? Amen.

1 Theses 32 & 33, http://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html 2 Gassmann, Gunther and Hendrix, Scott. “Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions,” © 1999 Augsburg Fortress Publishers (Minneapolis, Minn.), p. 49. 3 https://blog.cph.org/around-the-house/did-luther-really-say-here-i-stand/ 4 https://bible.org/article/how-accurate-bible, http://www.icr.org/bible-manuscripts/ 5 1 John 4:1-3 6 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 7 Hebrews 4:12 8 Romans 10:14-17 9 LW 44:135, quoted in Gassmann, p. 49. 10 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/june/freedom-and-chaos-of-sola-scriptura.html 11 AE 9:136, quoted in Concordia Theological Quarterly, January/April 2016 12 James 1:22-25