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 In
the 1968 “Arlington Meeting” (book available) Roy Cogdill
did a magnificent job of introducing BIBLE AUTHORITY. I would
outline some of those thoughts as follows. 1) The Necessity for
Authority in Religion. 2) Authority must be Objective, coming
“from without” man. 3) GOD, being sovereign by right of
creation and possession, is the Object in Religion. 4) The
nature of God, as Creator, and man, as creature (Potter and
clay), negate the possibility of man’s taking (via
philosophy or transcendental meditation) the will of God. God
must Reveal Himself — must communicate His sovereign will to
His creatures. 5) The Son of God Manifested the Father; is the
fullness of deity bodily; and, 6) The Holy Spirit is the Divine
Agent by which the manifestation, and the attendant message of
God’s will, is made known to man.
God
sent His Son; the Son spoke and demonstrated the will of the
Father--these are historic acts; occurrences in time and space.
To the end that a record might be made and the divine message
repeated to subsequent generations, special messengers were
chosen and endowed with a miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit
— to speak “as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Lu.
24:48-49; Jn. 14:25-26; 15:26-27; 16:12-14; Acts 2:1-4; 1 Cor.
2:1-13)
The
writings of these inspired men is but an extension of
their task to make known to their generation, and to following
generations, the will of God. (Eph. 3:1-7; Col. 4:16; 2 Pet.
1:13-15; 3:1-2, 15-16; Jn. 20:30-31; Lu. 1:1-4) These writings
are, therefore, authoritative. GOD is the authority, the
source of the message; but the written word is the record of God’s
acts and
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message, delivered by inspiration of God’s
Holy Spirit through God’s messengers, and therefore it is authoritative.
As brother Cogdill put it, “The realm of faith lies within
that of divine revelation.” Paul said: “Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
“When
ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it
not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God,
which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thes.
2:13). The “word of God” was what they “heard of us” —
the vehicles of speech enunciated by Paul. It was not some “spiritual
value” derived by subjective “feeling,” but a message,
objectively determined by hearing, and effective to the extent
the hearer responded to its demands.
This
is not Bibliolatry. The words are important because they express
God’s message, confirmed by divine power (1 Thes. 1:5), “which
the Spirit teacheth” (1 Cor. 2:4-5,13). The TRUTH makes free,
but that truth is couched in words that may be spoken (Jn.
8:30-32). In 1 Thes. 4:1-8 Paul says, “Ye have received of us
how ye ought to walk.” Paul “testified” of God’s will
for them, and declares, “He therefore that despiseth,
despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us His Holy
Spirit.”
One
cannot hold to New Testament Christianity, and reject the “word
of God” concept found in its source book. These words are
spirit and life, and shall judge us in the last day.
(continued
next page)
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