The Authority of the Bible
—What it means and does not mean
Andrew Fountain – June 19, 2015
Revelation
General Revelation
Creation
Conscience and self-evident truths
God’s hand in the events of life
Special Revelation
Jesus living on earth
The Bible
Dreams, visions, prophecies
The Spirit leading us to think like Jesus
Authority
Sola Scriptura
“Belief that Scripture is the final and only infallible authority for the Christian in all matters of faith and practice.”
Not a book of medicine, chemistry or mathematics
But if it does speak about a subject, it is infallible
Provided we understand it correctly
(e.g. earth at centre of universe?)
But beware of an independent arrogant spirit
We need Guarding against the attitude that says
“You can’t tell me what to do—the Bible is my only authority” as an excuse for simply being rebellion
God has not just given the Spirit to you alone, but to all Christians through the ages
We need each other’s help in understanding God’s word
A guy once looked at my library and said “huh! All I need is the Bible”
There is value in seeing how Christians have understood parts of the Bible down through the ages
They may be wrong, but we need to weigh it and not just assume we are the only one’s who have true understanding