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The Authority of Scripture
Establishing Scripture’s authority is important to the remainder of our study of systematic theology. If we do not believe Scripture has any authority in our lives, that lack of belief drastically changes how we approach the Bible. This begs the question, from where does Scripture receive its authority? How do we know these words can be trusted to guide our lives?
Our first instinct, especially for Americans and those in more Western cultures, is to “prove” that the Bible is true and authoritative for our lives. We search for evidence towards the historical accuracy of the stories found in the Bible. We study the prophecies and find evidence for their fulfillment. We look at the internal consistency to see if the Bible agrees with itself. All these components testify to the truthfulness and authority of Scripture and benefit our study of Scripture. However, we cannot rely solely on this sort of external proof to establish the authority of Scripture.
A second approach would be to apply our personal experience to determine the authority of Scripture. We read a passage and it speaks directly to our lives. We are convicted of sin. We are encouraged. We grow in our knowledge of God. We experience the authority of Scripture in our lives. However we cannot rely solely on personal experience to establish Scripture’s authority. Every individual will have different experiences and draw different conclusions. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit enlightens the believer’s heart to the truths of Scripture and applies those truths to his heart.
Finally, we establish Scripture’s authority based on what the Bible says about itself. Scripture claims to be God’s word and authoritative for life. In an earlier post about God’s word, we established that the words found in Scripture are indeed God’s words. The phrase “thus says the Lord” is found frequently in the Old Testament (Deut 18:17-20) and the Lord spoke through the prophets (Jer 1:9). Paul writes to Timothy that “all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).Now many will say Scripture granting itself authority is an invalid argument. But, if Scripture is the ultimate authority, then to allow anything or anyone else give it authority would be to place that thing in a higher authority than Scripture.
We must believe and trust through faith and the guiding of the Holy Spirit within us that Scripture is indeed what it claims to be–God’s holy and authoritative Word.
Application
Grudem defines authority of Scripture as “all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God” (73). This means that we cannot pick and choose which passages we will follow and cast aside those we dislike. We cannot label them “outdated” or “outside our culture”.
Scripture is God’s word to us, and out of our love for Him, we obey His words, find encouragement in His words, and share His words with others. <—Click to Tweet!
Where are you struggling to obey God’s Word? How do you find encouragement in His Word? How can you share His Word with one person this week?
Challenge
Let’s go on a bit of a scavenger hunt! Find one or all of the following. Report back in the comments or on my Facebook page.
- Find one (or all if you are an overachiever) of the following: (a) a favorite historically accurate passage (I know they all are, but which one is your fave!); (b) a prophecy that has been fulfilled (bonus if you have a passage showing the prophecy’s fulfillment!); and/or (c) two passages that agree with each other on a subject in Scripture
- Share a passage that the Holy Spirit has used to speak to you. If you are comfortable, share how it applied to your life.
- Find one passage where Scripture claims to be God’s words and/or have authority.
Have fun exploring God’s Word!
This is the hardest post that I write each week. It’s also the one I get the least feedback on! If you have learned something from the t{squared} series, please leave a comment! I could use a little encouragement to keep going! 
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