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Westminster around the Web

We continue to work through Chapter 1, "The Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures", learning more about the inspiration and sufficiency of Scripture. Let's start our tour around the web this week with a look at the meaning of : "All scripture inspired by God.", than move on to "'God told me', and the Sufficiency of Scripture". We'll wrap up our tour with some links to a complete discussion of why the Apocrypha is not the inspired Word of God and is excluded from the canon; and then, fun links to how-to memorize the books of the Bible.

Let's start with an awesome view of God's inspired Word. Inspiration, literally means God breathed. John MacArthur says it best in his sermon on 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

"All scripture is inspired by God." That's where we get that word "inspiration." Now this is pasa graphe theopneustos. The word theopneustos is God breathed, it's translated inspired here. It means God breathed. If you didn't have any air you couldn't speak. If you couldn't bring out air you couldn't vibrate your vocal chords, you couldn't make any sound, couldn't form your words. What this is saying is God breathed out Scripture. God spoke it. It is the very breath of God. And not just in the sense of breath but in the sense of blowing out breath in a way that goes past the vocal chords, vibrates the vocal chords, past the mouth which forms the enunciation and God produced exactly what He wanted said. God spoke it.

In "God told me", and the Sufficiency of Scripture, Mark Dever, pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church and Executive Director of 9Marks Ministries relates this:

I was dumbfounded (a pretty rare occurrence).This fellow had just told me that his supervisor had assigned him the task to make a master-plan for a new church plant, and that when he prayed about it God told him just to use the words of Jesus. Let me be clear. He said that God told him that in his planning for this new church, he was only to consult, reflect upon, quote the words of Jesus.

This fellow was a full-time employee of a Christian organization. He was evidently himself a Christian. Too, unlike other employees of this organization, he had a Masters of Divinity. And that from an evangelical seminary. He had been then, we are to assume, carefully trained in the Bible and theology. We should also assume that he had provided credible and helpful leadership to a local church somewhere, if he was now in the very responsible position that he was in. And it was this person who stood there and told me in all sincere piety and simple trust that God told him only to consult the words of Jesus when planning for a new church.

When we look to discern God's will for us, for our church, for our families does God talk directly to us? In the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture we have studied that the Bible is clear and sufficient for our instruction, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Yet we often hear (all to often) that God is talking directly to our brothers and sisters as they try to discern the will of God. As Ann asked, are we limiting God? This is an important doctrine - again, comments are open.

There were a couple of questions about the Apocrypha. Being raised a Protestant I too am not familiar with these extra-biblical writings. Here's a link to a very complete history and answer to The Apocrypha from A Puritan's Mind.

Lastly, do you know the books of the Old and New Testament in order? Did you when you were young, or have you never learned? Well, here are a couple of links to help you out. Singing is a great tool in memorizing. Here are a few songs to help you memorize. Look for the one that is set to the tune "Ten Little Indians". That's the one I remember the most. Ready to move on? Here is a link to a visual memory system that will have you saying all 66 books in order. (Warning: you need a sense of humor to appreciate this technique). Now you are ready for a quiz. This website will give you a number of games and quizzes to test your skill.

Long tour around the web this week. Thanks to all of you for your great questions and discussion - it keeps me busy searching for answers!

Posted by Christine at October 21, 2005 10:37 PM