Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20040919.htm

APPLYING OUR CHURCH'S STATEMENT OF BIBLICAL FAITH
Article III, Part I Of The Nepaug Bible Church Bylaws: The Word Of God
C. Applying The Truth That We CAN KNOW All Of God's Message To Us
(Deut. 13:1-4; 2 Tim. 3:16-4:2; Mk. 12:18-27; 1 Jn. 2:20, 27; 1 Cor. 2:9-16; Rom. 14:1-2; 3:4; Jn. 16:13; 8:32)
  1. Introduction
    1. Though we hold the Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice, we might wonder how valuable is this belief since most believers depend on differing and hence imperfect Bible translations for God's truth! Then, some claim they receive new revelations from God today, further complicating the issue!
    2. Article III, Part I of our Church's Statement of Faith indicates we CAN KNOW God's message; about the Bible, it states: "There is no further revelation, prophecy or vision to be expected before the Lord's return, for the Bible is both sufficient and authoritative until His return to equip us thoroughly 'for every good work.' We believe that the correct interpretation of God's Word for the believer is the normal litero-grammatical-historical method of interpretation as used by Jesus Christ. We also believe that any and every believer has the God-ordained right and responsibility to study and to interpret Scripture under the Holy Spirit's guidance, and that in accord with reason and conscience, we believe that the correct interpretation of Scripture provides only one interpretation, for Scripture truth is a single-minded reality."
    3. Our basis for making this claim is as follows:
  2. Applying The Truth That We CAN KNOW All Of God's Message To Us.
    1. God's Word is complete with the Bible's 66 books, for 2 Timothy 3:16-4:2 reveals it is all we need today.
    2. If one today claims to have added revelations from God, Deut. 13:1-4 shows their content must align with the truth of the canon of Scripture to be valid. This fact discounts many such claims of revelations today!
    3. The proper method of interpreting Scripture is noted from heeding Christ's example in Mark 12:18-27; there, Jesus used the normal, or litero-grammatical-historical method to interpret Exodus 3:6 as follows:
      1. Christ's answer to the Sadducees is designed to counter their denial of the resurrection, Mark 12:18.
      2. To do so, Jesus critiqued the reason behind that denial, the Sadducean belief that the soul died with the body (cf. Zond. Pict. Ency. of the Bible, vol. 5, p. 214), leaving no existing soul for God to raise.
      3. In making His critique, Jesus cited Exodus 3:6, using the normal or literal, grammatical and historical method of interpretation of that verse to prove the soul exists after the body dies (as follows):
        1. Jesus' argument depended on the historical setting of Exodus 3:6: at the time that God made His Exodus 3:6 statement, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been dead for hundreds of years.
        2. Also, the verb, "am" in the present tense does not appear in Hebrew text, but it is grammatically understood to exist so that it is written out in our English Bible, cf. Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 81.
        3. Then, Jesus cited Exodus 3:6 in its most straightforward way, using its literal sense, Mark 12:26.
        4. Putting this all together, Jesus argued that as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were historically deceased by the time God grammatically told Moses, "I am" (currently) the God of the dead patriarchs, their souls literally still existed, for God is God only of existing ("living") beings, Mark 12:27!
        5. Jesus thus used the normal or litero-grammatical-historical method of interpretation on God's Word!
    4. Every believer can interpret Scripture himself, for he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit Who equips him to discern truth from error and correctly interpret the Word, 1 John 2:20, 27; 1 Corinthians 2:9-16.
    5. The correct interpretation is that one which aligns with conscience (Romans 14:1-2) and comes under the Holy Spirit's guidance (John 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:9-16) to protect it from man's deceitfulness (Romans 3:4).
    6. Re: man's imperfect translations, Jesus showed we can use them, for, in John 10:34, He cited Psa. 82:6 of the Septuagint (Greek) translation of the (Hebrew) Old Testament, U. B. S. Greek N. T ., 1966 ed., p. 369.
Lesson Application: (1) Every believer CAN KNOW for HIMSELF God's message, for it exists for him in complete form in the 66 book canon of Scripture, and by the Spirit's power and use of the "normal" method of interpretation, in accord with reason and conscience, he CAN KNOW God's truth. (2) As Jesus used the imperfect Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, we can use translations also; for English readers limited only to translations, credible scholars suggest they use the KJV, the NIV, the ESV and the NASB together and place a priority on Scripture CONTEXT to obtain the proper insight!