A few weeks ago we looked at Psalm 19 and how it teaches us the delight of God's law. Our Shorter Catechism summarizes this biblical teaching nicely in questions 2 and 3.

Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?

A. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.

Q. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

A. The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

We sang a portion of Psalm 119 as our psalm of response. Hear some more of what the Psalm 119 says regarding the Word of God: "If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life" (v92-93). "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day" (v97). "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (v103-105). "Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end" (v111-112). 

Why should we delight in the Word of God? Why do we consider the Word of God to be our rule of glory and joy? Let's take a brief walk through the biblical teaching on the scriptures. The Word of God came orally to our first parents, Adam and Eve. And throughout the book of Genesis the promises are made orally to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But in Exodus 24 we have the first instance of the written Word of God. Moses writes down the covenant that God declared at Sinai, "Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.' And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said 'Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words'" (Ex 24:7-8). What's the point? The point is that from the very first time that the Word of God was written down, the book of the covenant (the written word) was bound together with the blood of the covenant (the sacrifice). The one is meaningless without the other. Without the sacrifice (the blood of the covenant), the scriptures have no power. Without the scriptures, the sacrifice has no meaning. Now, remember what the book of the covenant was in Exodus 24. The Book of the Covenant was Exodus 20-23: the Ten Commandments, and a brief explanation of the Commandments. The Book of the Covenant opened with the words: "I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, Out of the house of Bondage." The Book of the Covenant started with a reminder of their redemption, and then called Israel to live out of gratitude for that great redemption. In a couple weeks in the evening service we will look at Deuteronomy 27-28, where we will see how the writing down of the Word of God is also connected with the sacrifice-with the worship of the people of God. But this is the reason why the Psalmist delights in the Word of God. The Word of God does not start by beating us over the head and condemning us. The point of the written Word of God was to explain the way of salvation. The reason why Moses started writing, was so that Israel might understand their redemption. The scripture starts with redemption, and then calls us to obey the God who has so graciously redeemed us. In other words, the scriptures direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy him forever, by teaching us what we are to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of us. The catechism gets it right: we start with what we are to believe concerning God, and then, having heard of the glorious redemption that Christ has wrought, we then learn what duty God requires of us.

But the writing of scripture is intimately connected with the accomplishment of redemption. The Pentateuch was written shortly after the Exodus--the great act of redemption in the Old Testament--as God interprets the Exodus for his people, and calls them to obey his Law. The next significant amount of writing came during the establishment of the Kingdom under David and Solomon. Joshua, Judges and Ruth, and many of the Psalms and Proverbs were written in this time, as God interprets the meaning of the Kingdom that he has established. Then there is another period of silence until the Exile. Most of the prophets and Samuel-Kings were written between the eighth century (when Israel went into exile) and the sixth century (when Judah went into exile), as God explains why he is rejecting his chosen people, and promises to redeem them. This is then followed by the post-exilic prophets and Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, as God interprets the restoration from exile, and promises the greater restoration that is to come in Christ. But by 400 BC the prophets have fallen silent. For 400 years God is silent. No scripture is written during those years, because God is not doing anything new. It is only after the great act of redemption in Jesus Christ, that new scripture is written, as God interprets for his people the meaning of the once-for-all sacrifice. The Book of the New Covenant (the New Testament) explains for us the Blood of the New Covenant (Christ on the cross), and shows us what duty God requires of us.

This is the point that Isaiah made in his own day. Isaiah speaks in chapter 8 of the coming Assyrian invasion. Samaria (the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel) will be overthrown, and all its wealth will be taken away by the King of Assyria. Israel has refused to listen to the Word of the LORD. "They inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter" But Isaiah asks, "Should not a people inquire of their God?" And then Isaiah declares the solution for the people of God: "To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn" (Is 8:20). The prophets are not merely complaining about Israel's failure to obey the commandments. It is not merely a moral lapse that leads to the Exile. It is first and foremost a refusal to listen to the Word of God. Jeremiah speaks of the same problem 150 years later in the southern kingdom of Judah: "How can you say 'we are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" (Jer 8:8-9). The problem is that Israel and Judah have forgotten the God who redeemed them. 

This is the same problem that Paul addresses in 2 Timothy 3. Paul warns against false teachers in v6-7: "Those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth." The victims of these false teachers are those who are easily led astray. They are the weak women of both genders who never seem able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Such people are easy targets for these false teachers. The false teachers themselves are characterized as those who "oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith" (v9). This is an important lesson: it has become a popular idea in evangelical circles, that truth is unknowable. Anyone who claims to know the truth is considered arrogant. It is considered more "humble" to be one who is always learning. But Paul says that those who are "always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth" are being led astray from the gospel. It is important that we know the truth--and hold to it. It is true that there is a very ugly arrogance that says, "I alone am right." There are people who use the truth as a club, people who use their knowledge to gain power over others. This is wrong. A true knowledge of the gospel of Christ will result in humility, as Paul says in 2:25, that the Lord's servant must "correct his opponents with gentleness." Notice what Paul says to Timothy (3:10-17). Paul is here speaking to a minister, but his words are for us as well. Notice how Paul connects the reading and the preaching of the Word. Verses 15-17 emphasize the written word, the scripture, but verses 10-14 also speaks of the those who taught Timothy. The scriptures are the rule, but we learn the scriptures in the context of the church. The one who isolates himself or herself from the church, is the one who ends up like the "little women" of verse 6, always learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth. Such a one is an easy target for the false teachers.

The way to avoid falling prey to the false teachers is by "continuing in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it," which means continuing "in the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." Acts 17:11 speaks of the Bereans as being "more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." They did not just accept or dismiss Paul's teaching. They did not assume that their traditional interpretation was correct. They were willing to listen and study to ascertain the truth of Paul's preaching.

Because the scriptures are the rule for how we may glorify God and enjoy him forever, Paul declares that "all scripture is breathed out by God." This is the rule that God himself has given. No matter how faithful my preaching may be, I can never say that God has breathed out this sermon. If I am faithful to the written word of God, then my preaching can be called the Word of God, but only indirectly insofar as my preaching depends upon the scriptures. Only the scriptures are God-breathed. But what does Paul say about the scriptures? First, he says that they are able to make you wise for salvation (v15). Remember, that the New Testament is still being written. Paul is referring to the Old Testament scriptures. Through faith in Christ Jesus, the Old Testament is able to make you wise for salvation; because the Old Testament is all about Christ. But again, like Exodus 24, like Deuteronomy 27, like Isaiah 8, the purpose of the written Word is to teach the people of God about salvation. And then, Paul explains that purpose in more detail: "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." 

In other words, the scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. Because the scriptures were given to teach us about our salvation, it includes not merely what we were saved from, but also what we are saved for! The message of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has fulfilled all that was promised in the Old Testament. The Kingdom of God which had been foreshadowed by David has now come. Therefore the good news (the gospel) is that Jesus Christ has died for our sins, and been raised from the dead, ascending to the right hand of the Father, and pouring out the Holy Spirit upon his people. That is the good news. That is the gospel. The most earth-shaking event in the history of the universe has happened in Jesus Christ. THEREFORE, as Peter said on the day of Pentecost, if you wish to participate in this new creation that God is bringing, you must repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And this repentance consists of an entire reorientation of your whole being. Repentance means a turning of the mind from the old way of thinking and living, to the new way--to the mind of Christ, as Paul says in Philippians 2. This is the message of the scriptures. This is the salvation that the scriptures teach. The scriptures are useful for teaching us this new way of thinking and living. The scriptures are useful for rebuking us when we go astray. They correct us and set us on the right path again. And they train us, they discipline us, in righteousness, that we might walk in the newness of life that Christ has brought.

Let us eagerly desire to learn from the scriptures how we may glorify and enjoy our God!

Copyright © 2003 Peter J. Wallace