Come, let us reason together. Part 5

Building on the foundation laid in parts 1-4 this post will argue that whatever Jesus (who is God) affirms as true, is true. This includes His affirmation that the Bible is the Word of God.

God cannot make mistakes. One of His attributes is His immutability, or put another way, His unchangeable nature. Whatever changes acquires something new. God cannot acquire something new because if He did He would by definition not be God. Our idea of God is perfection. Perfection requires nothing more. God lacks no perfection. He needs nothing more. He cannot be more perfect or complete.

God cannot change. If He did He could not be God for this would mean He lacked some perfection.

God is an all-knowing, timeless being. He knows all of time in one eternal now, including the future. If this were not true He could not be immutable because He would need the ability to gain new knowledge, and therefore, would not be God. He is omniscient. He knows everything, He cannot be wrong.

Since God cannot err in His knowledge, whatever He knows is infallible. We have already argued that Jesus is God. Therefore, Jesus cannot be wrong. What He affirms as true, is true.

Jesus taught that the Bible is the Word of God. He had a high view of scripture. He taught that it was authoritative, imperishable, infallible, inerrant, historically reliable, scientifically accurate, and that it held ultimate supremacy. (At this point I must thank Dr. Normal Geisler again for his excellent work, and teaching from which I am going to borrow).

1. Authoritative.

Matthew 4:4, 7, 10

Jesus speaking"It is written 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"

"On the other hand, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Matthew 4:4, 7, 10 are three examples of the 92 times in the gospels where Jesus uses the words, "It is written" in reference to the Old Testament. When He uses this statement its like He is saying "This is the final word on the subject." He believes the scriptures are the inspired word of God and He quotes them as having authority.

2. Imperishable.

Matthew 5:17-18

Jesus speaking"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished."

When Jesus uses the phrase "The Law and the Prophets" He is always referring to the whole Old Testament (See Luke 24:27). Nothing from these sacred writings will disappear until all has been fulfilled according to Jesus.

3. Infallible.

John 10:35

Jesus speaking"...and the scripture cannot be broken."

If you read this verse in context with 10:34-36 you find that Jesus uses three strong words to describe scripture, "Law", "word of God", and "unbreakable". Jesus thought of scripture as the unbreakable Law of God. It is the word "unbreakable" which carries the same meaning as infallible. God's word cannot be broken according to Jesus.

4. Inerrant.

Matthew 22:29, John 17:17

Jesus speaking in John 17:17, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth."

Matthew 22:29

"Jesus answered and said to them, 'You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God."

God's word is not scattered truth, His word is true in whole. This is why we cannot pick and choose what we believe. This is why we cannot quickly claim a portion of scripture to be cultural. When we make these mistakes we begin to fashion our own god, the very essence of idolatry. Instead Jesus teaches us that God's word is without errors.

How many errors can God make? None, if He is omniscient. Whatever God decides to write would have the same nature of inerrancy as He does. We argue:

1. The Bible is the Word of God.
2. God cannot err.
3. Therefore, the Bible is inerrant.

If there is an error we must conclude that either God makes errors, and He is not God, or the Bible is not His word. If you deny that the Bible is the word of God you must deny what Jesus said about the Bible. If Jesus is the son of God, then the Bible is the word of God.

5. Historically reliable.

Matthew 12:40, 24:37-39

Jesus speaking, "Just as Jonah was tree days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

"For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be."

The manner in which Jesus is speaking of these two disputed accounts from the Old Testament shows that he understood them to be historical events. Jesus sites them and gives them authority. He uses the words, "Just as..." He bases his first coming on the Jonah account, and His second coming on the Noah account. Why would He compare myth with history? He would not. Jesus used the words, "So it will be..." He believed he was comparing true events with true events.

6. Scientifically accurate.

Matthew 19:4-5

Jesus Speaking "And He answered them and said, 'Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh'".

The most scientifically disputed chapters of the Bible are the first eleven chapters of Genesis, but Jesus affirms these accounts. He bases His teachings on marriage on the teachings of Genesis without shame. According to Jesus the creator made male and female, and marriage cannot be separated from creation. To the scientific question, "How did we get here?" Jesus answers from marriage instituted by God. Either Darwin and Evolution are correct, or Jesus is, but both cannot be correct at the same time. Jesus will not allow us to "spiritualize" away the literal male and female in the Genesis account.

Jesus said in John 3:12, "I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?".

Basically Jesus is saying to us if we cannot believe Him when he speaks of empirical scientific matters, then why would we believe Him when He speaks of spiritual matters. Jesus considered them inseparable. Yes, we have a choice to make!

7. Ultimate supremacy.

Matthew 15:3-6

Jesus speaking, "And He answered and said to them, 'Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and mother,' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, 'Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,' he is not to honor his father or his mother.' and by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition."

Jesus taught that the Bible alone holds supreme authority even in the face of conflict with the most revered human teaching. Scripture is God's supreme written authority.

"Jesus confessed the very things many modern critics deny about the Old Testament. If Jesus was right, then the critics are wrong, despite the pretense of having scholarship on their side. For if Jesus is the Son of God, then it is a matter of Lordship, not a matter of scholarship" --Norman Geisler

Which is what we have been arguing in this series of posts.

"Many critics assert that the first human beings evolved by natural processes. But...Jesus insisted that Adam and Eve were created by God. If Jesus is the Son of God, then the choice is between Charles Darwin and the divine; between a nineteenth-century creature, and the eternal creator."---Norman Geisler

This series of post has pointed to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.

"Most negative critics of the Bible believe that the Jonah story is mythology. Indeed, with strong emphasis Jesus asserted that "just as" Jonah was in the great fish three days and nights, "even so" he would be in the grave for three days and nights. Surely, Jesus would not have based the historicity of his death and resurrection on mythology about Jonah."---Norman Geisler

The same is true of the Noah account. Jesus affirmed there was a flood. He would not want to combine the truthfulness of His second coming with a myth fueling doubt in the minds of his followers.

We come to a dilemma. Either Jesus is the Son of God, and the Bible is the Word of God, or not. If the Bible is not the Word of God, then Jesus cannot be the son of God. Why? Because He would have been teaching false doctrine.

"Many critics believe He was only accommodating Himself to the false beliefs of the Jews of his day about the Old Testament. But this hypothesis is clearly contrary to the facts. Others believe that since Jesus was only a human being that he made mistakes, some of which were about the origin and nature of Scripture. But his speculation too is not rooted in the facts of the matter. Jesus neither accommodated false beliefs nor was He limited in His authority to teach the truth of God."---Norman Geisler.

Jesus affirmed that the Bible is the Word of God. Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God, and whatever stands in opposition to biblical truth is false.

Come, let us reason together. Part 4

In the last post I continued an argument for the reliability of the New Testament. Based on that foundation this post will explore Christ's claim of deity in the New Testament. Jesus claimed to be God. This point is crucial to the overall argument. The logic behind this began with the statement that truth about reality is knowable. There are some things of which we can be absolutely sure (i.e., 2+2=4). I have also argued that the opposite of truth is false. The Law of Non-contradiction says opposite ideas cannot be both true at the same time and in the same place. That means all religions cannot be true, they teach opposites. Opposites cannot both be true at the same time or in the same place. Is it true that a theistic God exists? We explored this statement through different arguments for Gods existence. Because of these arguments we noted the probability of Gods existence. If God exists then miracles are possible, and they can be used to confirm a message from God. The New Testament can be trusted as a historically reliable source, and confirms Gods existence. This post will show that the New Testament confirms Jesus as God, as well as His message as coming from God.

Numerous times in the New Testament Jesus claimed to be God:

1. Jesus claimed to be God in the New Testament. He claimed to be the "I Am" of Exodus 3:14,

"God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'; and He said 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial name to all generations."

In John 8:58 Jesus says,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

2. Jesus also forgave sins which only God can do. Mark 2:5-7 reads,

"'Son, your sins are forgiven.' But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?'"

3. Jesus claimed that He should be honored just as God the Father is honored. In John 5:23 Jesus says,

"He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent me."

4. Jesus said he was the Jewish Messiah, who was God according to the Old Testament passages Isaiah 9:6, Psalms 110:1, and Zechariah 12:10. Zechariah reads,

"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on ME whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn."

This passage shows that God is the Messiah, but also that the Messiah would suffer by a piercing. It also speaks of the Spirit being poured out. Incidentally these are the events we see happening around Christs death and resurrection.

In John 4:25-26 Jesus claims to be that Messiah,

"The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He.'"

5. Jesus went as far as to accept worship on numerous occasions. The Bible presents worship as due only to God. Jesus Himself states this as true in Matthew 4:10,

"Go, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'"

Jesus however, accepts worship. In Matthew 8:2 a healed leaper worships Him, in Matthew 9:18 a ruler kneels before Him with a request, in Matthew 14:33 those in the boat worship Him after He calms the storm, and in Matthew 28:17 the disciples worshiped Him. While these are only a handful of examples from the Gospel of Matthew there are many more in the Gospels. What is noteworthy about a study on the accounts of worship given to Christ in the Gospels is that Jesus never rebuked anyone for worshiping Him, and on occasion He commended those who did.

6. Jesus put His words on the same level as God's. In Matthew 24:35 Jesus says

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away."

7. Jesus asked His disciples to pray in His name. In John 14:13 Jesus says

"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

8. Jesus accepted titles of deity in scripture. In John 20:28 Jesus does not condemn Thomas for calling Him Lord and God.

"Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'"

These are eight ways in which Jesus claimed to be God in the New Testament. Why is this important? It is important because scripture also confirms His message as being from God. Since we can trust scripture as historically reliable the message it confirms deserves our attention. How does it confirm Christ's message? Jesus's claim to be God is confirmed in three ways. First, His fulfillment of prophecy. Second, His sinless and miraculous life. And third, His predictions and accomplishment of His resurrection. These are three things that no other religions leader can claim.

First His fulfillment of prophecy. The Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be God (Psalms 2:7, 45:6, 110:1; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Zechariah 12:10). For example Isaiah 9:6 reads

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

The Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be God, and Jesus was the Messiah (John 4:25; Mark 14:61-62). Mark 14:61-62 reads

"Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' And Jesus said, 'I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of Heaven.'"

Since the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be God, and Jesus was the Messiah, He had to be God in order to fulfill these predictions.

Second, the Bible confirms Christ's miraculous life. Scriptures record more than 60 miracles that cannot be explained away as either psychosomatic, or as magic. The Bible also confirms that Christ lived a sinless life. This is impossible. No mere human could live 33 years in a sinless state. Christ even invited His enemies to look at Him and accuse Him of sin. None could.

Third, the Bible confirms Christ's predictions and accomplishment of His resurrection. There is plenty of evidence in scripture for Christ's death. The nature and extent of His injuries as recorded in the passion sections of the Gospel accounts are suffienct to show he died. The nature of cruxifiction itself assures us He was dead. The piercing of His side as assurance of His death in the Gospel accounts confirms He was dead. His death was predicted in the Old Testament (Isaiah 53, Daniel 9). Jesus Himself predicted His own death and resurrection (John 2:19; John 10:18; Matthew 12:40; Matthew 17:22). The Gospel writers wrote that His death and resurrection was accomplished (Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:39; John 20:27). What evidence do we have for the accomplishment of Christ's death and resurrection? First, the Jews admit that the tomb was empty, but they did not produce the body. Second, Jesus made 12 different physical appearances over 40 days to over 500 people. Third, many Jewish priests were converted and thousands of unbelievers were converted. Fourth, His unbelieving brother James and hardened opponent Saul were converted. Fifth, His scared, skeptical, disciples were transformed overnight into brave missionary martyrs.

The summary stems from all we have explored so far. Jesus is God, and He must be to fulfill prophecy, to manifest deity, and to redeem humanity. The Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be God. Jesus was the Messiah, therefore He must be God to fulfill the prophecy. Jesus is the mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). He is the reconciler of God and man (2 Corinthians 5:19). Jesus must be both God and man to be reconciler and mediator because only a God-Man can bridge the gap between God and man.

(Thanks to Normal Geisler for influencing my thinking on this subject).

Come, let us reason together. Part 3

In part one and two of this post I began an argument for why I believe theism, specifically Christianity, to be the true faith. I included arguments for Gods existence. I wrote that if God exists then miracles are possible, and they can be used to confirm a message from God. This gives credibility to the claim that the Bible is the Word of God. If the Bible is the Word of God we must consider what it teaches. This post will not go into great detail, but I encourage you to read previous posts for more information, (see: http://stevepack.blogspot.com/2008/05/laying-foundation.html and http://stevepack.blogspot.com/2008/06/shibileth.html ).

The New Testament documents are historically reliable. The New Testament has more, earlier, and more accurately copied manuscripts than any other book from the ancient world.

The New Testament events are recorded accurately. There were more, earlier, and more accurate writers than for any other book from the ancient world. The New Testament has nine writers who wrote 27 books. The authors include eyewitnesses, contemporary writers of Christ, contemporary authors of the eyewitnesses, and writers who wrote within 20 years of the New Testament events. Even with the diversity displayed in the authorship of the Bible the themes beginning in the Old Testament are constant throughout the New Testament. The whole of scripture is beautifully unified.

The gospels claim 500 eyewitness to Christ's resurrection. Luke based his gospel, and the book of Acts on eyewitness accounts. Hebrews has been confirmed by the Apostles who were eyewitnesses themselves.

There is evidence that the book of Acts was written by 62 AD. If this is true then we know that the gospel of Luke was written earlier because of the prologue in Acts. Josephus recorded the death of James at 62 AD. In Acts James is still alive. Paul is still alive in Acts, his death occurred under the persecution of Nero between 64-67 AD. But in Acts there is no mention of Nero's persecutions. There is no mention of the Jewish wars that took place around 66AD. Finally there is no mention of the fall of Jerusalem which took place in 70AD. Considering the nature of the book of Acts you would expect major events like these to be mentioned if they had occurred. None of these major events are mentioned suggesting that Acts was written around 62 AD. The book of Luke would have been written before Acts and without exploring this timeline any further we already have one gospel written 60 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

According to the teachings of the Greek historian Herodotus any date in the 1st century is too early to allow mythological development on foundational truths. Many people will not accept the accuracy of the New Testament writings even though the New Testament is closer in time to the actual events than any other ancient books. Usually the earliest is considered the most accurate. There are few questions about the reliability of sources teaching on Alexander the Great even though the ancient writings we have about him are written around 300 years after his death. There are five main surviving accounts on Alexander by Arrian, Curtius, Plutarch, Diodorus, and Justin. The problem of the sources concern Alexander-historians, because each presents a different "Alexander". Will the real Alexander the Great please stand up?

The accuracy of the New Testament writings has been confirmed by noted Roman historians, legal experts, Non-Christian sources, and archaeological finds. No archaeological evidence has ever refuted the Bible, yet thousands of them support the accuracy of scripture.

Because we can trust in the accuracy of the New Testament we must trust what it says. In the New Testament Jesus claimed to be God, and his claim was miraculously confirmed. My next post will explore these claims.

(Thanks to Normal Geisler for influencing my thinking on this subject).