Understanding The Bible

The Authority of the Bible

Three definitions Three disclaimers

What's so special about the Christian Bible? What sets it apart from all of the other religions holy books?

Revelation

Inspiration

Authority

Revelation: Unveiling - God has made Himself know to us.

“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” Job 11:7

Inspiration: The chief mode in which God has chosen to reveal Himself.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God...” (2 Tim. 3:16)

Authority: The power or weight that Scripture possesses because of what it is – a divine revelation given by divine inspiration.

...for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 1:20)

...God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. (Acts 3:21)

...God spoke to our fathers by the prophets... (Hebrews 1:1)

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God... (2 Peter 1:21)

And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”)

Luke 2:22-23

Then Job answered the LORD and said: "I know that you can do all things,   and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.'I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

Job 42:1-7

The Lausanne Covenant is a 1974 Christian religious manifesto promoting active world-wide Christian evangelism. One of the most influential documents in modern Evangelical Christianity, it was written and adopted by 2,300 evangelicals at the International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland, from which it takes its name.

The original Lausanne conference brought together 2,700 Christian religious leaders from over 150 countries and was called by a committee headed by Billy Graham of the United States. The drafting committee for the document was chaired by John Stott of the United Kingdom. In addition to the signing of the covenant, the conference also created the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. The covenant is in the form of an ecumenical confession, in which the signatories profess their shame at having failed to spread the Gospel of Jesus. The covenant specifically affirms the beliefs in the Nicene Creed. The signatories express their intention to be more committed to spreading Christianity throughout the world. It lists fifteen specific beliefs to which the signatories testify.