The Bible is a marvelous work, which stands above any
other piece of literature. It is, after all, God’s revelation
of Himself, and
His will, for humanity. Written by approximately 40 individuals over a
1600-year period, it shows unity and harmony in declaring the theme of
salvation to a lost world.
Questions have arisen, however, as to how we should
approach this book. There are those who contend that each book is an
individual
unit, separate and complete in itself. They argue it was never intended
for us
to “interpret Scripture by Scripture.” Thus, we
shouldn’t consider each book
authoritative, and by examining them together, have a complete picture
of God’s
will. For example, they state Romans was written only for the church at
Rome,
Philippians for Philippi, and so on. Each letter applies only to those
situations to which they were originally written. They were not
intended to be
examined together, taken together for doctrine and Christian living.
Such a loose view of Scripture is used to authorize
practices foreign to our worship. For example, instrumental music
doesn’t
matter, as the passages speaking of music were not meant to be applied
to the
church today. They have authority only to those congregations addressed
in
those letters. Women leading in worship is not wrong, as
Paul’s exclusion in
Corinthians applied only to Corinth, and not us (1 Corinthians 14:34).
Such
examples could be multiplied.
While this view of Scripture is being emphasized by
some in our brotherhood, this is not the view Scripture presents of
itself. To
Timothy Paul wrote, “All Scripture is inspired by God and
profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
that the
man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2
Timothy 3:16).
Paul speaks of Scripture as a whole, not individual books or letters
that apply
only to certain people, under certain circumstances.
Understandably, Paul’s teachings reflect such a view of
Scripture. To the Colossians, Paul exhorted a letter exchange with the
Laodiceans, because of the good both could accomplish for each
congregation
(Colossians 4:16). To the church at Corinth, Paul wrote of sending
Timothy, who
would remind them of his ways “which are in Christ, just as I
teach everywhere
in every church” (1 Corinthians 4:17). No matter where Paul
labored, or to whom
he wrote, he understood it all to be the will of God, and all applying
to us as
Christians. By reading each of his letters to the various churches, we
do learn
about the unique situations many of them faced. Not only this, we also
have a
complete picture of God’s will, and how it applies in every
situation.
The Bible is not a loose collection of books, each
applying only to itself, and not to be related to the rest. The 66
books in the
Bible are those inspired by God, those that God wanted us to have as
His Word.
We recognize they were written under various circumstances and times,
to
various groups and individuals. However, by also considering them
together as a
unit, as God’s Word for us, we have a complete picture of Him
and His will. By
examining Scripture this way, we can have a complete understanding of
what we
must do to be saved, of how we can live the Christian life, of having
the
promise of eternity. All Scripture is inspired of God, and all
Scripture
reveals God and His will to us.
All
Scripture Is Inspired