“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17


This week at VBS the children have been learning that the Word of God is true. I thought today you might enjoy a summary of what we believe about the Word of God.

1. The Word of God is the primary method God uses to communicate with us. The desire to communicate with someone is the desire to be known to them and to learn to know them.
If we do not want to talk with others,
we probably do not value them.
But God values us and wants to communicate to us his desires and thoughts and love and goodness.

2. God communicates his Word to us in various forms.
--In creation and nature his essence is known and his attributes evident. (Rom. 1. 19-20) But what we see of God in nature is not sufficient to bring us knowledge of his love and salvation for us.

--Therefore, God sent his one and only unique Son, made in His Image, to live among us and communicate with us directly his love for us
—as the Living Word in flesh. Jesus is the One and Only Unique Word of God the Father.

--To tell us about Jesus, He has provided for us his Written Word - the Bible containing the Old and New Testaments. Thus, it is of highest significance that we read privately and publicly and study together the Written Word of God because it points to Jesus, the Living Word of God.
It is Jesus we worship who is presented to us in the Written Word and who by the influence of the Spirit is manifested to us in our hearts.

I place a tremendously high premium on Bible Study because through Bible Study the Risen Christ comes among us and enlightens us with guidance and empowers us for service.

In worship, the most significant action is the Reading of the Word. As I tell you regularly, each of you will gain from the reading what you need according to the feeding of the Spirit in your life.

-- The sermon or the proclamation of the Word from the pulpit or from the teaching lectern is also the word of God. For that reason, Christian preaching dare not be based on just what someone thinks or used as a venue for expressing personal bias.

For this reason, “textual preaching” is the finest preaching which can be done.
“Textual preaching” seeks to lay open God’s truth in a particular text for a particular congregation at a particular moment in time. That explains why the Spirit dealing with various faithful preachers will elucidate different aspects of truth from the same text for different congregations.

--Another form of the sermon or proclaimed Word is singing because we sing hymns or the choir sings specials which are based on Scripture. The Spirit uses these to impress us with his will and purpose for us too.

--Yet another form of the Word proclaimed is the profession of a creedal statement. These statements express in systematic form the message that is contained in the Scripture.

--In the sacraments we receive the Word of God’s grace given to us. Baptism and the Bread and the Cup proclaim the gospel by sight and drama.

--In the Lighting of the Candles we celebrate the bringing of the Light of the Word of God in Christ into sanctuary signifying that He is in our hearts.
In the extinguishing of the Light and relighting of the tapers, we follow the Light of Christ into the world to proclaim his goodness and love in our lives.

--I often think of the organ and piano or other instruments as the expression of the word of God in the created order for they are instruments made from natural elements.
Also they are coupled with the composition of pieces by humankind which praise the Creator and Redeemer of life.


3. Our text tells us that
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
So that the child of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

a. Scripture is God-breathed.
God breathed is God-pneustos. “Pneuma” is the Greek word translated either breath, wind or spirit.
Literally, Paul is writing that the Scripture is God-Spirited and as I’ve already told you the Scriptures bear witness to Jesus, the Living Word of God.

Therefore they come from God the Father, blessed by the presence and power of the Spirit, and bear witness to the Son, the Living Word. That is important because it means that the Written Word of God is absolutely unique. It is not just one additional witness to Jesus – it is the absolutely, uniquely given witness to Him and the one to whom we are to give our attention.

The Bible is inspired and it is to be studied above and beyond any resource written by men. It is fine to study what others say, but also determine what the Scriptures say to you first.

b. Because the Scriptures are inspired, they are our rule of faith and life. (WCF 6.002)
That means we base our beliefs about God and life on them – not on whims or what the culture has to tell us or how we feel but on the reality of the statements of Scripture.

It also means that because we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, that we determine the way we live by what the Bible teaches.
“Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” (Luke 6. 31)

c. The Scripture need no external validation.
They stand alone and are esteemed by our submission to the teaching within them rather than by any addition of man.

d. The Scriptures contain the “whole counsel of God,” (WCF. 6.006) concerning all things necessary for God’s glory, man’s salvation, faith and life.
Either these things are set down in the Bible or may be deduced from the Bible.

Many complain, “I can’t understand the Bible.” Of course, you can’t understand it. You also could not understand reading and math and science and history until someone taught you.

We are charged as Christians with the responsibility of studying the Scriptures that we might grow in Christ.

e. “The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself,”(WCF. 6.008) so says the Westminster Confession of Faith.
That means we learn to understand Scripture by comparing and contrasting different passages.

f. Do not worry over what you do not understand in the Bible but live by what you do.

4. The Word of God is true and it is truth. It contains no error because it points to Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
I will not judge the Word but affirm its validity and consistency, its completeness and unity.

The Word of God is the perfect expression of the will and providence of the Lord and it points us to the One, the Only One, who is the Perfect Image of God and the Perfect Human Response to God -- Jesus Christ. In Him alone we find life overflowing.

Therefore we worship Him when we study the grandeur and grace contained within his Word to us.

The Scriptures declare:

“All authority in heaven and earth is given to Jesus Christ by Almighty God, who raised Christ from the dead and set him above all rule and authority, all power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age which is to come. God has put all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and has made Christ Head of the church which is his body.” (BOO G.-0100)

“Beyond the Sacred Page, I seek Thee, Lord,
My spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word.
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed, I see Thee, Lord.”
Mary Lathbury