Biblical Authority Means...

"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.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Not a lot of time to blog lately because I am trying to get through all the work required for my final course for my seminary degree, The Christian and Old Testament Theology. I really want to try to get all the work done before our daughter arrives at the end of June. I have been benefitting greatly from the required readings for this course. Here are some insights from John H. Sailhamer’s Introduction to Old Testament Theology: A Canonical Approach (note: the headings below are mine):

Believing in the Authority of the Bible means Submitting to its Teachings

It is only by placing ourselves under the authority of the biblical text and conforming our lives to it through prayer, repentance, and godliness, that we can come to understand the meaning of the historical authors: "Being rooted in faith means that the interpreter of Scripture does not stand before an isolated text or an abstracted linguistic medium, but rather there, in the text, the interpreter always hears the voice of the living God... a voice that demands a response; biblical authority means submitting oneself to the teaching of the Bible.”

Prayer—As Essential Element in Hearing God's Voice in the Word

The biblical interpreter comes to the text as a continuation of his or her own life, as the source for hearing the voice of God. He does this with prayer and hearing the voice of God, which keeps him from error. Even with his errors he may serve the community for which he has been called as an interpreter of the Bible; his prayer is determinative for the fellowship which he has with God.

The Temptation of Impressing our own Interpretation on the Biblical Text

The interpreter expects a struggle between oneself and God who speaks in this text; he or she knows his or her heart and its tendency to distort and change the voice of God which speaks in the text; one knows the limits of one's own willingness and readiness to see what is written there. Moreover, one knows the distance that separates one's duty and one's actions. In all of this there lies the temptation to distort God's word.

Prayer, Humility, and the Thirst to Encounter God's Revelation

One comes to scripture recognizing the deep dependency of the interpreter on a thorough familiarity with the meaning of the text itself; one strives to know it and expects a revelation, a basic insight, from it. One's position before scripture must be characterized by prayerful expectation and humble openness.


I remember hearing a sermon preached by Rev. Charles Price that was about what living with biblical convictions means for our lives. It is so important for us to get a handle of God's word because, ultimately, what we know, and by extension, what we believe, governs our actions. If we act differently than what we claim we believe, then the reality is that we don't really believe it—that is, in the sense that these beliefs, these convictions, have yet to become the driving force for our lives. To say we believe in the Bible—where God reveals himself to us—means that it ought to be the foundation on which everything else in our lives is built upon.

While I am yearning to finish my seminary degree, I am also aware of future temptations to become lazy with studying God's word in-depth. I pray that when the time comes—I will use the tools that I have learned thus far to dig deeper, to understand day by day, what my Almighty and Loving God requires of me. For I have come to experience the absolute blessing of trusting completely in His Word, even submitting to it during those times when I have struggled to. The power of God's word—its truths, its transforming effect, its wisdom, its wonder, its glory—I trust that those who seek to find divine truth in it, indeed, will.