Let us turn to our Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. I’m going through the pastoral epistles in the morning. 1 Timothy, now 2 Timothy. And occasionally I’ll stop and drill down into the text and that’s what I’m doing here.
2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 to 17. As I continue my little mini-series here on the Word of God and how to grow and to understand its truth for us today, let us listen attentively to the Word of God. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Let us pray. Father God above, grant more of your Spirit upon us to have a better understanding as we go through a multiplicity of texts to have a good direction in our lives if we don’t have a good grasp of these things, Lord. And God, that we would be therefore encouraged to see the breadth and the depth and the height of the Word of God and how it is indeed there for us that we can glorify you and ask the completion and completeness of salvation found nowhere else but here in the Holy Scriptures.
And therefore we come here for the words of life as well as a guidance on our walk as believers. Father God above, may we here in this series of sermons understand in particular the usefulness of the Holy Scriptures for us in our lives, God, is not to be set upon the desk, to collect dust, but rather to be part of our lives that we go to it to learn more of your will for us. May we do thus by your Spirit and grace upon us, we pray.
Amen. So we learned about first the supernatural nature of the Bible, that it should not be confused or conflated with natural or general revelation of that which we can know of God and the world around us, for it is only in the Bible that we have truth from on high from heaven, and that is especially the gospel. It is a heavenly message that comes from Him, and it is God-breathed, as we read here in this text, inspired of God.
Literally there is God-breathed. In a way, nothing else is that we have in revelation. It entails, therefore, a divine authority as well.
It is the final court of appeal for the Christian life and all debates of religion. That is the nature and that is the authority of the Bible. And now we come to hear, lastly, the usefulness of the Bible as a guide for our Christian life.
Given its supernatural nature, and that it is indeed a divine and heavenly authority for all Christians, we turn to it to learn how to live as believers and to guide us to heaven. It is this last point that I wish to preach on this morning in order to strengthen your faith, brothers and sisters, in God and His revelation for us, because we live in a day and age in which mocks and ridicules Christians and their Bible. Here it is the light of the path of Christ, and we must embrace it.
Useful Content of the Bible
The first point, the useful contents of the Bible. So this is more of a general point here. And again, a reminder, I am going, in particular, through chapter 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
As it covers a lot of details, I grant that. And I’m trying to highlight a few here for us to meditate upon, to be encouraged, and to perhaps give you a better perspective on things you’ve not thought of before. And so we have here in chapter 1 of that ancient document, but not as old as the Bible.
And you must, therefore, what? Take what I quote and compare it to the Word of God, which is why I’m going through various Bible passages to see if it is indeed true. Paragraph 6 of chapter 1 of the Puritan writing, the Westminster Confession of Faith. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture, unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the spirit or traditions of men.
That’s a mouthful. I’m going to go through the first part here. God’s glory, the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory.
What we have in general revelation, of course, is true. It tells us what’s right and wrong in our conscience without the Word of God. Unbelievers know these things.
Romans 1 tells that explicitly. They know there is a God, that he is judging them, that they are fallen, but that didn’t tell them how to glorify him beyond what we have known. The Bible tells us the fullness of this glorification of him.
It’s partly seen, of course, in nature that you acknowledge him is built into this, that they ought to know there is a God. That’s why religion is everywhere. The atheists can’t figure it out.
They’re a super minority in history and here in America. I mean, not just a minority, a super, super minority. Because it’s upon our hearts.
Although fallen, yes, and effaced, but they know there is a God. They must worship him, although they twist it in their own image. So there’s some idea of they should glorify that is to honor, publicly acknowledge him.
That’s the idea of glory. But especially here in the Word of God, all things are necessary. To obey and to love him is all the more clear here in the Word of God.
It’s certainly unobtainable outside of the Bible. You can’t do it without salvation in Christ. And that’s only found in the Word of God.
And, of course, you have other things that glorify God, the ordinances. He says, baptize the nations. You don’t know that from general revelation.
You can’t go out there and meditate upon these things and say, oh, yes, God obviously would pick the sprinkling of water. No. He decided in his inscrutable will, I’m going to use this method to help the people of God.
It’s not for his sake. It’s for your sake. He publicly sets you aside from the world.
That glorifies and honors him being baptized. Maybe you never thought of it that way. The sacraments, preaching, church discipline, the church itself is designed and put together and found in the Word of God to glorify him.
For of him and through him and to him are all things. To whom be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11.36. As Paul ends his long discourse there. And he says it’s all about God’s glory. It’s all about him, not about us.
And the Bible makes that abundantly clear. Man’s salvation is also found in the Bible. That’s what we typically think of, of course, when we think of special revelation.
That is the Word of God. In particular, faith and life, what to believe and how to live. Doctrine and practice is found here in Holy Scriptures.
That which is God breathed. He gave it to us for these things. Another way of looking at this is law and gospel.
It’s another axis of describing what’s in the Bible. The law is that which God demands. His holy requirements for us.
The gospel, as you know, is the good news. That’s what the word means. Of Jesus Christ.
How he saved us from our violation of breaking the law of God. That we are wretched sinners who need salvation and deliverance from breaking and violating in thought, word, and deed. His holy will for all of creation.
And that’s the relationship of the law and gospel. Only part of it, of course, the other part is when you are born again, we are born unto holiness and righteousness. And that is we take, therefore, God’s law seriously now.
Not to save ourselves. Not to justify ourselves. But rather to honor him and to glorify him.
And that’s how he designed it. 2 Timothy 3.15. As you can imagine, this text is used a number of times through chapter one of the confession. Because there’s so much in here.
I preached on it a few weeks ago. And went through section by section. And now, of course, I’m going in various directions.
But all rooted here in the text. We read, in particular, verse 15 of 2 Timothy 3. In that from childhood, Paul writes to Timothy. Pastor Timothy.
You have known the holy scriptures, which are able to what? Make you wise for salvation. The gospel is found in the Bible. And only in the Bible.
Through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. You must go to the Bible. They must learn about Jesus.
Our holy savior. From the holy writ. And then we read here in the second part.
Verses 16 to 17. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And is profitable for doctrine.
For reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be what? Complete. Thoroughly equipped for what? Every good work.
And a good work is not defined by your feelings. Or what you think is the movement of the spirit. But by the objective standard of the word of God.
The ten commandments. The law. The law doesn’t disappear because you’re saved.
Shall we sin all the more because of grace? God forbid, Paul argues. Makes it emphatic. No.
Rather, I establish the law. Romans 3.28. Christ established the law for us. If the law was willy-nilly.
Just whatever God felt like. That he could have just ignored it and said, you’re all saved. But Christ died in our stead and upheld the law for us.
And took our punishment for us breaking that law. The judicial justice of God was upheld in the cross. People forget that sometimes.
We see the mercy. And you should see the mercy. But he also upheld justice in his law.
He says, people will be punished. Someone will be punished. You must be punished.
And if you have Christ, he’s punished in your stead. The great substitute for the law. God never annihilated the law.
Now, the sections here. I went a little bit over this before. In 2 Timothy 3.16. Where Paul tells us not only the gospel.
But how to live. I.e. under the law. That we are equipped for every good work.
For doctrine that is the truth of God. Beyond general or natural revelation. That you can surmise yourself.
And many unbelievers have seen much in creation. And there’s hints of that in fact. In Paul talking to the unbelievers in Mars Hill and Acts.
He tells them they know things about God. And he draws a conclusion from that. Therefore, I want to redirect you to the true God of the Bible.
The Bible gives us doctrine. Teaching and instruction. That’s part and parcel of what it means to be a believer.
Learn the Bible. Hear it from preachers. Apply it to your lives.
Doctrine and truth is important for believers. For reproof and correction we read in verse 16. And those are overlapping ideas.
Reproof. Slap. Not that way.
Correction. That way. Right? We do that with kids.
That’s part of what it means to be a believer. In your sanctification. Becoming more holy before God.
The Spirit bring conviction upon you. You know better than that. And tells you, you know, you ought to be doing this instead.
Telling the truth. Controlling your anger. Or whatever the case may be.
That’s part of what the Bible is here for us. The Bible is given by God. Again, for us.
Not like God needs it as such. But he comes down to our level and gives us tangible things. Because we are weak.
We want to be able to read and see things or hear things. That’s why he gave us preachers. And then lastly here, instruction in righteousness.
And again, righteousness is another word for goodness. And perfection and holiness. And all that.
That is defined by the law of God. His holy will. All saying, you have both gospel.
Verse 15. And law. Verse 16 and 17.
For the Christian is found in the word of God. Now, how do we understand our ability to gather what we need from the word of God? Both in doctrine and in practice. Which is to say, what is the method of knowledge? How do we garner God’s will from the word of God? It sounds like a lot of ways to say, basically, Pastor, I know what it is.
You’re supposed to read the Bible. I mean, just literally read it. And what does it say? That’s true.
And that’s why the confession says, that is either expressly set down in scripture. What is necessary for your salvation, for faith in life, is expressly set down in scripture. Like, I don’t know, baptize the nations.
You can’t get around that one. Matthew 28, the Great Commission. Ten Commandments.
There it is. Don’t do this. Don’t do that.
Do this instead. Honor your parents. Don’t lie.
Don’t steal. Don’t cheat. Don’t covet.
Even specific sins. You go and read, for example, in Romans 1. That famous passage again. At the end, he gives a long list of sins.
Specific sins like even evil-mindedness. Where does that fit in the Ten Commandments? It fits somewhere, believe me. But Paul brought it out to highlight the depth of sin that he’s explaining to his audience.
So it’s expressly set down in the Bible. Baptizing nations, the Ten Commandments, all kinds of sins, all kinds of righteous acts as well. God, the Gospel, Jesus Christ.
That’s why we have a general Christian tradition. Because even all the various branches, they are all like, yeah, there’s a God. There’s sin.
There’s the Ten Commandments. There’s a lot of agreement in one sense. That’s true.
Because it’s expressly set down in the Bible. But also, not just expressly set down, but one step further, or by good and necessary consequence, may be deduced from Scripture. That’s a lot of words to say simply this, that deductive logic can be and should be used in the Word of God.
What do I mean by deductive logic? And that is, you have a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion that necessarily follows. For example, all humans are moral. That guy down the street is human.
Therefore, that guy, I know nothing about him, except that he’s human. But I can draw this conclusion. He’s moral.
He will die someday. That’s it. Nothing fancy.
We do it often. We don’t think of it that way. But if I were to ask you, how would you unpack your thoughts that that guy down the street is going to die one day? You’d say, he’s human.
You give one part of the premise. But logicians come along and say, let’s make it all explicit. That’s all logic class is.
Make it explicit, what you do implicitly in everyday life. And they wrote it down, the Puritans did, because it’s important to bring this point up. We have doctrines not expressly set down in the Bible in the sense of, where’s the one verse that says, there is a Trinity, quote, there is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
There isn’t one. But we know there is one, because all the evidence is there. That which has the attributes of God is God.
Jesus Christ has the attributes of God, therefore what? You can only draw one conclusion. He is God. And that’s how you draw the conclusion of the Trinity.
One God in three divine persons. Not a logical contradiction. That’s why there’s different terms.
God, or Godness, Godhood, like the old language would be in the KJV, and three persons. So what they’re doing then is saying, look, we come to the Bible and we understand that God knows his own mind. In a way, you don’t know your own mind.
You can write, and you will, you have written lots of things in letters. And if it was all collected, all your emails, all your letters, all your private notes or whatever, a thousand years from now, and historians are reading this stuff. And they start drawing these inferences from your writing.
And you can imagine that. They’re like, oh, they must believe this. And that’s what he’s teaching.
That’s what, you’re like, that’s not what I, what are you, what are you, I didn’t, that wasn’t my point. They’re going beyond, because you don’t know your own mind. Sometimes the words you use have implications that go further than you realized.
Because we’re finite, we can’t figure out every possible connection of thoughts, chain of thought that goes together. We just simply don’t. God does.
And so when you put it, the word of God here, that’s why I emphasize the inspiration, the infallibility of the word of God is without error. You can draw those conclusions in the way you can’t with human literature. And that’s why in human literature, we’re like, I think he’s saying something really bad here, but I’m not sure.
Let me ask him. Because the way he wrote it, and that’s why we have that charity, concept of charity with one another. So all that here to say that the Protestant religion in particular has been very clear about this, as it’s here in our confession, that we do believe that things can be believed and binding upon the Christian from the word of God by good and necessary deductions.
And a Scottish professor in the 1600s, Dixon, described those who denied the principle of using logical deductions. And you’ll see, I think, a pattern here. The Sassinians, they were mostly Polish, but they were the rationalists who denied the Trinity, because they denied good and necessary consequence from the Bible.
You have the Quakers. You have the Anabaptists. And in fact, you even had the Armenians, apparently a lot of them, I don’t know how many, who denied this principle that you can learn more from the word of God beyond the express wording by making good and necessary deductions.
And of course, to be done properly and carefully. We have, for example, this one you perhaps never thought about. It says, if you repent and believe in Jesus, then you shall be saved.
Sean repented and believed, therefore, Sean is saved. Because your name is not written in the Bible. How do you know you’re saved? It’s not written.
Your name is not written in the Bible. You had to make a logical deduction. The Bible says, you repent and believe, you’re saved.
I ask you, have you repented, believed, and saved? I have, therefore, you’re saved. That’s it. Matthew 12, 26.
But concerning the dead, Jesus, in speaking to his audience, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are, therefore, greatly mistaken about the resurrection. He says to the Sadducees, Christ himself, the Son of God, uses logical deductions from the Holy Scriptures to argue against his naysayers.
God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. And if he’s still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they must be still alive, and they’re going to have a resurrection, both spirit and eventually the body. John 6, 45.
It is written in the prophets, and they shall be taught of God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. And there he ties the Old Testament to himself and his divinity.
Nevertheless, the confession continues here. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word of God. So they’re reminding us again, yes, you go to the Bible, you learn this content of salvation, of faith and life, of doctrine and practice as believers and Christians, and by both the express Word of God and by logical deduction.
Nevertheless, and even so, all that, you still need the Spirit of God. And I mentioned that last week, right? You still need the Spirit of God. Unbelievers can draw these conclusions, but it means nothing to them.
They’re not going to believe in Jesus. It’s not life-changing truth to them. It’s just kind of less interesting.
1 Corinthians 2, 9 and following. But it is written, Paul writes, I have not seen nor ear nor have entered into the heart of men the things that God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit.
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. Paul writes they’re revealed to us and applies the idea of the Spirit working through this truth for all of us. He reveals them to us.
We have the truth, but you also need the Bible, in other words. It’s Word or Spirit and Word. We need both.
And that’s why we pray for what? Illumination from the Holy Spirit. You must use the means God has given you as a believer. Read the Bible, yes, but you also need the Spirit to have an understanding therein.
And so they make that important point there. Now, this last section here about the content of the Word of God. The Confession writes, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God and the government of the church common to human actions and society, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
What they’re saying is, we’re going to clarify what we mean by the Bible has what is necessary for our salvation and faith and life, but that there are some circumstances in here, particularly in religious worship, worship of God and the government of the church, which is under the first commandment. Both of these are under the first table, excuse me, the first table of the law. All right, the second and third commandment.
That God has given us a way to worship Him, and a church is part of that. God gave the church. It’s not part of nature.
Like a family, it’s part of nature. Businesses are part of, schools are part of nature, but not the church. And it’s explaining, they’re explaining, look, we don’t believe you have to go to every nook and cranny and find some way to figure out, for example, what time on Sunday you should meet as a church.
They’re not expecting you to find a Bible verse for that. That’s not what they mean by, I haven’t used the phrase yet, but you’ve heard of sola scriptura. That’s pretty much what I’m getting at here.
Bible alone, but it doesn’t mean the Bible is alone. God has given you sanctified common sense, even the natural law around us where God has inscribed these things upon us so that we can draw proper things with various circumstances of life in general. They don’t mention that here, but I know that’s what they mean.
It’s life in general. You don’t have to go to the Bible to figure out what sock to wear in the morning. That’s not what they mean by sola scriptura.
Even what job to get, the Bible is not going to specify to you what job you should get, what you look to yourself, and where your interests lie, where your ability lies, and your opportunities around you arise. And guess what? Everyone does that, even unbelievers. That’s natural law.
That’s common sense. And being Christian, it should be sanctified common sense. Here, in particular, it’s the worship of God, the government of his church.
And the confession uses the proof text here. You’ve probably heard this before from me, that you can use the light of nature in the context of the church, even with respect to the worship of God, on some circumstances. They say some, but there’s obviously a lot of them.
What time do you go to church on Sunday? How long is worship? Should we be here for four or five hours? Either it’s really edified into the body of Christ, or would it be exhaustive to the rest of you? So we must take into consideration where you are, and all the little kids and things like that. That’s not unholy. That’s not what we mean by sola scriptura.
That’s not what it’s driving at. In particular, I want to talk about the light of nature here again, or general revelation. They often use the phrase light of nature at the time, which includes common sense organizational matters, as I pointed out.
And the proof text they use, so it’s not just me hand-waving a bunch. I do that sometimes. But it’s here in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 11, for example, in that famous passage on head coverings.
Paul appeals to nature and his long discourse. Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it dishonors him? So Paul, in the midst of this particular context of public formal worship, and in particular, the women who are prophesying and praying before the church, because that’s exactly the verbs being used there in the early part there. So they’re out there standing out.
And he says, look, in part of his argument, nature itself teaches that a man has long hair. It dishonors him. It doesn’t quote the Bible.
So it’s in the context of worship. 1 Corinthians 14, 26, another famous passage with respect to let all things be done decently and in order. That’s the Presbyterian motto sometimes.
Let all things be done decently and in order, or good order, we would say. Paul just simply says it with the implication that isn’t that common sense? Of course you do that. Why would you even need to quote a Bible verse? God is not the God of chaos, but of order.
Useful Clarity of the Bible
Secondly, the useful clarity of the Bible. The Bible has amazing content for us, for salvation in particular, things religious and spiritual. And it’s clear you don’t need the Holy Pope to explain these things to you.
Paragraph 7, all things in scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all. Yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded and open in some places of scripture or other that not only the learned but the unlearned in a due sense of the ordinary means may attain sufficient understanding of them. That is, anybody who knows how to read can read it and say, ah, Jesus is my Savior.
They don’t need a learned. By learned, they mean someone who went to seminary. You’ve got to have that pastor teach you what’s really the truth here in the sense of without him, you’re hopeless.
That’s not why I’m here, because without me, you’re hopeless. I’m here as an additional way and means to help you read your Bible a little better and move a little quicker, I suppose, and better through sanctification, is one way of saying it. 2 Peter 3.16, in 2 Peter 3.16 we read, As also in all the epistles, Peter writes this, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of scripture.
He was speaking of Paul. Paul writes some hard things to understand, which implies other things are what? Not hard. Some things are hard.
He says some. Therefore, other things are not hard. What? To believe, to read, to understand.
So, yes, we talk about the perspicuity of the Bible. It’s a fancy word. It means it’s clear.
But there’s degrees of clarity. Like in regular life, there are degrees of clarity. There are things that we have a hard time with in school.
Maybe driving a stick shift is hard for you. Understanding the ways of men courting women is hard for some of us. Yet we don’t give up.
We keep striving and pushing to learn these things. And same with the Bible. Some things are, indeed, hard to grasp and learn, but not impossible.
And they are there. And they are what is, in particular, what is especially clear is all things necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation. Because if it wasn’t clear, why did God give us the Bible? Because that’s where we find Christ.
That’s the clearest thing, the good news, that Jesus saves sinners. Psalm 119 is the text they use for the clarity of the Bible. Your word is a lamp to my feet, not a light to my path.
The entrance of your word gives light, we read elsewhere in Psalm 119. It gives understanding to the simple. So what should be known and believed about salvation is clearly there.
Repentance, faith, baptism, Christ Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit. And anybody can read these things and believe in them. But it continues here at the end of that section by the use of ordinary means.
Means. But the unlearned, in due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto sufficient understanding of them. That is enough, enough that you need to know.
What do they mean by ordinary means? They mean providential common sense, what I call providential common sense. The ordinary, everyday things like, I don’t know, learning how to read. That’s what they’re putting under that category.
Literally, if you don’t know how to read, then the Bible’s not going to do much for you. You got to at least learn how to read. Now, of course, you can hear a preacher.
That’s one reason why God gave a preacher. Not everyone has access to the Bible. That’s why evangelists are especially important.
But one of the ordinary things you need to do is learn how to read. Teach those kids how to read, how to read the Bible. It’s not waiting on the Spirit, being lazy about it, but girding ourselves up.
Learning, studying from the Bible, taking notes about the Bible, cross-referencing passages of the same topic in the Bible that are relevant to one another. In many ways, that’s what a pastor and professors of theology do. They just do it a lot more often and in more depth.
But we’re all called to do that to that degree of what it takes for you to learn of the Bible so that you can teach the kids, teach yourself, and the like. And so the particulars also, with respect to the ordinary means and instruments of learning how to read the Bible for better clarity, would be some particulars such as knowing the difference between metaphors, parables, and hyperbole. All these human ways of speaking are in the Bible.
We forget that. I know I grew up, I didn’t even know that. My mind was completely blown away when I read Burkhoff’s book on interpretation.
It’s a nice, helpful little book. I think it’s online. All his stuff is online.
And he’s like, well, you got to learn the difference between a hyperbole and a metaphor and a parable. I’m like, what? I learned all that in English class. I never thought about applying it to the Bible.
It’s the Holy Spirit of God who wrote the Bible, right? But he used human words and human means and human characteristics. That’s why Paul’s writing is different than John’s writing and Peter’s. And you can tell.
Even in the English translation, Paul just keeps going on and on and on with all those additional clauses all packing up on one another. Catechisms and confessions, of course, help in this regard. And we have all these proof texts.
I’m going through some of the proof texts. I’m not finding new ones myself. They did a lot of the work already.
And it’s why we had Christian schools for centuries. So that the kids can grow up and be taught the Word of God. And it will become even more clear to them in a greater depth and breadth of the redemption that we have in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
Useful Self-Clarification of the Bible
And lastly, the Bible is useful as a self-certification and clarification of the Word of God. It self-clarifies itself, if that makes sense. This is the language.
The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is Scripture itself. Therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture, which is not manifold but one, it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly. Scripture interprets Scripture as a shorthand for that.
Humans and councils and churches can err and have error. Presbyterians have gotten overruled on appeal. Pastors misspeak and the like.
But the Word of God has no errors. And you can appeal to the Bible to help interpret the Bible itself. And they did that at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, where James stands up while they’re having this debate about what to do with the Gentiles.
Did they have to be circumcised? Did they have to follow the ceremonial law? Did they have to be Jewish, the Jewish trappings of the Old Testament church? And we already know the answer to that one. But James quotes the Bible. And with the words of the prophet agree, as it is written, after this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down.
I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up. And he continues therein to apply the logic of quoting the Old Testament prophets, saying, God has brought the Gentiles into the church. And they could still be Gentiles while being Christian.
And lastly here, with respect to the Bible and its self-interpreting in that sense, is that there’s only one sense, not many. And that’s explicitly put there against the Roman Catholic tradition, which has a fourfold sense of meaning in each text. There may be multiple applications.
That’s different. There’s only one meaning of a text. My fellow Christians, the Bible is without error.
It’s infallible. It is perfect down to the letter. And as such, it has divine truth, gospel truth for any who want salvation.
That means the Bible is useful for the Christian life as well, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, instruction in righteousness, how to be holy. If we would but read it with common sense and prayer and utilize it and apply its usefulness to our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit and his guidance. May we all do this.
I pray. Amen.