Embracing the Supremacy of Scripture in Faith
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"Now, there's our key for thinking through all the tricky ethical issues, for facing under pressure the ethical issues of today. Clearly, for Jesus, where Scripture is of God, tradition is of men. And it is vain hypocrisy, verse 7, to equate the commandments of men with the doctrines of God." [00:04:58]
"And so, what Jesus points out that the Pharisees are doing is that they sinfully reject the Word of God to uphold the views of men. In fact, by not permitting something that Scripture commanded, they are setting themselves up as authorities higher than the Word of God." [00:07:16]
"Any human reasoning or tradition which is human in origin is subordinate to Scripture, not vice versa as the Pharisees had it. The Word of God and the words of mere creatures are not and cannot be equal authorities. And, thus, when the divine Word conflicts with human views, human opinions, human arguments, human traditions, it is Scripture that must be heeded, says Jesus, and the human views that must be rejected." [00:08:28]
"The lesson is clear: Holy Scripture is the ultimate guide and only rule of faith and practice, the only test of truth, the only judge of controversy. But can I be really clear here? The debate between Jesus and the Pharisees is not a debate over whether we should have a high view of the Bible. That is not the issue." [00:09:47]
"The issue was this: the Pharisees affirmed the trustworthiness of Scripture, but they did not, in practice, trust it as the supremely authoritative Word of God, a Word that must overrule all other words. And, friends, ever since then, the church has had to hold and defend this principle of the supremacy of Scripture alone to guide Christian living and thinking." [00:12:57]
"To achieve substantial reformation five hundred years ago, and to achieve substantial reformation of the church, which is what we want to see today, it takes Luther's view that Scripture is the only sure foundation for belief, sola Scriptura. The Bible has to be acknowledged as the supreme authority allowed to overrule and contradict all other claims, or else, its message will be hijacked and overruled." [00:20:41]
"Jonathan Edwards stood squarely in the Reformed tradition; Friedrich Schleiermacher is known as the father of liberal theology. There were actually some similarities. They were quite close in time; Schleiermacher was born ten years after Edwards died. Both were facing the challenge of the Enlightenment. Both agreed that true faith is more than an assent to a list of doctrines." [00:22:18]
"Faithfulness to Christ here does not mean simply having a high regard for Scripture, that's not enough. The Pharisees had that much. To be faithful to Christ means to stand with Christ against the Pharisees in submitting to Scripture as supreme in its authority. And so, refusing, as Jesus put it in verse 13, to make void the Word of God by our own feelings and thoughts. Scripture trumps all." [00:26:13]
"Now, of course, the main reason why Christians with a high view of Scripture have sometimes been wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater, forget learning from historical theologians, anti-intellectual, no creed but the Bible, the reason for that is the fear that some traditional insight could become the supreme authority, right? That's the fear, and it is a reasonable right fear." [00:31:05]
"Instead, we simply need to be clear that other authorities: reason, tradition, teachers can have ministerial authority. And so, Christians should be troubled when they go against Christian precedent. We don't lightly disagree with what the church has taught. But such precedent does not have a magisterial authority; only Scripture does." [00:32:24]
"That is not the way to navigate the ethical difficulties of our day. Unless, friends, Scripture is our supreme, sufficient authority overruling all our lives and thoughts, we will be captive to human thinking, drifting with every wind of human opinion. And if we do that, friends, we will never see a Reformation of the church in our day." [00:40:11]
"True faithfulness to Christ depends on our actual submission to God's Word as our supreme authority. Where God has spoken, we obey. And so, may the God of truth be glorified in all our testing times today. Amen." [00:41:22]
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"And so, what Jesus points out that the Pharisees are doing is that they sinfully reject the Word of God to uphold the views of men. In fact, by not permitting something that Scripture commanded, they are setting themselves up as authorities higher than the Word of God." [00:07:16]
"Any human reasoning or tradition which is human in origin is subordinate to Scripture, not vice versa as the Pharisees had it. The Word of God and the words of mere creatures are not and cannot be equal authorities. And, thus, when the divine Word conflicts with human views, human opinions, human arguments, human traditions, it is Scripture that must be heeded, says Jesus, and the human views that must be rejected." [00:08:28]
"The lesson is clear: Holy Scripture is the ultimate guide and only rule of faith and practice, the only test of truth, the only judge of controversy. But can I be really clear here? The debate between Jesus and the Pharisees is not a debate over whether we should have a high view of the Bible. That is not the issue." [00:09:47]
"The issue was this: the Pharisees affirmed the trustworthiness of Scripture, but they did not, in practice, trust it as the supremely authoritative Word of God, a Word that must overrule all other words. And, friends, ever since then, the church has had to hold and defend this principle of the supremacy of Scripture alone to guide Christian living and thinking." [00:12:57]
"To achieve substantial reformation five hundred years ago, and to achieve substantial reformation of the church, which is what we want to see today, it takes Luther's view that Scripture is the only sure foundation for belief, sola Scriptura. The Bible has to be acknowledged as the supreme authority allowed to overrule and contradict all other claims, or else, its message will be hijacked and overruled." [00:20:41]
"Jonathan Edwards stood squarely in the Reformed tradition; Friedrich Schleiermacher is known as the father of liberal theology. There were actually some similarities. They were quite close in time; Schleiermacher was born ten years after Edwards died. Both were facing the challenge of the Enlightenment. Both agreed that true faith is more than an assent to a list of doctrines." [00:22:18]
"Faithfulness to Christ here does not mean simply having a high regard for Scripture, that's not enough. The Pharisees had that much. To be faithful to Christ means to stand with Christ against the Pharisees in submitting to Scripture as supreme in its authority. And so, refusing, as Jesus put it in verse 13, to make void the Word of God by our own feelings and thoughts. Scripture trumps all." [00:26:13]
"Now, of course, the main reason why Christians with a high view of Scripture have sometimes been wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater, forget learning from historical theologians, anti-intellectual, no creed but the Bible, the reason for that is the fear that some traditional insight could become the supreme authority, right? That's the fear, and it is a reasonable right fear." [00:31:05]
"Instead, we simply need to be clear that other authorities: reason, tradition, teachers can have ministerial authority. And so, Christians should be troubled when they go against Christian precedent. We don't lightly disagree with what the church has taught. But such precedent does not have a magisterial authority; only Scripture does." [00:32:24]
"That is not the way to navigate the ethical difficulties of our day. Unless, friends, Scripture is our supreme, sufficient authority overruling all our lives and thoughts, we will be captive to human thinking, drifting with every wind of human opinion. And if we do that, friends, we will never see a Reformation of the church in our day." [00:40:11]
"True faithfulness to Christ depends on our actual submission to God's Word as our supreme authority. Where God has spoken, we obey. And so, may the God of truth be glorified in all our testing times today. Amen." [00:41:22]
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