God's Word
Belgic Confession • Sermon • Submitted
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Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Scripture: 2 Peter 1:12-2:3
Belgic Confession Lesson: Articles 3-4
Sermon Title: God’s Word
For those of you with us tonight from New Holland, the normal practice Pastor Gary and I have is that I preach when we are here, and he preaches when we’re in Corsica. As I mentioned before, just last week I started a series through the Belgic Confession. We looked at Articles 1 and 2, which provide the very core of all things for us as Christians. We believe in the one God that exists. If we were to look back to Genesis 1, there was a time when there was only God, nothing and no one created him, and he had not yet created all that we see today. We then confessed that we believe he has made himself known to us by natural revelation, the creation, and by special revelation, his Word.
Now as read from Articles 3 and 4 earlier, and the next several Articles deal with theme of God’s Word. This is a topic that lends itself to be more of a teaching time rather than a full preaching of only the Bible. So after we read from 2 Peter, I will start off with a very general view of the Bible coming together over history, and then look at how the Bible as a literary text affects our reception of it. Then we will move into what the inspiration and authorship of the Bible by God entails. At that point in the message, we will come back to 2 Peter 1.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, there was a time before this book existed as we have it today. There were, in fact, many years before this complete written record and revelation came to be in the hands of anyone. In the Belgic Confession, we heard that term canon used, and that is important. How the Bible came to be compiled was not that as soon as John turned in his manuscript to an editor for the book of Revelation that things were sealed, and it shortly after that it was sent to be published and distributed. Rather history tell us that the Old Testament canon was finalized in the first century AD, but the New Testament actually took until the 4th century.
God had been speaking to and acting for his people since creation. What God said, what took place, as guided by the Holy Spirit, was passed down through the generations. One family member would tell another. As we heard in 2 Peter 1, when it came to the days of Jesus, what we find testified to in the gospels and in part the New Testament epistles, eyewitnesses helped contribute. That was followed by the apostles writing to the churches, and their letters were shared throughout the known world.
While history unfolded, the accounts and teachings and songs that we find in our Bible today were recorded on scrolls or on pieces of parchment. Some of which are still preserved in their entirety or as fragments. The reason why all of this is important and understanding the use of a canon for the Scriptures is that we must understand there has not been a single manuscript. There has not been a single hardcover and bound book like a journal that began full of just the right number of pages that will never fall apart that God presented to Moses to take up and began writing the book of Genesis on page one and this was kept and passed along to the proper individuals until the final period of Revelation was written. That is not how what we have today came to be.
The Bible is a compilation of writings then that are different—some are historical, some are poetic, some are prophecies, and there are other genres as well. As the canons were being organized, there were other writings that had to be considered, and that our tradition has excluded. These leaders of church that came together to do that work judged under two major guiding principles. For the New Testament, did a recognized apostle write this and were the teachings in line with other recognized apostolic teaching? Then, was this a writing used and recognized widely by the churches. It took a period of time to do that work, to decide what should be in and what should not.
As I tell you that, my intent and the intent of our Reformed tradition is not to view this as undermining Scripture’s authority, its trustworthiness or sufficiency as we will look at in a few weeks. That there was human involvement does not change that Scripture is holy and divine. We do not need to question that, and that is because we believe that by the Holy Spirit, the pieces of the whole have been faithfully kept.
Some of these historical details hopefully then shed light on why the Bible as a literary text continues to be worked on. Today there are numerous translations in many different languages throughout this world—many of them written, some only recorded audio because not every language has a written vocabulary. That work is to the glory of God that every tribe, tongue, people, and nation might one day be able to read and hear the great truth of salvation in Jesus! But if we go to Wal-Mart or Crossroads Bookstore or a Family Christian store, it is easy to become weary when we encounter these walls and aisles full of numerous English translations. The average Christian, let alone person, likely wonders why and what is the difference?
Part of the reason for so many different versions is that the vocabulary that some of us use, is not that which others use or understand. Preaching at the Nursing Home in Corsica one Sunday I left my Bible at home, and so I used the Bible in their podium. I struggled through reading it because the words and the structure of writing was not what I am used to. Translators and editors of different translations are able to help us with that without jeopardizing the truth of the Bible.
Another reason for having so many differences is different intentions—this is where things get a little muddier. Some translations intend to be as literal as possible to the ancient manuscripts. We get variations because in this category because there are different ways and meanings to different words in the original languages, and so editors seeking a literal translation do what they can trusting the Holy Spirit to guide them. Other versions are purposed to be more dynamic; they try to stick to the ancient texts, but on occasion they might tweak something so that it makes more sense or reads easier today. Still others are a paraphrase, they do not intend to take the place of a literal translation, but if we get stuck wondering what the literal text means, it provides an idea.
Christians throughout our country and the world can have very strong feelings about one translation or another. Maybe some of us here do. I hear from time to time that “The King James was and is the only true and best version. The Holy Spirit was with those writers, and no one else.” I personally like the English Standard Version and the NIV before its most recent update. But it is important when we purchase or advise a Bible translation or version that we know its purpose and reliability. We should know what the editors intended when they provided this translation.
I believe it is beneficial to have some of this historical and literary material in mind when we approach the topic before us tonight. Part of what we are trying to grasp is how do we receive the Bible today. Because we can think that God simply spoke to people in a trance, and word for word, those men wrote down what he said, and so we have the books of the Bible. And yet that there was and is a more complex process to organize what we identify as Scripture—what has been inspired by God and how do we maintain that it is holy and divine.
To help us grasp this I offer you a quote from a high school Belgic Confession textbook. I am not sure who wrote it, but I think it states things well: “When we speak of inspiration, we understand that God used the talents, abilities, and personalities of different individuals in the writing of His Word. By His Spirit, God superintended and directed their writings in such a way that the Scriptures were kept free from sin and error.” So the authors of Scripture were not just dictating, but God truly did inspire them for our benefit to reveal himself and his salvation for us. He did this in a way that very much involved their humanity, and yet he was still guiding them.
Returning to our passage, Peter tells the church, in verses 19 through 21, “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” There is a lot of substance here, but I am hoping that what you have heard so far has aligned with this. We want to know truth not lies, we want to know what corrects and builds believers up, not which gives us the easy way out in life. We have truth because God has spoken, and desired that it would be written.
There are three key things that I want to follow in these verses alongside the Belgic Confession. The first is that we read in Article 3 that “Our God—with special care for us and our salvation—commanded the Word to be written.” Peter calls the word of God, particularly the prophecies, a light shining in a dark place. Scripture is a light for right now. The written word of the Bible is not simply for us to gain facts for the sake of knowing them. It is not only to be a tool for arguments about whether or not our religion is true. But the Bible is a light for the darkness.
There is great benefit to knowing and memorizing passages, to being able to weave a defense or explain how this verse in this book is referring back to or building upon another verse in another book. But there is also importance for us as Christians to be encouraged and enlightened simply by reading these words given to us by God. The people back in the early church and the Old Testament people during the periods of captivity and slavery were troubled. There was an immediate and daily distress that they faced. Yet God spoke to them, God reminded them of his faithfulness in their immediate circumstances as well as in what he had done before.
The Bible as we are able to read it today show us that. But it also continues to be a source of encouragement from God for us. Some people might wonder, “Pastors say that God still speaks. Why close the canon? Why not keep adding onto the Bible?” I believe God does still speak, and yet everything that needs to be said has been said. We can draw immense encouragement and direction from what God has already revealed. God can speak to us today, but it will always line up with what we find in this written word. The Bible is like the flame of a candle or fire, like a lamp—it gives people throughout all of history God’s direction and counsel for our lives.
A second important matter that we glean from both the Belgic Confession and 2 Peter 1 is what we find in verses 20 and 21. “No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man.” This part is closely linked to the third point we will look at it, but de Brès was clear that the Word of God was not sent nor delivered “by human will.” When we read the Bible, our tradition believes that we are not looking at any or only “Man’s word” or a “Person’s word.” Paul’s letters are not first and foremost his personal writing, his personal ideas and opinions. That is true for Peter and Moses and David and on through the other authors.
Each of the writers that we come across in Scripture is a man that God called out of his people to lead or specifically to write—but it was for his purpose. The books of Scripture are not simply to be seen as their perspective. They are not to be seen as opinion editorials. God did not give the apostles different subjects, and say, “Go ahead and write what you think; we will go with that.” No, that is not what we believe to be the case.
And so for Peter, what we have translated already in his age, before the completion of the canon, is that there was Scripture. The word of God was holy and divine, authoritative for the lives of God’s people, before the canon was closed. When the prophets spoke rebukes, they were not having a bad day. They were not speaking on their own because they were much holier than everyone else. The words they presented to the people of God and that have been preserved for future generations for their benefit, were God’s words first.
That brings us to the third important thing we look at tonight, the end of verse 21, “But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” You might have noticed I have repeated the characteristics that Scripture is holy and divine. We can say that because the only one who is truly holy and divine is our God, and these are his words, his message, his revelation for us.
I’m guessing that not many of us have trouble saying that. The Bible is God’s Word, and hopefully we have heard throughout this evening and other times why that is, what we mean. And yet it is essential for us to be able to proclaim that. It is God’s Word, and if that is what it is, then we can trust what we find here. We can trust what it tells us about God, what it tells us about salvation and access to it. We can trust when it tells us that we are able to be forgiven and look forward to eternity with our Redeemer.
This is enough, brothers and sisters, for us. We do not need any more, and we ought to take nothing away. Let us hear it and read it again and again that we may know our God revealed. Amen.