Topic: Scripture’s Binding Authority by Tony Evans Ministry – The Urban Alternative 17 January  2024

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Scripture’s Binding Authority

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness . . . – (2 Timothy 3:16)

Jesus was being challenged by His opponents one day when He tried to tell them that He was God. They objected, accused Him of blasphemy, and got ready to stone Him (see John 10:31–33). Jesus turned to the authority of Scripture to make His case. The way He used the Word has a lot to teach us about the Bible’s authority.

Jesus answered them,“Has it not been written in your Law,‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” (vv. 34–36)

Jesus was using a powerful argument here. He said that if the Bible—in this case the psalmist Asaph (Psalm 82:6)—used the term “gods”for men who were merely God’s representatives, then those who were accusing Jesus should not object if He called Himself God. Why? Because they had just seen Him heal a blind man ( John 9) and do other miracles, for one thing.

What I want you to see here is the binding authority of Scripture. Not even one word can be changed. Scripture is irrefragable, which means it cannot be voided or invalidated. How important is this trait? It was important enough to Jesus that He built a critical argument around it.

The Lord’s opponents might have wished they could nullify or get around the word gods in Psalm 82:6, because it is the Hebrew word Elohim, which is one of the names of God. But Jesus had them, because God’s Word called His representatives “gods,”and nothing could change the Scripture.

Reflection: Are there passages of Scripture that you’d rather avoid or see as unimportant? Why do we need to believe that all Scripture is important? How can you demonstrate the reality of Scripture’s significance?

Lord, all Scripture has been inspired by You. Every word of it is profitable in my life. Help me not to skim Your Word, but to meditate on it—to let it soak deeply into my soul.

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