What would you do, my father once wisely asked, if Jesus Christ Himself were to speak to you and make this promise- “I promise that nothing bad will ever happen to you again.”? Can you imagine? What would that do for your love for Him? What would it do to your joy? How established would your peace, your patience be if you heard Jesus promise this to you? How might the fruit of the Spirit flourish and bloom all about you? As much as I would like to dig more deeply into this promise (you can read more about it in my book Believing God) my point in this brief piece is that He has indeed so promised. Jesus tells you this in His letter to the church at Rome.
What, you don’t remember what Jesus said in that letter? This might help. Jesus also said, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel by God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures…” Jesus finished this particular epistle this way, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret since the world began but now has made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever, Amen.” In between, of course, He promised that all things work together for good to those who love God, who have been called according to His purpose.
In our defense of the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture we are careful, as we should be, to guard against crass forms of inspiration. We deny that Moses, David, Jeremiah, Luke, Paul, that all the writers of the Bible left their personalities, convictions and styles at the door when recording holy writ. They were no mere human recording mechanisms taking dictation. We speak well when we say David wrote this Psalm, or Isaiah spoke this prophecy. We then rightly hedge in the other side when we affirm that God is the author of all of His Word, that the Bible is the very vox Dei, the voice of God. All well and good.
That doesn’t mean, however, that we have escaped the subtle temptation to treat the red letters in our Bibles as the really important stuff. We would never consciously think such a thought, let alone speak such a sentiment. We would, however, because we are fools, fall into such a trap. How do we escape? We remember that the Bible is Jesus’ Word twice over, that every bit of black on white is red twice.
First, of course, the apostles who wrote for us the New Testament (and those who wrote the Old, though that is a rather longer walk to cover) were sent forth by Christ as His spokesmen, as His emissaries, as His apostles. The one who is sent speaks with all the authority of the one who sends him. If Paul says that all things work together for good, then Jesus says all things work together for good. It’s that simple.
The second point, however, ought to clinch the deal. This Jesus who sent Paul to speak to us, also sent the Spirit to speak through him. The Holy Spirit, who is of course with the first and second person of the Trinity, the same in substance, equal in power and glory, nevertheless proceeds from the Father and from the Son. God the Spirit, in breathing out all the Bible, is joyfully doing so at the command of Jesus. Jesus sent them both.
By all means, hear the voice of Paul. By all means hear the whisper of the Spirit. But, by necessity, hear the gentle words of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is all His Word, and it is all for you. As such our Bibles should be black and white and read all over, hearing the voice of the Master.
