Thursday, January 4, 2024

"It Is Written" Is Enough

Here's my morning passage. It's Matthew 4 -- the temptation narrative. 

The very first word out of Jesus' mouth during his temptation was gegraptai, "It is written."

Satan too can use gegraptai. See v. 6. However, he was using Scripture only to distort Scripture. The fact is, one can be saturated with Scripture without being submissive to it. The tactic of the devil is to persuade us to debate with him and to dilly dally in doubt until we begin to adopt the "reasonableness" of secular "Christian" scholarship. This tactic becomes his foothold, which becomes his stronghold, which becomes his stranglehold. Little wonder so many "scholars" of the Bible have fallen ignominiously to his temptation. 

For Jesus, "it is written" was enough. He believed that what Scripture said, God said, and that what God said, Scripture said. He identified the two. It is inconceivable that we should claim to love God and disregard Scripture. If the Son of God could willingingly adopt a position of subordination with regard to Scripture, how much more must we. 

The cavalier attitude toward the Bible by many leaders in the visible church today is completely incompatible with true Christian discipleship.