Q4. WHAT IS THE WORD OF GOD?


A. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. (2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Isaiah 8:20)

Westminster Shorter Catechism Q.2 is this: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him? 

I. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments

OLD TESTAMENT: We use the same OT Jesus used, which excluded the Apocrypha. 

LUKE 11:50-51 “50b …the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.”

NEW TESTAMENT: Jesus promised His Apostles would speak on His behalf.

JOHN 16:12-14 “12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

2 PETER 3:15-16 “15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”

Watson: “The two Testaments are the two lips by which God has spoken to us.”

II. are the Word of God

1 THESSALONIANS 2:13 “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

III. being given by divine inspiration

2 TIMOTHY 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God (theopneustos).”

2 PETER 1:20-21 20b “…no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along (same word as “born from heaven”) by the Holy Spirit.”

IV. the only infallible rule of faith and practice

INFALLIBLE (inerrant; perfect)

Psalm 19:7-11 7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
     making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
     rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
     enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
     and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
    and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”

FAITH

ISAIAH 8:19-20 19 “And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

2 TIMOTHY 3:14-17 14 “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God…

PRACTICE

2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

BRAKEL: “The written Word is competent to teach the truth, to rebuke error, to correct evil, and to identify that which is good, so man may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. In one word, it is able to make man wise unto salvation. More one need not desire, for to have this is to have all. Indeed, the vitality and efficacy of Scripture is such that it is both perfect and sufficient.”

WATSON: “The Word is the judge of controversies, the rock of infallibility. That only is to be received as truth which agrees with Scripture, as the transcript with the original. All maxims of divinity are to be brought to the touchstone of Scripture, all measures are brought to the standard.”

DR. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: “Here in this Book is a message that would solve every single problem of the human race.”

Ekklesia Muskogee is a reformed baptist church that gathers for worship in Muskogee, Oklahoma. We confess the 1689 second London baptist confession of faith. We affirm the five solas of the Reformation as well as the doctrines of grace (otherwise known as the five points of Calvinism), and each of our pastors would not be ashamed to be called a Calvinist. We are a church led by elders, of which there is a plurality (also called pastors and overseers in the Scriptures). Our mission is to make disciples, love cities, and plant churches.