“Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately” (2 Timothy 2:15 NET).
There are no shortages of those who reject the Biblical Scriptures as “the word of truth” (RSV). Nevertheless, Jesus declared, “…thy word is truth” (KJV) in speaking of God’s Word in John 17:17. With this in mind, let’s consider how Jesus viewed the Biblical Scriptures.
First, Jesus identified the Bible as the word of God as well as the command of God…
“…Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God'” (Luke 4:4 quoting Deuteronomy 8:3).
“But (Jesus) answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and mother’…” (Matthew 15:3-4 quoting Exodus 20:12).
Jesus also believed that the Scriptures were errorless and infallible….
“But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail” (Luke 16:17 NAS).
“…the Scripture cannot be broken…” (John 10:35b NIV).
Unlike those who view the Bible as a collection of myths and legends, Jesus also accepted the historical reality of the following Biblical characters and events…
- Adam and Eve: “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female…” (Matthew 19:4).
- Noah and the great flood: “They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:27).
- Sodom and Gomorrah: “…on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:29).
Given the vast amount of spiritual misinformation that exists within our world today, we would do well to emulate Jesus’ view of the Scriptures in seeking to accurately handle the word of truth. This has important implications for our relationship with God as well as our relationships with others…
“We must remember that one way we can shine as lights in our world (Matt. 5:16) is to set a consistent example before others of what it means to correctly handle the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). By so doing, others may come to imitate us in this regard. And as others learn to imitate us in correctly handling Scripture, so they too can be used of God to set an example before still others. The process begins with a single person—you! Together we can curb the growth of the cults and aberrant groups.” (1)
(1) Norman L. Giesler and Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask: A Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations, [pg. 9] Baker Books, 1997