Jesus' View of Scripture

Jesus' View of Scripture

They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority…
MARK 1:22

Christ had no doubts about His message because He was the Word of God in human flesh.
The young preacher was in a quandary. While searching for direction about what shape his developing work should take, his plight was aggravated by the fact that a friend in ministry was now having serious questions about his faith, especially about the Scriptures. He had to admit to himself that he, too, was having similar questions. After all, popular writers of the day were making assertions that didn’t square with what he had been taught as a child and learned while he was in school. At the heart of his dilemma was whether the Bible could be trusted. His struggle left him feeling hypocritical. He could not go on preaching to people while, at the same time, having nagging doubts in his own mind about the Bible’s reliability. With an ever-busier schedule looming before him, something had to give. He had to resolve the issue one way or the other, once and for all.

One moonlit night he went for a walk in the woods, pondering the questions swirling in his head. As he related years later:
Dropping to my knees there in the woods, I opened the Bible at random on a tree stump in front of me. I could not read it in the shadowy moonlight, so I had no idea what text lay before me…I could only stutter into prayer. The exact wording of my prayer is beyond recall, but it must have echoed my thoughts: “O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many problems with it for which I have no solution. There are many seeming contradictions. There are some areas in it that do not seem to correlate with modern science. I can’t answer some of the philosophical and psychological questions…”

Then this young preacher made a commitment that would forever mark his life.

“Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word - by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be your inspired Word.”

Reflecting on that moment, he said, “When I got up from my knees, I sensed the presence and power of God as I had not sensed it in months. Not all my questions were answered, but a major bridge

had been crossed. In my heart and mind, I knew a spiritual battle had been fought and won.” Throughout his subsequent ministry, people would comment on the conviction and authority with which he preached.

When Christ began teaching the crowds that thronged after Him, He spoke with unparalleled conviction and authority. He had no doubts about His message because He was the Word of God in human flesh. One of the 12 men Jesus chose to be with Him as His disciples, a fisherman named John, began his Gospel account about Jesus by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2).

Jesus Himself told His hearers, “You search the Scriptures…it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39). And, in the words of one of the New Testament writers, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…. And He is…the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

The authority in Christ’s words was evident to those who heard Him. After being tempted