Low View of God Requires a Low View of Scripture

This past Sunday I had the privilege of sitting in a worship service under the ministry of the Word (rather than being the one doing the ministry). The message was from 1 John 2 and, in exhorting us in regard to the test of our relationship with God, the speaker urged upon us the need to examine the level of our faithful obedience to the Word of God . In the course of expanding upon this he pointed out that there is a growing tendency in our world to take a low view of the Scriptures. Indeed, it is not hard to see how such a tendency would certainly contribute to a minimalist view of the biblical imperative of obedience.

It occurred to me, as I listened, that this low view of Scripture is but another bloom on the bramble of the progressive, neo-orthodox, emergent (there really IS nothing new under the sun) … shall we say “divergent” … school of thought. It follows therefore that we will never successfully raise the general view of Scriptures in the Church today, until we manage to regain a high view of God.

If our perception of God is deficient as it relates to His absolute authority, holiness and power then there is no reason for us to regard His Word as authoritative in our lives. There is no reason to value His standard of holiness over that of any other wise teacher. There is no reason to believe that the Word of God is able to lead to salvation, help us to live together, provide comfort and counsel any more than the word of any sage of this world. Indeed, we might use the Scriptures as a menu from which to choose attractive tidbits that we might fancy. Or it may merely be a collection of threads that we might … or might not … wish to weave into the fabric of our lives. What is pleasing to our sense of self and what is not pleasing; what is palatable to our good taste and what is not palatable? Who is to say that we are wrong in such choices? If not God … then nobody! That sounds like chaos to me … it certainly does not resemble biblical Christianity.

If, on the other hand, God is absolute in His authority, holiness and power we MUST regard his Word as authoritative in our lives. His is the standard of holiness to which we must hold and His Word is a rule of faith and practice which we must obey and source of comfort for us today as much as it was for yesterday and as much as it will be for tomorrow as well.

A proper view of God will go a long way toward withering the blooms and killing the bramble in which the Church and its people are caught today.

What do you think?