A Lamp to My Feet Weekly “Challenge”

I will never forget all of the times I had to cram a verse into my head before the quiz sheet was handed out. In high school I did not appreciate the exercise of committing Scripture to memory and thought that it was stupid to grade me on my ability to memorize a verse or two. Now, as I am older, and hopefully a bit wiser, I see why the school wanted us memorizing Scripture.

Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Ephesians 6:10-20

For my own good. For my own protection. For my ability to be an active member of the Church, fulfilling the Great Commission commanded to us by our Lord:

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20

How can I do this if I don’t have an understanding of His Word? If I haven’t worked to commit it to memory, to hide it in my heart? How can I ensure that I will act as one who loves Christ if his Word has not lined the very walls of my heart?

I can’t.

It is only through His Word that I can prepare myself for His Work and protect myself against the attacks that have been coming and are sure to continue for the rest of my life.

Reading the Word on a daily basis is one thing, and a good thing, but is not enough. We must make the Word a part of our very being; a part that cannot be removed; a part that will become the well from which we draw life. This must become a part of us.

So, all of that said, and hopefully well enough that you see the importance of committing Scripture to memory, I would like to propose to you a challenge. Work with me and the other readers here to memorize a verse or passage each week. These will be passages that I will choose and publish here every Monday morning. Then for the rest of the week we will all work to memorize the verse, which will cause us to meditate on it daily so that it becomes engraved on our hearts. The daily effort will in turn commit the verse to memory by Sunday evening.

All you have to do:

1. If you plan to participate leave a comment to this post
2. Invite a friend or two to join you in the practice and have them comment on this post so that I know they are participating (there are easy sharing buttons at the bottom of this post)
3. Maybe send a tweet out or share this with your friends on Facebook
4. Then, on Monday morning come back here (sign up via email to have it delivered to your inbox) and see what you will be meditating on for the next seven days.
5. During the week feel free to view the post and leave your comments on the verse, what you have learned, etc.
6. On Sunday come back to the post to let us know if you were able to memorize it

That’ll do it. I hope that through this you are challenged in your walk and that ultimately you grow closer to the Lord as His Word becomes a part of you.

Have fun!

(Don’t forget, comment below if you plan to participate!)

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The Inerrancy and Inspiration of The Bible

Upon sitting down to read and study the Bible, one needs to have several questions answered before they can begin to allow the Scripture to have an impact on their life. These questions should address the authority of the Bible (which will also address the author of the Bible), the inspiration of the Bible, and the inerrancy of the Bible.

The first question stated above is the most important question to answer before one can begin to take what the Bible says and try to live by it. When it is said that the Bible has authority, what is being said is: on any topic, issue, question, etc., that the Bible speaks to, one is to defer to what is says. In other words, the Bible is the authority on everything that it speaks to.

The answer above presupposes one very important belief, that God is the author of the

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Bible. Because of this, the authority that the Bible holds is much greater than if man were the author. The writer of a law must have the authority to enforce that law. The same principle applies to the authority of Scripture.

The main reason the Bible holds so much authority is because God is the author. One question off of this is how did God write it? The answer, He inspired man to do so. What is meant is that under guidance from the Holy Spirit, God gave the inspiration of what was to be written, to the human authors of the Bible. This does not mean that he dictated to them what He wanted written, he merely inspired them with what was to be written. They were free to use the language of their day, and write with their personalities intact.

This author bases his belief of inspiration on the following passage: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”.[1]

A major component of the inspiration of Scripture is that it is also inerrant. This author subscribes to the inerrancy of Scripture and bases his belief on the first, and strongest of four arguments, which is the Biblical argument. This argument has five main points that support its views, but the most important is the first and last. The first point states that “the Bible teaches its own inspiration, and this requires inerrancy. The Scriptures are the breath of God (2. Tim. 3:16), which guarantees they are without error”.[2]  And the breath of God statement is addressed in the fifth point which says, “Repeatedly, the Scriptures teach that God cannot lie…If, then, the Bible is from God and his character is behind it, it must be inerrant and infallible”.[3]

A second popular argument for inerrancy is the Historical argument. This argument believes that the Bible is inerrant because from the Apostles all the way through Church history, the truths in the Bible were assumed, not defended.[4]  A third argument is the Epistemological argument, which says, “If the Bible is not inerrant, then any claim it makes may be false”.[5]  This holds that every statement made in Scripture must be true for the entire text to be inerrant. The fourth, and final argument for the inerrancy of Scripture, is the Slippery Slope argument. This belief is quite simple: if one gives up the inerrancy of scripture they also surrender other Christian doctrines as well.[6]

Of the last three arguments listed, the weakest argument is the Slippery Slope argument. While this argument may be true, that a “denial of inerrancy starts one down a slope that is slippery,”[7] it is by no means a substantial argument to base one’s belief of inerrancy upon. This author argues for inerrancy and bases his argument on the Bible. The Bible is the ultimate authority, as it was written by God, and as God cannot lie, because it is not in His character to do so, everything written through the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, by the human authors, is without error.

As stated in the paragraphs above, this author believes: 1) that the Bible holds the final authority on all topics contained within its text, 2) that God is the author of the Bible, 3) that the Bible was written by human authors under the inspired guidance of the Holy Spirit, and 4) that the Bible is inerrant. As a result of these beliefs, this author looks to God’s Word for guidance on how to live his life on a day to day basis. This author believes that as he gets into God’s Word, God’s Word will get into him.

Footnotes:

• [1] 2 Timothy 3:16, NKJV.
• [2] Feinberg, P.D. “Bible, Inerrancy and Infallibility of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Elwell, A. Walter. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book house Company, 2001), 157.
• [3] Ibid., 158.
• [4] Ibid., 157.
• [5] Ibid.
• [6] Ibid., 158.
• [7] Ibid.

Photo Credit:

Article header photo credit: The Bible by Vincent van Gogh (1885) http://www.terminartors.com/artworkprofile/Van_Gogh_Vincent-Still_Life_with_Bible

Bibliography Photo Credit: http://www.maicar.com/GML/Bibliography.html

Feinberg, P.D. “Bible, Inerrancy and Infallibility of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Elwell, A. Walter. 156-159. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book house Company, 2001.

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