March 18, 2002
The fallacy of 'sole reliability'
___By Kenneth Martin
___In their fight against neo-orthodoxy theology, the Southern Baptist Convention leadership has led our denomination down a pathway whereby division and strife have become a fact of life.
___I agree with the SBC leadership that neo-orthodoxy is a problem in our ranks. I believe the Bible is the word of God without any falsehood, without any contradiction. In other words, I believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. However, I believe the SBC leadership has attempted to kill the patient in order to cure the disease.
___By making the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message a creed, they have destroyed the trust of many and betrayed our history as Baptists. Even if the BF&M was completely sound in statement and doctrine, it should never be used as an "instrument of doctrinal accountability." Only the Bible can be used for that. To say that a person needs to affirm a statement in order to do ministry stands against we as Baptist have believed for hundreds of years. Yes, there has been time when this was tried in the past, but there were always Baptists who stood strong against such action.
___But the 2000 BF&M is not completely sound in doctrine or statement. This makes the actions of our leadership even more tragic.
___ So, how can it be said that the 2000 BF&M, which the SBC leadership endorsed and affirmed, to be incorrect in its statement and doctrine concerning the Holy Scriptures? It can be said, and needs to be told that the changes found in the 2000 BF&M were based upon the theology of "sole reliability," the beliefe that "divine truth relies solely upon Scripture." This may in first reading sound correct, but in light of Scripture there are at least four arguments that prove this doctrine to be false.
I have yet to find any passage that says that the Bible is the word of God.
___First: The Bible does not say that we rely only on it for divine truth.
___ The Bible does declare in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," but it does not declare that we are to rely solely upon it for divine truth. On the contrary, Psalm 19:1 states that the heavens declare the glory of God. Is that not a divine truth revealed in his creation? Romans 1:18-22 and 2:1-11 tell us that man is "without excuse" because of God's revelation of himself through nature and conscience. That is why we preach and teach the need for missions, because people who have never heard the name of Jesus and have never even seen one verse of scripture will still stand before a just God and be condemned to hell for their sins.
___ As far as divine truth, we know that Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John 14:6). The Bible tells us Jesus is Truth, and it also says that the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of truth) will teach us all truth (John 15:26, 16:13), but it does not state that the Holy Spirit will teach us all truth only through Scripture alone. God can use any way he wishes to teach us about his Son.
___ Second: The Bible does not declare itself to be the Word of God.
___ How is the Bible the word of God? Where in the Holy Scriptures does it say this? It says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." I have yet to find any passage that says that the Bible is the word of God. The Bible states that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). It says that Jesus is the Word of God. If we are to be correct in interpretation of the Bible, then the Bible needs to interpret the Bible. So everywhere we find where the Bible refers to the "Word of God," it is speaking not of the written word but the Living Word, that is Jesus Christ.
___ For example, in Romans 10:17, it says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God." Why does it not say, "Faith comes by reading"? It is because Jesus said, "Whosoever hear these sayings of mine and does them" (Matthew 7:24).
___ So, how can I state that the Bible is the word of God? That is easy, it is the written word, because the Living Word wrote it. Hebrews 12:1 states, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." Yes, the Bible is the Word of God because the God of the ages through different ways and different men wrote every word in it. Jesus has to be the criterion by which the Bible is interpreted because he is the author.
___"Sole reliance" theology literally put the Bible on an equal or greater foundation than Christ. But which is greater, the author or the book? The author has to be! You cannot have the written word without the Living Word.
___ Is there more to Christ than given to us in Scripture? The answer according to the Bible is yes! John 21:25 states John's suppositon that the world itself could not contain all the books that should be written about Christ when he was here. So how can we say that we know all about Christ only through the Bible when the Bible says we can't? After all, he is God, and his ways are not our ways, his thoughts our not our thoughts. We can't even pretend to know all we can know about him from what is written in the Bible. But the Bible is the means by which we are to judge all revelation of Christ, whether it is true or false. If any revelation, vision, statement, teaching, etc. contradicts the Bible in any way, then we know that it is false. 2 Tim. 3:16: "… and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
___ Here is an example. I was saved when I was 5 years old. I know I was saved, no question in my heart about it. I was called into the ministry when I was 8 years old, not in a church, but riding in a car. The Lord Jesus spoke to me. I heard him as clearly as any voice I had ever heard. Some of the things he said for me to do were "not to drink, not to smoke and not to ride a motorcycle." Now, where in Scripture does it say that? I know it was Jesus because I answered him as saying, "Yes Lord" when he called me by my name. I know it was Jesus, and the Bible tells me his sheep know his voice (John 10). So, if I were to rely solely upon Scripture for any revelation from God, then Jesus could not have spoken to me. But if Christ still reveals himself to people today out side of the written word, and he does, then I was called into the ministry and my life as been spent serving Christ. Did any of what he told me contradict the Bible? No, it does not. But it was something outside of Scripture that God reveal for me to do and not to do.
___ Here is another example: A person's view of the Bible, according to the Bible, is not the means by which we are to know whether a person is for the Lord or against him. The Scripture says that we will know others and be known by the "fruit" we bear, by the "love" or lack of it for each other, and by our view of Christ.
___ If a person was to talk to either a witch, a Mormon or a Jehovah's witness, often times they have no problem with the Bible as being God's word. In fact, you might get them to say that the Bible is inerrant. But when someone discusses the truth about the resurrected Lord and biblical doctrines concerning Christ and his salvation plan for man, then that is when such a person would strongly disagree. Why? It is in their knowledge and belief concerning Living Word (Christ) that will truly reveal their belief and trust in the written word. This is why the Bible tells us in 1 John 4:1-3 to "test the spirits" to see if it is the spirit of Christ or of anti-Christ—not by their view of Scripture but by their belief in Christ, whether or not he came in the flesh (including everything he did while he walked among us) and whether or not he is the Son of God. All falsehood will fail in one or both of these tests.
___ "Sole reliance" theology fails this test by saying we can only know divine truth solely through the Bible when Christ declared himself to be Divine Truth. It puts limits on the Son of God that he never put on himself.
___ Third: This teaching does not allow for the work of the Holy Spirit.
___ What about miracles, visions, dreams, headings, conviction of sin, spiritual gifts, divine protection, etc.? Are not these means of revelation of divine truth that the Holy Spirit uses to point to Christ? My understanding of the statement "Divine Truth relies solely upon Scripture" is that it discounts these as being from God. I once heard a popular conservative minister say: "Miracles, visions and dreams do not happen any more because we have the Holy Scriptures." I ask: Where in the Bible does it say that? To me, this statement is something a "liberal" would say! The Bible does not say anywhere that miracles, visions, dreams, healings, etc. ended with the apostles! Cory Ten Boone, in her book "The Hiding Place," tells of a dream or vision where she saw the Germans come and take her and her family away. It happened just as God showed it would. What about her sister Betsy? When see died, what about that smile and peace on her face? Did not this miracle speak of Christ even to the Nazi guards?
___ Second Timothy 1:7 states: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." The Greek word for power is the same word used for power in 2 Timothy 3:5. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." We can deny the power that we have in Christ. To do so, we deny the truth found in Scripture.
___ Fourth: Did Jesus warn us against such a teaching?
___ In Matthew 16:6, Jesus warns is to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." The Sadducees were the "liberals" of that day. They did not believe in Scripture or at least most of it. It is easy to see why Jesus would warn us against them. But what about the Pharisees? They believed in all of the Scripture. They were "sound" in doctrine. You could say they were the "conservatives" or "fundamentalists." So why did Jesus warn against them? It was because they put the Law (Scripture) before everything else—insomuch that when the Author of the Law came, they did not even recognize him.
___ By putting Scripture as our only means of divine truth, we too will not be able to recognize the Author of our faith. Our relationship with Jesus will become second to a legalistic tradition that is based on what someone else states to be truth. Only in our relationship with Christ (who is Truth) can we live free to worship him correctly (John 4:24). And from him we receive love, hope, joy, peace, patience, etc. Not from just reading Scripture but from fellowshipping with our Lord and Savior do we understand and are able to live for Christ. Jesus is our all in all. Paul put it this way: "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity (God is love), I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:2).
___ Sole reliance theology is false teaching. Our leadership in the SBC has replaced sound doctrine with their view of Scripture. Irony in this matter is clear. The 2000 BF&M was designed to stand against one kind of false teaching, only to promote another kind of false teaching.
___ Many of our fellow Baptists who are conservative have followed our leadership into accepting this evil into their churches. I have decided that I, too, have to stand up against this evil that could destroy our denomination. We must fight to save the Cooperative Program, our missionaries, and our future as true Baptists.
___ Kenneth Martin is pastor of First Baptist Church in Ira, Texas.
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