The Tide Of Unbelief

In the experience of those who would live godly in Christ Jesus periodic pause for self-examination is indispensable. The pressures and complexities of modern life are such that we can "lose our bearings" almost imperceptibly. Powerful currents of thought sweep around us.

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews warns those early disciples (and us) of the need to "give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them" (2:1). We suggest that this warning is most applicable to our situation today. We, too, may "drift away" unwittingly, and find ourselves dangerously "off course". Hence the need for pause to "take our bearings" and to re-direct our course.

One of the subtle dangers to which we are exposed today is the systematic attempt to undermine the authority and infallibility of the Holy Scriptures. The tide of unbelief against the credibility of Scripture rises steadily. We give two instances which have recently come to our notice of statements by Biblical scholars who are regarded by many as "conservative". An "authority" on the apostle Paul's writings whose books are widely read, states, "Sometimes I think Paul is wrong and I have not hesitated to say so". Another well-known popular author, widely read and admired by "evangelicals", admits that the penal view of substitutory atonement is found in Scripture but proceeds to reject it as untenable!

This is just the kind of insidious attack on the Christian Faith which the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews had in mind. Defining authority for Christian doctrine he writes, "which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will" (2:3,4).

The apostles were the gift of the ascended Lord (Eph. 4:11). Their teaching was not theirs but His. How then dare we set aside their writings or sit in judgement on them? The suggestion is preposterous. "If the foundations be destroyed what will the righteous do?"

unknown | Jan 1974
Comment By Torchlight