The Supremacy Of Scripture

by John Drain, Belfast | Category: The Holy Scriptures | Jul 1966

The supreme authority of the Bible, the sacred writings, over all other books and writings is an inevitable consequence of its divine inspiration. In earlier articles in this series this important characteristic of Scripture has been clearly stated and emphasized. If we accept that "every scripture is inspired of God", then we must accept that every scripture carries the full and supreme authority of God. One has said, "Inspiration is that extraordinary, supernatural influence (or, passively, the result of it) exerted by the Holy Spirit on the writers of our Sacred Books, by which their words were rendered also the words of God, and, therefore, perfectly infallible." The words of Scripture, being God's words, must be infallible, and infallibility determines supremacy.

In Psalm 138, David wrote, "Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name." These words indicate how God Himself regards His word and shows the place of absolute supremacy He gives to it. This is further demonstrated in the instructions given by Moses to the children of Israel: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you" (Deuteronomy 4.2). The words of the covenant which the LORD made with Israel expressed the authority of the LORD, and that authority was absolute. Any human addition or deletion was serious sin in the eyes of God. This is a matter of very great importance because it gets to the very roots of the implications of the supremacy of Scripture. Almost the last words of the Bible are. "I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book." It should be very clearly understood and acknowledged that Scripture being what it is must be the sole and supreme authority in connexion with divine revelation.

When Christ was about to begin His public ministry on earth He had a solemn personal encounter with the devil. We read of three propositions which the tempter placed before the Lord. On each occasion the Lord replied, "It is written ..." There we see in the blessed Man, our Lord Jesus, His unreserved acknowledgment of the supremacy of Scripture, and we see His perfect subjection to its authority.

When Christ was moving about in His public ministry among men He met with much opposition from the Pharisees and scribes, the religious leaders of the people. On one occasion they came to Him and questioned Him about the practice of His disciples in eating with unwashen hands. They asked, "Why walk not Thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders?" (Mark 7.5). The Lord's reply was a very strong rebuke. "Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. And He said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition." The Lord then cited a particular example of this and said that they were "making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye have delivered". God had delivered His word. The elders had delivered their tradition. The issue was the authority of the word of God or the authority of the tradition of men. There was no doubt as to the attitude of those religious leaders. The plain word of God was set aside and its supremacy rejected. The tradition of men was substituted and slavishly obeyed. Little wonder that the Lord should apply to those hypocrites the censure of Isaiah 29.13.

The spirit of the scribes and Pharisees did not die with the men who bore these designations. It is very evident that early in the present dispensation men arose teaching perverse things to draw away disciples of the Lord Jesus. To the inspired books of the Old Testament God had added the inspired writings of the New Testament. This gave to men a complete revelation of God and the purposes of God, and it provided the knowledge of the will of God for His children. But even before the writings of the New Testament were complete, there was evidence of the sad trend of things. Peter wrote, "But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not" (2 Peter 2.1-3). These are prophetic words and they had dreadful fulfilment.

The early centuries of this dispensation witnessed the rapid formulation and spread of such destructive heresies as Peter refers to. It is also true that there were men of scholarship who sought to meet the challenge of certain of these heresies. There are records of discussions which took place and there have been preserved profound statements of profound truth, truth expressed in carefully chosen words which accord with Scripture. But the tide of heresy was strong and it swept onwards. The specious theory was advanced that, granting that an infallible written revelation had been given by God, there was the necessity for an infallible organ of interpretation. In this way there emerged the claims of the Roman Catholic Church that that church was in fact that infallible organ. Once that Church was given this place and authority the way was easy to impose the interpretations and dogma and man dates of such a religious system. The Scripture was set aside. The dogma of men took its place. The word of God was made void. Its supremacy was repudiated. The authority of the Church became the supreme authority, and sad it was for those who would not submit to this.

In the days referred to as the Reformation, men began to see the sham and hypocrisy and wickedness of the religious system which held so many in its darkness and slavery. No doubt, by a movement of God Himself, they were led back to Scripture and to insistence on the authority and the truth of its teaching. Soon the supreme authority of the Bible became established in the minds of many. It is not suggested that in all matters they got back to the authoritative truth of Scripture. But they got back to this, that the authority of Scripture was above the authority of any church and its dogma, and therefore to the authority of the word of God must be the final appeal as to what was the will of God.

Claiming infallible authority, the Church of Rome has forced upon the conscience of its millions dogmas which many who accept the authority of Scripture have no difficulty in rejecting. The immaculate conception, the perpetual virginity, the bodily ascension of Mary are claims made by the Church of Rome, for which there is not a trace of Scriptural support. The Roman Catholic teaching in relation to sin, to absolution, and to purgatory makes void the word of God, and by the compelling force of the word of God we utterly reject such things. Papal bulls and decretals have swayed millions of people, but they will not influence those who acknowledge the supremacy of Scripture.

It is also very important to realize that Scripture has supremacy over all human writings. Many creeds and confessions have been drawn up, many books, magazines, and pamphlets have been published by persons and organisations who are utterly opposed to the teaching and claims of the Church of Rome. How are these to be judged? They must be judged in the light of the supreme authority of Scripture. It will often be found that the language and teaching of theology are not the language and teaching of Scripture. Which should we accept? Can there be any doubt? The authority of Scripture is above the authority of theological treatises. When theology and Scripture differ, Scripture is right and its authority is supreme.

In Isaiah 5 we have these words, "And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them." There are many cults and creeds and teachings in the world today. Paul warned the Ephesians against being "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error" (Ephesians 4.14). With some, "Back to the Bible" may be a glibly uttered slogan. But let us get back to the Bible to acknowledge without reserve the supreme authority of Scripture in all matters of our personal lives and in determining the nature and scope of our collective responsibilities. For what we believe and teach and practise, each one of us will be held accountable by the authority of the "God-breathed" writings. This is the highest authority.

John Drain, Belfast | Jul 1966
The Holy Scriptures