Literally speaking...

Literally speaking, the Bible is God’s Word. Surprisingly, this might shock many today, even many Christians who take very little time for the reading and studying of His great revelation to us.

What usually stops people in their tracks when it comes to the Bible is the word “authority”. We tend to not like being under the authority of anyone or any thing else. Or put it this way, when it comes to the Bible, we say that we believe it is indeed authoritative, and as soon as that becomes troublesome or problematic, we leave the authority aspect on our lips, and choose to walk as though that authority is only related to part of life, as opposed to all of it.

I was taught, and still believe, that a good place to start with evangelism is John 12:48, which says “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.” Jesus, who is the Word (John 1:1) is the one and only, final authority. If someone will not accept the Bible as the authority, it may very well be impossible to accept the Gospel.

But let’s step back a bit from that. If I expect someone to accept the authority of Scripture, then they may well want to explore other areas of the Bible, which seems perfectly reasonable. And if I want to tell someone about John 12:48, and John 3:7, and John 3:16, and hey, why not toss in the Romans road, we are no doubt going to have to talk about sin. Since Romans brings Adam into the picture, that takes us back quite far in history, actually, very far, all the way back to the beginning.

Want to get a good debate going among friends, among church-goers? Try getting adamant about Creation being finished over a literal six-day period. You are likely to have strong disagreement among “Bible believers” when you do so. Yet God simply and plainly had Moses inscripturate the Creation account, and told him and us that six days (what we know today to be 24-hour periods) is correct. How much authority do you think that statement carries today? Churches have left that doctrine behind in favor of more pleasant topics these days. Isn’t it all about the Gospel anyway?

I challenge us to explain the Gospel, share Christ with someone without mentioning Genesis. We can’t do it, or we can’t share the Gospel properly if we do so. And just as literally as we take the death, burial, resurrection and coming again of Christ, so too much we take the literal-ness of what Colossians 1:16 says, that all things were created by Him, speaking of Christ. Who is Christ? Well He is the Word, according to John 1:1, and He was “in the beginning”, which is where we find ourselves when we turn to Genesis 1:1. We don’t even have to read very closely to find Christ there and immediately following, doing His creative work, literally, in six days.

Is there really any harm in believing the Gospel and also accepting evolution of man over millions or billions of years, or accepting a billions-of-years-old earth? Yes! Quite a bit. To believe such undermines the authority of Scripture, from the very beginning of Scripture. If I can make Genesis say something contrary to reality and actuality, then I can do the same with John 3, with Romans, with Revelation, and so on. Why should someone accept the authority of Christ and His Word, when we Christians are willing to compromise His very Word, because “science says so”? It is very much time that we get back to the foundational truths of Scripture, that we let the Bible speak, and then see clearly how science and everything else falls in line.

2 Peter 1:3 explains that the Bible is sufficient and authoritative for “everything pertaining to life and godliness”, and that includes anything and everything it touches. The Bible touches science, and history, and every other topic we can imagine, as well as human souls. I pray that we cherish just how firm a foundation we have in God’s literal six-day creation. It sets up the rest of time and eternity. And salvation rests upon it as well.