...according to John MacArthur. And I agree, though I am not sure he now agrees with some of what he said those many years ago. It is not clear when he first preached this sermon, and it seems to appear under a couple of different names, One thing particularly interesting is that MacArthur then used Matthew 24:35 in reference to the Bible – which non-preservationist contrarians now tell us we must not do! Not sure whether John MacArthur has gotten that memo by now.
In John 17:8 Jesus said, “I have given unto them the words which You gave Me and they have received them.” The message was in the words; there is no message apart from the words, there is no inspiration apart from the words. More than 3800 times in the Old Testament we have expressions like “Thus says the Lord,” “The Word of the Lord came,” “God said,” – it’s about the words. There are no such things as wordless concepts anyway…
Bible writers wrote down words they didn’t understand. In First Peter chapter 1 we are told there that the prophets wrote down the words and didn’t understand what they meant. The prophets, verse 10 of I Peter 1, who prophesied of the grace that would come made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. Here they are writing about the sufferings of the coming Messiah, writing about the glory to follow the suffering of the Messiah, and then they’re searching what they wrote. They’re inquiring in the very words which they were inspired to write, to figure out what person and what time is in view. They couldn’t even interpret fully the meaning of the words they were actually writing. God did not give ideas without words but in some cases He gave words without complete ideas…
In Matthew 24:35 the Scripture is very clear, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but My words, My words shall not pass away.” When God speaks, he speaks with words and the Bible are the, is the representation in writing of the words that came from God, the words that God spoke…
It was Jesus who emphasized the importance of every word, every word and every letter when He said, “Not a jot or tittle will ever fail.” He said in Luke 18:31, “All the things that are written through the prophets shall be accomplished.” He even based his interpretation of the Old Testament on a single word – a single word. The words do matter.
John MacArthur, sermon, “The Doctrine of Inspiration Explained,” aka “Understanding the Doctrine of Inspiration.”
- Assorted Attacks on the Bible
- Why We Believe The Bible Is True
- Why We Believe While Others Reject
- The Bible Is God’s Word
- The Doctrine of Inspiration Explained
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