Last night I had the pleasure of teaching several new and prospective members of our church on the subject of the Word of God: the Bible, its origin, and its authority. God has the ultimate authority in this universe: there is no higher power or authority; but because it is impossible for God to lie, or to change his mind, there is no dichotomy between the authority of God's word, and the authority of God himself. It is the ultimate authority.
God has chosen to reveal himself to us (the only way that we can know him) and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we have his recorded word. No prophesy of scripture came about through the author's own interpretation, but they wrote as they were "carried along" by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21). This means that the Bible is Inerrant (it contains no flaws, errors, inaccuracies, or misrepresentations) it is Eternal (it has no best-before date; it is just as relevant today as the day it was written; it will never be disproved or become redundant) and Sufficient (it contains all we need; we are not waiting for book 67 to come along; we have no right to add or remove anything to what has been written).
It is also "Living and Active"; unlike every other book, the Bible is "alive." When we read the word of God, the Holy Spirit within us, the original author, repeats the process of revelation by which the words were first inspired, and speaks his life giving faith directly into our lives and situations.
It is so important that we spend time in God's word. Faith comes through hearing this word, and without faith it is impossible to please God!
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