This is but one reason why the scriptures have relevance today. If there were no recorded testimony of God’s unchanging nature, then how could mankind ever understand salvation so freely offered? The Bible is, whether we like it or not, a covenant between man and God which has the promises of eternal life, the current condition of our souls (either we are a Christian or we are not), and the only predetermined consequences for the acceptance or rejection of God’s freely offered plan of salvation. It is a covenant that is written down, we have access to God’s terms at any time, and by the nature of God, it cannot be changed or altered regardless of what changes happen within human society. I think of the verses, In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began (Titus 1:2) and But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul (Deuteronomy 4:29). God cannot lie and if we seek Him with our whole heart, not only will we find Him, but He will reach down for us. What a blessed thought in a world of uncertainty.
The Bible’s relevance: absolute standards of righteousness
There have been many changes in our society within the last hundred years; however, from a historical perspective, society has changed a lot from even the time of Christ until now. As a middle-aged man, it amazes me how things we once considered as absolute certainty have now been relegated to either being out-of-touch with reality or up for debate. Even today there are those voices that claim that an all-loving God was either wrong about homosexuality and abortion being sin or God has condoned them as times have changed. Unfortunately their argument is flawed because God’s view on sin has not changed: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23), For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10), and For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous (Romans 5:19). If we are completely honest about our society today, even Christians have become soft to sin. If all the sins were listed in the Bible, there would be no classification by God present that we use to define sins. There would be no sins of omission, sins of commission, or sins that are less or greater than others. There would be no acceptable social sin, but just the realization that sin is sin and all sin is disobedience to the covenant established by God: Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations (Nehemiah 9:26). God provides us a clear warning about the extent that man’s understanding of sin will extend if not grounded to the Bible: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20).
Ever since the days in the Garden of Eden, there has always been objections to the standards set by God; Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (Genesis 3:1). Although in Genesis, Satan himself is seeking to create confusion and discord between God and man, today, Satan will influence people to dissuade Christians from openly practicing our faith, claim the superior authority of social justice or a social gospel and not the Bible, and will condemn those who are trying to live by God’s standards as somehow being evil or mean-spirited. It is these very people who claim persecution by Christians who, in reality are the ones practicing persecution. The Bible is the inspired word of God and as such, cannot be overridden by the sense of morality of man. Again, I think of the two verses, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:9) and So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (Isaiah 55:11).
Why the confusion over the relevance of the Bible?
The Bible, from the earliest books of the Old Testament to the last books of the New Testament, was written over a span of fourteen hundred to eighteen hundred years and by forty different authors of sixty-six books. It is unique, as in the examples of the four gospels, that not only do the various books tell the same story but that it is told from differing perspectives. The Bible has the essential truth of salvation being God’s unmerited grace bestowed on man. While our technology may change, our understanding of life may change, and even our concepts of justice may change, basic human behavior does not. If we objectively look at modern society and then contrast it to the stories contained in the Old Testament, there’s very little difference between the two. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9) and there are clear demonstrations of the evil within the heart of mankind that we still see demonstrated today.
Within our society, we now are having a debate about what is a family and not only has the lost world rejected God’s definition, some who claim to be Christians also are challenging the teachings contained within the Bible by saying God condones gay marriage. These same people will defend their interpretation of the Biblical definition of marriage by claiming that interracial marriage is condemned by scripture as well – which it is not. In fact, there are two places in the Bible that clearly show that God never placed any limitation on marriage based on race – which I will discuss in great detail in another entry. There are those who claim that God does not condemn abortion, yet they choose to ignore the amount of scriptures where God proclaims the sanctity and miracle of life in the womb. There are those who ignore the Bible’s warnings of gluttony, yet question God when they or their loved ones suffer from heart problems, Diabetes, and other health issues relating to obesity. So why are some so quick to claim the Bible is not relevant for modern times? Because the Bible teaches personal responsibility, accountability to a holy God, and accountability to how we treat those around us, all which calls us to live a life that is unnatural to the lost world around us: Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:13-14).
