The Bible is a work of nonfiction . . .

 

Storytellers fall into two camps. Some are concerned that every fact is correct. Others are convinced that the story needs embellishment to be more interesting. The second group don’t seem to mind the first, but the first group often label the embellishers as grandstanding liars.

This helps to understand two biblical terms. Yesterday’s word was inerrancy, meaning that every single word in Scripture is true in the original documents. Some translations may miss the exact meaning of some words or verses, but the Bible can be relied on as true in all that it says.

The other term is infallibility. It refers to the truth of God’s Word as a whole. There is no embellishing even in the poetry of the Psalms or the vivid use of metaphors and other figures of speech used to illustrate spiritual realities.

Both terms are about the character of God. He is not messing around with exaggerated or untruthful language to impress us. What He says is true to His character; He is holy, righteous, and wants His very best for those who trust Him. He means what He says and says what He means — and those words reflect who He is.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. (Psalm 19:7–9)

God’s Word is like that because God does not lie: “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever” (Psalm 119:160) and His “law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Romans 7:12)

Some Christians divide the OT with its law from the NT of grace, thinking that the law of God is no longer an issue because we live under the freedom of grace. However, Jesus said otherwise:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17–18)

Instead of abandoning the OT, it can be read as instruction for how to live now that Jesus has come and made forgiveness and eternal life available. As the NT says,

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

Pushing the OT aside means losing much of who God is and what He is like, His holiness and His determined love for His people. It also casts doubt on the full infallibility of Scripture. If the OT is useless, how can the NT have any value? Trusting the Word of God means believing God will not deceive or give counsel that will later prove to be in error. The principles of the OT are still true today and are the principles that mark the life of someone who trusts the Lord and has been transformed by His grace.

Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life! Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules. I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. (Psalm 119:38–47)

PRAY: Jesus, the Bible enables me to see that from the creation of the world through all Your interactions with a disobedient Israel to the NT wonder that You came to die for my sin, I gain great faith that what You say is true and totally reliable, written to instruct my decisions and actions, and to give me assurance that You are just exactly as Your book reveals You to be!

PONDER: Psalm 119:165 as a reminder and proof of the infallibility of God’s Word. It says: “Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.”

 

Justice Mercy Humility

 

Newscasts frequently show protests where crowds of people are demanding justice. They want freedom or right decisions that do not involve favoritism, self-interest, bias, or deception; and that conform to established standards or rules. As I read Scripture, this cry for justice seems based on the nature of God. Because we are made in His image and He is JUST, our cry for wanting things right could be part of our DNA.

Deuteronomy 32:3–4. “For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”

In the OT, JUST is also translated as “righteous” and with several other words such as “rules” and “judgments” again pointing to the principled character of God and to what He calls for in the people He created.

Leviticus 18:4. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God.

The OT adjective is like the noun which describes someone “characterized by or proceeding from accepted standards of morality or justice.” This standard is set by God who is perfectly JUST . . .

Genesis 18:25. Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

In the NT, the English word JUST is from Greek word also translated sincere, upright, morally right, righteous, innocent. These words are applied to people yet as Jesus said, no one is good (morally good) but God alone. We do not measure up but this is where His just nature comes to our rescue:

Romans 3:23–26. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

I’m in awe that God would consider it right, even just, to grant His righteousness to sinners. For many, wrath comes to mind much quicker than mercy, but perhaps this is because we do have that inner sense of what is upright and righteous and we already know that we all fall short. The Bible backs that up by the reminder in Romans 3:10-11 that it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

That God would take on our problem was predicted in the OT as Galatians 3:8 says: “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’”

The NT has much to say about God who justifies His people. Jesus prays, “O righteous Father . . . .” and Jesus Himself is called righteous — clearly saying that what God has done to provide salvation for sinners is just, right, even a morally right thing. He saves people yet does it without forcing it on anyone, because it is the right thing to do!

Romans 7:12 declares God’s law as holy and righteous and good, even as Galatians 2:16 affirms: “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” No one can become a just or righteous person by their own behavior.

It was Jesus who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 4:25–5:1) Because God is just, no one can bring any charge against God’s elect. It is God who justifies. And if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1).

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. This morning I realize that God saved me because it was the just or right thing to do for those He loves. His message of salvation is for all, and while not everyone will say yes to it, God is still just and the justifier of those who sin. It is also just that He respects our choices. As someone with strong desires for justice, I need to “do justly” yet must also respect decisions that are contrary to God holy and just nature — because that is what He does.