8. We should now consider explaining the Scriptures. We are to be a workman of God where we are not ashamed and rightly handle the Word of Truth. Paul says in his epistle that we should be ready to make a defense of the hope that is in us. This hope that is in us comes from the written Scriptures. The world is running after false idols and false teachings. We ought to be prepared to proclaim the Scriptures to a lost world. We know that people seek answers in every place but the written Scriptures. The evangelist, teacher, theologian and apologist has the task to bring and explain the Scriptures. It does not mean we are over the Scripture but we ought to handle the Scriptures in light of other Scriptures. If we begin at Genesis we will hear of the coming redemptive story of God the Son becoming man in Jesus! Martin Luther taught tota scriptura and that refers to teaching all of Scripture. Are you able to lead someone to Christ in bringing and explaining the Scriptures? Phillip brought and explained the holy Word of God. He was able to be used as a means to have someone come to Christ in his Christian ministry. The Christians of the local church are to be used as reliable and capable instruments of God to declare all of the Scriptures to a dark world. The Scriptures explain themselves as a guide to be well-informed about the Christian faith. In saying this, I do not believe that the local church is supreme over divine Scripture. If there is confusion, the local church is there to explain the Scriptures like Phillip. However, the Scriptures are supreme as the sole infallible and final authority for a life of every good work. I think it is true that Phillip teaches the Scriptures not in light of "an oral tradition not based on the written Word" but the very interpretations of Jesus on the road to Damascus. Jesus interpreted the Old Testament in light of His words and divine understanding. Phillip carried this understanding with him to the eunuch and he became converted to Christ. The local church is not all-sufficient for every good work. Rather the Scriptures are there for us as God's divine superintendence for His people for every good work. I think the Scriptures explain themselves in light of its explicit and divine and intended meaning. That is, Scripture is clear enough for a little child to comprehend and trust Christ. The Scriptures are clear that sinners must repent and believe the gospel and rest in the sole spiritual foundation of the unified merit of Jesus Christ alone as our sure spiritual grounds for how we are right with our faithful, holy and just Creator. If the church is exalted above Scripture, it becomes a body of theological heresy and a radical distortion of sacred history. The church is not above the Scriptures. The Scriptures are pure and perfect. The supreme authority of Scripture is a divine guide for the people of God. The local church is an unsafe guide. We must rely on the very words of the Bible and the words of Jesus. Phillip well knew that he had to be trained as a workmen not ashamed of the written Word. He came with the self-attesting divine Word from the words of Jesus. There is no escaping the divine and central supremacy of the divine Word in the life of the early church. To be faithful to Jesus, we must rely on the clearness of the written Word. All of Scriptures contains the exaltation and central message of uplifting Jesus Christ as our perfect Lord and radical Savior. Phillip had the words of Scripture about Scripture and it is contained in the Book of Acts. It was about the awesome Messiah that suffered eternally in the place of His people. We see when Jesus read from the Scriptures: He never read from ancient Jewish tradition. Rather like Phillip He reasoned the Scriptures with the Words of God about the only Son of God as the matchless Messiah. I would like to point out that the local church should rightly handle the written Scriptures. We are to study the written Word to correctly interpret the Bible. The rule of interpretation is Scripture in light of Scripture. We are to interpret the explicit verses with the implicit verses of the divine Word. No bishop is above Scripture. Rather the bishop of bishops tells us what to rightly believe in the holy Word alone. That is, the bishop of bishops is Jesus Christ alone for He is the Bishop of our souls! We do not find Phillip referring to extra-biblical tradition of some kind to interpret who the Messiah is. We find him "beginning with the Scriptures" as the foremost priority to arrive at the interpretation of Jesus as Messiah. The church fathers are not a safe guide like the divine Word. I suggest to you the divine Word is the only safe and sure and secure refuge for God's people. We see Jesus Christ use all of Scripture to interpret the written Word's message of the suffering Messiah. He suffered because we are not good by nature. Paul says there is nothing that dwells in us that is good. We needed all-righteous and all-meritorious Messiah who would bear the wages and punishments of sin upon Himself alone to be right with a good God.
9. Confusion comes from the corrupt nature of man or Satan not the sacred Scriptures. All of Scripture is clear that we must proclaim Christ from the Old and New Testaments. The eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53 about a sheep to the slaughter, silence before the sheerers and humiliation and the wrath of God. The eunuch knew that Isaiah 53 referred to a literal person beyond animal sacrifice but he did not know who it referred. Phillip proclaimed Jesus from the Scriptures to him. The Scriptures are about the centrality and supremacy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Phillip explained about the divine prophecy of the divine Messiah. We also ought to explain Jesus to a lost world in all of the Scriptures. Phillip explained the prophecy of Jesus' humiliation. Prior to Jesus' glorious reign there would be a time of great suffering for God's people in their behalf. Jesus first appeared as a Lamb of God. He took away the sins of the world from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. Phillip calls the eunuch to explicit faith in Jesus through bringing and explaining Scripture about Jesus. Jesus was prepared to make divine atonement for His people. He was born to die and this was His divine purpose to come into the world.
This blog web site is for the in-depth, sound and basic exegetical study of the Bible in Reformed apologetics; that is, I shall expound upon the inerrant and infallible Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. There shall be biblical studies in world religions and non-Christian cults. I also quote and research reformed writers and I am happy to study from them. May the Lord bless everyone who reads this blog with spiritual riches in Christ which is His imputed merit by faith alone.
