Page 7 - Biblical Theology Textbook - masters

They were speaking God's message - it was not something they have originated. In the Book of Acts we
read.

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit
was giving them utterance.

The Holy Spirit guided them with respect to what they said.

Later in the Book of Acts it says.

Acts 4:13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were
uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with
Jesus.

Even unbelievers noticed the authoritative manners in which the apostles spoke.

Some thirty-eight hundred times the Bible declares, “God said,” or “Thus says the Lord” (e.g. Ex. 14:1;
20:1; Lev. 4:1; Num. 4:1; Deut. 4:2; 32:48; Isa. 1:10, 24; Jer. 1:11; Ezek. 1:3; etc.). Paul also recognized
that the things he was writing were the Lord’s commandments (1 Cor. 14:37), and they were
acknowledged as such by the believers (1 Thess. 2:13). Peter proclaimed the certainty of the Scriptures
and the necessity of heeding the unalterable and certain Word of God (2 Pet. 1:16-21). John too
recognized that his teaching was from God; to reject his teaching was to reject God (1 John 4:6).

The Bible is a book that is both human and divine. It is God's Word written by human beings. The idea
of an authoritative, divinely inspired Scripture is not something that the church invented; it is the
testimony of the biblical writers. The claims of biblical authority can be seen in three areas. First, God
told them to write down the truth that he revealed. Second, the words they composed ultimately came
from God. They made it clear that God supernaturally spoke to them, what they wrote down was not
their own words. Finally, the contents of Scripture are fully authoritative. They are the final words on
all matters of faith and practice!

4. Through His Son, Jesus.
The greatest revelation of God is in the person of Jesus Christ who claimed to be God
himself in flesh. John best describes His entry into the world of man:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and
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without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was
the light of men.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son
from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-4, 14, ESV)

The Greek word for WORD is logos, which literally means “the expression of God.” The Logos with
whom John states is a Person. Readers of the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) had long been
familiar with the term "Word of God" as equivalent to the Gospel; but the essential idea of John's Word
is Jesus Himself, His Person. He is stating that Jesus was in the beginning with God and that Jesus was
the God of the beginning. He is announcing to his readers that God fulfilled his promise and came to

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