Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Guest (Male): The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse. Listen to Luther: "Let the man who would hear God speak read Holy Scripture. Scripture is God's testimony concerning Himself. The Holy Spirit Himself and God the Creator of all things is the author of this book."

"This book, the Holy Scripture, is the Holy Spirit's book. He who carefully reads and studies the Scriptures will consider nothing so trifling that it does not at least contribute to the improvement of his life and morals, since the Holy Spirit wanted to have it committed to writing."

Over a half century ago, the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, then pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, saw the need to spread God's word beyond the hearing of his local congregation. He started the radio ministry which has become known as Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.

The application of God's word as taught by Dr. Barnhouse is as relevant today as when he first taught over the radio airwaves decades ago. The message we will be featuring on today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled Martin Luther's Bible.

Few people have had greater impact in church history and world history than Martin Luther. At the heart of his widespread influence and extraordinary accomplishments was the bedrock conviction that the Bible is the very word of God. The Lord can also work through you in remarkable ways if every area of your life is animated by a high view of God's eternal holy word.

The scripture text for today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible: Romans chapter 14 and verse 11. Here once again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled Martin Luther's Bible.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto Thee, our Father and our God, and in the Holy Spirit. Today we study once more the authority and inerrancy of Thy Scriptures. Thou hast given us the Word and the Holy Spirit that He might be our interpreter. Speak with mighty force, we pray Thee, that each soul who listens may be able to turn with fresh wonder to the Bible and know that here is the rock on which we may stand. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

With this study, we bring to a completion our series on the authority of the Word of God. Martin Luther one day presented a book to a friend and on the flyleaf wrote the following: "If only we believed that God is speaking to us and that whatever we read or hear in the Bible is God's Word, we would find and feel that it is not read or heard futilely or in vain."

"But our confounded unbelief and miserable flesh keep us from seeing and noting that God is speaking with us in Scripture or that Scripture is God's Word. Rather, we think of it as the word of Isaiah, Paul, or some other mere man who has not created heaven and earth. Therefore, it is not God's Word to us and does not bear its fruit until we recognize it as God's Word within ourselves."

It was this keen spiritual insight that made Martin Luther what he was. He held in his hand a Bible which had all authority because he knew it to be the living Word of the living God. Never was his message more needed than in our day. In our churches, there are very many who proclaim that the Bible contains the Word of God, but they do not believe that it is the Word of God.

One man loosely said, "It doesn't matter a great deal whether the Bible stories are literally true or whether they are splendid parables for generations of the children of men." What such men are really saying is that it does not matter if there are sections of error in the Bible. But personally, I would not want to feed my child a mixture of poison and milk.

If someone said to me, "But it contains milk," that would not be enough. I want to know that it is milk. And I want to know that the Bible is truth, and that it is all of it truth, and that it is truth that has been selected, planned, and presented to us by God for His purposes. I have spoken of Martin Luther and his attitude towards the Word of God.

He was a great believer in the supreme authority of the Scriptures and in their verbal inspiration. He has left us more than 50,000 pages of his writings, and none of them is fully comprehensible without the clear recognition of his belief in the absolute authority of the Bible as being in every part, down to the least tittle, the Word of God.

When we consider some of the arguments that are brought against the Bible by those who believe the book to be unscientific, we may well listen to Luther. He was commenting on the creation story and the fact that Moses speaks of waters above and below the firmament. Just what this means, Luther remarks, may not be quite clear to us, but we should stick to the phrasing of Scripture because it is the language of the Spirit.

He says, "We must speak as the Holy Spirit speaks, and we must stand by the words of the Holy Spirit." And the Holy Spirit has a way of His own to say much in few words. Not only the words which the Holy Spirit and Scripture use are divine, but also the phrasing. Now, Luther did not arrive at this high view of the complete inerrancy of Scripture by some gradual process.

His earliest major writing already contains it. As early as 1513, in his remarks on a Psalm, he asks his auditors carefully to note the individual words and calls these the words of God. "All the words of God," he says, "are weighed, counted, and measured." The editor of this Luther anthology notes the following: "In reality, Luther's faith in the inspiration of Scriptures and in its consequent complete inerrancy was nothing new."

This was the traditional position of the church. Throughout the Middle Ages, the church had held to the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. The liberals of the 19th century hated this truth. And one of the greatest of the liberals, Harnack, was sorry that Luther had believed in verbal inspiration. But we today are very glad that he did, and we are sure that the Lord is glad.

Sometimes, a young theological student flatly stated that Luther did not believe in the verbal inspiration of Scripture. I'm sorry that I did not have this anthology in my hand at the time to show him Harnack's regret that Luther did believe it and Dr. Angelder's statement: "It is one of the mysteries of the ages how theologians who claim to be conversant with Luther's writings can give credence to the myth that Luther did not teach verbal plenary inspiration."

Repeatedly, Luther emphasized his acceptance of the ancient creeds of the church. In 1538, he published them with explanations and comments of his own. Here he says that our reason can make nothing of the mystery of the Trinity. But let it be, for so God pictures Himself. And he concludes, "Not one letter of Scripture is purposeless, for Scripture is God's writing and God's Word."

Some hesitate before some of the verbal niceties of the Bible, but Luther said, "The Holy Spirit is not a fool or a drunkard to express one point not to say one word in vain." This is why he wrote to the councilmen of Germany: "It is very dangerous to speak of things divine in a different manner and in words different from those which God Himself uses."

Now, such language is not popular in our day because there are those who claim that this present generation is incapable of understanding such words as salvation, forgiveness, justification, the new birth, and so on. I do not believe that these people know what they're talking about. If they put out a questionnaire among godless, unconverted people, they will naturally get godless, unconverted answers.

But if we keep on preaching the Word of God, it will still have the same effect that it has always had. There will be those who pass out of death and into life, and then they will understand spiritual matters. For in the last analysis, the Bible proves its own authority by producing supernatural results in the lives of those who are brought through to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, if a different way to heaven existed, no doubt God would also have recorded it, says Luther, but there is no other way. Therefore, let us cling to these words, firmly place and rest our hearts upon them. Close our eyes and say, "Although I had the merit of all saints, the holiness and purity of all virgins, and the piety of St. Peter besides, I would still consider my attainment nothing."

"Rather, I must have a different foundation to build on, namely these words: God has given His Son so that whosoever believes on Him whom the Father has sent out of love shall be saved." And you must insist confidently, almost defiantly, that you will be preserved, and you must boldly take your stand on His words, which no devil, hell, or death can suppress.

Therefore, no matter what happens, you should say, "There is God's Word. This is my rock and anchor. On it I rely, and it remains. Where it remains, I too remain. Where it goes, I too go." The Word must stand, for God cannot lie. And heaven and earth must go to ruins before the most insignificant letter or tittle of His Word remains unfulfilled.

The entire Bible does nothing else than give a person to understand what he was, what he now is, what behooves him, and what his works are. It informs him that he is completely undone. Secondly, it tells what God is, what pertains to Him, and what His works are, and especially the mercy in Christ. Him, it leads us to understand, and through His incarnation, it conducts us from earth to heaven to the Godhead.

The entire Bible has two principal thoughts. The first: human nature is in its entirety damned and ruined by sin. Luther often used strong language, but it was true language and taken from the Word of God. Nor can it come out of this calamity and death by its own powers and efforts. The second: God alone is just and, out of His mercy, destroys sin and justifies us.

Well, how much of life and knowledge we would be ignorant of if we did not have the Word of God. Though people were to place all books of earth before us, we still could not acquire from them a knowledge of the origin of Adam, sin, and death, or of the effect of sin, for Holy Scripture alone teaches these things. This is why we should study it, for through it, we become wiser than the entire rest of the world.

Whoever does not consult Scripture will know nothing whatever. Now we know how we are to die, whence we are to go, also how we may escape death and the devil. We know who has redeemed us and how we are to get these great treasures. These things we learn only from this book of Holy Scriptures.

If someone should ask why God should have given the Bible to the world, the answer is to be found in Christ alone, that we might know who He is and why He came to die. Luther expresses it this way: "What purpose other than this proclamation does Scripture have from beginning to end? Messiah, God's Son, was to come and through His sacrifice as an innocent lamb of God, bear and remove the sins of the world, and thus redeem men from eternal death for eternal salvation."

"For the sake of Messiah, God's Son, Holy Scripture was written, and for His sake, everything that happened took place. Holy Scripture has more to say about the Son than about the Father because the entire Scripture exists for the sake of the Son." A half year before Luther's death, he preached a sermon on the text: "They are they which testify of me."

He told his auditors how Scripture should be read. "Here, Christ would indicate the principal reason why the Scripture was given by God. Men are to study and search it, and to learn that He, Mary's Son, is the one who is able to give eternal life to all who come to Him and believe on Him. Therefore, he who would correctly and profitably read Scripture should see to it that he finds Christ in it."

"Then he finds life eternal without fail. On the other hand, if I do not so study and understand Moses and the prophets as to find that Christ came from heaven for the sake of my salvation, became man, suffered, died, was buried, rose, and ascended to heaven so that through Him, I enjoy reconciliation with God, forgiveness of all my sins, grace, righteousness, and life eternal, then my reading in Scripture is of no help whatsoever to my salvation."

"I may, of course, become a learned man by reading and studying Scripture and may preach what I have acquired, yet all this would do me no good whatever. For if I do not know and do not find Christ, neither do I find salvation and life eternal. In fact, I find bitter death. For our good God has decreed that no other name is given among men whereby they may be saved except the name of Jesus."

Because the Scriptures give us knowledge of the eternal themes, they can never be exhausted by man. The reason: if they are indeed the words of the Holy Spirit, they are too high for all men. And though the justified have the Holy Spirit, we have only the firstfruits and not the fullness. Yet, this written Word of God, like Christ the personal Word, appears among men in a lowly guise.

It was because of this that Luther asked the reader of the Bible not to be offended at the simple language and the many commonplace incidents and stories of the Scripture. "I beg and faithfully warn every pious Christian," he wrote, "not to be offended by the simplicity of the language and the stories that will often meet him here. Let him not doubt that, however simple they may seem, they are the very words, works, judgments, and deeds of the exalted majesty, power, and wisdom of God."

"For this is the writing that turns all the wise and prudent into fools and is an open book only to the small and foolish folk, as Christ says in thanking God that these things were hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes. Therefore, dismiss your own notions and feelings and think of this writing as the most sublime, the most noble of holy things, as the richest of mines which can never be entirely exhausted."

"Do this that you may find the wisdom of God which He here submits in a manner so foolish and simple in order to quench all pride. Here you will find the swaddling clothes and the manger in which Christ lies, to which the angel directs the shepherds. Plain and ordinary are the swaddling clothes, but dear is the treasure, Christ, which lies in them."

In 1541, the reformer wrote in someone's Bible: "I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people." This quotation from the 22nd Psalm, Luther believed that Christ had spoken before He ever came into this world in anticipation of His sufferings. He then went on writing on the flyleaf of the Bible, comparing the Bible and its sufferings to those of Christ.

He said this: "The Holy Scripture is God's Word, written and, so to speak, lettered and put into the form of alphabetical letters, just as Christ, the eternal Word of God, is clothed in humanity. And men regard and treat the written Word of God in this world just as they do Christ. It is a worm and no book compared with other books."

"For the honor people accord other writings of men by studying, reading, pondering, keeping, and using them, they do not accord Scripture. If it is treated well, it lies there in neglect. Others tear it to pieces, scourge and crucify it, and subject it to all manner of torture until they stretch it sufficiently to apply to their heresy, meaning, and whim."

"It is a good sign, therefore, if a man has the precious gift of loving and liking Scripture, of gladly reading it, of highly esteeming and treasuring it. Such a man God, in turn, will surely honor because he possesses the true seal of the called and chosen saints, and he belongs among the apostles and the other saints."

No book is so torn apart as the Word of God. Christ's own brothers criticized Him because He would not go to Jerusalem to present Himself publicly as they wanted Him to do. When Luther preached on this Gospel story, he said that this criticism of Christ is typical. Men forever desire to criticize His Word.

He said, "No message or teaching ever existed in the world that had so many masters as the very Word of God. All fools must take it in hand and want to earn their spurs by mastering it. There is no one who does not imagine he's able to play the master over God's Word. If a person dreams a bit about something nowadays, he cries, 'Spirit, Spirit.' They know it all."

"Everybody wants to be God's master, and He, God, must be everybody's pupil." Such an attitude, of course, comes from the failure to accept God's exaltation of the Bible to its proper place and to abase oneself before it in humility. Christ told us that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

It is not astonishing, therefore, that there are men who seek to pervert the divine Word for their own purposes. Luther said of them, "Clear indeed the language would have to be which the devil could not pervert with his explanation. And indeed, what is clear enough when one refuses to grant that God's plain Word given to enlighten and teach us is clear, although it forcefully strikes our eyes?"

"As if a self-willed fellow were to shut his eyes against the sun in bright daylight or bar door and window and then complain that he's unable to see. What more shall we tell or teach you if you refuse to hear and heed what God Himself tells you? Or do you imagine that your own ideas about God and His mystery, drawn from blind reason, are clearer and surer than His own Word?"

"However, it is nothing but the work of the malicious devil that although a man is thoroughly convinced, he will let no one tell him anything but will knowingly and willfully resist the truth." Oh, Luther was a magnificent personality, and one must admire the way he handled things because he was so built upon the foundation of the rock that is the Word of God and Christ Jesus in it.

Well, let's conclude by realizing the fact that you and I have in our hands the divine book, the very Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God for us, given to us in the order, terms, and words that God wanted us to have it. Let us then give ourselves to the book so that there we may find Christ, and so find life.

But, as Luther said, that the Holy Scriptures cannot be penetrated by study and talent is most certain. Therefore, your first duty is to begin to pray and to pray to this effect: that if it please God to accomplish something for His glory, not for your or any other person's, He very graciously grant you a true understanding of His words.

For no master of the divine words exists except the author of these words, as He says, "They shall be all taught of God." You must, therefore, completely despair of your own industry and ability and rely solely on the inspiration of the Spirit. The final quotation that I give you from Luther is particularly precious to me because of the circumstances in which he wrote it.

If he'd been sitting at a desk surrounded by his library, pondering and writing, the following words would not have the same force that they have when we realize how they came to be written. Luther had translated the Bible, and very frequently he was asked to sign his name on the flyleaf of one of these volumes.

One day, when such a request came to him, he wrote John 8:25: "Who are you? Even that which I have told you from the beginning." Christ's own claim to deity. Luther then plunged on to add the following: "They desire to know who He is and not to regard what He says, while He desires them first to listen. Then they will know who He is."

"The rule is: listen and allow the word to make the beginning. Then the knowing will nicely follow. If, however, you do not listen, then you will never know anything. For it is decreed: God will not be seen, known, or comprehended except through His Word alone. Whatever, therefore, one undertakes for salvation apart from the word is in vain. God will not respond to that. He will not have it."

"He will not tolerate any other way. Therefore, let His book in which He speaks with you be commended to you. For He did not cause it to be written for no purpose. He did not want us to let it lie there in neglect as if He were speaking with mice under the bench or with flies on the pulpit. We are to read it, to think and speak about it, and to study it, certain that He Himself, not an angel or a creature, that He Himself is speaking with us in it. Yes, it is the Word of God."

And our Father, we pray Thee that Thou shalt give this divine authority of the Word to each listener, that they may realize that in the Bible they hold in their hands, or that they may hold if they wish, Thou hast communicated Thyself to men. Therein we find Jesus Christ. So, we pray Thee, give us a love of the book that it may transform us. We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): The truth and power of God's Word transformed Martin Luther's life and thereby changed the course of human history. Have you been transformed by God's living and active Word? We hope you have benefited from today's message entitled Martin Luther's Bible.

To listen to additional Bible teaching by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at alliancenet.org. An audio copy of today's teaching is available by calling us toll-free: 1-800-488-1888. Today's message again is entitled Martin Luther's Bible, or simply request message number R14-19.

We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled The History of Sin. The reality of sin is a stumbling block for many people when they consider the existence and character of God. If God is loving and all-powerful, then why does He allow sin, evil, and suffering to exist?

In this free booklet, Dr. Barnhouse carefully and scripturally outlines the history of sin and examines its nature, extent, and course. Ask for your free copy of The History of Sin when you call or write. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is a radio ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

We exist to promote a biblical understanding and worldview. Drawing upon the insight and wisdom of Reformation theologians from decades and even centuries gone by, we seek to provide contemporary Christian teaching which will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place.

We also produce the radio broadcast The Bible Study Hour, featuring the teachings of the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice, and Every Last Word, featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. For a full list of radio stations carrying our programs, visit our website at alliancenet.org.

Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is able to remain on the air through generous gifts of listeners like you. If you have benefited from the broadcast and would like it to continue, please prayerfully consider a donation to help us keep this ministry on the air.

For more information or to make a contribution to help further our work, contact us by calling toll-free: 1-800-488-1888. Write to us at Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Box 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Visit us online at alliancenet.org.

Remember to request a free resource catalog featuring books, audio teachings, commentaries, booklets, videos, and a wealth of other materials from outstanding Reformed teachers and theologians, including Doctors Donald Grey Barnhouse, James Montgomery Boice, Martin Lloyd-Jones, and Philip Graham Ryken. Thanks for listening. Join us again for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.