by Richard Mansel

What is our basis for truth? Where do we go to find our authority in religion?

Biblical authority is the most important subject we can study. More important than even salvation, because we cannot properly find out how to be saved without studying Scripture.

In John 17, Jesus prayed that we would all be united. We would be with the proper respect for Biblical authority. People say we need creed books, tradition, the word of the church, or the leading of the Holy Spirit. What we need is the word of God which God has left for us in written form. We must take it and make it a part of our very being (2 Timothy 2:15).

In the book of Job we read him begging for his words to be written down for future generations. He suffered mightily because he had lost everything. God had allowed Satan to tempt him to show Job's resilient faith. Job was demanding an explanation from God as to why he was suffering so miserably. Job cried,"Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever!" (Job 19:23,24, NKJV). Hartley writes, "While the interpretation of lead is debated, the best explanation is that the engraved letters are to be lined with lead so that the sun will make them glisten" (The Book of Job, 291). Job wanted an assurance that his profession of innocence endured the test of time. The written word facilitated that permanence.

When God gave Moses the law, Moses wrote it on a stone tablet so it would be permanent. Later, when Moses' hands were held up in Exodus 17:8ff, the people of God won against Amalek. Afterwards God said, "Write this for a memorial in the book" (Exodus 17:14).

"It is written" or some variation is used hundreds of times in the Bible. Jesus repeatedly used the phrase, "have you not read?" God fully understood the human need for a written book. With the exception of the Patriarchal era and the time when the New Testament period began, God's word has been written, and God has always expected it to be our guiding force.

When we fill our hearts with the word of God, it moves us to act on his will. Nothing else speaks with that authority. The same word that moves us today moved men and women centuries ago. We can go and read the same words, follow the same teachings, and produce the same results.

The permanency of the written word for Scripture is that it transcends time, culture, political situations, fickleness of memory, etc. This is why four times (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; Psalm 30:6; Revelation 22:18) God's word warns us not to add to or take away from his word. It is settled in Heaven (Psalm 119:89) and we have no right to alter or destroy it. In fact we couldn't if we tried. God's word will never fade away nor grow stale. It will always remain the vibrant, inspired will of God.

Consider that if everyone on earth but infants died tomorrow, they could grow up and use the word of God to produce the same results their forefathers had produced. We can only stand in awe at the wisdom of God.