What Will We Not Know Apart From The Bible

Without the Bible, we cannot know the true nature of God and the beauty of his holiness.

Without the Bible, we cannot know that magnifying God’s glory is the ultimate purpose of the universe.

Without the Bible, we cannot know that the way God has appointed for his glory to be most fully magnified is through a people who are supremely and eternally happy in him.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the eternal divinity of Christ, the Son of God, and that all things were made through him and for him.

Without the Bible, we cannot know that all things that exist — from galaxies to molecules — are held in existence by the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God.

Without the Bible, we cannot know that the Son of God became flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus Christ.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the unsearchable riches of Christ’s achievements on the cross — his propitiation of the wrath of God, his enduring the curse of the law, his bearing the condemnation of the elect, his becoming sin though he knew no sin, his bearing the weight of the iniquities of all his people, his purchasing forgiveness, acceptance, adoption, escape from hell, entrance into eternal life, and God’s yes to all the promises of Scripture for his people.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the way of salvation by grace through faith as a gift of God apart from works of the law.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the almighty power of the Holy Spirit raising us from spiritual death, and granting us new birth, and giving us new hearts, and sealing us for God’s possession through faith, and preserving us to the day of Christ and forever.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the true path of holiness and how the Holy Spirit by faith works in us the fruits of righteousness that come through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the meaning of the church with Christ as the head of the body, and all the hosts of heaven watching as the wisdom of God is played out in the gathering of the redeemed from all the peoples of the world.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the meaning of marriage as a God-designed drama of the covenant love between Christ and his church.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the meaning of our own physical bodies as bought with Christ’s blood for the housing of the Spirit of God.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the dimensions of literature and art which approximate ultimate truth.

Without the Bible, we cannot know the source and goal of science.

And without the Bible, we cannot know how to love anyone fully — that is, in a way that does them everlasting good.

Adapted from the article Unashamed of the Bible: Ten Aspirations for Christian Communicators by John Piper