John MacArthur on the Authoritative Truth of the Bible

When it comes to views of Scripture we live in a skeptical age. While there have always been those who questioned the authority and authenticity of God’s Word, the church itself was not home to doubters and skeptics. The staunch anti-authority trend we see among professing believers today began in the eighteenth century and the post-Reformation Enlightenment—during the ascendancy of human reason—when skeptics and critics brought the legitimacy of God’s Word under widespread attack. Today, we’re dealing with the devastating destruction that has accumulated in just a few centuries due to viewing the Bible as something less than the inerrant, authoritative Word of God.

The authority and inerrancy of Scripture are fundamental doctrines, yet we have an entire generation of professing Christians who are neither committed to those dogmas nor able to fight to defend them. Most could not articulate a case for biblical authority or defend why every word of God is true—whether internally from the text of Scripture, or externally from the validations of fulfilled prophecy and reason. Many cannot give a clear defense of why it is necessary to have an inerrant, authoritative Scripture in order for the Holy Spirit to do His work of saving and sanctifying. Though these are foundational realities, too many Christians seem indifferent to these essentials.

Congregations sit listening to sermons from pastors who have been conditioned to elevate methodology, cultural cues, and entertainment in order to attract a crowd rather than to serve an assembly of true worshipers who are able to understand, articulate, and defend the truth of God revealed in Scripture. While a focus on methodology does not necessarily deny the authority of Scripture, there is a de facto denial of Scripture’s supremacy when it is set aside for other means and methods. The Bible is regularly treated superficially and routinely taken out of context, resulting in a generation that has no expectation that the preacher would handle the Word of God accurately. Rather, people are trained to treat the Bible like a book that they are free to manipulate for their own ends, which ultimately both exposes and perpetuates their low view of Scripture.

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