Then, God saves by the Bible. We know that he judges by the Bible, and by it all men are found to be sinners and rebels against God, and so the Bible condemns all men to an everlasting fiery hell. But it also reveals the only way to salvation, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.

John 5:39-40 says, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." These verses have been misinterpreted by some people, especially the anti-intellectual and anti-doctrinal type, to teach the opposite of what they assert. It is alleged that here Jesus refutes the error of looking to a book rather than to a person. According to this view, the Bible is not to be our direct object of belief, but it is only a pointer to the person of Christ, who is to be the true object of faith. The Pharisees err in holding the Bible in such high esteem that they embrace the book but reject the person.

However, this is not what Jesus says at all. He states that the people think that they could possess eternal life by a diligent study of Scripture, but that they reject the very thing that the Scripture testifies about. In other words, it is not that the people esteem the Bible too much, but the very opposite is true – they have no respect for what the Bible teaches. Their reverence for Scripture is a mere pretense. In fact, Jesus repeatedly accuses them for doing this. As he says elsewhere, "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men" (Mark 7:8). The Pharisees err in studying the Bible but at the same time refusing to take it seriously, or to believe and obey it. This is their damnation, and this is what damns many people today.

So although it may sound pious to some people, it is at least misleading to say, "We are not saved by believing a book, but by believing a person." To say this about the Bible would be like saying, "We are not saved by believing the words of Christ, but by believing the person of Christ," as if the words of Christ can be separated from the person of Christ in such a manner, and as if we can know the person without the words. If you believe the words, you believe the person, and vice versa. But without the words, or without the contents about the person to go with the person, there is really no "person" for you to believe.

So we are indeed saved by faith in Christ, but it is only through the Bible that we receive an infallible revelation from and about Christ. Therefore, in this sense, we are indeed saved by believing a book, this book, for there is no difference between believing the book and believing the person. As long as we do not separate the revelation of Christ from the person of Christ, since these cannot really be separated, then we are indeed saved by the Bible, and in it we find eternal life.

It follows that just as a person's eternal destiny is determined by his attitude and reaction to Christ, his eternal destiny is determined by his attitude and reaction to the Bible. No one who rejects the Bible can accept Christ at the same time, since it is the Bible that shows us Christ. Therefore, no one who rejects the Bible can be a Christian, or can be saved, so that everyone who rejects the Bible also rejects Christ, making his damnation sure.

Paul writes, "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21). Man cannot know God by his own wisdom and power, but only by God's self-disclosure, which he delivered through the prophets and the apostles. There is no salvation outside of the Bible because there is no way to know God or his way to salvation outside of the writings of the prophets and the apostles.

(to be continued)

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