Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
- Ephesians 2:19-20
… and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
- 2 Timothy 3:15-17
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
- Galatians 1:8-9
Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
- Isaiah 8:20
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ …
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
- Luke 16:29, 31
… since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
- Romans 1:19
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
- Psalm 19:1-4
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
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
- 1 Corinthians 2:6-10
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
- John 16:13-14
“Q. 2. What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify him?
“A. The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (Eph. 2:20; 2 Tim. 3:16) is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy him (1 John 1:3).”
- Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Catechism
“Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
“A. The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.”
- The Shorter Catechism (Westminster Assembly)
“Q. 2. How doth it appear that there is a God?
“A. The very light of nature in man, and the works of God, declare plainly that there is a God; but his Word and Spirit only, do sufficiently and effectually reveal him unto men for their salvation.
“Q. 3. What is the Word of God?
“A. The holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience.
“Q. 4. How doth it appear that the Scriptures are the Word of God?
“A. The Scriptures manifest themselves to be the Word of God, by their majesty and purity; by the consent of all the parts, and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God; by their light and power to convince and convert sinners, to comfort and build up believers unto salvation. But the Spirit of God, bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in the heart of man, is alone able fully to persuade it that they are the very word of God.”
- The Larger Catechism (Westminster Assembly)
Question 2 in the Spurgeon and Shorter Catechisms is roughly the same. The Larger Catechism uses three questions. From one aspect the term “rule” is confusing in the first two catechisms, while breaking the concept of the Word of God down into three questions is easier to follow in the Larger Catechism. The Larger Catechism does interpretations here and those words are paraphrased among several Scripture references, and parts of the answers are inferred.
So, where do we get our answers regarding God? From His Holy Word. The Word of God is divided into Old and New Testaments.
The Larger Catechism goes into the inerrancy of the Word of God, and the Word of God is differentiated from the Bible as the Bible being the written Word, but as the Scripture speaks to us, it is the Word of God. This distinction is important because it points to the work of the Holy Spirit working within us.
The B-I-B-L-E,
Yes that’s the book for me;
I stand alone on the Word of God,
The B-I-B-L-E.
The B-I-B-L-E,
Yes that’s the book for me;
I stand alone on the Word of God,
The B-I-B-L-E.
- Traditional Children’s Song, The B-I-B-L-E
Closing Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank You, Lord, for your precious Word. Your Holy Word helps us in understanding You more. And while you do not change, we live in an ever-changing world, but the Bible still gives us what we are seeking. Please, Spirit, come and guide us as we read, so that You can give us the Word that we need each day.
Amen
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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