5. The Infallibility of the WORD

a. Psalm 68:11: "The LORD gave the WORD: great was the company of those that published It." From the time "the LORD gave the WORD", man has loved IT, hated IT, believed IT, mocked IT, printed IT, and burned IT. But one thing is certainly true-- man has "published" God's WORD, and in a variety of ways; a main one being, of course, the printed page. But in all of man's existence, he has spread The WORD by mouth, that is, verbally. Listen to the LORD Jesus pray to The Father--

John 17:8: "For I have given unto them the WORDS which Thou gavest Me; and they have received THEM, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me."

Notice Who gave Jesus The WORDS. The Father gave His WORDS to the Son, Who is The WORD. And since God is infallible, His WORD is infallible. And where does the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, come into this? Well, God inspired The WORD that the Holy Spirit then breathed into God's prophets.

2Timothy 3:16: "All SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God."

2Samuel 23:2: "The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and His WORD was in my tongue."

2Peter 1:21: "For the PROPHECY came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

b. Ephesians 1:13: "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the WORD of TRUTH, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise."

James 1:18: "Of His own will begat He us with the WORD of TRUTH, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."

2Corinthians 6:7: "By the WORD of TRUTH, by the power of God."

Psalm 33:4: "For the WORD of the LORD is right; and all His works are done in truth."

Psalm 119:160: "Thy WORD is true from the beginning: and every one of Thy righteous judgments endureth forever."

God does not lie. His WORD defines what is true.

Numbers 23:19: "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?"

Romans 3:3-4: "What if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar." Every man in the world can, and does, lie. But God never lies.

c. 2Peter 1:16-21: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our LORD Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the Excellent Glory, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. And this Voice which came from Heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount. We have also a More Sure WORD of Prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a Light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day Star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the SCRIPTURE is of any private interpretation. For the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

It takes a lifetime of studying God's WORD, and we will have an eternity of that, but eventually, gradually, God's people grow to the understanding He purposed. His interpretation is the one that lasts forever. All our private "little guesses", initially mused, are given over to His Truth, as revealed to us by His Spirit.

1Corinthians 2:10,12-14,16: "But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned. For who hath known the mind of the LORD, that He may instruct him? But we have the Mind of Christ."

And this "Mind of Christ" is His WORD. If we know His WORD, then we know His Mind.

d. Psalm 119:86: "All Thy COMMANDMENTS are faithful."

Psalm 119:128: "Therefore I esteem all Thy PRECEPTS concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." His WORD is "faithful" and "right"-- infallible.

Next Part 6. The Treatment of the WORD