Ethical teachings are guidelines that tell people how to live, like the Ten Commandments. As important as these are in Christianity, the Christian faith is not a belief system based on ethical teachings only. Nor is it based primarily on ethical teachings. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t obey the Ten Commandments, but it does mean we need to understand that the purpose of God’s law involves more than telling us how to live. As we have said, one of the pillar’s of Christianity supports “ethical teachings that [1] mirror God’s character and that [2] contrast to man’s sinful nature as well as the choice of every human being to follow his or her own way rather than God’s.
Jesus Christ, God in the Flesh
All religions have ethical teachings, but two characteristics of the Christian faith set it apart from other religions.
- First, it is a belief system that rests on God’s activity in history, and
- second, it has the Person of Jesus Christ as its central focus.
Who Jesus was and is, and what He did—these combined elements placed against the backdrop of God’s working in history—form the linchpin—the most important part—of Christianity. In other words, without these elements, Christianity wouldn’t exist. The Bible is vitally important as well.
The Bible, God’s Revelation of Truth
Sometimes a person might say something like this. “The Bible is not primarily a book of science, history, psychology, philosophy, or moral teachings, but a book of faith.” The person more than likely means that we look to the Bible to learn the truth about God—and this is true. Even so, there are a few problems with this statement.
- Sometimes we learn the truth about God from historical events recorded in the Bible. For example, Exodus 1–14 tells us about Israel’s enslavement in Egypt and God’s using Moses to bring the people out of slavery. These are historical events, and the Bible accurately records them. The historical time period covered in the biblical record represents thousands of years, so we’re talking about a great many events.
- Also, the Bible contains statements that relate to science. In Isaiah 40:22, Isaiah wrote this about God.
God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
Remarkably, the inspired prophet referred to the earth as a circle over 700 years before Christ was born. Carol Brooks writes,
Although Aristotle provided observational evidence for the spherical Earth around 330 BC, most pre-Socratic philosophers, including Leucippus (c. 440 BC) and Democritus (c. 460-370 BC) believed in a flat earth. However, by the time of Christopher Columbus he, and most other educated people of their time, knew that the earth was round. In fact, the Greek mathematician Eratostenes accurately calculated the earth’s circumference in the third century before Christ.
- Proverbs 17:22 says, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” This is a very insightful observation touching on both science (biology) and psychology (human emotions and behavior).
- The Bible is a book with wonderful information about human relationships as well. Here are two examples. Proverbs 27:14 says, “If one blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse to him.” Verse 17 of the same chapter declares, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
These are just four examples. We need to keep in mind that whenever and wherever the words of God’s revelation in the Bible speak to history, psychology, philosophy, science, or any other field of knowledge or study, it speaks accurately and reliably. The reason is because of what the Bible is.
The Bible is a written record of truth God has revealed about Himself, the world, humanity, sin, life, death, eternity, and many other things.
We should not think of the God’s Word, therefore, as a book of faith, but as a book of divinely revealed truth. Of course, faith is important because we are wise to respond to God’s revelation by believing it and by acting accordingly (see Titus 1:2).
We shouldn’t think of the Bible as a book of faith, but as a book of divinely revealed truth.
This is not to say that we don’t take into account the various literary forms used in Scripture. Metaphors are used and should be understood in their context. Poetry conveys meaning in ways prose does not. Often the Bible speaks in generalities and not with scientific precision (see Luke 13:19; see the article titled “Roofs in First Century Palestine”). We should take all these things into account when interpreting the Bible, knowing they do not negate or diminish the trustworthiness of anything the Scriptures say. Here is an excellent article highlighting 17 common mistakes people make when interpreting Scripture.
God in History
Having said all of this, we should note the uniqueness of Christianity with regard to history. When we say the Bible is a Book of God’s revealed truth about Himself, we are not saying that we can go to the Scriptures and read descriptions God gave about Himself; the Lord did not reveal Himself in a series of descriptive essays. He unveiled Himself in history, in the context of interactions with real people at specific times and in specific places. Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Peter, James, John, and Paul are but a few of the people with whom God interacted.
The Isaiah Scroll, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, dates from the second century BC and contains nearly all of the Old Testament book of Isaiah.
The Bible is a trustworthy record of such interactions, and in this sense it is a history book. This is one reason the Israelites were repeatedly commanded to remember God’s acts of deliverance and provision (see Ex. 13:3; Deut. 16:1-3; Josh. 4:1-9 as three examples).
God’s revelation of Himself climaxed with the arrival and ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ, on earth. Jesus was the ultimate in divine revelation (see Heb. 1:1-4). As had been the case before, in God’s Son, divine revelation occurred in specific places during a window of time in history. After Jesus returned to heaven, God continued to work in peoples’ lives through the Holy Spirit. This, too, He did in history.
So we cannot divorce Christianity from history or vice versa. And today, God continues to reveal Himself—through His Word, His Spirit, His church, and His committed followers. Today we are privileged to see His story continue to unfold—even though the window of time for the formation of God’s written revelation, the Bible, is closed.
Copyright © 2015 B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
top image: Carl Heinrich Bloch, Woman at the Well
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations in this article are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.