IT was the most vital of all questions that the lawyer asked the Saviour: “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Saviour’s answer was adapted to the man’s own needs, but the fact that it is recorded in Scripture indicates that it was designed to teach a general principle as to how all succeeding generations should answer such questions. The Lord would have us not only know the answers to particular questions but also how to find a correct answer to other questions which may arise.
Christ certainly had more than sufficient authority to answer the lawyer’s question Himself in words of His own choosing. Instead He directed the lawyer to the revelation from God which was already in his hands — the Old Testament Scriptures — asking him, “What is written in the law? How readest thou?” (Luke 10:26). In these Scriptures, which had already pointed so many others of his people in a right direction, the lawyer, and every other inquirer, could find an absolutely authoritative answer to his question, for “all Scripture is inspired of God”. That is, it was from beginning to end breathed out by God and so is without error of any kind. It is, and always will be, perfectly reliable, the proper source for answering all questions which have a religious bearing.
Man’s thoughts on religion are inevitably polluted by sin; they are no safe guide to eternal life, nor can they give safe light on any other religious matter. No one can be relied on in this whole area unless he is faithfully reflecting the teaching of Scripture. The teachings of every preacher and writer are to be examined under the spotlight indicated by the question, “What saith the Scriptures?” More than ever, in this age of almost overwhelming religious error, the attitude of the Bereans is needed — they “searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so”, even when the preacher was someone as eminent as the Apostle Paul.
What is more, the Scriptures are a sufficient revelation of all we need to
know in religion. We may not obtain an answer for every question we might want to ask, but we can be sure that every question to which we genuinely need an answer will indeed find its solution between the covers of the Bible. This is summed up by The Westminster Confession of Faith (1:6): “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture; unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men”.
The Saviour was pointing the lawyer to the proper source of religious knowledge, and the lawyer did indeed produce an answer from the Old Testament: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind,” but it was not an answer which could point him to eternal life, for he was a fallen sinner who could not love God perfectly. Perfection was once the way to eternal life, but that way became impassable when Adam fell, and all mankind with him. And when the cherubim were placed at the east of the garden of Eden “and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life”, it was demonstrated clearly that that way was closed for ever.
The lawyer had stated the fundamental precept of the covenant of works, but he did not face the fact that this is now a broken covenant. He did not know his own heart. He could not love his neighbour as himself, far less love his Maker with all his heart, soul, strength and mind. Was it to teach him how far short he came in loving his neighbour that Christ told him about the Good Samaritan? He was told to go and do likewise. Perhaps if he took the Saviour’s teaching seriously and tried to imitate the Good Samaritan he found out how far he really was from earning eternal life by his own exertions. Unless man can attain to this standard of perfection he can never earn salvation — and that fact has put salvation altogether out of the reach of man ever since Adam first sinned. There is an unwillingness in the heart of every unconverted sinner to accept this truth. While no one surely is so rash as to deny absolutely that he is a sinner, who will accept that he is so great a sinner that he cannot possibly save himself? Sinners may accept that they need to try rather harder than they do at present, but they want to argue that it is perfectly possible to do better, and to live so much better that they can attain to salvation in their own strength.
For sinners to argue in this way is to deny the extent of their natural corruption. Man is so corrupt as to be totally depraved — which does not mean that he is as corrupt as he could possibly be, but that every part of his being is thoroughly corrupted by sin. What he needs is to have the bright
light of God’s Word shine into the darkness of his soul and show him how irretrievable his situation is unless God Himself will act. And he needs the Holy Spirit to make him willing to accept that truth.
Suppose then that the question is asked, Is there a way back to God? The answer is again to be found by listening to the Saviour’s questions: “What is written in the law? How readest thou?” The lawyer could have easily found out even in the Old Testament Scriptures that there is such a way of return, through the Messiah who was to come in the fulness of time, of whom it was said, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities”. God’s revelation of His grace in the law had told of sacrifice, which pointed forward to the Sacrifice who was Jehovah’s equal, the Person who was even then speaking to the lawyer. And through these Scriptures Christ was even then calling to him, “Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else”.
How disastrous to turn away from Christ, for the Scriptures make it plain that there is no other way to eternal life! “Neither is there salvation in any other,” declared Peter in words which were themselves to become part of Scripture, “for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”. No other saviour has been revealed, and no other saviour ever will be revealed, but the One whose name Jesus means Saviour. This uniqueness of Christ Jesus as saviour is one of the main truths which this generation has rebelled against. Modern man is too broad-minded to refuse Jesus a place as an important religious figure; Christianity must be allowed its position as one of the more important of world religions. But only if it will give up its claim to uniqueness. Otherwise it is to be ignored, for no religion in this enlightened age is to be allowed to claim that it has any unique light to shed on man’s condition. Yet it remains true in 1996, and it ever will, that the Word of God is a lamp, and the only lamp, which will guide us out of nature’s darkness and set us on the way to eternal life. And while the whole multi-faith movement stands condemned for pointing a light in almost every direction but the right one, true Christianity unashamedly claims to be unique, for it stands alone in giving reliable directions as to how a sinner may attain eternal life.
Yet, though man cannot reach the standard which God has set in His law, that law remains the rule for his conduct. If our question is, How are we to live out our lives in this world? the answer must again be, “What is written in the law? How readest thou?” Even today all of the Ten Commandments still have absolute authority — God’s authority — over both believers and unbelievers. We should remember that when the moral law was given at Mount Sinai no new precepts were included, not even the Fourth
Commandment — beginning as it does with word Remember. And the arrangements for gathering manna involved the Sabbath, for no manna was to be gathered on that one day of the week. These arrangements were put in place before ever Israel reached Mount Sinai, for all ten commandments were written in the heart of man at Creation. The commandments were given by God in His goodness and wisdom, for the Creator knew the needs of that race which He brought into existence. He knew that mankind needed direction for the time to be set apart to worship Him, as well as needing to be guided on, for instance, the subjects of honesty and the sanctity of life.
One imagines that everyone wishes the protection of the Sixth, Eighth and Ninth Commandments, but so many, including the bulk of opinion-formers in the media, feel that the Seventh Commandment may be safely disregarded, as long as what they believe to be appropriate precautions are taken. But the disastrous consequences are there for all to see in the spread of particular diseases and in marriage breakdown.
Had someone wakened up in 1995 after being asleep for, say, 150 years he would still expect the Churches, and leading figures within the Churches, to accept without question the permanent relevance of the moral law. One can imagine his surprise to read about the leader of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Bishop Holloway of Edinburgh, declaring that the Bible’s moral code must be rewritten in every generation. In a lecture given recently in Glasgow the bishop argued that, as rational creatures seeking moral well-being, people were forced to find appropriate rules for their own culture that reflected their needs, knowledge and understanding. He accepted, somewhat patronisingly, that “the Bible is still a useful guide” but at the same time he claimed that “we have to recognise it as a creature of its time” and that “this is particularly true of its moral systems”.
This again is to refuse the light which God has given, and that refusal is at the root of all of the heresy that threatens to swamp the whole of the Christian Church at the end of the twentieth century. God has given a coherent and reliable revelation of His will for mankind, a revelation which is absolutely without error of any kind, and He has done so in a way which is valid for all time and for all cultures.
It may at first sight seem surprising that the Roman Catholic spokesman expressed substantial agreement with Bishop Holloway. But he explained that the Roman Catholic Church had always held that morality was a combination of Scripture and tradition. Rome has always wanted another light besides the clear light of Scripture, but in doing so she ignores the warning, “If . . . the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Rome has never given the Bible its due authority. She has
consistently set herself above the Bible, but as surely as the Bible is the one source of knowledge about the way of salvation, it is the one source of knowledge about moral questions. No man or organisation dare put human tradition on a level with the Bible. If, like Rome, they do so, they ignore the Saviour’s questions, “What is written in the law? How readest thou?” He never gave that place to tradition. And it is remarkable how often he repreved the Jews for their traditions.
The Bible is indeed a useful guide to morals, but it is more. It is a perfectly reliable guide — not only for Israel 3500 years ago, but for every nation and tribe, today and right down to the end of time. It has unique light to shed on how we ought to live in this world. Every generation which ignores it does so at its peril. Churchmen argue against its abiding authority and relevance at their peril also, and if they continue to do so they will be condemned at Christ’s judgement seat as blind leaders of the blind. What a fearful responsibility lies on those who would turn away the eyes of an already dark generation from the one source of light, a light which has already brought multitudes to eternal blessedness! KDM