ATTITUDES TOWARD THE BIBLE

A great amount of misunderstanding, confusion, and disunity, both within and without the church, stems from improper attitudes toward the Scriptures. A few examples of each might be helpful.

REGARDING CHRISTIANS:

The need has never been greater than the present for members of the Lord's church to completely BELIEVE IN AND RELY UPON the inspired word to regulate their lives. If God is glorified, it must be through us, His children (1 Cor. 6:19,20), and His word reveals His mind and will to us. Too many times we reason (?) concerning our lives and activities about as follows: (1) "What I'm doing is no worse than others are doing." (2) "We want to be popular." (3) "Other congregations are engaged in it," or (4) "Bro. So-and-So says he thinks it is all right!" BUT WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? Or, have we come to the place that we don't much care what it says? We can always get some good friend to agree with us, but that doesn't make up for an improper and unhealthy attitude toward the Bible. We have always pointed out to others the danger of simply disregarding the Bible when a desired practice fails to harmonize with Bible teaching.

Now, the lesson needs to be learned by us. It is not enough to profess to believe what the Bible teaches about doing good "unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10), which, to be sure, is our individual Christian duty--BUT WE MUST BE DOING IT!

It is not enough to profess to believe what the New Testament teaches about "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" (Heb. 10:25) -- we, as CHRISTIANS, SIMPLY MUST NOT BE GUILTY OF THIS SIN. Our attitude toward the Bible many times makes the difference with regard to our being faithful or unfaithful in attendance.

It is not enough to profess faith in the New Testament admonition to "be not conformed to this world" (Rom. 12:2), but our attitude toward this teaching should cause us to comply with the rest of the same instruction: "BUT BE YE TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God."

REGARDING THOSE NOT CHRISTIANS:

1. Your attitude toward Christ and His word will cause you to believe in Him as both Lord and Saviour, if it is the proper attitude. Jesus says that faith in Him is a must. (Jno. 8:24; 3:16).

2. The proper attitude toward what He has taught will cause the believer to repent of past sins. (Lk. 13:3;Acts 2:38).

3. The good confession of faith in Christ is made only by those whose attitude toward the Word that teaches concerning the confession is as it should be. (Rom. 10: 9,10).

4. One's proper attitude toward the Scriptures will cause him, as a penitent believer, to be baptized into Christ. The attitude toward the Scriptures that will bring salvation is that which will cause one to comply with its teaching in order to have its promises. Baptism "washes away sins" (Acts 22:16), puts one who believes "into Christ" (Gal. 3:27), and gives "remission of sins." (Acts 2:38).

WHAT IS YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD THE NEW TESTAMENT?

By Carl Vernon in The Impression of April 27, 1958.

Return to the General Articles page

Home / Bible studies / Bible Survey / Special Studies / General Articles / Non-Bible Articles / Sermons / Sermon Outlines / Links / Questions and Answers / What Saith The Scriptures /Daily Devotional / Correspondence Courses / What is the Church of Christ / Book: Christian Growth / Website Policy / E-mail / About Me /