Oh no, not another textbook! Continuing on the topic of Scripture's authority Peter Jensen has a good point for evangelicals to remember. Often we think of the Bible as a textbook written about us for us that a better life or relationship might come out for us in the end; rather than as God's gift revealing his promises, Person, and truth for his glory and our good in his glory.
Yes, the Bible is for us from God. And, yes, following God's will and way as it is revealed in Scripture does help the repentant believer live a better (more godly) life. However, the Bible is for us and guides us to the good life because it takes us to God, and then to us. The Bible is about God, and it is about us and for us precisely because it is about God. God 's gift of himself in Christ and the Spirit is analogous here. God gave himself for us and to us in order to redeem and sanctify us, precisely because our redemption and sanctification are about himself. God wants us to know him and his good life for us.
Jensen puts it like this. "In its (the Bible) pages we have the self-revelation of God. Without doubt, the Bible teaches us about God. It has a key didactic function: if we are to respond to God in the area of truth, we need to be instructed in the truth. But we also need to do justice to its covenantal nature, its function of finding us and holding us for God through its promises. the promissory nature of Scripture means that it gives us information about the plans and purposes of God. The Bible is God's many-sided provision for his covenant people. The Psalms and Proverbs of the Bible, its prophetic laments, its promises and covenants, its narratives - these and its other literary forms serve to sustain and direct obedient faith."
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