Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness
    A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness
    A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness
    Ebook417 pages5 hours

    A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness

    By John Piper

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    God has provided a way for all people, not just scholars, to know that the Bible is the Word of God. John Piper has devoted his life to showing us that the glory of God is object of the soul's happiness. Now, his burden in this book is to demonstrate that this same glory is the ground of the mind's certainty.
    God's peculiar glory shines through his Word. The Spirit of God enlightens the eyes of our hearts. And in one self-authenticating sight, our minds are sure and our hearts are satisfied. Justified certainty and solid joy meet in the peculiar glory of God.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossway Books
    Release dateMar 16, 2016
    ISBN9781433552663
    Author

    John Piper

     John Piper is founder and lead teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He served for thirty-three years as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is the author of more than fifty books, including Desiring God; Don’t Waste Your Life; and Providence. 

    Read more from John Piper

    Related to A Peculiar Glory

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • UNLIMITED

      Christmas Day, Saturday, December 25

      Oct 15, 2021

      For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 (KJV) WHEN MY THIRTEEN-Y

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      WHAT EXACTLY IS A believer?

      Oct 30, 2020

      WHAT EXACTLY IS A believer?
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Lost Language of Lament

      Jul 30, 2021

      The Lost Language of Lament
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A New Day Of Pentecost

      Jul 21, 2023

      A New Day Of Pentecost
      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Why Theology Matters

      Nov 22, 2024

      Why Theology Matters
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      ‘Curveball’: When Spiritual Skepticism Leads To Sturdier Faith

      May 2, 2023

      In his probing spiritual memoir, “Curveball: When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming,” Peter Enns describes a dark period. He realized his religious assumptions since his teenage years – that every word of the Bible was fact – needed a secon

      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Rooted In God’s Love

      Feb 10, 2023

      Rooted In God’s Love
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A New Day Of Pentecost Part VI

      May 19, 2023

      The scripture above records the final words of Jesus Christ to His disciples before He was taken up into a cloud. One of His last promises was that the Father would send the Holy Spirit, and the baptism of the Spirit would enable the disciples to acc

      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Theology: Why Do We Need It?

      Nov 27, 2020

      Theology: Why Do We Need It?
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Paradigm Shift

      May 10, 2024

      Paradigm Shift
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Why Do Many People STRUGGLE With A LACK OF FAITH?

      Feb 11, 2022

      The apostle Paul exhorts Christians to “walk by faith and not by sight” – 2 Corinthians 5:7. What we see here is a contrast between truth and perception—what we know and believe to be true and what we perceive to be true. This is where the Christian

      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The Editor

      Aug 19, 2019

      Thank you for your wonderfully illustrated Biblical series of articles that you regularly publish. I find that I can’t concentrate like I used to, and love the short, precise, and factual articles. I have learnt so much from reading them. I was fasci

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Bible Is Not Open To Personal Interpretation

      Sep 23, 2022

      What a beautiful scripture above – this is a solid motivation to meditate on God’s Word. Yet, believe it or not, there are some Christians who deem this Scripture to be an ‘arrogant’ or ‘self-righteous’ declaration. I am so grateful that I’ve had str

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      From the EDITOR

      Oct 27, 2023

      There are many accounts starting from Genesis going right through to the New Testament of people building memorials to honour what God had done for and through people. In biblical times, this often referred to a statue, structure, or built-up stones.

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      3 Points To Ponder On Being Righteous In 2024

      Dec 29, 2023

      I can’t believe that it is a new year already. As we take time to reflect on the previous year, we should ask ourselves: Have I made the right choices? Have I stayed true to my New Year’s resolutions? And what improvements can I make in 2024? As I po

      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Building A Biblical Worldview

      Nov 22, 2024

      Building A Biblical Worldview
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Peculiar Glory

    4/5

    19 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      First of all, I love John Piper.

      I'm afraid he's saying the same thing in all of his books. I don't recommend this to someone who has read at least one of Piper's book. Piper repeats the same thing over and over again in each chapter. I think, he should have finished it in 60 pages rather 200

      His paragraph on, grasping a new reality in our Life made me think deeper. However, I wouldn't be able to thump that as something to share with someone. It goes into mysticism. He did make good thoughts about people who do not have time to read Scholarly textbooks.

      Overall, he failed to establish what he intended to do.
      Not worth the $ and time,
      better watch his sermon.

    Book preview

    A Peculiar Glory - John Piper

    Thank you for downloading this Crossway book.

    Sign-up for the Crossway Newsletter for updates on special offers, new resources, and exciting global ministry initiatives:

    Crossway Newsletter

    Or, if you prefer, we would love to connect with you online:

    "A Peculiar Glory is not just another book defending the reliability of the Scriptures, although it does do that. It is a reminder that without the internal witness of the Spirit, no amount of evidences will ever lead to faith. And that witness works most directly as we read and understand Scripture itself—as it attests itself to us—particularly as we focus on Jesus and the gospel message. Part apologetics, part church history, part almost lyrical poetry, Piper’s book should inspire every reader back to the Bible, to its core and to the Jesus whom it reveals, who loves us beyond measure despite all that we are and do—more than enough reason for being his disciples."

    Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary

    Never has the church been in greater need of recognizing that Scripture is self-attesting. In this important and timely book, Piper shows what it means not only to conform our thinking but also to submit our worship and our lives as a whole to the self-establishing, self-validating truth and authority of the Bible and, in doing that, to the Christ of the Bible.

    Richard B. Gaffin Jr., Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology Emeritus, Westminster Theological Seminary

    "A Peculiar Glory is a solid theological and exegetical treatment of biblical authority, but much more. Besides the standard arguments, Piper has developed (with the help of Jonathan Edwards) a profoundly original yet biblical approach to the question. It raises the traditional arguments to an exponential level of cogency. Piper says that our most definitive persuasion comes from actually seeing the glory of God in his Word. Theologians have traditionally called this the ‘internal testimony of the Holy Spirit,’ but that theological label does little justice to the experience, the awareness of the glory of God as we meet Jesus in Scripture. That really happens. It is astonishing and powerful. And it explains the difference between an observer’s merely theoretical faith and a true disciple’s delighted embrace of Christ. This doctrine of Scripture is worthy of the overall emphasis of Piper’s writings, the ‘desire’ for God, ‘Christian hedonism,’ and the ‘dangerous duty of delight.’ Perhaps only Piper could have written this book, and I’m delighted that he has done so."

    John Frame, J. D. Trimble Chair of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando

    Piper points us to Scripture—its authority, its historical accuracy, its total truthfulness, and especially its beauty and power. The Scriptures are beautiful and powerful because they disclose to us, as the Spirit opens our hearts, the loveliness and glory of Jesus Christ. Here we find compelling arguments for the truthfulness of the Scriptures and profound meditations on the stunning glory of God. The book captures and expresses the truth of Peter’s words in John 6:68, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’

    Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

    The classic doctrine of Scripture’s self-attestation suffers when it is used as a short-cut method of scoring evidential points or winning an argument without doing any work. But it unfolds its wings and soars to the heavens when handled by somebody who shows that when we read the Bible, we are dealing with God himself in his own holy words. In this book, John Piper throws everything he’s got at the message of how God illuminates the mind and gives firm conviction to the heart through the Bible.

    Fred Sanders, Professor of Theology, Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University

    "It’s easy to take the Bible for granted. We know that it’s the Word of God, but do we really? We know which books belong to it and what distinguishes these texts from ordinary religious literature, right? Of course, we know why we trust Scripture and how to communicate that confidence to others, or do we? Rather than take for granted a high view of Scripture, A Peculiar Glory exposes another generation to the source, authority, reliability, and truthfulness of God’s written word. Dr. Piper has written another important, accessible, and wise account of the things that matter most."

    Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California; author, Calvin on the Christian Life

    There are few questions more important than ‘How do I know the Bible is God’s Word?’ And there are few people who could address it as well as John Piper. Drawing from the deep theological well of Jonathan Edwards and with a practical eye for the average believer in the pew, Piper helps us recover the foundational importance of a self-authenticating Bible. This book will revolutionize the way you think about God’s Word.

    Michael J. Kruger, President and Professor of New Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte; author, Canon Revisited

    In this spirited and tightly argued book, pastor-theologian John Piper seeks to ground our confidence in the Bible’s status as the Word of God by directing our attention to the ‘peculiar glory’ that is manifest through its message and across its pages: the glory of the ‘Lion-like majesty’ and the ‘Lamb-like meekness’ that radiates in the face of Jesus Christ. Here is a book on the authority and trustworthiness of Scripture that promises to strengthen our faith in the word of God and to expand our capacity for wonder before the glory of God.

    Scott R. Swain, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Academic Dean, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando

    With passion, clarity, a believing respect for Scripture, and a burning desire for God’s glory, John Piper has written a robust defense of the complete trustworthiness of Scripture, with debts to Jonathan Edwards and the Westminster Larger Catechism. The language of the book is simple and accessible, but the ideas are deep and its coverage extensive. Scholarship is worn lightly, and the pastoral concern informing the work is pervasively evident. Whether the reader is educationally sophisticated or unsophisticated, the argument is that the peculiar glory of God is on view for all to see, if God gives the grace to do so. I hope this work finds a wide readership.

    Graham A. Cole, Dean and Vice President of Education and Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

    John Piper has written a robust and pastoral defense of an orthodox doctrine of Scripture. Resisting any who would render well-grounded assurance of Scripture’s truthfulness the preserve of experts and academics, his emphasis upon the self-authenticating and life-transforming glory of God they bear is salutary and faith-affirming. We cannot properly regard Scripture without beholding its author. The greatest strength of Piper’s treatment lies precisely in the fact that his account of Scripture is so absorbed in the beauty of the one who inspired it.

    Alastair Roberts, blogger; participant, Mere Fidelity podcast

    "A Peculiar Glory should be quickly established as a modern classic on the Bible. Clearly and methodically laying out the case for why we can have absolute confidence in the Bible as God’s own word, it gives to faith both muscle and joy. The day John Owen persuaded me that the Christian Scriptures are self-authenticating was a glorious moment of liberation. I hope and expect that John Piper will bring that same liberation to many with this book."

    Michael Reeves, President, Union School of Theology; author, Delighting in the Trinity; The Unquenchable Flame; and Rejoicing in Christ

    A Peculiar Glory

    How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness

    John Piper

    A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness

    Copyright © 2016 by Desiring God Foundation

    Published by Crossway

    1300 Crescent Street

    Wheaton, Illinois 60187

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

    Cover design: Josh Dennis

    Cover image: Josh Dennis

    First printing 2016

    Printed in the United States of America

    Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    Scripture references marked NKJV are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

    All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

    Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-5263-2

    ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-5266-3

    PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-5264-9

    Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-5265-6

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Names: Piper, John, 1946–

    Title: A peculiar glory : how the Christian scriptures reveal their complete truthfulness / John Piper.

    Description: Wheaton : Crossway, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

    Identifiers: LCCN 2015039630 (print) | LCCN 2015038465(ebook) | ISBN 9781433552649 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433552656 (mobi) | ISBN 9781433552663 (epub) | ISBN 9781433552632 (hc)

    Subjects:  LCSH: Bible—Evidences, authority, etc.

    Classification: LCC BS480 (print) | LCC BS480 .P635 2016 (ebook) | DDC 220.1—dc23

    LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015039630

    Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

    2019-05-06 03:34:38 PM

    To Bethlehem College and Seminary

    Sacred Book. Sovereign God. Serious Joy.

    In God, whose word I praise,

    in the

    Lord

    , whose word I praise,

    in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.

    What can man do to me?

    P

    salm 56:10–11

    Contents

    Introduction

    Part 1

    A Place to Stand

    ". . . the

    Lord

    revealed himself by the word of the

    Lord

    "

    1  My Story: Held by the Bible

    Part 2

    What Books and Words Make Up the Christian Scriptures?

    ". . . from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah"

    2  Which Books Make Up the Old Testament?

    3  Which Books Make Up the New Testament?

    4  Do We Have the Very Words of the Biblical Authors?

    Part 3

    What Do the Christian Scriptures Claim for Themselves?

    ". . . words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit"

    5  The Old Testament

    6  Jesus’s Estimate of the Old Testament

    7  The Authority of the Apostles

    Part 4

    How Can We Know the Christian Scriptures Are True?

    ". . . by a sight of its glory"

    8  A Shared Concern with Jonathan Edwards

    9  What It Is Like to See the Glory of God

    10  Pondering Pascal’s Wager

    11  John Calvin and the Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit

    Part 5

    How Are the Christian Scriptures Confirmed by the Peculiar Glory of God?

    ". . . the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ"

    12  The Glory of God as the Scope of the World and the Word

    13  Majesty in Meekness: The Peculiar Glory in Jesus Christ

    14  In the Fulfillment of Prophecy

    15  In the Miracles of Jesus

    16  In the People the Word Creates

    17  The Place of Historical Reasoning

    Conclusion

    General Index

    Scripture Index

    Introduction

    Is the Bible true? I am not asking if there is truth in it, say, the way there is truth in Moby Dick, or Plato’s Republic, or The Lord of the Rings. Aspects of truth can be found virtually everywhere. What I am asking is this: Is the Bible completely true? All of it. Is it so trustworthy in all that it teaches that it can function as the test of all other claims to truth? This book is about how the Bible gives good grounds for the answer yes. The Bible is completely true.

    There is a story behind every book. That is certainly true here. This introduction is not that story; my story comes in chapter 1. But I think it will be helpful to signal immediately why glory figures so largely in this book. My seven decades of experience with the Bible have not been mainly a battle to hold on. They have been a blessing of being held on to, namely, by beauty—that is, by glory.

    I have stood in front of this window all these years, not to protect it from being broken, or because the owner of the chalet told me to, but because of the glory of the Alps on the other side. I am a captive of the glory of God revealed in Scripture. There are reasons deeper than my experience for focusing on the glory of God. But I cannot deny what I have seen and the power it has had.

    Vastly more important than one man’s experience is the reality itself. The glory of God is the ground of faith. It is a solid ground. It is objective, outside ourselves. It is the ground of faith in Christ and in the Christian Scriptures. Faith is not a heroic step through the door of the unknown; it is a humble, happy sight of God’s self-authenticating glory. Consider the following biblical examples of how the glory of God becomes the ground of knowledge. The fourth example is the focus of this book.

    The Heavens

    First, how are all human beings supposed to know that God exists and that he is powerful and beneficent and should be glorified and thanked? David, the king of Israel, answered in Psalm 19, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork (v. 1).

    But there are many people who do not see the glory of God when they look at the heavens. Nevertheless, the apostle Paul says that we should see it and that we are without excuse if we don’t, because

    what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. (Rom. 1:19–21)

    God has shown everyone the glory of his power and deity and beneficence. If we do not see God’s glory, we are still responsible to see it, treasure it as glorious, and give God thanks. If we don’t, we are without excuse.

    The Son

    Second, how did Jesus’s first followers know that he was the Messiah, the Son of the living God? One of those followers answered, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

    But there were others who looked at Jesus, saw his miracles, and heard his words but did not see divine glory. To such people Jesus said, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me? (John 14:9). He had shown them enough. They were responsible to see the glory—and to know him.

    The Gospel

    Third, how are people who hear the good news of the Christian gospel supposed to know that it is from God? The apostle Paul answered: by seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, that is, by seeing the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:4, 6).

    But many people hear the gospel of the glory of Christ and do not see divine glory. Not seeing the divine glory of Christ in the gospel is blameworthy. It is not an innocent blindness, but a culpable love of darkness. They are darkened in their understanding . . . due to their hardness of heart (Eph. 4:18). They are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved (2 Thess. 2:10). The gospel of the glory of Christ is enough. To hear it faithfully and fully presented is to be responsible to see divine glory.

    The Scriptures

    Fourth, how are we to know that the Christian Scriptures are the word of God? The argument of this book is that the answer to this question is the same as the answer to the three preceding questions. In and through the Scriptures we see the glory of God. What the apostles of Jesus saw face-to-face they impart to us through their words. That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).

    The glory that they saw in Christ, we can see through their words. The human words of Scripture are seen to be divine the way the human man Jesus was seen to be divine. Not all saw it. But the glory was there. And it is here, in the Scriptures.

    Three Sentences behind This Book

    This is not a new approach to the question of the truth of Scripture. In fact, one could understand this book as an extended meditation on three sentences.

    One of those sentences is from the Westminster Larger Catechism. Question 4 asks, How doth it appear that the scriptures are the word of God? One of the answers is: "The scriptures manifest themselves to be the word of God, by . . . the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God." This book is an effort to press into that answer as deeply as I can.

    A second sentence that gave rise to this book is from Jonathan Edwards. Edwards cared deeply about the Native Americans of New England in the 1740s. He wrestled with how they could have a well-grounded faith in the truth of Christianity if they were unable to follow complex historical arguments.

    Miserable is the condition of the Houssatunnuck Indians and others, who have lately manifested a desire to be instructed in Christianity, if they can come at no evidence of the truth of Christianity, sufficient to induce them to sell all for Christ, in any other way but this [path of historical reasoning].1

    His answer was found in 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, which we cited above. He put it like this:

    The mind ascends to the truth of the gospel but by one step, and that is its divine glory. . . . Unless men may come to a reasonable solid persuasion and conviction of the truth of the gospel, by the internal evidences of it, in the way that has been spoken, viz. by a sight of its glory; ’tis impossible that those who are illiterate, and unacquainted with history, should have any thorough and effectual conviction of it at all.2

    This book is an effort to apply Edwards’s concern and his reasoning to the whole of the Scriptures. Can we say, The mind ascends to the truth of the [Scriptures] but by one step, and that is its divine glory?

    The third sentence at the root of this book is Paul’s word from Romans 4: Abraham grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised (Rom. 4:20–21). Trusting God’s word glorifies God. Why is that true? It is true because trusting a person calls attention to the person’s trustworthiness. But that is true only if the trust is warranted. Groundless trust does not honor the person trusted. If you trust me with your money when you don’t know me or have any good reason, based on my character, to believe I won’t steal it, you are not showing me to be trustworthy; you are showing yourself to be a fool. Only warranted trust glorifies the one trusted.

    Which means that the task I have set myself in this book is to answer the question: What warrant—what good foundation—in the Christian Scriptures provides a well-grounded trust? What basis of belief in the Scriptures as the word of God will, in fact, honor God?

    The Glory of the God Who Speaks

    Another way to describe what I am aiming at is to distinguish the argument for our confidence in Scripture from the argument that simply says, We believe the Scriptures because God says they are his word, and God should be believed. My problem with this sentence is not that it is false but that it is ambiguous.

    There are false prophets who say, Thus says the Lord. Yet, I have not sent them, declares the Lord, but they are prophesying falsely in my name (Jer. 27:15). What this implies is that when God says, Thus says the Lord, we are obliged to believe it not merely because that’s what the word says, but because the glory of the speaker and what he says is manifestly divine. My argument is that the glory of God in and through the Scriptures is a real, objective, self-authenticating reality. Christian faith is not a leap in the dark. It is not a guess or a wager. God is not honored if he is chosen by the flip of a coin. A leap into the unknown is no honor to one who has made himself known.

    In the End We Know by Sight, Not Inference

    The argument of this book is that the final step of certainty concerning the Scriptures is the step of sight, not inference. The pathway that leads to sight may involve much empirical observation, and historical awareness, and rational thought (see chapter 17). But the end we are seeking is not a probable inference from historical reasoning but a full assurance that we have seen the glory of God. Thus, at the end of all human means, the simplest preliterate person and the most educated scholar come to a saving knowledge of the truth of Scripture in the same way: by a sight of its glory.

    Liberating and Devastating

    Of course, this is both liberating and devastating. It is liberating because it means the sweetness of well-grounded, God-honoring confidence in Scripture is not reserved for scholars but is available for all who have eyes to see.

    And it is devastating because no human being can see this glory without God’s help. This is not because we are helpless victims of blindness but because we are lovers of blindness. This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil (John 3:19). We are not chained in a dark cell, longing to see the sunshine of God’s glory. We love the cell, because sin and Satan have deceived us into seeing the drawings on the wall as the true glory and the source of greatest pleasure. Our prison cell of darkness is not the bondage of external constraint but of internal preference. We have exchanged the glory of God for images (Rom. 1:23). We love them. That is our blindness.

    What must happen is described by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:6. The God who created light in the beginning must shine into our dark cell to reveal himself. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The answer to our darkness is the shining of divine glory into our hearts by means of the light of knowledge—the knowledge mediated by God’s inspired Scripture. That is what this book is about.

    This does not mean that there is nothing we can do in our quest to see the self-authenticating glory of God in Scripture. Jesus gave the apostle Paul an impossible mission. He sent Paul to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:18). If it is hopeful for the apostle to move toward the blind, then it is hopeful for the blind to move toward the apostle. Blind or seeing, that is what I hope you will do with me in this book.

    The Peculiar Glory

    Thus the main burden of this book is parts 4 and 5 (chapters 8–17). In part 4, I probe into what really happens in our experience when we see the glory of God in Scripture; and I try to show how this authenticates the Scripture as God’s life-giving, infallible word. In part 5, I argue that the way the Scriptures convince us is by the revelation of a peculiar glory. In other words, the power of Scripture to warrant well-grounded trust is not by generic glory. Not, as it were, by mere dazzling. Not by simply boggling the mind with supernatural otherness. Rather, what we see as inescapably divine is a peculiar glory. And at the center of this peculiar glory is the utterly unique glory of Jesus Christ. This is the heart of the book.

    The peculiar glory of God, as he reveals it in the Scriptures, is the way his majesty is expressed through his meekness. I call this a paradoxical juxtaposition of seemingly opposite traits. Jonathan Edwards called it an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies. This pattern of God’s self-revelation is his lion-like majesty together with his lamb-like meekness. God magnifies his greatness by making himself the supreme treasure of our hearts, even at great cost to himself (Rom. 8:32), and so serving us in the very act of exalting his glory. This peculiar brightness shines through the whole Bible and comes to its most beautiful radiance in the person and work of Jesus Christ, dying and rising for sinners.

    I will argue that there is in every human being a knowledge of this God—this glory. There is a built-in template that is shaped for this peculiar communication of God’s glory. When God opens our eyes (2 Cor. 4:6) and grants us the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 2:25), through the Scriptures (1 Sam. 3:21), we know that we have met ultimate reality.

    By the instrument of the Scriptures, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, God cuts away the corrosion from the template of his glory. Miraculously we are thus conformed to the peculiar shape of God’s glory. Where we saw only foolishness before, now we see the glory of majesty in meekness, and strength in suffering, and the wealth of God’s glory in the depth of his giving—that is, in the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

    Preliminary Questions

    Before we direct our full attention to the question of how we know that the Christian Scriptures are the word of God, we must ask: What specific Scriptures are we talking about? Are we talking about the Apocrypha that is contained in the Roman Catholic Bible? Which books actually are parts of the Christian Bible? And what about the handwritten transmission of the Bible during three thousand years until the printing press was invented in 1450? Do we actually have the original words that the authors wrote? Those are the questions we deal with in part 2.

    Closer to the heart of the matter, but still preliminary, is the question, What do the Scriptures claim for themselves? This question is preliminary because my argument is not that we believe the Scriptures because they claim to be God’s word. But it is closer to the heart of the matter, because these claims are, in fact, essential threads in the fabric of the glory-revealing meaning of Scripture. Therefore, they are part of the panorama of glory that gives a well-grounded foundation to our confidence that the Scriptures are the totally true and infallible word of God. This is the focus of part 3.

    Not a Masterpiece, but a Window

    Part 1 is the story of my life with the Bible, from my childhood to the present. It has at least two purposes. One is to put all my cards on the table so that you know exactly where I stand as I try to deal honestly with the Bible. The other purpose is to draw attention to the way the Bible does its work in a person’s life. I point out that I did not simply hold a view of the Bible for seven decades. I was held by a view through the Bible.

    As I said at the beginning, the Bible has not been for me like a masterpiece hanging on the wall of an Alpine chalet but rather like a window in the wall of the chalet, with the Alps on the other side. In other words, I have been a Christian all these years not because I had the courage to hold on to an embattled view of Scripture, but because I have been held happily captive by the beauty of God and his ways that I see through the Scriptures.

    If your heart says, How can this be? my answer is, Come and see.

    1 Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, vol. 2, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, ed. John Smith (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957), 304.

    2 Ibid., 299, 303.

    Part 1

    A Place to Stand

    . . . the Lord revealed himself by the word of the Lord

    Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

    Jude 24–25

    1

    My Story: Held by the Bible

    Everyone stands somewhere, even if we sometimes don’t know where we stand. This is true geographically and theologically. You might be blindfolded, and driven around town in a car for an hour, and then let out. You would be standing somewhere but may not know where.

    I did this with my wife on her fortieth birthday so she would not know where I was taking her. In her case, she is simply too savvy in the city and could tell by sounds

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1