J. Grant Swank, Jr.


What did Jesus believe about Scripture?


He believed it to be inerrant--that is, without error. Therefore, Jesus would not agree with today's emergent church fad that holds to no "objective truths." That is the two-some used by emergent church false prophet Brian McLaren when he says that loving Jesus alone is okay to being a religious person.


Forget the biblical absolutes, he proclaims They don’t really count for anything. One can even bring under the Jesus tent every other world religionist for anything goes when you’re in McLaren’s blowing-in-the-winds mindset.


In other words, McLaren discards the exclusivity of Scripture as God's infallible Word in favor of McLaren’s situation ethics and subsequent universalism, the latter concluding all souls are bound for eternal bliss no matter what.


McLaren cavalierly questions the Bible. It’s a willy-nilly kind of feeling for him. Because of that he discards God’s Word blithely. So do his happy-time adherents who enjoy the loose fitting emergent church song and dance.


Not like unto the emergent church heresies, Jesus never questioned the divine inspiration or accuracy of Scripture.


On the Road to Emmaus, Jesus informed two travelers about Himself according to the Old Testament record. He took those scrolls’ details historically seriously. He related them to His own persona.


Further, Jesus warned in Scripture more about hell than providing detail about heaven. Hell is not really considered a matter that matters to emergent church larks.


In addition, Jesus never spoke of an “intermediate state.” Jesus referred only to heaven and hell as the options for souls upon death. Some emergent folk say there is the mysterious in-between-state after the last breath.


Jesus accepted the historicity of Old Testament detail. For instance, Jesus accepted the actual reality of Abel’s existence. Further, He accepted without suspicion Noah and the flood as having existed. He never questioned the existence of Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Lot, Jonah, Daniel, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Emergent know-it-alls have trouble with some of the aforementioned.


Jesus accepted the fact that Moses wrote the books of law. Most emergents don’t really care one way or another about Moses or the law.


Jesus stated that Scripture was penned by mortals inspired by God. In other words, the Bible is not a man-made document in which humans scratched a few myths, mistakes and mayhems. The Bible is God’s perfect communication. God being God can communicate perfectly. Note Matthew 19:4, 5; 22:31, 32, 43; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37.


Jesus castigated those who remained ignorant of the Divine Word. Some emergent enthusiasts state that the more one researches the Bible, the more God fades away and away and away. Note Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:24.


Jesus warned against slicing and dicing Scripture. Emergents have large scissors by which to cut out huge passages that are distasteful or nasty to their definitions. Jesus however taught that one accepted by faith the entire Word of God as is, not adding to or subtracting from. Note Matthew 5:17; 15:1–9; 22:29; (cf. 5:43, 44); Mark. 7:1–12.


Jesus lived out Old Testament prophecies regarding Himself. In other words, Jesus personified the accuracy of Scripture. One cannot go further than that—living out via one’s own bodily existence the eternal truth of holy writ.


First and last, Jesus Himself IS the Word. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”


Is Jesus the Word errant? Is Jesus the Word prone to mistake? Is Jesus the Word riddled with suspicion? No. Jesus is the perfect image of God. He is the incarnation of deity.


Yet emergent gurus as Brian McLaren want to toss out Scripture in favor of a love hug with Jesus alone. That cannot be done without inviting divine wrath. One cannot have Jesus without Scripture for Jesus is the Word in flesh and bones.


How clever of Satan to fool some in tagging McLaren as the new religious Pied Piper. The fact is that the emergent heresy is nothing other than the old-line theological liberalism that has been around for centuries.


Read YES, YOU CAN BELIEVE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD at http://www.michnews.com/J_Grant_Swank_Jr/jgs021010.shtml


ADDENDUM: JESUS THE WORD AS GOD


Jesus calls Himself God


Matthew 12:8
For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.


Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.


Mark 2:5-12
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?" And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, "Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee'; or to say, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?' But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) "I say unto thee, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.'" And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw it on this fashion.'


John 5:17-18
But Jesus answered them, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.


John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily I say unto you, 'Before Abraham was, I am'." [compare with Exodus 3:14 - And God said unto Moses, "I AM THAT I AM," and he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 'I AM hath sent me unto you.'"]


John 10:30-33; 36-39
[Jesus said,] "I and my Father are one." Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?" The Jews answered him, saying, "For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." [Jesus said,] "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, 'Thou blasphemest'; because I said, 'I am the Son of God?' If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand...


John 13:13-14
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.


Revelation 1:8
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," saith the Lord, "which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."


Jesus is called God by others or by the Bible


Isaiah 9:6
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, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.


Matthew 1:23
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, "God with us".


John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.


John 20:26-29
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be unto you." Then saith he to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." And Thomas answered and said unto him, "My Lord and my God." Jesus saith unto him, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."


John 21:17
[Peter said to Jesus], "Lord, thou knowest all things."


Acts 20:28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.


Romans 9:5
Of [the Israelites] as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.


Revelation 17:14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.


Colossians 2:9
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.


All things created through Jesus (and thus He existed before everything)


John 1:1-5,9-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.


Colossians 1:12-20
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.


Hebrews 1:1-8
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, 'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?' And again, 'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?' And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, 'And let all the angels of God worship him.' And of the angels he saith, 'Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.' But unto the Son he saith, 'Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.'