TAKING GOD AT HIS WORD
Why the Bible is worth knowing, trusting and
loving
By Kevin De Young
IVP. 138 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 783 591 220
The crucial battle for the trustworthiness of Scripture is ongoing and the future of the gospel depends on it.
The symptoms of decay in Bible belief are all around us for everyone to see, from Steve Chalke’s recent repudiation of the reliability of the Bible through to a number of lightweight Christian magazines which deal with urgent topics not through Scripture exposition but simply by interviewing a range of ‘Christians’ about what they think.This is usually a complete plethora of differing and competing ideas going under the disguise of ‘a balanced approach’ which leaves the reader directionless.
Explaining itself
In a series of eight wonderful expositions, Kevin De Young looks at what the Bible says about itself and gives a persuasive clarion call back to full commitment to the inerrancy, authority, sufficiency, clarity, necessity and finality of Scripture. Beginning with Psalm 119, which he sees as a love song about God’s Word (I have to say Chapter 1 did not read as well as the rest of the book. Did the publishers ask him to write an extra chapter in haste?), he unfolds all the classic texts on this subject from 2 Peter 1.16-21, Hebrews 1.1-4, 1 Corinthians 2.6-13 through to, of course, 2 Timothy 3.14-17 and some more.
De Young not only explains the positive self-references of Scripture but deals magnificently with a whole raft of objections from the inevitable ‘that’s just your interpretation of the text’ through to the ‘you can’t trust the Genesis account’, ‘inerrancy is a recent innovation’ and others.’ Each objection is answered convincingly and without complication. The book is accessible to the ordinary believer and well rooted in the works of those who have valiantly stood for Scripture in past years, with B.B. Warfield and J. I. Packer to the fore.
Christ’s view of Scripture
Commitment to Christ means commitment to Christ’s view of Scripture. Some people try to divide Christ and the Bible as if Jesus would distance himself from much of it today. But De Young shows brilliantly that ‘the only Jesus who stands above Scripture is the Jesus of our own invention’.
When our news editor was visiting Highfields Church in Cardiff recently, it was being commended from the pulpit. When we plugged it in our own congregation, I found afterwards there was a visitor from Kevin DeYoung’s church and they were much encouraged that their pastor’s book was being so well appreciated. I think this deserves to be a book of the month in our churches and if your congregation are not readers then use this book as a basis for a preaching series – right away!
