Answering Terrible Arguments, Part 1

In the nearly six years I’ve been writing this column, I have tried to address the most serious challenges to the Christian faith, while also presenting the best arguments in favor of that faith. At the same time, I recognize that Christians are often confronted with less formal attacks on their faith in conversations and on websites. While these arguments are typically weak, erroneous, or illogical, they can still leave a Christian dazed and confused, searching for an appropriate response. Therefore, we will devote the next few columns to responding to these attacks.

Argument #1: Jesus never said …

This claim is then followed by one of several qualifiers, such as:

Jesus never said He was God.

Jesus never said anything about same-sex marriages.

Jesus never claimed to be born of a virgin.

The first claim is simply false. Here are three statements by Jesus asserting His deity:

Again, the high priest was questioning Him, and said to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”[1] (Mark 14:61-62)

[Jesus answered them] “The Father and I are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus replied to them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” (John 10:30-33)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.”[2] (John 14:6-9)

The biblical explanation for Jesus’s statements in John 10 and John 14 is the Christian doctrine of the Trinity: God exists as one Being in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Passages which refer to the Trinity include Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”[3] When Jesus said, “the Father and I are one,” He was indicating that the Father and the Son (and the Spirit) share the same essence, while they are distinct persons.

The second claim is an example of an argument from silence, assuming that, since Jesus never directly addressed the issue of same-sex marriage, either He was unaware of it, or He must have approved of it. However, while addressing the question of divorce, in Matthew 19:4-6, Jesus said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”

Clearly, Jesus was saying that, from the beginning, God created humans with two genders and ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman. Therefore, same-sex marriage is ruled out.

The second and third claims are also examples of what I call the red-letter fallacy. That is, any statement made by Jesus Himself (indicated by red letters in many Bibles) is considered authoritative, and we should accept it as true. Other claims in the Bible, however, such as those made by the apostles, are just opinions and are, therefore, fallible. The problem here is ignoring the biblical doctrines of the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, indicated in numerous biblical passages.

By inspiration, we mean “the supernatural influence exerted by the Holy Spirit upon prophets and apostles which enabled them to communicate without error or omission those truths, received through revelation or otherwise, which God deemed necessary for our salvation and service.”[4]

Notice the link, in this definition, between inspiration and inerrancy. Jack Cottrell cites a statement of faith which expands on this connection:       “All Scripture, as first written by the authors themselves, was produced under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Scripture is therefore the Word of God in written form and is infallible and inerrant in its entirety when taken in the original meaning of its authors.”[5] In this context, infallible means “incapable of error” and inerrant means “totally free of error.”

Here is what Jesus told His disciples about the Holy Spirit's inspiration:

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore, I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. (John 16:13-15)

Again, Jesus said:

But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speaks, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. (Matthew 10:19-20)

The Apostle Peter obviously listened closely to Jesus, for he later said, “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus” (Acts 1:16).

In a longer passage, Peter asserted:

For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

 So, we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:16-21)

Later, in the same epistle, Peter states that the words of the apostles are the words of Jesus: “This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles” (2 Peter 3:1-2).

The Apostle Paul also offered important statements concerning the inspiration of Scripture. Among these are 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,” and 1 Thessalonians 2:13, “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”

Notice that Paul declares that “all Scripture is inspired,” not just the words of Jesus. Also, he asserts that the apostles spoke “the word of God,” not simply the word of men, which is precisely why the Word has the power to transform those who believe in Jesus.

A key Pauline passage for our argument is 1 Corinthians 7. Here, Paul spends an entire chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians addressing issues concerning marriage. What is especially significant in this discussion is that Paul goes back and forth between his “opinion” and the Lord’s divine revelation. For example, in verse 6, Paul says, “Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.” Later, he adds, “To the unmarried and the widows I say …” (verse 8). However, in verse 10, Paul adds, “To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord) …” Then, two verses later, Paul says, “To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) …”

In verse 25, Paul begins a lengthy section of teaching for the unmarried and the widowed, saying, “Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.” More than a few commentators have taken this passage as proof that the words of Jesus are inspired and authoritative, but the words of the apostles are, at best, “trustworthy.”

However, Paul closes this chapter with these words: “A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. Yet in my judgment, she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God” (vv 39-40). Notice, first, that Paul’s statement comports with Jesus’s teaching on marriage in Matthew 19 and 22. Second, Paul states the obvious, that he has the Spirit of God. In other words, his teachings are Holy Spirit-inspired, even when they aren’t direct revelation from the Lord!

The point of these doctrines, and the Scriptures which support them, is that the writings and statements of the biblical writers, both Old and New Testament, are the authoritative word of God. On issues where Jesus has not spoken directly, the words of His inspired apostles are, effectively, His words.

While Jesus never directly addressed the issue of same-sex marriages, both Old and New Testament writers condemn same-sex relationships.[6] Likewise, while there is no record of Jesus ever directly addressing the question of His virgin birth, Holy Spirit-inspired biblical writers, both Old and New Testament, certainly did, as I have explained in three previous columns.[7]

To Be Continued