Pastoral Musings

It seems that one of the issues relating to Creation and inerrancy is that of the words of Jesus.

The question before us in this post is not whether or not Jesus was fallen (though it seems that some think that He was.), nor that Jesus was omniscient (And I believe that He was/is); but the question is, “Did Jesus speak truthfully and accurately in ALL that He said?”

Let’s remember that there is the idea that Jesus was subject to the same limitations as other men in His day. Some think that Jesus believed many of the same erroneous ideas about cosmology as others of His day. They think that Jesus could have indeed been mistaken in some of the things that He said, and among those things could be statements that seem to show Jesus believing that the Genesis Creation Account was an accurate historical narrative.

I will make a very simple argument here that declares that Jesus did not err in the things which He spoke, because Jesus spoke the very Words of God.

“And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”” (John 12:44–50, ESV)

Remember that God cannot lie. Neither can Jesus.

Jesus states that He is light come to dispel darkness.

Jesus states that His Words were commanded and given to Him by the Father.

If one decides to come to the Kenotic-Arian conclusion that Jesus emptied Himself of all Divine attributes and was thus subject to err as a man, one must recognize that Jesus’ words were the Word of God. Jesus’ words are the words by which man shall be judged.

It is easy to say that Jesus’ purpose was to give eternal life and that His words had that same goal. I definitely agree with that. Should one proceed to say that Jesus’ words were only related to eternal life and thus His accuracy only related to eternal life, then we shall greatly differ. Jesus in this passage does not differentiate between words relating to faith and practice and words relating to other issues. Jesus plainly and simply stated that He spoke with the authority of God and that His words was the Word of God.

Once we introduce error into Jesus’ words we have a problem. God cannot lie. God commanded Jesus to speak and Jesus spoke God’s Words. When error and untruths are introduced into the words of Jesus God has been made into a liar.

That is an unacceptable conclusion for one who professes Christianity.

God always speaks truly.

Jesus spoke the Words of God.

Jesus always spoke truly.

There is no escaping the matter.

Whatever one may think about the words of Jesus, make no mistake that they were right and true. To deny that is to deny the very truthfulness of God.