Lesson One: Inerrancy of Scripture
Pastor Josh Combs
“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17
The night that Jesus was betrayed, He prayed for me. He prayed for you. He prayed “for those who will believe in me through their [the apostles’] word,” (John 17:20). He prayed for unity in the church. He prayed that we would see His glory. He prayed that we would love the Father and each other. He prayed that the heavenly Father would keep us from the evil one. He prayed that God would sanctify us, setting us apart for His holy purpose and service.
Jesus prays, simultaneously teaching us, that the cleansing (sanctification) process would happen through truth. In John 8:32, Jesus is confronting the religious leaders and says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The truth is what purifies our hearts and sets us free from the flesh, releasing the powerful clutches of sin that enslaves us. But what is the truth? In Jesus’ High-Priestly prayer in John chapter 17, He concretely states, “Your word is truth.”
Truth is a major theme in the Gospel of John. Only hours after the High Priestly prayer, Jesus tells Pilot, “I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37). But what Jesus states is profoundly important. Jesus has both called Himself truth (John 14:6) and referred to God’s Word as truth. What Jesus means is crucial for every believer to understand. Jesus declares the unchanging reality that God’s Word, the Scripture, is Truth.
It is through the truth of the Bible that we understand God’s infinitely perfect glory, the depth of our sin, and see the redemptive plan of God unfolding and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The truth not only helps us see the glorious nature and plan of God but truly leads us to love Jesus, the Truth, more. This is so simple and yet so profound. When we read the Scripture, we discover the unchanging truth of God who is Jesus, who sets us free from sin and “cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We must daily commit to being in the Truth (Scripture) so that we may know the Truth (Jesus, our Savior).