“In short, the prophetic Word is the Word of God. More precisely, the words of Scripture are the product of the Holy Spirit. And herein lies the critical point. Scripture is to be trusted because of its Author. To speak of the Word of God is to speak of the Spirit’s product, and the Spirit of truth operates in and with this Word. What makes Scripture powerful, or “living and active”, is that the words are God’s very own.”

Both confidence and contentment have eluded many of us. Feet firmly planted in mid-air, we drift from one thought to another and one opinion to another, persuaded by the rhetoric of the speaker’s voice that has most recently stirred our emotions and captured our interest. But any peace, resolve and assurance flee with heartless cruetly, the moment a new crisis faces us or a new argument compels us.

Are we left in such a miserable state? Can we do no better in this life than to float, flounder, and flit?

In our last column, we contemplated the uniqueness of the Bible. Leading up to this assertion to the Bible’s uniqueness, we asked a series of questions. We then argued that because God has spoken, we have a wholly reliable Bible worthy of our unswerving trust.

But just how much confidence should we put in it? After all, the Bible is a human book written by human authors, is it not? Fair questions to which there are strong, God-given, peace-filling answers. Let’s see what God himself says.

In his final New Testament letter, the Apostle Peter warns the first century church of the dangers of false teaching and exhorts them to remain firmly established in the truth of the gospel. The stakes are high. Peter knows not only the blinding persuasion of false teaching, but is also conscious that lives are shaped and ultimate destinies determined by what is believed. Peter’s nagging concern is that the church get its nagging questions answered with the truth.

Read carefully his words in 2 Peter 1,

¹² Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. ¹³ I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, ¹⁴ since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. ¹⁵ And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷ For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” ¹⁸ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. ¹⁹ And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, ²⁰ knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. ²¹ For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.[2]

After Jesus’ resurrection and just before his departure from earth, Peter found himself in a one-on-one encounter with the Master Teacher (John 21:15-19). Having publicly denied his association with the Lord three times on the night of Jesus’ betrayal (Luke 22:54-62), Peter now finds himself as the recipient not of a sharp rebuke, but of direct yet compassionate shepherding by the very One he rejected. In this conversation, Jesus calls Peter to love him by caring for his “sheep,”[3] that is, the church – the people of faith in Jesus Christ. The task entrusted to Peter as an apostle is that of shepherd. To love Jesus is to love his sheep.

It is evident in Peter’s writings that he never forgot this privileged calling as Jesus’ “under-shepherd”; he feeds and leads the sheep, and calls other church leaders to do the same.[4] Harkening to the Chief Shepherd’s exhortation and model, Peter evidently gave his own life serving the sheep.[5] But not even his death would put an end to his shepherding.

Seeking to perpetuate faithful care for Christ’s sheep even as he anticipates his own “departure” (1:12-15), he directs these sheep to pasture where they may graze safely and confidently. Just as he had relied upon the Scriptures in his preaching and teaching as the means of authoritative speech to the people of God,[6] in his final apostolic letter, Peter calls the sheep to rely unreservedly upon the Word of God. The particular manner in which he does so is arresting.

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