Sword and Trowel

Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.”

One of the personal life and practice issues I’ve been working through the past few months is uprooting anger out of my life, and this verse is one of the verses I’ve been meditating on throughout that process. I would like to share with you just a few of the observations I’ve had while meditating on this verse.

The first observation I made is that this proverb likens a man to a city. Which was interesting to me because I tend to focus on the negative connotations of cities and this proverb forced me to consider some of the positive aspects of cities. Cities are places of community, they promote commerce, trade, the exchange of ideas, and ultimately, they promote human flourishing. And through Scripture we know that history will culminate in the heavenly city of Revelation 21, which is the pinnacle of human flourishing under submission to God.

For the Old Testament reader, the city that would most likely come to their mind is Jerusalem. God built Jerusalem and protected Jerusalem (Ps. 46:4; 87:5; 127:1), and not only that, but the Temple was there, as a symbol of God’s presence with His people (Deut. 12:11; 1 Kings 8). And just as God once dwelt in Jerusalem, God now dwells within us. 1 Cor. 3:16 says that “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?”

The primary image of a city that this proverb is communicating, however, is one that is left defenseless. “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man…” Consider those things mentioned before that a city does well, and how a city promotes flourishing: they are impossible for a city to accomplish if it is left defenseless, if the city walls are broken down.

Cities depend on their physical walls to shield themselves from dangerous animals, raiding bandits, invading armies, and the like. Without a wall, the city is open to physical attack. Likewise, if we are a city, and our spiritual walls are broken down, then we are open to spiritual attack. And not only that, but many of us here have other people, other cities, which we are responsible for guarding physically and spiritually. If we are not adequately guarding ourselves, how can we be expected guard others? So, the question I would like to pose to you today is, are your city walls broken down, and if so, why?

Before I continue, I would like to make one caveat. I think that for most of us, regarding our spiritual walls, the primary danger we face is not that our entire wall lies in ruins and that we are completely open to getting steam rolled by the enemy. It is much more likely that we have cracks in our walls, points of weakness. Allow me a quick military tactics primer: an infantry platoon in the attack first sends out recon to identify points weakness in the enemy’s defenses. The platoon next exploits those weaknesses to create a gap in the enemy’s defenses which it can then focus its main effort on. You don’t just throw your main effort against the entire enemy defensive line. In the same way, the enemy is going to be reconnoitering us to discover our spiritual points of weakness, and then the enemy is going to attempt to exploit those weaknesses. So, I want to challenge you today to ask God to show you where your points of weaknesses are, and to give you the strength, through His grace, to shore up your defenses.

Now, if our walls are broken down, the next question we should ask is why. Proverbs 25:28 tells me it is because I lack self-control. I like how the New King James Version puts it: “whoever has no rule over his sprit...” To rule over your spirt is to exercise authority over it, to command it, to have it obey you. Matthew Henry says that a man who does have rule over his spirt is a man who “maintains the government of himself, and of his own appetites and passions, and does not suffer them to rebel against reason and conscience. He has the rule of his own thoughts, his desires, his inclinations, his resentments, and keeps them all in good order.” So, conversely, a man who lacks self-control is one who is NOT maintaining the government of himself. He does not have rule over his thoughts, desires, etc. and, I would submit, it is likely that these things are exercising rule over him.

As an example, one of the things that I have been learning about in my study on anger are inordinate desires. They are desires for good things, but the desire is out of proportion, you desire them too much. So, for example, you could have the desire to maintain a hobby, which is good, but you could desire it so much that thoughts of the hobby consume you and distract your mind from other more product pursuits; or it could consume you to the extent that you are willing to sin to “enjoy” the hobby, such as lying to your wife about how you are spending your time. That is an example of your thoughts and desires exercising rule over you, and when that happens, you get cracks in your wall and you start opening yourself up to spiritual attack.

So far, we have drawn out the analogy between a man and a city, and we understand why our city walls are important, and we have gone over at least some contributing factors as to why our city wall could be broken down. And maybe, like me, you’ve realized that your city wall is broken. Very well, but your wall cannot just stay broken; we got to get that thing rebuilt. There is too much at stake to let our walls lay in ruins.

Thinking about rebuilding walls, my mind went to Nehemiah. I want to share with you four principles out of Nehemiah that I think we can use in helping to rebuild our spiritual walls. The first principle is Nehemiah’s brokenness over the state of Jerusalem’s walls. Neh. 1:4 says that “As soon as I heard these words [about the broken walls] I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” Likewise, James 4 says to “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Revival starts with repentance, and if we are not willing be broken over our own brokenness, to mourn over our sin, and humbly seek God’s face, our efforts to rebuild our walls are not even going to get started.

The second principle out of Nehemiah, is that before beginning the building process, Nehemiah surveyed the wall in order to draw up a plan and discover which areas needed the most focus. Practice self-confrontation and ask God to show you where your areas of spiritual weaknesses are.

The third principle that we can use to help rebuild our walls is that Nehemiah didn’t rebuild the wall of Jerusalem himself. He used the people of God. Part of the reason for the body of believers is so that we may edify one another. Hebrews 10 says “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” If your walls are broken, go confess as much to someone and ask them for help.

The fourth principle out of Nehemiah for rebuilding spiritual walls is that the enemy did not like the people of God rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and wanted to stop them by any means necessary. Therefore the Israelites, in order to defend themselves while they were rebuilding the wall, had to be armed. The enemy wants you to be week and defenseless. The enemy wants to keep you from defending others. The enemy does not want you rebuilding your wall. Therefore, if you are in the process or rebuilding your spiritual walls, you must expect attack and therefore you must be armed. We must be armed with many things, but I think primarily with the Word of God. Scripture testifies to itself as weapon in Hebrews 4:12 - “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” So the word is a weapon and we must be armed with it.

And not only must we be armed with the word, but we must also bear arms with the word. To bear arms means to use those arms in a military manner. If I am going to use a weapon in a military manner, in a fight, where people’s lives are a stake, then I had better know how to use that weapon well. Likewise, let us be well trained and practiced in the skillful use of the spiritual weapons that we have been given. Engaging in Spiritual Warfare well is something that I am trying to learn how to do currently.

Finally, all this talk of cities and walls and weapons reminded me of my time in the Marine Corps standing watch (of which I stood many). And it reminded me of one of the verses I memorized then. Psalms 127:1 says “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.” If anything I just said applies to you, and you’ve got some work to do rebuilding your walls, realize that all of your efforts will be in vain unless they are done in the strength of the LORD, and unless you trust in the Lord God for the victory. Let us do so.

The Inspiration of Scripture is the doctrine that, through the Holy Spirit, God directed the very words of the Bible; every part of Scripture is “breathed out” by the Spirit of God. God worked in history, through man, to reveal Himself to us in writing. Through God’s self-revelation in Scripture we have knowledge of Him, His will, and of our salvation. Scripture is very literally God’s word, terminating not with the human writers, but with the actual written product itself. Geisler and Nix, in the General Introduction to the Bible, define Inspiration as “that mysterious process by which the divine causality worked through the human prophets without destroying their individual personalities and styles to produce divinely authoritative and inerrant writings.” Thus, we see that Scripture has a dual authorship. It is written by man and breathed out by God.

A careful study of the Scriptures will reveal three major truths, or elements, of divine inspiration. First, God is the primary mover. He is the originator of Scripture and authorized its writing, while at the same time keeping Scripture’s human element. This is Divine Causality. Second, the prophets and apostles were the spokesmen of God. They were His appointed vessels that He used to reveal his nature and His will to the world. This is Prophetic Agency. Third, God’s word is God’s word in all times and in all places. It is His revelation and holds authority over all aspects of life. This is Scriptural Authority.

When we have a right understanding of the inspiration of Scripture, we understand that Scripture must be allowed to witness to itself. The authors of A Theology of the Church write that “All knowledge of God comes by way or revelation…By God alone can God be known. The knowledge of God is revealed by his self-disclosure” (103). Scripture does not just “contain” the words of God. It is the very Word of God Himself. Thus, Scripture is its own final authority. So, what does the Bible say about itself?

We will first examine 2 Peter 1:19-21. The Apostle writes: “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” In this passage we see the three major elements of divine inspiration mentioned earlier. First, Peter’s focus is on Scripture’s divine origin. The prophets have not misrepresented God’s word because all Scripture has originated from God. The emphasis is on the means or source of Scripture: the Holy Spirit. Secondly, Peter speaks in no uncertain terms of prophetic agency, using the terms “prophecy of Scripture” and “holy men of God… moved by the Holy Spirit.” Lastly, we see scriptural authority highlighted. No Scripture is of private interpretation, because no Scripture has come by the will of man. It is God’s Word, then, now, and always. It is authoritative, inerrant, and infallible. To quote Geisler and Nix again: “Here is an implicit affirmation of the authority (certainty) of the ‘prophetic word’… so inspiration is the process by which Spirit-moved writers recorded God-breathed writings.”

Next we will examine 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Paul writes: “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” In this passage we plainly see the divine origin of Scripture (“all Scripture is given by inspiration of God”), its prophetic agency (“given”), and its Scriptural authority (“able to make you wise for salvation… that the man of God may be complete”). There are several other important implications of this passage. First, because Scripture is God’s word and revelation, it bears God’s characteristics. Secondly, we are called to emulate these characteristics. There is a strong connection between doctrine and application. How you understand Scripture will affect how you live your life.

Jesus Himself testifies to the divine authorship of Scripture in John 10:34-36, when He says “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” Geisler and Nix state that this passage is important because “in it Jesus uses the ‘Scriptures, ‘Torah’ (Law), ‘it is written,’ ‘word of God,’ and ‘cannot be broken’ interchangeably.” Jesus here is demonstrating that God gave His Law-Word to men, and that His Word is infallible and unbreakable. There are many other passages in Scripture that affirm the same, and these include Rom. 15:4, 2Pet. 3:15-16, Matt. 4:4, and Heb. 1:1.

What has the Church said about the Inspiration of Scripture? A historical survey will serve us well here. The authors of A Theology for the Church write that “much early and widespread evidence indicates that the early church accepted the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures” (115). They believed that the writers of Scripture where moved by divine word (116), and that the Scriptures were perfect and trustworthy. In his Letters, Augustine writes: “For if you once admit into such a high sanctuary of authority one false statement…there will not be left a single sentence which… may not by the same fatal rule be explained away” (28.3). Thomas Aquinas, a church father during the Medieval Period, held that the writings of the early patriarchs where not on the same level as Scripture: Scripture alone is authoritative because, as divine revelation, it is an “infallible truth” (Suma Theologica 1.1.8).

During the Reformation period, Martin Luther held to the divine authorship of the Bible. He writes that the Scriptures are the “perfectly clear, certain, sure words of God, which can never deceive us or allow us to err” (Luther’s Works, 37:308). John Calvin also held to divine inspiration. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, he writes that “The authority of Scripture [is] derived not from men, but from the Spirit of God” (1.7), and again, “our faith in doctrine is not established until we have a perfect conviction that God is its author. Hence, the highest proof of Scripture is uniformly taken from the character of him whose Word it is” (1.7.4).

There are a few modern theologians who erred from the Orthodox view of scripture. FDE Schleiermacher would hold that Scripture is just a fallible record of other people’s religious experiences. Bushnell denies divine inspiration, and David Strauss held that the miracles recorded in the gospels where mere myths. I would reply to these men that they had allowed the humanist thought of the age to cloud their judgment and suppress the witness of the Holy Spirit. The Church has historically believed, the Scriptures rightly attest, and the Holy Spirit divinely testifies that all Scripture is in fact the true, complete, infallible and inspired Word of God. “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 1:22-25).

Systematizing what we have learned so far, we are lead to the following truths. First; inspiration is not a general influence on the minds of men, but extends to the very words chosen by each writer of Scripture (2Pet. 1:20-21, Heb. 1:1). Second; as God Himself is the source and origin of Scripture, it is true and inerrant in all that it speaks on, and it speaks on everything (2Tim. 3:15-17, 2Th. 2:2). Because God’s Word is true and inerrant, Scripture can testify for itself (Jn. 10:34-36, Eph. 2:20). Thus, we may formulate the doctrine of Verbal, Plenary Inspiration. Verbal, as God’s inspiration applies to the words themselves; Plenary, as every part is fully and unconditionally God-breathed; and Inspired, as it is God revealing Himself to us through the Holy Spirit.

We have covered definitions, scriptural analysis, historical survey, and systematic formulation. We have shown that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. How then are we to make application of these truths? Let us turn again to 2 Timothy. If we believe that all Scripture is indeed “God breathed,” then we can take Paul, and the Holy Spirit, at their word when they tell us that Scripture is able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We have the assurance of God’s salvation in our lives. And because of that salvation, we are commanded to live accordingly. But God has not left us to fend for ourselves in this regard. Inspiration includes everything the Bible touches on and teaches, and the Bible gives sufficient instruction for all of life. Scripture speaks on all culture throughout all of history, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. In teaching, it is the positive source for all our doctrine, so we may know how to live rightly before God. In reproof, it exposes our failures and errors that lead us away from right living. In correction, it restores us to right practice or right doctrine. In instruction in righteousness, it teaches us how to live morally, and how to live as God intends.

God’s commands in Scripture are irrevocable, inerrant, all sufficient and all authoritative. We trust in God’s infallible Word, and it makes us bold. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Emboldened by the surety of God’s Word in our hearts, protected by the shield of our faith, and armed with the sword of His sure and perfect Scripture, we are made complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. We are commanded to gird up our loins, prepare ourselves for battle, and march out into the world, trusting in our King and Savior for the victory.