Thy word is very pure:
therefore thy servant loveth it (Psa 119.140).
An old advertisement for Ivory soap boasted that it was “99.44/100% pure,” and good sales proved people loved it. Here the psalmist proclaims his love for Scripture because of its purity. However, he uses a metaphor from the realm of metallurgy. Literally, “Your word is very refined, and your servant loves it.”1
GOD’S PURE WORD IS UTTERLY RELIABLE
The first element of this characterization is purity, and this is not the only occurrence of that idea about Scripture. “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (Psa 12.6). This beautiful imagery praises the inspired message as precious and desirable, totally devoid of any impurities, like very, very fine silver. One has commented on this verse, “To say that God’s words are pure, refined, and purified is to insist that they have no ‘dross’ of lies, flattery, or insincerity: God means what he says; his words are completely pure. This general truth gives bite to his specific promise of v. 7,”2 which reads, “Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
This suggests the second element of saying Scripture is very refined, and that is reliability. It actually is what it appears to be—the very word of God—and as such, cannot possibly be found false in the experience of anyone who exercises implicit faith in it. “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him” (Psa 18.30). “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him” (Prov 30.5).
This purity and reliability of the inscripturated revelation now known as the Holy Bible is foundational to a confident faith. Who but a fool would walk across a plank spanning a chasm if it were rotten in spots? And who could sensibly believe the Bible if parts of it were not necessarily true? How could our faith in the message be strong if there were generations before us who evidently made a great mistake to be Christians and trust in the Lord?
From these considerations, we should not be surprised that many assaults on the Christian faith take the form of insinuating doubts about the reliability of Scripture. Rarely are these Satanic temptations so overt as to say, “The Bible is a complete fraud and a pack of lies.” No, they come much more subtly. It is typical for skeptics to feign a degree of respect to Scripture, but only to deny that all of it is “literally true,” and that those who disagree with them are “fundamentalists” who have embraced an unreasonable extreme. Then a number of alleged “problems” with the Bible’s statements are produced, and those already inclined to doubt Scripture feel satisfied, while weak believers may be considerably shaken. A website I do not want to promote illustrates these things, so I leave the reference undocumented.
What is the problem with this approach? Very, very many serious things, but here we can only mention a couple. Both are sufficient to demolish the skeptics’ untenable position. When judge hears from a lawyer that his client could not appear in court because he is dead, and then produces the death certificate, no further reasons are necessary. So it is here.
First, the Bible presents itself as “of a single piece,” all given by the same God through his prophets, with the very words they wrote being all “God breathed” (2 Tim 3.16). Thousands of times throughout Scripture, God claims authorship with phrases like, “Thus saith the LORD” (Isa 38.1), and, “the word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel” (Ezek 1.3) and in similar expressions. It is disingenuous to pick at it piecemeal, as if only parts were to be regarded as God’s Word while other parts contain errors. Since the Book presents itself as “very pure,” if it really does contain errors, it is untrustworthy as the Word of God, period. We would have more respect for these skeptics if they would just be completely candid and admit that they have no faith in God or his Word. Then the Christian community could more easily detect them for what they are—enemies of faith.
Second, the skeptic’s whole approach is wrong epistemologically.3 That is, whereas a logically-consistent and reverent Christian holds the existence of God and the identity of Scripture as God’s Word as two rock solid presuppositions upon which to build all other knowledge, and which is demonstrated to be truly rational by its satisfyingly coherent explanation for all reality, the skeptic is a self-idolatrous rationalist, who judges all else by his own limited and perverse thoughts. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov 14.12).
Robert Reymond helpfully explains:
The Christian eschews [philosophical rationalism and empiricism] in favor of the epistemology graciously given in the fact and propositional content of Holy Scripture. He recognizes that in the fact of Scripture itself he has a truly profound solution to man’s need for an infinite reference point if knowledge is to become a reality. He understands that because there is comprehensive knowledge with God, real and true knowledge is possible for man, since God who knows all the data exhaustively in all their infinite relationships and who possesses therefore true knowledge is in the position to impart any portion of that true knowledge to man. The Christian believes that this is precisely what God did when he revealed himself to man propositionally. And he rests in the confidence that it is precisely in and by the Scriptures—coming to him ab extra (from “outside the cosmos”)—that he has the “Archimedean ποῦ στῶ” that he needs for the buildup of knowledge and the justification of his knowledge claims.4
Reymond refers to the “Archimedean point,” “a hypothetical vantage point from which an observer can objectively perceive the subject of inquiry, with a view of totality.”5 Everyone has presuppositions, even skeptics. The intelligent Christian’s are the most sound.
GOD’S PURE WORD IS UTTERLY LOVABLE
As we walk with the Lord and trust in his Word, he proves himself faithful in our experience to all that he has said. The story is told of an old Christian woman visited by her pastor who noticed that on many pages of her Bible, certain verses were underlined, and in the margin she had written the notation, “T&T.” Curious, the pastor asked her what these meant, and she answered, “Well, each of those were times in my life when the Lord specifically kept each of those promises to me, and so T&T means tried and true.”
Psalm 119.140 has also been rendered, “Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so much” (NLT). We ought to love all of Scripture just because it proceeds from the mouth of the God whom we love, but when we consider how that millions have lived day by day with dependence upon these blessed texts, and some have laid down their lives as martyrs on account of them and hastened to glory, and that we ourselves have experienced God’s faithfulness to us, some for many years, then how precious does his Word become to us!
Please permit my testimony. Abandoning my former career in electrical engineering was a big challenge to me, as I had been for many years insecure about being able to make a living. These fears materialized when I was a teenager, and persisted to some degree afterward. Yet when I embraced Matthew 6.33, I received confidence from the Lord that I could launch into the ministry without starving to death! “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Well, that leap of faith occurred 21 years ago¸ and now I could gladly mark my Bible margin there, “T&T.” God has kept his promise to me in this and from all of Scripture in many ways. “Therefore, thy servant loveth it.” Amen.
Notes:
1. Lexham H-EIB, in loc.
2. The ESV Study Bible, in loc.
3. “The science of knowing” (Sproul).
4. A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith.
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedean_point.