The lively oracles of God are the most valuable thing

In recent weeks there has been a plethora of concern about the dangers of AI. One is the fear that AI will create new religions.

Israeli public intellectual Yuval Noah Harari recently told a conference in Switzerland: ‘In the future we might see the first cults and religions in history whose revered texts were written by a non-human intelligence. Of course, religions throughout history claimed that their holy books were written by unknown human intelligence. This was never true before. This could become true very, very quickly, with far-reaching consequences.’

Harari is of course right that all religions claim that their scriptures were written by a non-human intelligence, but as Christians we believe that this is true in regard to the Bible. Somewhat ironically, other religions claim their scriptures were given directly by God, whether physically or by divine dictation. This is true of the Book of Mormon, given to Joseph Smith on gold plates, and the Koran, given directly to the Prophet Mohammed.

In contrast the Bible does not claim such direct divine writing. We fully acknowledge the Scriptures were written by human beings, each bringing their unique personality to their writing. The process of writing was superintended and guided by the Holy Spirit in a mysterious way, so that God used the human author to say exactly what He wanted them to say. Divine inspiration is more akin to supervisory providence than to divine dictation.

As Christians, our faith is founded on the conviction that the Bible is the true word of God, and that in the words of Scripture we hear the living God speak. If the Bible was inspired by God, it is inherently inerrant and fully truthful, because He is the God who cannot lie.

These convictions about the Bible were evident at the Coronation of King Charles III, when he was presented with a Bible by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland: ‘Sir: to keep you ever mindful of the law and the gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes, receive this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; This is the royal Law; These are the lively Oracles of God.’

This encapsulates evangelical convictions about the Bible. It is not a dead book, a mere history of human religious experience, nor a moral guidebook. It is the ‘lively oracles of God.’ Whilst these words about the Bible were true, they underplay the most important aspect of the Scriptures. They are not simply a reliable guide to morality for life. In the Scriptures God reveals himself to us, makes Jesus known and enables us to enter into salvation. We must never forget that the Scriptures were given ‘to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.’ (1 Tim. 3:15). They are the means by which God meets our greatest need.

It is somewhat ironic that the Bible given to King Charles contained errors. It was a reproduction of the first Authorised Bible from 1611 and replicated the 350 original misprints. We need to remember that, whilst the Scriptures are inerrant because of their divine authorship, it is the original manuscripts that are inerrant. However, the variations and uncertainties in our texts are so minor that they do not call into question any doctrines or practices.

As Christians we need to remember afresh the wonderful blessing we have in our Scriptures. They are the true word of God. We need to make sure that we view the Bible as ‘the most valuable thing this world affords.’ The tragedy is when the church does not allow the Bible the definitive authority it possesses and sets aside the teaching of Scripture in favour of our more comfortable traditions, meaning our human interpretations add or subtract from what Scripture says. Jesus reserved His harshest criticism for the teachers of the law who did this. Sadly, many of the Christian denominations represented at the coronation either have done, or are in the process of doing, the same.

We cannot just receive the Bible, but we need to hear it, believe it and obey it. In the end we need a higher intelligence than our own to make sense of life and save us from sin and death. The Bible enables us to know the God of supreme intelligence who created everything.