Everything we believe about God comes from Scripture. It dictates what we believe and how we are to live. The Baptists have been nicknamed the “People of the Book.” Actually, any Christian should be a man/woman of the Book. This article’s aim is not to defend and make apologetic arguments for the reliability or inerrancy of Scripture. Rather, this is to articulate what we as the First Chinese Baptist Church of Atlanta believe about the Bible in accordance to the Baptist Faith and Message.

1. The Bible is an inspired Book
   It was “written by men divinely inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to man”. This means that Scripture is God’s act in choosing to reveal Himself to man. Men were then divinely inspired to record what they have witnessed.


2. Key Terminologies
1. Revelation: God unveiling Himself and His will to human messengers
2. Illumination: The work of the Holy Spirit as He enables the human mind to have spiritual understanding and comprehend what has been revealed in order to grasp the full truth.
3. Inspiration: God working through the Holy Spirit and guides chosen messengers to record God’s revealed message.


3. Scripture is God-breathed
1. 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2. In regards to the word, all, it can be interpreted in:
1. All as a collective grouping. “All of the church sends you their regards.” This does not mean every person, but the church as a whole.
2. All as precision. “All of the class passed the test.” Every single part of the whole is accounted for. In this case, every person in class passed.
3. The way that the Greek is structured, Paul uses the word all to mean every single part. Thus, every single part of the whole of Scripture is God-breathed. Hobbs adds, “A God of truth does not breathe error.”
3. Scripture is inerrant and infallible
1. Inerrant: There are no errors in the Bible
2. Infallible: It is incapable of errors.


4. Scriptural Themes
1. There is only one central theme: God’s redemptive purpose.
2. There is one central figure: Jesus Christ.
3. It has one central goal: God supreme in a redeemed universe.
1. The Bible teaches the principle of judgment. God’s wrath is upon the fallen man (Gen. 3:16-19), an evil race (Gen. 6), nations (Ex. 7-12), individuals (2 Sam. 12:10-12) and even His own chosen people (Isa. 5).
2. The Bible teaches about the tension between God’s justice and God’s love (Rom 1:16-18). It is God who delivered man from judgment (John 3:16-18). It teaches that the unrepentant sinners will be judged with the punishment of hell (Luke 12:47-48, Rev. 20:11-15).
3. The Bible teaches how God’s people ought to conduct themselves. (Ex 20, Matthew 5). Believers are expected to live differently in this new redeemed life that Scripture reveals.


5. Authoritative Book
1. Since the Bible is breathed out by God…
1. When conflicted between worldly philosophy and wisdom, Scripture triumphs.
2. When conflicted against culture and trends, Christians must obey God
3. The Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura) dictates what we believe (orthodoxy) and how we live it out (orthopraxy).
4. It is the standard in which we test all truths to discern wisely whether or not it is the things of God.
2. Life-changing
1. We must never bend God’s Word to fit our agenda/idea/lifestyle.
2. Rather, our whole life must bend around God’s Word.