To Jesus, the Bible is trust worthy.
To Jesus, the Bible has authority.
The scriptures were designed to be read for formation.

There is no legitimate apprenticeship of Jesus that doesn’t have a central place for the Bible. —John Mark Comer

What Jesus Says About the Bible

• Designed to be taught in the church

Matthew 5:17 (NIV): “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

• Jesus sees the entire story of the Bible as leading up to him.

Matthew 5:18–19 (NIV): For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:21 (NIV): “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,  and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you…

Matthew 5:27–31 (NIV): You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’

• Jesus calls people not just to right interpretations of the Bible, but to the practice of the heart behind the Bible itself

Mark 12:18–27 (NIV): Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

John 5:39–47 (NIV): You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

2 Timothy 3:14–17 (NIV): But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God  may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The goals of Scripture:
1. Teaching- to reveal life in Christ
2. Rebuking- where we are out of alignment
3. Correction- bring us back into alignment
4. Training- overall process becoming like Jesus

…so we become not just the best version of ourselves, but the best version of all that a human being has the potential to become through Jesus.

• Informational reading - cover the ground and get the information
• Formational reading - waiting to hear from God in the text; to be shaped by God through the text.

• The daily act of reading scripture is to make room for Jesus.

• The reason we can trust Jesus enough to yield our life to him is because he first surrendered himself