“Bibliolatry?”

A friend of mine who is a strong believer and a strong preacher posted something about the authority of Scripture in a denominational Facebook group for our denomination. As a result of that post, he had a new charge leveled at him. He was accused of “bibliolatry.” My computer doesn’t autocorrect it, so I will assume this is not just something someone recently made up, but my first thought was, “What fresh hell is this?”

Now I’m smart enough to break the word down, bibliolatry is idolatry to the Bible. I suppose that is a possibility, after all people have found ways to corrupt virtually everything under the sun, but we had better be careful with this one. When Jesus preached, there were several times where the people were amazed at His teaching because He “taught as One with authority.” This seems so blatantly obvious. Of course, He taught as One with authority. He is the supreme authority. As a matter of fact, He is the author, both of the “book” and of life itself. He taught as One with authority, which means His teaching (and His Word) are authoritative. The Apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Jesus Himself reminds us in Matthew 7:24 that  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock…” and just a few verses later, we read the premise of this post. “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” Matthew 7:28-29

The point is really simple. The Bible and it’s teachings are authoritative and foundational to life. They do not change like the shifting sand of culture. They are rock solid and we can build our lives on them, lives that will not be knocked down by the storms of life, but there’s more. Jesus tells us, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” I’m relatively sure there are people out there who could commit idolatry with the Scripture, but following God’s authoritative Word is not idolatry, it’s God’s will.