Jesus’ identity is bound up in the Word of God. He is the Word made flesh. The trustworthiness of the Bible is inextricably tied to the trustworthiness of Jesus. If the Word of God is not trustworthy, neither is Jesus, and if Jesus is not trustworthy, neither are the Scriptures. To follow Jesus, we must obey his word; they cannot be separated. Written Scripture, penned by the apostles and prophets, is the very Word of God. It is truthful, intelligible, sufficient, and authoritative. 

It seems everyone has a view of Scripture. Some think it is verbatim God’s Word to us. Others believe it is not the words themselves that are important; it is the experience we have while reading it. In other words, the true Word of God lies behind the text. Others believe it is a book merely written by men. Some will even say, “We follow Jesus, not the Bible.” With all these ideas floating around, asking how Jesus views Scripture seems wise. The first chapter of The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction by Mark D. Thompson does precisely that and gives us ten truths Jesus holds about Scripture. I have summarized them below.
1. Scripture is the final authority in matters of faith and faithful living.
When Jesus faced temptation in the wilderness, he said, “It is written” each time before quoting Scripture. In doing this, he implies that Scripture settles any question at hand. He appeals to no authority in this situation other than the written Word of God, which decides the question in his mind.
The rich young ruler asks, “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds, “What is written in the law?” Jesus was not trying to mislead the young man; he pointed him where he could find the needed answer. During his ministry on this earth, Jesus appealed to Scripture as the final authority in matters related to faith and practice.
2. The written Scripture was the context for Jesus’ self-understanding and ministry.
Jesus reads Isaiah and says about himself, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Jesus also saw himself in typology. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). At the Last Supper, he sees himself as the Passover lamb when he says, “This is my blood.”
Jesus saw the Old Testament Scripture as the context of who he was and what he came to do. If Scripture is not true, Jesus was deceived about who he was and, therefore, deceived others.
3. Jesus Identified Scripture as the “Word of God.”
In Mark 7:13, Jesus verbally identifies the written Old Testament Scriptures as God’s Word when he tells the Pharisees they were “making void the Word of God by your tradition.” Jesus did not believe it was merely a man-made book. The very words are the Words of God.
4. Jesus believed the “double agency” of Scripture.
As Jesus believed the scriptures are the Word of God, he also knew men wrote them. Jesus often used words like, “Moses wrote of me.” “David himself says in the Psalms.” “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you.” Jesus believed the “Word of God” was written through human agency, and the one does not diminish the other.
5. Jesus believed Scripture was intelligible.
Jesus expects people to know and understand what Scripture says. He would critique those in error by saying, “Have you not read.” He expects people to read his Word and understand what it is saying. Sure, some passages are more complex than others, and some finer points may take years of study, but the basic message of Scripture is not hard to understand.
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What then is the best way to fight idolatry in our own lives and keep the commandment? What is the best way to call unbelievers to the one true and living God? What is the best way to reclaim those who have turned away to serve gods of their own imaginings?

You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:4, Deuteronomy 5:7).
Over half a century ago, the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones, minister at Westminster Chapel, London, aimed the penetrating light of the first commandment at modern idolatry, saying, “There are many people today who never darken the doors of a place of worship but who say they believe in the love of God. Yet they reject the gospel. They do not believe in a God who is wrathful against sin; a God who must punish sin; a God who sent his own Son….”
Refusing to believe in the God who made them, they believe in a god they have made.
One on hand, such people are the spiritual kin of all who bow down before gods carved of wood. They are idolaters, of the same seed as stone worshippers. They too adore a god of their own imagining, their own crafting, a counterfeit god making counterfeit promises to enslave their souls to the father of lies. Abraham was once of this stock. But God graciously visited him and heaven rejoiced (Josh. 24:2).
On the other hand, many of the people Jones identifies are the ones who should know better. Not all grew up in idolatry. As children, many of them heard of the true and living God: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. They heard of the God who judges sin and saves sinners. Many even received the sign of his covenant, but they “were not united by faith with those who listened” (Heb. 4:2).
In fact, the most frequent pastoral use of the first commandment throughout scripture is when prophets lay it down as a straight edge to expose the crooked idolatry of those who once had drawn near to God.
A foundational example of this is the Lord’s ministry to Israel while they were yet in Egypt. After four hundred years of bondage, God rose to answer their cries, but it was not their faithfulness that moved him. Through Ezekiel the Lord recalls their idolatrous condition even prior to the exodus:
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We must not think recent news out of Saint Louis is cause to slacken or pause. News from Saint Louis should stir us to remain vigilant against any who would erode the freedom of the gospel: freedom from the penalty of sin, freedom from the power of sin, and one day freedom from the presence of sin.

The PCA has been at a crossroads for some time as we debate what sort of denomination the PCA will be.
Will the Presbyterian Church in America be a denomination that is “Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed Faith, and Obedient to the Great Commission,” where officers and church courts uphold the Constitutional Standards of the PCA with integrity and sincerity? Or will the PCA be a denomination characterized by latitude and leniency with regard to the Standards?
Up until recently, the General Assembly of the PCA tended to issue actions and deliverances that favored that latter course: one of latitude and leniency. As I’ve written elsewhere, the presbycrats were largely allowed to run things.
But lately, attendance at the General Assembly has seen marked increase, especially since 2018 when it was so difficult for the General Assembly to grant constitutional authority to the chapter on marriage in the Book of Church Order. And a year later attendance skyrocketed after many in the PCA were scandalized by a speech in which TE Greg Johnson, PhD reflected on his unnatural lust on the floor of the Assembly.
I. Hoping for Repentance
Many throughout the PCA were shocked that a minister of the gospel would attempt to wax eloquent about his vile affections in hopes of swinging a vote against an overture. Further grief flowed seemingly every time that minister spoke publicly. During one now infamous podcast, he even seemed to go so far as to assert that unnatural affections are not within the scope of repentance:
What I hear is that you are judging brothers for not repenting of something that cannot be repented of.
From many corners of the PCA, individual elders and church courts wrote both to TE Johnson and to his presbytery urging him to repent of his views, actions, and statements. The Standing Judicial Commission (SJC) even took the unprecedented step of re-opening a case before it to provide additional opportunity for clarification and corrections by TE Johnson on what he meant.
Despite the clarifications when the SJC re-opened the case, members of the Standing Judicial Commission nonetheless issued a blistering concurring opinion expressing concern regarding his “lack of clarity” and “tone-deafness” on matters of homosexual lust and other issues.
Further corrections and clarifications followed. But in addition to corrections and clarifications, TE Johnson engaged in additional speaking and writing on the subject of vile affections, which further troubled the Church.
For example, Ascension Presbytery reported on Johnson’s 2021 book Still Time to Care and noted not only grave concerns with the way TE Johnson “misuse[d] identity in Christ” but also and his “aberrant views on sexual orientation, his disregard of the confessional teaching on the heinousness and various aggravations of different sins, and his lack of interaction with the confessional understanding of the gift of continence.”
Further attempts were made to bring TE Johnson to repentance; letters were sent to his presbytery, dialogues on various media platforms, reviews of the book were written highlighting troubling aspects in Johnson’s views and ministry paradigm.
Johnson’s teaching, speaking, and writing on the issue of unnatural lust has deeply troubled the PCA. For example, two Covenant College faculty members noted a troubling lack of focus on the need for sanctification in his book:
[W]e’ve registered two substantial reservations, raising a worry about Johnson’s treatment of sanctification with respect to concupiscence and questions about the notion of sexual orientation as a fixed propensity that’s taken for granted in this book and by most participants in the broader debate. Since these themes are central to the book’s overall argument, they end up weakening his case for a paradigm of care. In our opinion, the paradigm of care is inadequate without a complementary devotion to sanctification.
The defects in his theology and practice have been noted across the spectrum of the denomination from GRN Council Members such as Jonathan Master, the aforementioned Covenant College professors, and even the Stated Clerk called the way he speaks about his unnatural desires, “highly imprudent.”
Despite all this, TE Johnson and the Session with whom he serves have refused to give heed to the concerns of the wider church on this matter. Memorial Presbyterian Church (MPC) continues to welcome transvestites to perform in its chapel as the church supports these folks earning a living from their “arts.”
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