God’s Own Defense Of Scripture

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.

Psalm 19:7-9

John MacArthur expands on our understanding of these three verses about Scripture (emphasis added and slightly edited to make it easier to read):

… But more importantly and savingly, God has revealed Himself in Scripture.  There is His unwritten revelation and His written revelation.  And when you come to verse 7, the transition is made from God revealing Himself in nature to God revealing Himself in Scripture… in Scripture.

The structure of these verses from verse 7 through 9, notice it there, is a series of parallel statements, verses 7, 8 and 9.  Here there are six titles for Scripture… the Law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord in verse 7.  In verse 8, the precepts of the Lord and the commandment of the Lord.  In verse 9, the fear of the Lord and the judgments of the Lord. 

Six titles for Scripture.  Scripture is Law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear and judgments.

There are also six characteristics of Scripture.  Notice, it is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean and true.

And there are six benefits of Scripture.  It restores the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures forever and a final one, produces comprehensive righteousness.  That’s what it means when it says righteous all together.  It converts, it makes wise, it brings joy, it enlightens, it purifies, it is relevant in every time, it endures forever and it produces comprehensive righteousness.

This is magnificent.  Here you have God in His inimitable way speaking the vast glories of Scripture in brief sentences.  In a few words He captures the magnitude of the full sufficiency of Scripture.

John MacArthur
God’s Own Defense of Scripture, Part 1

Culled from my very good brother and friend Isaiah's Blog Word and Verse please do visit when you can and be blessed.