Daily Word of Grace # 219 (April 14, 2021)
In the last of his thirteen letters in The New Testament, his Second Letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you leaned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ” (3:14-15). Similarly, Article VI of the Thirty-nine Articles in The Book of Common Prayer states, “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of anyone, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation” (868). The reason for this is that when it comes to your salvation, reading Scripture is not an end in and of itself, but points you to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who said, “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39-40). Jesus’ invitation is not one-and-done but ongoing—and Jesus continues even now to invite you to come to him for your salvation and your eternal life, both of which he won for you in his death and resurrection “in accordance with the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Love and Prayers,
Dave