Heritage: R. G. Lee on Scripture

                                                                                                                                          Vol. IX, No. 10, Nov/Dec 1996

           R. G. Lee was born 11 November 1886 in York County, SC, the son of a poor sharecropper. Through ability, hard work, and devotion to God he moved from poverty to preaching. On 11 December 1927 he began his ministry at Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, a ministry which was to endure until his retirement thirty-three years later on 1 February 1960. Adrian Rogers succeeded Lee at Bellevue.

           The following selection is from R. G. Lee’s sermon, “The Word of God -- Not Broken, Not Bound.” Those wishing to read more about and by R. G. Lee should refer to Payday Someday and Other Sermons by R. G. Lee, Timothy and Denise George, editors (Broadman & Holman, Nashville, 1995). This excerpt is found on pp. 57-8.

The Authority

God is the authority. Men who summon the Bible to appear at the bar of human reason and substitute a "Thus saith the mind of man" for a "Thus saith the Lord" forget that fact. The Word of God is the voice of the Almighty.

Since God is infinite, His Book will be independent of those finite limitations which characterize man's work.

Since God is immutable, His Book, however long the period of its production, will reveal changeless elements, and be throughout essentially consistent.

Since God is one, however varied the human writers of His Book and the times in which prepared, or the themes of which it speaks, it will be one Book and will reveal a definite and homogeneous plan. That is why I so often call it the miracle Book of diversity in unity, the Book so harmonious in infinite complexity.

Since God is omniscient, we can expect His Book to deal with facts of past history or future destiny with equal certainty as the present.

Since God is wise, never errs and is never chargeable with folly, His Book will be marked by convictions, conclusions, and counsels according to the highest truth and wisdom.

Since God is almighty, His Book will display and record achievements far beyond the unaided powers or possibilities of human strength.

Since God is the Creator of all things, we may expect to find in His Book the marks of a creative hand and mind.

Since God is righteous, His Book will exhibit a high standard of moral teaching and practice, and be consistent with the unchangeable principles of right and wrong.

Since God is holy, His Book will be a revelation of His holiness, of infinite beauty and excellence, of highest sympathy with what is faultlessly perfect for its own sake.

Since God is benevolent, His Book will both teach and exemplify unselfish goodness and love, inculcate forgiveness, mercy, self-sacrifice.

Since God is mysterious and incomprehensible, His Book will probably contain mystery, paradox, and apparent contradiction. It will deal with infinite magnitudes as well as moral certitudes.

Since God is superhuman and supernatural, His Book will speak as the language of one who knows man and the secrets of his whole being, and of the universe, and to whom what man deems marvelous and impossible is possible and simple.

Since God is unimpeachable, we can expect His Book to be instinct with vitality, to be a living Book, indestructible by man, divinely preserved by the Author.

Since God is a God of absolute faithfulness, His Book will be an uncompromising rebuke of human falsehood, vice, inconsistency, catering never to human sin, pandering never to vice, compromising never with evil,

Since God is a God of purpose, His Book will have a plain design consistent with Himself.

Since God is omnipresent, His Book is independent of the limitations of locality.

Since God is a God of divine providence, His is Book represents God as both controlling the present and future, having oversight of all persons and events.

Since God is judge, His Book reveals Him as judicially dealing with men, rewarding virtue and punishing vice, partially in this life and fully and finally in the life to come.

Since God is sovereign, His Book represents Him as supreme, even over foes. He makes even the wrath of man to praise film, and restrains the remainder. He performs all His pleasure, despite all His enemies and their plots.

Since God is Spirit, His Book shows Him as independent of physical organs and limitations.