We at the First Congregational Church of Marshfield believe that the Bible is nothing less than the Word of the living God. He spoke to and through mankind to give us this authoritative document. We have a reasoned belief in its reliability. We see the Bible as fulfilling truth. It is important to study bible passages prayerfully, considering carefully who wrote them, when and why they were written. We acknowledge that there is wide range of beliefs about the Bible in our church. We do not require agreement with the below. In the Congregational Church members are free to agree or disagree and take our teaching as seriously or as lightly as they wish. Nonetheless we desire it to be known that at The First Congregational Church of Marshfield the Bible is revered and Christ is Lord.
The Old Testament
The Old Testament is made up of Law, History, Poetry and Prophesy. It contains both literal and figurative language. It is important when reading scripture to know the genre which we are reading and to interpret it accordingly.
Law
The first five books of the Old Testament are called the books of Law. They contain the story of creation, the flood, and of God’s chosen people, the Hebrews. They were written by Moses, (Deuteronomy 31:24) a man to whom God spoke face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. (Exodus 33:11) They carry His authority.
History
Next are the 9 books of History, written by a succession of Israel’s prophets and historians of the time spanning the kingdom period of Israel and Judah. Archeology and historical scholars have consistently confirmed much of the history contained in the bible supporting its veracity.
Poetry
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes are books of Poetry and contain poetic language. The Psalms are the prayer (hymn) book of the Hebrew people. Job and Ecclesiastes are also known as Wisdom Literature. David and his son Solomon are responsible for much of the books of poetry. Jesus confirms for us that David wrote under the influence of the Holy Spirit. (Mark 12:36)
Prophecy
No other religion’s holy writings have the audacity to contain prophesy, for a single false prediction could render the author a “false prophet” and negate its truth claims. The majority of our bible is made up of Prophecy, much of it written hundreds of years prior to its fulfillment. God spoke to specific men at specific times in history and gave them the words to speak to His people. (2 Peter 1:20-21).
Jesus quoted many of the prophets and vouched for all of them. (Luke 24:25)
Our church has no higher authority than Jesus Christ. All 39 books of the Old Testament were read by Christ. He knew them, believed them and vouched for them. (Matthew 5:17-19) We can do no less.
The New Testament
The New Testament was written between 40 and 90 AD and chronicles the life and teaching of Jesus Christ and his church. The apostles Matthew, John, Peter and Paul were first hand witnesses to the resurrected Jesus Christ and wrote much of our new testament (2 Peter 1:16, Galatians 1:11, John 1:14) Luke, an associate of Paul and historian extraordinaire, wrote his gospel and Acts from carefully compiled first-hand accounts (Luke 1:1-4) Anything less than a first-hand account of Christ’s life or teaching is not considered reliable enough to be in New Testament canon. Jesus himself, speaking to Matthew, Peter and John promises the supernatural completion of the New Testament. (John 14:26)
We believe the writers to be diligent and precise in their recordings and have every reason to believe that their testimony has been dependably translated and passed onto us.