Jesus on the Scriptures
Cathedral Newsletter – 12 March 2026
Dear Friends, last Sunday and this coming Sunday, we see the seriousness with which Jesus takes the Scriptures.
As Jonathan reminded us last week, Jesus said the Sadducees fell into error on the resurrection, “because they did not know the Scriptures”, nor the power of God (Mark 12:24-27).
This coming Sunday, when we end with Mark 12:35-37, we’ll see that Jesus believes both in the dual-authorship of Scripture, and in the unity of Scripture.
To anticipate, we’ll see that David wrote the particular Psalm 110:1 that Jesus quotes. But v36 says God the Holy Spirit speaks through those words of David. Scripture is of both human and divine origin. So that when we read the Bible, we are reading not merely human responses to God, but the very word of God himself, through his human servants.
More than that, Jesus assumes the unity of Scripture. By his ‘riddle’ in this section, Jesus assumes the various Scriptures are not in contradiction, but must be interpreted by each other. Some Scriptures says Christ is God’s Son from eternity. Other Scriptures say the Christ will be born in the line of the very human King David. Let Scripture interpret Scripture!
I wrote last week that our vision is to introduce people to Jesus so that they might follow him gladly.
But if we want to be true followers of Jesus, then we should follow Jesus’ attitude to Scripture.
Firstly, the Bible is God’s inspired Word, not merely something humans made up.
Secondly, we interpret Scripture by Scripture, since God will not contradict himself.
The Global Anglican Communion (GAFCON) Conference,
Abuja, Nigeria, March 2026 – official photograph
That’s why it was so refreshing to read the Abuja Affirmation, released last week from the most recent Global Anglican Communion (Gafcon) conference in Nigeria. Bishop Stead, our Bishop of South Sydney, chaired the statement-drafting committee.
I just want to quote the section on Scripture.
The Bible at the Heart of the Communion
The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. The communion is a fellowship of churches who submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, whose life and teaching is revealed in the Scriptures. We understand the Bible is to be ‘translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading’ (Jerusalem Declaration, Article II), which reflects Article VI of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion.
The Bible is God’s Word written (Article XX). It was breathed out by him and written for us by faithful messengers. It carries God’s own authority and is its own interpreter – it is clear, sufficient and true for all times. God’s Word is the final authority in the church and in the life of discipleship.
The Canterbury Instruments have compromised the authority of the Scriptures by normalising hermeneutical pluralism, elevating cultural capitulation, and reframing the rejection of Scripture’s authority and clarity as “good disagreement”, and not what it really is – false teaching.
But if you are interested, you can read the whole Abuja Affirmation here. (If you did not know, Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. And by the way, Nigeria is the country with the most Anglican Christians in the world!)
Our Archbishop Kanishka was also present, and he called it a “Landmark statement”and invited all Anglicans to reflect on it.
Warmly in Christ,
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney