A friend of mine on Facebook posted this comment:
“The Bible does not tell us to stick to what is in the Bible or that it is the highest Authority.”
I replied:
We happen to disagree on this point!
The Bible most certainly does teach that we must go by what is in the Bible and that it is the highest authority.
This is established by what is taught in the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament.
Isa 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Pro 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Pro 30:6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
This principle of going by what the Bible itself teaches precedes the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself affirmed this principle. He certainly did not change or cancel the principle that the Bible is the written Word of God, that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35), and is the highest authority to which we must appeal. This Jesus does by His direct command (John 5:39) as well as by His personal example (Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:10) as plainly recorded in the New Testament itself.
Mat 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Note carefully that Jesus appealed to the Bible when He said, “It is written.”
Jesus states plainly that we are to live “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Those words are not exclusive to any denomination or church. They are found only in the Bible.