“As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,” ’ ” A popular pastor recently plunged himself into controversy for saying that Christianity is not built on the back of the Bible. He also said that the Bible is not relevant in today’s unbelieving world— Christians can read the Bible, but the secular unbelievers of our culture need something more than, “The Bible says.” He also said that we may need to apologize to the Jews for make their Scriptures part of our own. Mark, writing to a Roman audience completely divorced from Jewish Scriptures, opens with the words, “As it is written.” This phrase is used by New Testament writers when they cite Scripture, and demonstrates an attitude 180 degrees from what that pastor said. The tense of the verb indicate...
