Canon and Authority of Scripture
Canon
The Canon consist of 66 books that today we call The Bible. Why were these books part of the canon and others were not?
The church prayed about the books that should be included in the Canon. There were some controversies over specific books. The church had to read all sorts of books and made sure they went together doctrinally. That is a very brief summary of how The Bible came into being.
One book that had major controversy is the book of Ester. The biggest issue that church leaders had was that it didn’t mention God once in the book.
The Jews always considered this book to be inspired, and later on, the church leaders came to an agreement that the book of Ester was indeed inspired.
"The book of Esther was questioned because of the noticeable absence of any significant mention of God in the book. He is clearly behind the scenes, but there is very little direct reference to Him.
That said, the book was considered part of the cannon because of its God-centered message and its value in showing the providence of God, the faith and courage of Esther, and the protection of God's people through human events.
For more on this discussion, you might want to read John MacArthur's introduction in the Mac Study Bible…"-Pastor Mark Vroegop, senior pastor at www.calvaryb.org
The Romans Catholics still today believe that the Apocrypha is inspired, but protestants believe differently since the Bible would not be consistent.
We need to realize that a all loving God, who saved us from our sins won’t mess up with a Bible that is not fully from Him.
2.Authority of Scripture
When we read the Bible, we are reading God’s words. They are His words in human form. To say they are not fully His because he is infinite and we are finite, is to say that the Bible is not completely true. Which, we know is false.
If anyone disbelieves any part of scripture is to disbelieve God. If anyone disobeys any part of scripture, you are disobeying God.
Scripture is our highest authority. We know that God can not lie, is He did, then the Bible should be tossed. But since God can not lie, we know the Bible is our highest authority.
The Bible should be where we go to find all our answers in life.
I know this was brief, but I hope it was worth reading.
In Prayers,
-AgapeTheologian
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
WORD OF GOD
The Word of God. The Word of God doesn’t always mean the Bible as some like to think. It can even mean, Jesus Christ.(Revelation 19:13; John 1:1, 14; 1 John 1:1) Just because the Bible says, "Word of God", we can’t often think of it as Scripture, but think of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God’s Word is seen through Scripture as speaking through human lips. God raised up prophets and spoke divine inspiration through them.
God says to Moses, "
Deu 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
Deu 18:19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
Deu 18:20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.'"(ESV, Emphasis Added)
God made similar statements through out the Bible. It is obvious that if anyone who claimed to be a prophet from God, yet in reality is not was severely punished.
God’s Word in written form. The Bible is God’s personal address. Mosses was one case where he wrote down God’s Word; The Ten Commandments.
"Deu 31:9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
Deu 31:10 And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths,
Deu 31:11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
Deu 31:12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,
Deu 31:13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.""
It also tells us in the book of Joshua that Joshua wrote the words of God in the book of the law. (Joshua 24:26)
"Once again it must be noted that these words are still considered to be God’s own words, even though they are written down mostly by human being and always in human language. Still, they are absolutely authoritative and absolutely true: to disobey them or disbelieve them is a serious sin and brings judgment from God. (1 Cor. 14:37; Jer. 36:29-31)"-Wayne Grudem
Final Thoughts:
If God were to speak to you in person or through a prophet, would you more likely to listen to Him? It’s kind of funny at times when we receive an email, a note from someone we really care about, we will read it over and over. But do we do that with God’s word? NO! We do not. Christians don’t always take good care of their copy of the Bible nor do they want to read this ultimate love letter. Some even treat it as something they have to read. The Bible is God’s love letter to us, we should care about Him just as He does us.
The Bible is our high authority from God, we need to follow it and pray for a desire to become thirsty from it…
In Prayers,
-AgapeTheologian
The Word of God. The Word of God doesn’t always mean the Bible as some like to think. It can even mean, Jesus Christ.(Revelation 19:13; John 1:1, 14; 1 John 1:1) Just because the Bible says, "Word of God", we can’t often think of it as Scripture, but think of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
God’s Word is seen through Scripture as speaking through human lips. God raised up prophets and spoke divine inspiration through them.
God says to Moses, "
Deu 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
Deu 18:19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
Deu 18:20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.'"(ESV, Emphasis Added)
God made similar statements through out the Bible. It is obvious that if anyone who claimed to be a prophet from God, yet in reality is not was severely punished.
God’s Word in written form. The Bible is God’s personal address. Mosses was one case where he wrote down God’s Word; The Ten Commandments.
"Deu 31:9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
Deu 31:10 And Moses commanded them, "At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths,
Deu 31:11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
Deu 31:12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,
Deu 31:13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.""
It also tells us in the book of Joshua that Joshua wrote the words of God in the book of the law. (Joshua 24:26)
"Once again it must be noted that these words are still considered to be God’s own words, even though they are written down mostly by human being and always in human language. Still, they are absolutely authoritative and absolutely true: to disobey them or disbelieve them is a serious sin and brings judgment from God. (1 Cor. 14:37; Jer. 36:29-31)"-Wayne Grudem
Final Thoughts:
If God were to speak to you in person or through a prophet, would you more likely to listen to Him? It’s kind of funny at times when we receive an email, a note from someone we really care about, we will read it over and over. But do we do that with God’s word? NO! We do not. Christians don’t always take good care of their copy of the Bible nor do they want to read this ultimate love letter. Some even treat it as something they have to read. The Bible is God’s love letter to us, we should care about Him just as He does us.
The Bible is our high authority from God, we need to follow it and pray for a desire to become thirsty from it…
In Prayers,
-AgapeTheologian
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)