Does the Bible contain all the truth?

greendawn

Does the Bible contain the whole religious truth or just a part of it that just happened to get recorded, and came to us? I think only a small part of the truth is in the Bible, eg Jesus says to the apostles "I call you my friends because I revealed to you EVERYTHING that I heard from my Father" but I am sure He told them a lot more in those three years than what is in the gospels.

Much of the truth that was said or written before or after John's revelation never came to us.

Sad emo

Interesting question greendawn.

John also wrote in his gospel that Jesus 'did many other signs' (20:30; 21:25) so could we say maybe it's a question of whether there is sufficient truth rather than all the truth?

And again, if Jesus said 'I am the truth' - was that an absolute? If so, would this mean that all the truth is in the Bible even if only parts of Jesus' teaching is there?

moggy lover

That's a tricky philosophical question and will not be resolved here. Neither will it be resolved by us alone. As an evangelical Christian [Baptist, actually but don't let that scare ya - Moggy's been with me some thirteen years and has found me to be quite harmless - she gets her din-dins on time and she's spoilt rotten] I will have to say : Yes of course it does.

However that does not mean that there is no other truth elsewhere. Truth is an infinite resource whose meaning and sustenance will never be plumbed in the entire lifetime of the human species. The quest for truth began with the first human being who conceived the first finite thought and we have progressed on from there. The only way we can find "truth" is to think, and an essential ingredient of thought is belief.

Augustine once said: "To believe is nothing other than to think with assent. Not all who think believe, yet all who believe think" Belief therefore becomes an act of will, the voluntary acceptance of a proposition as true. A person may know or even understand a certain proposition, yet not believe it.

This brings us to the Christian proposition. Christian belief uses reason to arrive at the truth of Christ, for the alternative, credulity, reduces us to automatons. But, reason alone cannot produce belief in Christ. Reason accompanies belief but does not cause it, because belief does not come about simply as a result of investigation. Rather, the Bible tells us, it is anchored by God Himself.

Somehow, sometime, under whatever circumstance, we are confronted with the idea of God, and whether He plays any part in our lives. Col 2:3 tells us that the totality of all wisdom and knowledge is tied up in the Person of Christ. There is a sense in which Christ is the answer to every question, and the ultimate result of every thought. Even a question as banal as "What's two plus two" must, in Christian belief produce the answer :"Jesus Christ!" because without Him there would NOT be a two-plus-two system of logic. However when I said there are other truths, I allowed for other answers to that question. Of course you would not be wrong if you said "four" - only that you would not be aware of the Endowment that undergirded that proposition.

The role of Christ in "Truth" is illustrated in an old Gypsy proverb:"To make an omelette, you first have to create the universe"

Of course, embracing truth sets us free, it does not enslave us. We are accountable ultimately to God, and not to any self-serving arrogant and domineering "organisation" that claims exclusive rights to "truth" and which insists on its own prerogatives in our lives. No man, or group of men, can, or ought, to impose such a degree of theological servitude on anyone.

Cheers

Shazard

It contains all the truth you need for salvation.
Even single John gospel is enough, as he writes in John 20:31
So yes, Bible is enough for salvation and much more for that! But ofcourse it does not contains all the truth in the world. For example there is not much about 2nd thermodinamics law!

unclebruce

Not all the truths (the tibetans have written millions of texts and haven't captured everything yet).

Of course the bible contains some universal truths - afterall the ten commandments came directly from the Egyptian Military Code, many of the psalms are from the Egyptian book of the dead, the Christian Greek scriptures are Paulian and draw heavily on Greek mythology and Persian Mithraism.

me thinks some personal study is in order

greendawn

Great replies what comes to mind is John 21:25

"25 And I suppose that if all the other things Jesus did were written down, the whole world could not contain the books."

And the Bible nowhere says that the entire truth is written in it. It's not so much the Bible but a life in the Holy Spirit that is the true gospel.

IP_SEC

Truth would have to be pretty darn small to all fit in the bible.

greendawn

In 2 Timothy 2:16 "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right." NLT version.

The dubs claim that it talks there about the Bible but instead it talks about all inspired scriptures many of which never made it into our Bible.

Does the Bible contain all the truth?

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