All scripture is inspired of god...which scripture?

by jamesmahon 24 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  tec

  No worries, james. I don't take questions as attack :)

  I see what you are saying Tammy and think that is the only way really that it can be explained from a christians' perspective. For part of the bible to say 'all scripture is inspired' but then create a canon of scripture ignoring some texts because it does not agree with what

  you believe is intellectually dishonest.

  Totally agree... hence 'woe to you scribes'.

  In truth, I do not really worry about what is or is not scripture and inspired. How could I know for sure (or how could I know what parts might be mistranslated, perhaps due to misunderstanding)? I can ask and listen to Christ. But then, why not just listen to Him and do as HE says, to begin with, instead of worrying about which is scripture and which is not? Scripture is supposed to testify to Christ. But scripture does not give life... Christ does that, since He IS life. Hence his admonition 'you continuously search the scriptures because you think that by them you have life... but you refuse to come to me to have life."

  So this is what I do. I test everything against Him (if we're talking about what is written, then what is written), but I can also ask Him and wait for His answer though the spirit as well (this might not mean anything to a non-beleiver, but I have to speak honestly). What He says (as the Word and Truth of God) is all that really matters. God said to listen to His Son.

  Peace,

  tammy (off to work, sorry)
• 

  Emery

  I found some bible scholar commentaries to be very helpful with this subject and scripture.

  Barnes' Notes on the Bible

  "All Scripture - This properly refers to the Old Testament, and should not be applied to any part of the New Testament, unless it can be shown that that part was then written, and was included under the general name of "the Scriptures;" compare 2 Peter 3:15-16. But it includes the whole of the Old Testament, and is the solemn testimony of Paul that it was all inspired. If now it can be proved that Paul himself was an inspired man, this settles the question as to the inspiration of the Old Testament."

  Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

  "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God - This sentence is not well translated; the original πασα γραφη θεοκνευστος ωφιλιμος προς διδασκαλιαν, κ. τ. λ. should be rendered: Every writing Divinely inspired is profitable for doctrine, etc. The particle και, and, is omitted by almost all the versions and many of the fathers, and certainly does not agree well with the text. The apostle is here, beyond all controversy, speaking of the writings of the Old Testament, which, because they came by Divine inspiration, he terms the Holy Scriptures, 2 Timothy 3:15; and it is of them alone that this passage is to be understood; and although all the New Testament came by as direct an inspiration as the Old, yet, as it was not collected at that time, not indeed complete, the apostle could have no reference to it."

  Theses scholars were bible believing Christians to top it off.

  The NT wasn't put together until 361 AD, a good 300 years after this scripture was actually written. Irenaeus of Lyons used some poor logic and analogies to conclude that only 4 gospels should be included in the NT. He reasoned that since there were 4 winds and 4 corners of the earth, then there should only be 4 gospels. Also if you read Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus", "Jesus Interrupted", or "Forged", you will also see how the NT is not without contradiction, error or corruption. This especially helped me toss the whole 1914 argument out the window when I realize they placed random scriptures together from the OT and NT to develop some ridiculous divine mathematical equation because, "All scripture is inspired".
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  Leolaia

  In verse 8 of the same chapter, the author is not quoting anything that is included in the Bible, but it is familiar to his readers.

  Exactly. There was in fact a pseudepigraphal Book of Jannes and Jambres, extant only in fragments today.

  So is the book of Enoch inspired or not? :/

  The author of Jude believed so. He believed he was quoting from what Enoch had "prophesied" (v. 14), and prophecy = inspiration. And he alludes to 1 Enoch in at least three other places in the epistle (v. 6, 12-13, 16). Similarly, he makes reference to the Assumption of Moses as well in v. 9 and echoes it in v. 16. The author of Jude was heavily steeped in parabiblical literature.
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  elderelite

  Lol thanks phizzy, i thought about it later and couldnt remember if it was peter or paul
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  Recovery

  I would like to point out that quotations from a book does not mean that the author believed it to be inspired. There are many quotations in the Hebrew Scriptures to books that were never considered 'inspired of God' by the Jews.