Who says the bible is Gods word?I mean who in the Bible?
Remember the bible is a whole host of books put together as one by different people than the writers.
Did the actual writers cliam their books were inspired by God?
I only know of Pauls claim in Timothy, but can he really speak for the rest of the Bible writers when he claim "all scripture is inspired of God"?
What scripures did he mean anyway?
He doesn't list them.
So did the bible writers really think they were inspired of God?
Luke for example doesn't seam to think he was, he just says he was writing the history of Jesus and apostales.If he believed God was directing him why does he fail to mention it?
Who says the bible is Gods word?
by sleepy 5 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
sleepy
-
iggy_the_fish
I think there are a couple of other bits and pieces that might claim inspiration
The visions of Isaiah (Isaiah 1:2), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:2) and John (Revelation 1:1) for example explicitly claim divine inspiration for their visions. Others might as well, but I can't be bothered to trawl through my whole bible.
Is this the sort of thing you mean? I think you're right about Luke, he gives the impression that he is doing his best to give an honest account rather than an inspired one.
Iggy the fish.
"You want the truth? You can't handle the truth. No truth-handler, you. Bah! I deride your truth-handling abilities!"
Side Show Bob -
sleepy
Iggyfishy
"The visions of Isaiah (Isaiah 1:2), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:2) and John (Revelation 1:1) for example explicitly claim divine inspiration for their visions. Others might as well, but I can't be bothered to trawl through my whole bible."
Some did cliam to have visions from God, but did they claim the books themselves were from God?
I cant think of any refrence outside of Timothy that actually says this book (individual books not whole Bible) is from God. -
iggy_the_fish
...but did they claim the books themselves were from God?
I don't think they explicitly claimed that, no. Looks like its just Paul then (in Timothy), bigging his part up as usual.
Iggy the fish.
-
Justin
This is a good question. The expression "word of God" could not be applied to the Bible as a whole until all the books that eventually made up the Bible were canonized and, in effect, placed within the same volume. By the time that the first letter to Timothy was written, there was an unofficial Jewish canon for the Hebrew Bible, and this is evidently what the writer (Paul?) had in mind, though even the Jewish canon wasn't formalized until the Council of Jamnia (90 CE). Notice, Paul did not say "this letter that I'm now writing is inspired of God," but rather whatever is considered Scripture is inspired of God. The Christian Church later canonized its own set of writings to be added to the Hebrew canon.
The theory of inspiration is such that even historical writings are considered to be inspired even if they don't come with a "Thus saith the Lord" like the utterance of a prophet would. The thought is that even the historical writers, while they seemed to use more personal initiative in gathering their sources and reporting, were still under the influence of God.
The problem that JWs and like-minded groups have, is that they consider the Bible to be the Word of God and yet it was put together and compiled (apart from the writing of the orginal documents) by persons and communities of which they do not approve. By refusing to acknowledge their indeptedness to such ones, they are acting as if the Bible simply fell out of the sky!
It's important to realize that Christianity has always regarded Jesus Christ - the Logos - to be the living Word of God. It is this Person who is the Revelation of God. The Bible, on the other hand, is sometimes called the WRITTEN Word of God. Although the writings of the Bible came to be regarded as Holy Scripture, exactly when and by whom it was first actually called "the Word of God" is a mystery to me. If I find out any more, I'll write another post.
Of course, there are those who will not agree that it is the Word of God, but I believe your question was of a historical nature and that is what I've tried to address.
-
willy_think
Sleepy,
Here is my perspective on your questions.Who says the bible is Gods word?
The Catholic church, 4th century.I mean who in the Bible?
What an interesting question. It makes me think you already know the answer and are redirecting your line of thinking away from the historical fact.
Did the actual writers cliam their books were inspired by God?
Some did.I only know of Pauls claim in Timothy, but can he really speak for the rest of the Bible writers when he claim "all scripture is inspired of God"?
No.
What scripures did he mean anyway?
It's irrelevant since the Church not Paul declared the bible inspired.
So did the bible writers really think they were inspired of God?
Some did.Luke for example doesn't seam to think he was, he just says he was writing the history of Jesus and apostales.If he believed God was directing him why does he fail to mention it?
What "Luke" thought about the inspired nature of his book or that of the Bible in it's fullest form is also irrelevant. He didn't declare his book or the bible inspired. as I said there is no escaping historical facts. The bible was declared inspired by the Church, all later declarations of the Bibles inspired nature were only statements affirming the authority of the Church.The Great and Powerful Oz:
pay no attention to the man behind the curtain