Acts 3:21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. The prophets said there was going to be a period of restoration. It was spoken but was it recorded and if so, where?
Is the bible the only source of revelation concerning the restoration of all things? Is God continuing to give progressive revelation by speaking to us today because we are now able to bear it?
Is the bible a manual for living or an introduction to a living loving relationship with Jesus the living Word of God? Is everything recorded in the bible inspired by God? Is all of the bible inerrant and infallible as we have been told?
Challenging the sacred cow of the inerrancy and infallibility of the bible will probably cause offence to many. I do not intend to offend but I do want to challenge our view of the bible as the “word of God” as opposed to Jesus being the true Word who is God.
Acts 3:18 But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
Act 3:22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you.
Acts 3:24 And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. 25 It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Heb 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. John reveals because Jesus has fulfilled all the promises that wee prophesied, we all have received His fullness.
The all being restored and all receiving was always God’s intention. Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we exist holy and blameless before Him, in love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.
Eph 1:4 He associated us in Christ before the fall of the world! Jesus is God’s mind made up about us! He always knew in his love that he would present us again face-to-face before him in blameless innocence. The us includes everyone that God created.
Jesus came as the living word of God to speak to us, and He still is. John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; John 16:12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear (to lay hold of and hold onto) them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.
Is the word of God a book or a person? Depending on the emphasis of the translator from Greek and Latin to English or any other language we will see that what was written can be subtly changed to fit the preconceived beliefs of the translator.
2 Cor 3:6 who also made us adequate as servants of a New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Written words can bring bondage, fear and legalism if used for the wrong purpose and without the Spirit of Truth.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Heb 4:12 for the reckoning of God is living, and working, and sharp above every two-edged sword YLT. Heb 4:12 living is the word of the God. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 3:34 For He (Jesus) whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.
John 10:34 Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is (the) word of God. Word is rhema spoken word.
Col 3:16 Let the word of (the) Christ richly dwell within you, Book or person?
2 Thes 2:2 we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God. 2 Thes 2:13 When you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work(s) in you who believe.
1 Thes 2:13 that, having received the word of hearing from us of God, ye accepted, not the word of man, but as it is truly, the word of God, WHO also works in you who believe; YLT. The Word is Jesus a person not a book (New Testament) not yet written.
2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; The translators can subtly change the emphasis by adding, changing or removing words.
2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture (writings) is inspired by God and profitable for (with pros face to face) teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2 Tim 3:16 every writing God-breathed, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for setting aright, for instruction that [is] in righteousness, YLT
What it actually says is every writing that God inspired or breathed is useful. What it does not say is every scripture or writing is God inspired, that includes the bible and any other “holy books”. They may contain some truth but only that is inspired.
How do we tell what is or what is not inspired in scriptures or writings? John 16:12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; … 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
2 Timothy was written in AD 61-65 long before the Canon of scripture was agreed by bishops in Carthage in AD 397. What were the scriptures or writings that it refers to? The Old Testament only or anything that God inspired?
It does not say that all scripture or writings are inerrant, infallible and perfect. Does it mean that God inspired people to write or that all that what they wrote is all inspired? Being inspired does not mean dictated in perfect detail
Only Jesus is the actual word of God. The bible is a library of books that point us to the living word a person Jesus. 2 Tim 3:16 says that God inspired writings are useful, beneficial or profitable but not infallible or inerrant
So, what if what is really meant by 2 Tim 3:16 is that Jesus is the fulfilment of every inspired scripture, whether Jewish, or Pagan, or Hindu, or Buddhist, etc.? In other words, if Jesus is the “Way, the Truth and the Life”, then we can expect to see Him in all truth, and in all ways, and in every life?
In the Shack there is a conversation between Mack and Jesus. “Does that mean,’ said Mack, ‘that all roads lead to you? ‘’Not at all.” Jesus smiled as he reached for the door handle to the shop. ‘Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.”
Is there truth hidden within all paths so that so people on those paths can find the truth and take the true path Jesus? Has God inspired writers in religious and non-religious writings to include truth that can reveal Jesus as the Truth?
This means we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that the Hindu Vedas [scriptures] teach something like this: “God Himself is the sacrifice”. “The sacrificial victim is to be crowned with a crown made of thorny vines” (Rigveda 10.90.7, 15). “After death, His clothes are to be divided among the offerors” (Ithareya Brahmanam).
“His hands and legs are to be bound to a yoopa (a wooden pole) causing blood shed” (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, 3.9.28). “Before death, He should be given a drink of somarasa” [an intoxicating herbal juice] (Yajur Veda 31). “None of His bones will be broken” (Ithareya Brahmanam 2.6).
It should not surprise us in the least to learn that Buddha taught something very similar to what Jesus taught about loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, or treating others as we want to be treated.
Why should we not be surprised? Because all truth is God’s truth and because real truths in all the writings are “God-breathed”, not just the Jewish writings, or the Pagan writings, but if there is truth in any writings, they are profitable to us for teaching, instruction and wisdom through the Spirit.
Jesus fulfils the truth in all inspired scriptures. This does not diminish the bible. It magnifies Jesus above the bible and above every holy book ever written. Jesus has not only accomplished everything in the Law and the Prophets, as He promised to do, He also accomplished what was the truth promised in all inspired writings.
Therefore, all the writings can point people to Jesus. All the God-breathed writings can be profitable for people. As long as our eyes are set on Jesus, and our relationship is with Him [and not any book or man-made religion], we can learn to see and to know Jesus as He has been revealed and illuminated to us, regardless of the source.
Paul actually uses information from Greek philosophers and poets in his preaching the good news. That information is accepted as truth and included in the bible. God obviously inspired those nonbelieving gentiles with truth that is now accepted as biblical truth.
Acts 17:28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man
I have found truth to resonate with in many sources as the Holy Spirit speaks through them. Websites, blogs, YouTube, books, testimonies, music songs and albums. Sacred geometry and mathematics that show intelligent design.
Quantum physics and science books, science fiction books and films such as: Matrix, LOTR, Narnia series, Postman, The Arrival, Interstellar, Lucy, August Rush, Field of Dreams, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Shack etc.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 10:7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. There may be many sources of truth only Jesus is the Way and the Truth.