New TestamentTwo important verses in the New Testament are 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:21. The first tells us where the Scriptures came from—they came from God—and the second informs us how they came to us—through men moved by God. In their immediate context, of course, these verses refer to the Old Testament, but this inspiration is also what these men claimed for themselves and for each other. Let’s quickly examine some of the evidence. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians “not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches” (1 Corinthians 2:13), and similarly, Peter encouraged the young churches to recall “the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior” (2 Peter 3:2). The translators handled well an unusual form of Greek in these passages; the emphasis is not that the apostles merely passed on the commands that Christ had given during His earthly ministry but that they now spoke the words of Christ Himself. In his first letter, Peter was even more direct. He claimed that the Old Testament prophets spoke of the coming of Christ by the power of “the Spirit of Christ who was in them,” and then he turned his attention to the apostles “who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven” (1 Peter 1:11–12). What the Holy Spirit was to the prophets, so He was to the apostles; the authority of the prophets is equal to the authority of the apostles. Paul challenged the Thessalonians, “You know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:2). Earlier in the same letter, Paul had reminded his readers how they first responded to his message: “When you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God” (2:13). Because Paul was convinced that his teaching carried the authority of God, he claimed that his preaching was the standard of the truth and that other preachers could be tested and measured by it (Galatians 1:6–12). Paul’s gospel was not “according to man,” but was received “through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11–12; see also Ephesians 3:3). For this reason obedience to Paul’s teaching became the measure of a spiritual life: “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:37). The 4 Gospels record much of the life and words of Jesus but the Bible doesn’t end with the four Gospels. Jesus told the Apostles that more needed to be said, saying: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”[7]
Due to the apostles’ inability to receive all the truth at that time, Jesus left it up to the Holy Spirit to complete the work of guiding them into all the truth. Therefore, to truly find His Will for us today, we must find His Way in the book of Acts and the Epistles and the rarely preached on book of Revelation. Only ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, “[The disciples] were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”[8] The Comforter[9], the Holy Spirit, had arrived. From here on we see the hand of the Holy Spirit guiding the followers of the Way through the next half century or so. In some cases, we are shown additional words of Jesus that we did not receive through the Gospels; in others, the Holy Spirit guided the words and writings of the apostles and their amanuenses into all truth, as if spoken by Jesus Himself. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”[10] Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.”[11] from Nazarene Preacher's Magazine 1928 #1 by W.W. Clay "With regard to the book of Hebrews, the evident purpose of the writer was to influence a local church existing at the time the book was written ; yet unquestionably the purpose of the Holy Spirit in inspiring its production reached out beyond that time and place to the Church in all the centuries to come." Reliability of the New Testament as Historical Documents
Tacitus—20 copies—1000 year gap Plato—7 copies—1200 year gap
16 We have not depended on made-up stories in making known to you the mighty coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. With our own eyes we saw his greatness. 17 We were there when he was given honor and glory by God the Father, when the voice came to him from the Supreme Glory, saying, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased!” 18 We ourselves heard this voice coming from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 So we are even more confident of the message proclaimed by the prophets. You will do well to pay attention to it, because it is like a lamp shining in a dark place until the Day dawns and the light of the morning star shines in your hearts. 20 Above all else, however, remember that none of us can explain by ourselves a prophecy in the Scriptures. 21 For no prophetic message ever came just from the human will, but people were under the control of the Holy Spirit as they spoke the message that came from God. The Dead Sea Scrolls, pictured below, brought us 1000 years closer to the original Old Testament documents, and it was found that the younger documents almost exactly matched the ones 1000 years earlier! The New Testament writers believed Genesis was true. Here are verses quoted from just the first 7 chapters of Genesis---in the New testament: |
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