Too often I see a problem with understanding what the Scriptures are and are not.
God asked people to write things down, and so they did. But they are not the Lord Jesus Christ!
Jn 5: 46,47 For is you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me, But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?
A few things can be understood from the above verse. Again, the books of the Bible which Moses wrote were the writings of Moses! God may have told Moses to write them, but Jesus Christ (who is God the Son) said they were the writings of Moses.
Another thing we should notice, is that it is possible to read the writings of Moses and not believe them!!
And another thing: If you do believe them you will believe Jesus Christ's words. So Moses writings are not the same thing as the Lord words, but rather were written to lead you to Jesus Christ's words. We see that again covered in 2 Timothy. But before I go on to that I want to point out that since the words Moses wrote down are to lead you to the words of the Lord, then they are not the words of the Lord
We call the Scriptures the Word of God, and we might have good reasons to do that. After all God did have Moses write them. Moses may even have quoted God in much of his writings, but God call what Moses wrote the writings of Moses and not the Word of God. Indeed Jesus Christ (the Word of God) specifically pointed out a difference between the words Moses wrote and His words. The writing of Moses should have lead us to His words, but it wasn't happening like it was supposed to. So let's see this gone over again.
2 Tim 3:15,,, the sacred writings which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
So we see the writings are sacred. That is important to understand. And we see that they are able to give us wisdom. And we see that wisdom leads us to salvation. But we also see that salvation is not through the writing but through faith in Jesus Christ.
I can not possible count the number of times I have seen Christian say that the Bible gives them life!!
Even more amazing is that so many time the Christian saying that the Bible gives them life seem to love to quote the above verse to prove it. They obviously are missing the wisdom of the verse!! And that is what happens. We read the sacred writing and miss the wisdom in the verses we just read. And I find something even more amazing. It is the teachers, preachers, and pastors in the church who are so often the ones missing the wisdom of the verse!
A few years ago I was taking a class in a school of ministry. The class was called Bible Practicum. It was supposed to give us an understanding of the Bible for practical reasons. And the person teaching us was telling us the Bible gives us life. This was just one case, and I could give a number of them, but how could you possible miss that the most practical reason for reading the Bible is that is lead you to salvation which is through faith in Jesus Christ?
Now there are certainly more reasons for studying the Bible than just the wisdom that can lead to salvation which is through faith in Jesus Christ, and I want to go over them also, but that has got to be the most important reason. And if any Christian, an especially a teacher of the Bible who had gone through seminary, doesn't clearly understand this; we as the Lord's church have really messed up our teaching!! And we have messed it up, because I've seen this problem over and over and over.
Now Paul continued to give more good reasons for studying the Scriptures, and will look at them. But the first and main point I want to make is that knowing the writing is not the same things as knowing the words of the Lord! The Scriptures don't save us. They point the way to salvation through Jesus Christ!!
God asked people to write things down, and so they did. But they are not the Lord Jesus Christ!
Jn 5: 46,47 For is you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me, But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?
A few things can be understood from the above verse. Again, the books of the Bible which Moses wrote were the writings of Moses! God may have told Moses to write them, but Jesus Christ (who is God the Son) said they were the writings of Moses.
Another thing we should notice, is that it is possible to read the writings of Moses and not believe them!!
And another thing: If you do believe them you will believe Jesus Christ's words. So Moses writings are not the same thing as the Lord words, but rather were written to lead you to Jesus Christ's words. We see that again covered in 2 Timothy. But before I go on to that I want to point out that since the words Moses wrote down are to lead you to the words of the Lord, then they are not the words of the Lord
We call the Scriptures the Word of God, and we might have good reasons to do that. After all God did have Moses write them. Moses may even have quoted God in much of his writings, but God call what Moses wrote the writings of Moses and not the Word of God. Indeed Jesus Christ (the Word of God) specifically pointed out a difference between the words Moses wrote and His words. The writing of Moses should have lead us to His words, but it wasn't happening like it was supposed to. So let's see this gone over again.
2 Tim 3:15,,, the sacred writings which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
So we see the writings are sacred. That is important to understand. And we see that they are able to give us wisdom. And we see that wisdom leads us to salvation. But we also see that salvation is not through the writing but through faith in Jesus Christ.
I can not possible count the number of times I have seen Christian say that the Bible gives them life!!
Even more amazing is that so many time the Christian saying that the Bible gives them life seem to love to quote the above verse to prove it. They obviously are missing the wisdom of the verse!! And that is what happens. We read the sacred writing and miss the wisdom in the verses we just read. And I find something even more amazing. It is the teachers, preachers, and pastors in the church who are so often the ones missing the wisdom of the verse!
A few years ago I was taking a class in a school of ministry. The class was called Bible Practicum. It was supposed to give us an understanding of the Bible for practical reasons. And the person teaching us was telling us the Bible gives us life. This was just one case, and I could give a number of them, but how could you possible miss that the most practical reason for reading the Bible is that is lead you to salvation which is through faith in Jesus Christ?
Now there are certainly more reasons for studying the Bible than just the wisdom that can lead to salvation which is through faith in Jesus Christ, and I want to go over them also, but that has got to be the most important reason. And if any Christian, an especially a teacher of the Bible who had gone through seminary, doesn't clearly understand this; we as the Lord's church have really messed up our teaching!! And we have messed it up, because I've seen this problem over and over and over.
Now Paul continued to give more good reasons for studying the Scriptures, and will look at them. But the first and main point I want to make is that knowing the writing is not the same things as knowing the words of the Lord! The Scriptures don't save us. They point the way to salvation through Jesus Christ!!