This
post is part 2 of the series. To read part 1, use this link:
http://brotherjoeradosti.blogspot.com/2012/04/just-what-is-purpose-of-bible.html
There
are many hard sayings in the Bible, but does that prove that there are errors in the Bible? Because we read something in the Bible that doesn't fit into our
paradigm, does that mean it's not true? Additionally, how can we know if the words written in the Bible were accurately preserved? After all, we can only guess as
to when the New Testament was written, and we argue about who the authors are.
Jesus
said, "unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you
have no life in yourselves." Afterward, many of his disciples turned from
following him (John 6:53-63).
Jesus
hard sayings didn't change the fact that he is the Messiah, the Christ. Neither
do the hard sayings throughout the Bible change the fact that the Bible is
holy, and inspired; the word of God that points us to the Living Word - Jesus,
our Savior, Lord, and King.
Jesus thought fulfilling the Scriptures was important for his mission.
Why would he be concerned about fulfilling the Scriptures if it was just another
"uninspired" book?
Mat.
26:54 "How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen
this way?” (Scripture references are NASB and the underlined words are my
emphasis).
Mark 1:15
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent
and believe in the gospel.”
Mark
12:24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do
not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?"
Mark
14:49 "Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize
Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures.”
Luke
4:21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing.”
Luke
24:25-27 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in
all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to
suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses
and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself
in all the Scriptures.
John
5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal
life; it is these that testify about Me;
John
13:18 I do not speak of all of you. I
know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He
who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’
Having
a high Christology doesn't lessen the importance of Scripture; it makes it more
important.
The
apostle Paul believed all Scripture was inspired by God.
2 Tim
3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, for training in righteousness;
Paul
referred to the Scriptures when he told the story of Jesus.
1
Cor. 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was
buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Paul
asks, "What does the Scripture say?" (Romans 4:3; Gal. 4:30), because
what the Scripture says is important.
The
apostle Peter tells us that some will distort the Scriptures (or lessen its
importance, saying it's uninspired).
2
Peter 3:16 as also in all his [Paul's] letters, speaking in them of these
things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and
unstable distort, [We've probably all been unintentionally guilty of distorting the Scriptures to fit into our own theological framework. Even the best theologians and scholars get it wrong.] as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own
destruction.
One
final thought, if we don't believe that God can accurately preserve the
Scriptures, how will we trust that God will raise us from the dead?
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