What about all the other Christian authors out there? Should they be in the bible as well?
2006-10-18 04:48:48 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Actually Paul didn't write all of the New Testament, just the majority of it. Paul was a prophet, just like Moses. All of the prophets had to prove that they were being led by God by performing miracles. Not all Christian writers were prophets, because not all performed miracles.
I think that what you are really asking is about how the Holy Spirit could inspire the Bible. This question gets asked all of the time here.
Peter implied that the writers of scripture were "carried along" by the Holy Spirit when writing (2 Peter 1:20-21). I have been told that the same term is used in secular Greek writings to describe a boat driven by the wind or current. Obviously passengers on the boat have limited freedom to move around on the boat as they please, but the passengers are being driven toward a certain goal no matter how they move around they get there.
So the writers of the Bible could use their own personal way of expressing themselves, but the Holy Spirit was driving their personalities and pashions to write down the ideas that God put into their heads.
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...The ORGANIC VIEW says the Bible came into being by a superintendence of the human faculties to the degree that God rendered the writings inerrant yet retained the personalities of the individual writers. This view is the one presented in the Westminster Standards, and in the writings of such reformed scholars as A. A. Hodge, Charles Hodge, L. Berkhof, B. M. Palmer, W. G. T. Shedd, B. B. Warfield, and C. VanTil. It is also found in the works of conservative non-reformed scholars such as L. S. Chafer and H. C. Thiessen.
Dr. Allen MacRae stated it this way in his lectures on prolegomena; "Inspiration is a special act of the Holy Spirit by which he guided the writers of the books of the Scriptures so that their words should convey the thought he wished conveyed, should bear a proper relationship to the thought of the other inspired books, and should be kept free from errors of fact, of doctrine or of judgment."
Only the organic view does justice to the direct claims of Scripture while also accounting for obvious differences of expression and style. The other approaches sacrifice something of the Bible's claims about itself to accommodate human ideas and presumptions. They either endanger the concept of biblical infallibility, inerrancy, and full divine authority, or they deny the idea of a true analogical correspondence to absolute truth in God's revelation.
The Bible describes the inscripturation of God's truth as a direct supernatural act. It is more than mere supernatural guidance. It works directly upon the human writer. It is a special act of the Holy Spirit. And it involves prior special revelation.
Biblical inspiration suppresses the fallible element in the writers. God kept the writers from engaging in their own speculations and interpretations as they wrote. God guarded them from including the erroneous teachings or beliefs of their day as if they were truth.
This does not rule out that God moved the writers to quote at times from or refer to non-inspired sources to illustrate what he wanted them to say. Such references are not endorsements that the work quoted from is in itself authoritative. What is quoted merely helps the author communicate what God wanted him to convey to his readers. God protected each writer of the Bible from recording anything as fact that was a factual or interpretive error....
...Inspiration refers directly to only the autographa (the original manuscripts). The inspired Scriptures are God's pure, perfect, complete, inerrant and therefore fully authoritative word.
The Bible is our only source for data supporting this view. When collecting the facts upon which to build a theological statement of what is true about the inspiration of the Bible, the Scriptures alone must be our source. The theological student must always guard against introducing elements into his constructions that do not come from explicit or necessarily implied statements of the canonical books....
2006-10-18 05:03:36 · answer #1 · answered by Randy G 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The bible is the foundational truths. Paul's letters were written inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Christian authors are inspired by the Holy Ghost / God also. It is a prophetic work. Hearing from God & writing what is learned. Every born again Christian is a walking epistle / book. Each has a testimony that God has saved them.
But the testimony of Christians today can be discerned if from God if it contradicts or agrees with the foundational truth in the bible. Not every thing Jesus did is in the bible. Only the things necessary for us to believe in God & receive the free gift of salvation, restoration in relationship with God. The whole earth is a book of God's creation.
Christian books are good to read. But one needs to be grounded in the Word revealed in the Holy Bible.
2006-10-18 04:59:49 · answer #2 · answered by t a m i l 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Paul wrote those books of the Bible threw the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. It was God working through him. The books that are in the Bible now are the books that are suppose to be there, that is the way God ordained it. These other Christian authors you mentioned, if it was meant for what they wrote to be in the Bible, it would be there.
2006-10-18 04:53:54 · answer #3 · answered by Caleb's Mom 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Paul wrote those books according to the commandments, which given by Moses and Jesus. We cannot found any difference in those writings. So those are nothing but God's Words.
2006-10-18 04:56:37 · answer #4 · answered by Wilson 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They wrote the books by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There were many writers of the Bible, but only one author.
2006-10-18 04:51:48 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
The First Epistle of Peter states that it is God who authored the Scriptures, and had mortal men pen the words.
Exodus tells us that the Word of the Lord will fill the mouth of His prophets.
1 Peter 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
2006-10-18 04:50:54 · answer #6 · answered by Bob L 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
what's funny, is that when u truly learn and try to understand and seek Truth, u begin to see that a LOT of it is actually straight common sense.. instead of worrying so much about "who wrote what", i say see what Speaks to your heart and mind, what shows you is Right in your life, and use that to continue seeking truth.. whether it is Luke, Paul, Matthew, whoever was the writer, instead of worrying which is truly divinely inspired, u can see true commonalities between that and what Lots of writers say..because they are inspired by the need to seek truth...and common sense is within ALL of us.... how do we know what is "right" and "wrong"? how do we know we shouldn't murder? lie? cheat? steal? it is Common Sense..... the bible shows and points out things we should already know.. i know Non Christians who "Follow" these rules than Practicing Christians/Catholics!!
Why is this? because it is not JUST God's Word... it truly makes Sense, there truly is a GOOD and EVIL. stop fighting amongst yourselves, and just continue seeking what makes sense and speaks positively to your heart. whether it is Paul's writings (i was truly touched by Romans 5-8) or Moses' in the Old Testament, it doesn't matter. good luck to us all~~! :)
2006-10-18 05:01:27 · answer #7 · answered by sasmallworld 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God is a big God and works though the character and styles of the authors of the Bible.
little godz couldnt pull this off, but God is a very very big God and 'the kings heart is in His hands'
He takes each person like a pen and writes, breathing his words, through the experiences and styles of the authors like Luke, Paul, Peter,.. Isaiah... Moses... Davis... and he carefull breaths his word into every nuance, jot an titlle
"you have glorified you name together with you word" Psalms
"foolish men and slow of heart not to believe every word written in the law and prophets" Jesus back from the dead in Luke
2006-10-18 05:00:08 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
2 Peter 1:20-21
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2006-10-18 04:58:12 · answer #9 · answered by Light 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Just because someone else wrote the accounts down doesn't mean that someone else didn't say it. It is like quoting when you write a paper. You are writing the paper but you are putting what someone else says.
2006-10-18 05:47:04 · answer #10 · answered by t j 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋