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| New Testament writers often quoted from the Old Testament. The narratives of the life of Jesus in the New Testament relate that He frequently quoted from the Old Testament, and he definitely indicated that what was written in the Old Testament was God's word. | ||
| In Matthew 15:4,
it is reported that Jesus said what was written in the Old Testament was
what God commanded. Jesus clearly distinguished between the source
of what some of the Jews of his time were saying, and what was written
in the Old Testament.
He made it clear that the Old Testament writings were from God, and that what the Jews of his time were saying was merely their tradition (Matthew 15:6). The passage Jesus quoted in Matthew 15:4 was Exodus 20:12 in the Old Testament. New Testament writers affirmed that what was written in the Old Testament was what the Holy Ghost had said. There is an example of this in Hebrews 3:7,8. The Apostle Peter affirmed of the Old Testament that: |
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"...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." |
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| In Hebrews 1:1, the writer plainly asserts that the prophets we read about in the Old Testament actually spoke what God gave them to speak. That passage says: | ||
"...God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets..." |
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| He affirmed that God spoke by those men. One may not believe what the New Testament says about the Old Testament, but there is no doubt that the New Testament definitely affirms that the Old Testament scriptures came from God! The New Testament teaches that its contents were written by men whom God inspired. Paul said that what he taught came by revelation of Jesus Christ (Gal. 1: 11,12). He also said that what he wrote in the New Testament was what the Holy Spirit directed him to write. For an example, in 1Timothy 4:1, Paul said: | ||
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons." |
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| Paul did not merely say the Spirit speaks, but he said, "Now the Spirit speaks expressly". He obviously meant that what he was right then writing was what the Holy Spirit said! | ||
| In 1 Corinthians
2:10, Paul affirmed that what had been kept hidden from the people
of Old Testament times had been revealed by the Holy Spirit to him and
the other apostles. Paul also said that the Holy Spirit gave him
and the other inspired men the
very words to speak in making known the precious gospel (1 Corinthians 2:13). |
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| Paul told Timothy that
all Scripture was given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16).
In the context we know he meant all holy Scripture, because he referred
to "the holy Scripture" in the verse before that. The New Testament
was originally written in the
common language of the Greeks. The word in the Greek text of 2 Timothy 3:16 that is translated "inspiration" is the word that means "God-breathed". In some miraculous manner, the Almighty God directed the writers of the holy Scriptures, and therefore, their scriptures or writings are God's words! If one studies the Bible carefully, he will see that it is much easier to believe that men who were inspired of God wrote the Bible than it is to believe that men who were not inspired of God wrote it. God made it easy and reasonable to believe the Bible is his divine Word. |
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from the Bible Research
Library - Christian CD2
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Austin, Texas USA |
| Bicky Lawson
WBS Webmaster 6/30/00 |