Do you know the major reason of over abundance of carnality as on this site, is right here satan has sold many christians a bill of God's on this one, he does not want you to walk in light of this truth.
PhillipJohn, are you familiar with the Danish statement told by Dansk mothers to their children in the dark of night? "Don't paint the Devil on the wall."
I am a Christian of 30 years and this site is filled with Born agiain, dyed in the wool loving Christians as much if not more than those of whom you speak.
The Devil has been manipulating every possible means that God has created or man has invented since he was cast out of Heaven. It is our job and responsibility to use these tools to Gods duties duly appointed us as his Servants and Children.
If you are so concerned about debauchery, adultery, fornication and so many infractions against the Law of our Lord then you might want to a) learn how to monitor your own pattern of usage on the internet or b) turn your computer off all together.
It would seem as you hit the top of the list of carnality, first try, love does not think as you responded, if you did not understood the post maybe the thing to do was ask.
By your extreme criticism of many on this forum,you seem to be or at least you might want others to think you are extremely intelligent.
Since you happen to think you have such great insights,maye even being a Hebreww and Greek expert,possibly a teacher.
When will you elaborate upon the Scriptures you post;
Instead of waiting for others to do this,only to have you bash them to the ground.
You post things which people cannot understand,seeing they are written incoherently.
You post topics and almost never elaborate on the subject,
you almost always want others to fill in the blanks.
And you 'CRITICIZE' those which bring forth the WORD of LIFE.
You talk a lot about what others are not doing,you say to others such as James,Manof GOD,Thunder and others,'Your of the devil,you are causing division in the body.
As far as you constantly doing that to myself,I actually believe that you have almost,NO understanding of the Word of GOD as it has been written.
You are extremely jealous of those which bring for the Word of GOD,without an fluff,or pomp.
The conviction of the HOLY Spirit drives you to speak evil against others and you yourself are BLIND,ARROGANT,and EXTREMEMLY PROUD to even admit this.
I adjure you by the mercies of GOD 'REPENT,BELIEVE THE GOSPEL' this day.
February 26, 1984 | by John Piper | Scripture: 2 Peter 1:20-21 | Topic: Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible
Series: The Person & Work of the Holy Spirit
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You're listening to The Holy Spirit: Author of Scripture
2 Peter 1:20-21
First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
On June 27, 1819, Adoniram Judson baptized his first convert in Burma. His wife, Ann Hasseltine, described how Moung Nau had responded to the Scripture: "A few days ago I was reading with him Christ's Sermon on the Mount. He was deeply impressed and unusually solemn. 'These words,' said he, 'take hold on my liver; they make me tremble.'" God spoke through Isaiah the prophet 2,700 years ago and said, "This is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word . . . Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word" (Isaiah 66:2, 5).
The Bible's Impact in History
For two thousand years the Bible has been taking hold of people's livers and making them tremble�first with fear because it reveals our sin, then with faith because it reveals God's grace. A single verse, Romans 13:13, convicted and converted the immoral Augustine. For Martin Luther, a miserable monk, the light broke in through Romans 1:17. He said,
Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. (Here I Stand, p. 49)
For Jonathan Edwards it was 1 Timothy 1:17. He says,
The first instance, that I remember, of that sort of inward, sweet delight in God and divine things, that I have lived much in since, was on reading these words, 1 Tim. 1:17, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." As I read the words, there came into my soul . . . a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense quite different from anything I ever experienced before. Never any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did. (Works, vol. 1, p. xii)
From century to century, from Egypt to Germany to New England, the Bible has been drawing people to Christ and making them new.
The Bible as the Word of Man and the Word of God
Why? Why has the Bible had this abiding relevance and power? I believe the answer is found in our text. 2 Peter 1:20�21, "First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." This passage teaches that when you read Scripture, what you are reading does not merely come from a man but also from God. The Bible is the writing of many different men. But it is also far more than that. Yes, men spoke. They spoke with their own language and style. But Peter mentions two other dimensions of their speaking.
Speaking from God, Moved by the Holy Spirit
First, they spoke from God. What they have to say is not merely from their own limited perspective. They are not the origin of the truth they speak; they are the channel. The truth is God's truth. Their meaning is God's meaning.
Second, not only is what they spoke from God, but how they spoke it is controlled by the Holy Spirit. "Men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God." God did not simply reveal truth to the writers of Scripture and then depart in hopes that they might communicate it accurately. Peter says that in the very communicating of it they were carried by the Holy Spirit. The making of the Bible was not left to merely human skills of communication; the Holy Spirit himself carried the process to completion.
One recent book by three former teachers of mine (LaSor, Hubbard, and Bush, Old Testament Survey, p. 15) puts it like this,
To assure verbal precision God, in communicating his revelation, must be verbally precise, and inspiration must extend to the very words. This does not mean that God dictated every word. Rather his Spirit so pervaded the mind of the human writer that he chose out of his own vocabulary and experience precisely those words, thoughts and expressions that conveyed God's message with precision. In this sense the words of the human authors of Scripture can be viewed as the word of God.
Not Just Prophecy, but All Scripture
Someone might say that 2 Peter 1:20�21 only has to do with prophecy not with all Old Testament Scripture. But look carefully how he argues. In verse 19 Peter says that a prophetic word has been made more sure to him by his experience with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. Then in verses 20�21 he undergirds the authority of this prophetic word by saying it is part of Scripture. Verse 20: "No prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation." Peter is not saying that only prophetic parts of Scripture are inspired by God. He is saying, We know the prophetic word is inspired precisely because it is a "prophecy of Scripture." Peter's assumption is that whatever stands in Scripture is from God, written by men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
His teaching is the same as Paul's in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." None of the Old Testament Scriptures came by the impulse of man. All of it is truth from God as men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
What About the New Testament Writings?
But what about the New Testament? Did the apostles and their close associates (Mark, Luke, James, Jude, and the writer to the Hebrews) experience divine inspiration as they wrote? Were they "carried" by the Holy Spirit to speak from God? The Christian church has always answered yes. Jesus said to his apostles in John 16:12�13, "I have yet many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you things that are to come." Then the apostle Paul confirms this when he says of his own apostolic teaching in 1 Corinthians 2:12�13, "We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit." In 2 Corinthians 13:3 he said that Christ speaks in him. And in Galatians 1:12 he said, "I did not receive [my gospel] from man nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ." If we take Paul as our model for what it meant to be an apostle of Christ, then it would be fair to say that the New Testament as well as the Old is not merely from man but also from God. The writers of the Old Testament and New Testament spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit Is the Divine Author of Scripture
The doctrine that emerges is this: The Holy Spirit is the divine author of all Scripture. If this doctrine is true, then the implications are so profound and far-reaching that every part of our lives should be affected. I want to talk about those implications this morning. But for our own strengthening and for those still wavering on the outskirts of commitment let me first sketch out the basis of our persuasion.
Coming to a Reasonable Faith in Scripture
Most people come to a reasonable trust in the Bible as God's word something like this. It happens in three stages.
1. We Are Guilty Before God
First, the testimony of our own conscience, the reality of God behind nature, and the message of Scripture come together in our hearts to give us the inescapable conviction that we are guilty before our Creator. This is a reasonable conviction because the persuasion that there is a Creator above this world and the persuasion that we are guilty for not honoring and thanking him as we ought are not irrational leaps in the dark; they are forced upon us by our experience and our honest thinking about the world.
2. Jesus Wins Our Confidence
The second step on the way to a reasonable persuasion that the Bible is God's word is that Jesus Christ is shown to us. Someone reads or tells us the story of this incomparable man who talked and acted like so much more than a man. We see the authority he claimed to forgive sin and command demons and control nature, we see the purity of his moral teaching, his utter surrender to the will of God, his brilliant calm under cross-examination, his righteous fury against hypocrites, his tenderness toward little children, his patience with the humble seekers, his innocent submission to torture, and we hear from his lips the sweetest, most-needed words ever spoken: "I have come to give my life as a ransom for many." And so by the self-authenticating force of his incomparable character and power Jesus wins our confidence and our trust and we take him as Savior from our sin and Lord of our life. And this is not an irrational persuasion. It's the way all of you go about making reasonable decisions about whom you will trust in life. Will you trust this babysitter with your children, or this lawyer to give you good counsel, or this friend to keep your secret? You look, you listen, and eventually you are persuaded (or not) that here in this person is solid ground for your confidence.
3. We Follow the Teaching and Spirit of Jesus
Once the character and power of Jesus have captured our trust, then he becomes the guide and authority for all our future decisions and persuasions. So the third step on the way to a reasonable persuasion that the Bible is God's word is to let the teaching and the spirit of Jesus control how we assess the Bible. This happens in at least two ways. One is that we accept what Jesus teaches about the Old and New Testaments. When he says that Scripture can't be broken (John 10:35) and that not an iota or dot will pass from the law till all is accomplished (Matthew 5:18), we agree with him and base our confidence in the Old Testament on his reliability. And when he chose twelve apostles to found his church, gives them his authority to teach, and promises to send his Spirit to guide them into truth, we agree with him and credit the writings of these men with the authority of Christ.
The other way the teaching and spirit of Jesus control our assessment of the Bible is that we recognize in the teachings of the Bible the many-colored rays of light refracted out from the prism of Christ whom we have come to trust. And just as Christ enabled us to make sense out of our relation to God and bring harmony to it, so also the many rays of his truth in every part of the Bible enable us to make sense out of hundreds of our experiences in life and see the way to harmony. Our confidence in Scripture grows as we realize that Jesus affirmed it and as we realize that its teachings are as incomparable as Jesus himself. Time after time they help us make sense out of life's puzzles: failing marriages, rebellious children, drug addiction, warring nations, the return of leaves in spring, the insatiable longings of our hearts, the fear of death, the coming into being of children, the universality of praise and blame, the prevalence of pride, and the admiration of self-denial. The Bible confirms its divine origin again and again as it makes sense out of our experience in the real world and points the way to harmony.
I hope, therefore, that one of the doctrines which we cherish at Bethlehem enough to die for it (and live for it!) is that the Holy Spirit is the divine author of all Scripture. The Bible is God's word, not merely man's word.
Implications for All of Life
O, that we had all day to talk about the wonderful implications of this doctrine! The Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture. Therefore, it is true (Psalm 119:142) and altogether reliable (Hebrews 6:18). It is powerful, working its purpose in our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:13) and not returning empty to the One who sent it (Isaiah 55:10�11). It is pure, like silver refined in a furnace seven times (Psalm 12:6). It is sanctifying (John 17:17). It gives life (Psalm 119:37, 50, 93, 107; John 6:63; Matthew 4:4). It makes wise (Psalm 19:7; 119:99�100). It gives joy (Psalm 19:8; 119:16, 92, 111, 143, 174) and promises great reward (Psalm 19:11). It gives strength to the weak (Psalm 119:28) and comfort to the distraught (Psalm 119:76) and guidance to the perplexed (Psalm 119:105) and salvation to the lost (Psalm 119:155; 2 Timothy 3:15). The wisdom of God in Scripture is inexhaustible.
How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
What is called the dogmatic spirit is not popular among men. It is characterized by an authoritative method of presenting truth; by an unwillingness to modify truth to fit it to current conceptions; by an insistence on what seem to many minor points; and above all by (what lies at the root of most of its other peculiarities) a habit of thinking in a system, and a consequent habit of estimating the relative importance of the separate items of truth by their logical relation to the body of truth, rather than by their apparent independent value. Such a habit of mind seems to be the only appropriate attitude toward a body of truth given by revelation, and committed to men only to embrace, cherish, preserve, and propagate. It seems to be, moreover, the attitude toward the body of revealed truth commended to those who were to be its "ministers" and not its masters, by the Lord and his apostles, when they placed it as a rich treasure in the keeping of stewards of the mysteries of God. But it is irritating to men. They would discuss rather than receive truth. And, if they must receive it, they would fain modify it here and there to fit preconceived opinions or permit cherished practices. Especially in a busy age in which Pilate's careless question, "what is truth?" represents the prevailing attitude of men's minds, the dogmatic habit is apt to fare somewhat badly.
An illustration of what is meant by the dogmatic spirit may be found in a passage in the biography of that great servant of Christ, Caesar Malan, who is forgotten already in the land which he served so nobly in the gospel of Christ, but to whom, under God, along with his compeers, Merle D'Aubigne and Louis Gaussen, Switzerland owes her awakening to the light of truth in this century. It is, perhaps, none the worse as an illustration that it presents the dogmatic habit in an extreme form, and, in the opinion of the biographer at least, in perverted action. The biographer is pointing out what he believed to be Malan's greater fitness for the missionary than for the pastoral office. He thinks his habit of mind, firing him with zeal for the whole truth, eminently fitted him for the one function and somewhat unsuited him for the other. "Called to be a witness, a confessor, an apostle," he says, "we may say of him what the chief of the apostles scrupled not to say of himself, that 'he was not sent to baptize, but to preach the gospel.' ... Looking at everything from the most serious point of view, tracing each offense not to its secondary or accidental source, but to those abstract principles which his spirit so rapidly divined, and the issues of which be so vividly apprehended ' it was too probable that with him every act of heedlessness would be a crime, every unenlightened sentiment a heresy," [the spirit by] which the dogmatic habit is exposed. It may be misled into harsh judgments of individuals by its own clear view of the consistency of truth, and its own vivid realization of the significance and issue of special errors and shortcomings. But its essential virtue is also here presented before us. Its clear insight into truth as a body and in its parts; its rapid perception of and firm grasp upon determining principles; its vivid apprehension of the logical and ultimately the inevitable practical effects of this and that apparently unimportant modification of truth; its consequent zeal to preserve the truth from corruption and its devotion to its propagation: these are the elements of the true dogmatic spirit. It is, accordingly, as Malan's biographer forcibly points out, the true missionary spirit--the spirit of the Apostle Paul.
We may observe its working in Paul, in the Epistle to the Galatians. Here burns the purest zeal for that gospel which he had been sent to preach. Doubtless the preaching of the Judaizers appeared to the Galatians as but a slight modification of that of Paul--a modification which did not affect the essence of the gospel, and which presented many advantages. The Judaizers also preached Christ. They preached Christ as the promised Messiah of Israel, only through the acceptance of whom could entrance be had into the messianic salvation. To them, too, therefore, the promised redemption was unattainable save through the promised Messiah. But though they preached that only in his name could salvation be had, they denied that it could be had in his name alone. Something else was requisite. Men must accept the Messiah; but men must also be circumcised--men must keep the law-men must enter into life by the gate of Judaism. It was this teaching-not the proclamation of an entirely anti-Christian system-which Paul brands as a different kind of gospel or rather no gospel at all, but only a troubling of Zion by those who would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Was Paul narrow-minded and over-severe in this? Evidently there were many Galatians who thought so. Why harshly pronounce those "accursed" who taught fundamentally the same doctrine of the Messiah; and only differed in this, certainly very minor, point of whether the keeping of the law was not necessary too? How can the violence of asserting that if circumcision be received Christ will profit nothing, be possibly excused? Is not this the very embodiment of narrow-minded fanaticism yielding to the odium theologicum? There are apparently many today who would sympathize with the Galatians in so arguing. Paul, however, thought in a system; traced apparently small differences back to their principles; perceived clearly the issues to which they tended; and condemned according to fact and not according to appearance. He is the type of the dogmatic spirit. And we who would be followers of Paul, even as he was of Christ, may learn some very valuable lessons from him.
Primarily, we may learn this lesson: that it is not a matter of small importance whether we preserve the purity of the gospel. The chief dangers to Christianity do not come from the anti-Christian systems. Mohammedanism has never made inroads upon Christendom save by the sword. Nobody fears that Christianity will be swallowed up by Buddhism. It is corrupt forms of Christianity itself which menace from time to time the life of Christianity. Why make much of minor points of difference among those who serve the one Christ? Because a pure gospel is worth preserving; and is not only worth preserving, but is logically (and logic will always work itself ultimately out into history) the only saving gospel. Those who overlay the gospel with man-made additions, no less than those who subtract from it God-given elements, are not preaching "the gospel" in another form, but are offering a different kind of gospel, which is essentially no gospel at all. They are troublers of Israel, who are perverting the gospel of Christ.
Then, we may learn this lesson: that it is not a matter of small importance for the servant of Christ to begin to seek to please men in the gospel which he offers them. Doing so, he ceases to be Christ's servant, performing his will; and becomes the slave of men, veering hither and thither according to their beck and call. So doing, he is no longer the teacher of the truth to men, but the learner of falsehood from men. It doubtless seemed to the Judaizers very proper to adapt the mode in which they presented Christ to man, to the views of the community on which they had to depend for their first hearing in every fresh city. Paul says that in so doing they won not the blessing of God but his curse. After all, what is required of stewards is that they be found faithful.
And then we may learn this supreme lesson above all: that it is of the very gravest importance to keep clearly before our and others' minds and hearts the great fact that in Christ alone is there salvation. In Christ alone; and that in both senses of the word "alone." Not only can there be no salvation except in him; but in him is all that can be needed for salvation. Jesus only! Paul determined to know nothing in Corinth but Jesus Christ and him as crucified. The only saving gospel is to find in him all. There needs no supplement to hi's work. His work admits of no supplement. To depend on aught else-aught else, however small it may seem-along with him is as truly to lose him as to depend on aught else instead of him. The solemn words of Paul, "Behold I, Paul, say unto you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing," have their multiform application in these modern times. And it behooves us so to live and so to preach, today, that we can say now, as he said then, that our only trust and our only glory is in the cross of Jesus Christ; and that we find in him and his work alone the beginning and the middle and the end of salvation. He is not only the author but also the finisher of our faith.
The Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture. Therefore, it is true (Psalm 119:142) and altogether reliable (Hebrews 6:18). It is powerful, working its purpose in our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:13) and not returning empty to the One who sent it (Isaiah 55:10�11). It is pure, like silver refined in a furnace seven times (Psalm 12:6). It is sanctifying (John 17:17). It gives life (Psalm 119:37, 50, 93, 107; John 6:63; Matthew 4:4). It makes wise (Psalm 19:7; 119:99�100). It gives joy (Psalm 19:8; 119:16, 92, 111, 143, 174) and promises great reward (Psalm 19:11). It gives strength to the weak (Psalm 119:28) and comfort to the distraught (Psalm 119:76) and guidance to the perplexed (Psalm 119:105) and salvation to the lost (Psalm 119:155; 2 Timothy 3:15). The wisdom of God in Scripture is inexhaustible.
