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Category: Doctrine

About Roger – TalkofJESUS.com Doctrine & teaching

What do Christians believe?

Doctrine = Teaching

What do you know about Biblical teaching and preaching?

WHAT DOCTRINES DO YOU BELIVE?

WHAT DOCTRINES DOES YOUR PASTOR PREACH (or avoid)?

The LORD God speaks – Doctrine of the Bible – 3
GOD SPEAKS! And who heard Him? What did the LORD God say to a man? Where can we see what the LORD said when God speaks?

“And you said: ‘Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.
Deuteronomy 5:24 NKJV– the man Moses to the leaders of Israel

What is the ONLY BOOK where one made in the image of God can discern the TRUE words of WHAT GOD HAS SAID?

The HOLY Bible

IF you missed Part 1 on Bible Doctrine, you may want to take a look now at some of the history of the Bible, scholarly research AND IMPORTANT Definitions.

A pre-requisite Part 1

The BIBLE is HOLY

Introduction to this post

Did God really say..? – DOCTRINE of the BIBLE – 2

What choice would YOU have made in Eden?

The Bible unveils the word and purposes of God.
- Some refuse to believe Scripture
- While others will never consider its truth.
It is written…
blueletterbible.org references

THE LORD GOD SPEAKS!

The Word of God, The Word of Man & The Work of the Holy Spirit

The entire Scripture of God is divided into two parts: commandments and promises.
Martin Luther

1. The Word of God

God is HOLY. The LORD God speaks, but to whom? The Word of God speaks to all creation and is revealed to man, in His own image the LORD created us.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27

The LORD God created us to:
- Love Him as God loves the world of His creation.
  - John 3:16
.. “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness..”
Genesis 1:26

Love Him with all your heart.

AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’
Mark 12:30 – answer of the Messiah Jesus to “What commandment is the foremost of all?”

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 10:12

Do what the LORD commands

J.I Packer points out in KNOWING GOD, four categories of God’s direct utterances to mankind (Adam & Eve):
1. command,
2. testimony,
3. prohibition with sanction appended,
4. and promise both favorable and unfavorable (blessing or curse).
The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
Out of the ground the LORD God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food..
Genesis 2:8-9a
- .. the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden,
- and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
but do what He would do; that is, to do good.

NOW where will we find the truth of good and evil?

Have we considered these truths from the Bible?

You are good and You do good;
Teach me Your statutes
Psalm 119:68

OR from the hissing of those who oppose the Lord?

Keeping in mind those categories just mentioned from ‘KNOWING GOD,’ may I again remind us and suggest the ONLY answer:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV

2. The Word of a Man of God

Moses recorded the LAW as SPOKEN by the LORD.

YOU may have imagined that the LORD spoke to you in Paradise or walked with you in your daily life. Before SIN, we knew what was good because God spoke to us face to face.

So how does a man know what God said now that man has been separated from the Holy Presence of the LORD?

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה אֶֽהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶֽהְיֶה וַיֹּאמֶר כֹּה תֹאמַר לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶֽהְיֶה שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶֽם׃

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”;
and He said, “This is what you shall say
to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Exodus 3:14 – I AM – YHWH, rendered LORD, which is derived from the verb HAYAH, to be;
H834 matches the Hebrew אֲשֶׁר (‘ăšer), who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.:

Yᵊhōvâ (I AM THAT I AM) Y H W H the existing ONE whose NAME IS too Holy to be spoken – יְהֹוָה

Do you believe the Law of Moses?

“For if 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?”
John 5:46-47 NASB20 – a question of the Messiah Jesus

Authority of the Word after the Law

Besides Eden witnessed in the first book of Moses, I could also reintroduce you to the LORD in an awesome place above the heavens and earth in a place such as that revealed to the Apostle John by the risen and victorious Christ Jesus!

Witness from the Prophets like Elijah, Ezekiel and Daniel where the God brings created beings such as us, beneath the glorious Throne of the Almighty Lord God! And the LORD confirms His Word to men of flesh, Prophets who served Him faithfully on the earth.

Now Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and He let none of his words fail. .. And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, because the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
1 Samuel 3:19,21

David and others record personal conversations, leadings of the Lord and prayers and songs worshiping God.

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2 Chronicles 3:1

On occasions before and after David and after the resurrection of Jesus, man has received the Words of God and recorded them in Scripture.

Do you believe these men to whom God speaks?

3. Breathed out by the Holy Spirit

And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep..

וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵי תְהוֹם וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּֽיִם׃
Bereishit (Genesis) 1:2 Masoretic text
- The earth was a formless, desolate emptiness, complete darkness, a deep void lifeless and separate from God.
- And the SPRIRT OF GOD — the Other and ONLY LIFE separated from lifelessness and nothingness — Created!
  - the Spirit רוּחַ
  - of ‘ĕlōhîm אֱלֹהִים
  - moved רָחַף
God is HOLY! (Other.. Separate from HIS creation, even man.)

SO HOW does the Lord God communicate with MAN?

The Holy Spirit

THE LORD GOD IS OTHER!

(God is not a man. Unlike man He was not created — GOD IS that HE IS.
- Not like man and beast, not like plant or planet, not like the heavens which were void or the earth which was not yet.
“God is not a man, that He would lie,
Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good
Numbers 23:19

God Speaks. A Man hears.

Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.”
Genesis 6:3 – Moses records God’s words – בְּרֵאשִׁית

And since the days of Moses, the Holy Spirit of God commands certain men to record God’s HOLY WORD as SCRIPTURE.

(Write it down and tell other men what GOD HAS SAID.)

Spirit-filled men

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took away some of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. Yet they did not do it again
Numbers 11:25 – the LORD gives the Holy Spirit to 70 elders of the Hebrews

Scripture records when God speaks to a Man given the Holy Spirit

Scripture reveals the words of the LORD which He spoke to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Bible. Joshua, various Judges and scribes, David and various kings, several prophets before Christ and Apostles after our Lord Jesus Christ ALL confirm the spoken and written HOLY Word of God we collectively refer to as The HOLY BIBLE.

“I and the Father are one.”
gospel of John 10:30

Jesus Christ — He Himself Other — testifies by the Holy Spirit to the truth of Scripture with the Authority of God the Father in ways no man could.

Gospel of Luke 3:

21 Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,

and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.”

SUMMARY: GOD SPEAKS

Therefore, the DOCTRINE of the THE HOLY BIBLE teaches that SCRIPTURE IS:
1. The Word of God
2. Written by a Man of God and
3. Breathed out by the Holy Spirit of God
All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness
2 Timothy 3:16

DOCTRINE is teaching (for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness IF we choose its Truth.) Where will you find absolute truth, if not in the Holy Bible?

How much of the BIBLE must we believe?
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We will begin to address this in my next post on DOCTRINE.
To be continued..
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Please COMMENT or ask your question about this Doctrine.

Thank you, dear saint of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Roger
July 17, 2021
Did God really say..? – DOCTRINE of the BIBLE – 2
Did God really say ‘ALL SCRIPTURE?‘

What DOCTRINES do you choose?

Do you choose what God said selectively from among scriptures?

I am a theologian; that is, I study God. Yet how? And where do I seek answers about God? Which books of the Bible? What verses?

Who should I believe in my choices about the Doctrine of Scripture?
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You won't want to miss some definitions and important church history in Part 1 linked below 
or our first doctrinal post on the holiness of God.
{These links may also be found in the talkofJESUS.com menu & will open in a new tab.}
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Introduction to Doctrine of the Bible – Part 2:

Questions about God

Imagine for a moment that YOU are the only man (adam) or woman, if you will.

I suppose the best place to meet the LORD is in Paradise — and here in the HOLY Presence of The Other, YOU are a man WITHOUT SIN!

Of course you recognize from Genesis in the LAW of Moses this Paradise you have never seen. Here you stand in Eden in the Presence of the LORD!

Observe this illustrative truth from the Holy Bible:

The LORD GOD is HOLY and until MAN (adam) sins, so were we.

Therefore we began this series with the Doctrine of the Holiness of God.

So here you imagine yourself — in Eden – walking with the Holy Lord God.

In the beginning, The LAW

(Do you believe the entire Creation narrative of Moses?)

אַף כִּֽי־אָמַר אֱלֹהִים

“Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’? ”
Genesis 3:1b CSB

Of course most of us will recognize what seems to be a legitimate question from near the beginning of the Bible when the serpent hissed against the LORD, ‘Did God really say..’

Yes, it would have been a legitimate question IF the questioner had not already known the TRUTH of the command of the LORD God. But Scripture records Satan’s cunning in Genesis . (He knew, but twisted truth.)

Sin is turning away from God

YOU questioned God’s truth.

Temptation of Eve

On behalf of all mankind for perpetuity, YOU crossed the line of obeying God’s commands.

Here you now wander into the darkness beyond Paradise .. continually asking, ‘DID GOD REALLY SAY..?’

And do not think, my fellow fallen saint, that you will choose what is TRUE without seeking the Lord.

Do not ask the one who hisses against Jesus Christ, any tempter who doubts what God said, since the LORD’s command to obey is what they will not do.

SO WHERE DO WE FIND TRUTH?

DOCTRINE – What do you believe?

Do you choose what God said?

Where do you draw your line in the sand about believing the Doctrines of the Bible?
Some preachers don’t believe in Satan or some truths about Christ. (What else won’t they believe from Holy Scripture?)
Roger@talkofJesus.com

ALL of these TRUTHS are witnessed in Scripture. They give mortals many glances at Paradise and eternal life with the LORD God.

You just imagined yourself to be in the Presence of the Lord in Eden on behalf of the generations, but you crossed the line and wandered into the darkness of sin.

O man! I have asked myself, “Did God really say? Then I made excuses to the LORD for my sin.”

What is the ONLY BOOK where one made in the image of God can discern the TRUE words of WHAT GOD HAS SAID?

The HOLY Bible
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To be continued...
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NEXT: More in Doctrine of the Bible – 3
July 10, 2021
The BIBLE is HOLY
HOLY Scripture

“ALL scripture is inspired by God.. !
All scripture is given by inspiration of God..
All Scripture is breathed out by God..
All Scripture is God-breathed..
2 Timothy 3:16a

How does God communicate with man?

The Doctrine of Scripture or the Doctrine of the Bible stakes claim to all that is HOLY in the writings of God.
- Does Scripture have an ‘other’ holiness?
- Is the Word of God in writing true?
What is Holy?

We began this series on Doctrine appropriately with God’s Holiness.

Doctrine – GOD IS HOLY

“God is not a man, that He would lie,
Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind..

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God! Other! Separate of man and above all His creation.

God is God and we are not.

Is the Bible Holy?

Christians call it, “THE HOLY BIBLE,” but what does that mean?

Now I ask you, my fellow believer and follower of Christ Jesus,

What authority should the Bible have in the lives of disciples of the true doctrines of God?

We have already defined holiness as separate, apart, and therefore sacred and as God speaks, an awful thing! Now I must define our commonly used terms addressing the holiness of God’s written word, the Bible or Scripture.

What is Scripture?

“It is written..” – כָּתַב

The word means “writing.”

In the Old Testament it occurs in the King James Version only once, “the scripture of truth,” in Da 10:21, where it is more correctly rendered in the Revised Version (British and American), “the writing of truth.” The reference is not to Holy Scripture, but to the book in which are inscribed God’s purposes.

In the New Testament, “scripture” and “scriptures” stand regularly for the Old Testament sacred books regarded as “inspired” (2Ti 3:16), “the oracles of God” (Ro 3:2).
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

And in each and every book of the Bible we must hold sacred that:
- IF ‘it is written’ as God’s spoken word,
- THEN we must regard it as truth – God’s truth revealed in the written word.
כְּתָב

אֲבָל֙ אַגִּ֣יד לְךָ֔ אֶת־הָרָשׁ֥וּם בִּכְתָ֖ב אֱמֶ֑ת וְאֵ֨ין אֶחָ֜ד מִתְחַזֵּ֤ק עִמִּי֙ עַל־אֵ֔לֶּה כִּ֥י אִם־מִיכָאֵ֖ל שַׂרְכֶֽם׃ פ
Daniel 10:21 WLC

You’ve often read scripture such as:
- .. as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses..
- .. it is written in the Book of Jashar..
- “Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
- “It is written in the Prophets..
- “For it is written in the book of Psalms..
OR of specific scriptures.

.. as it is written:
“THERE IS NO RIGHTEOUS PERSON, NOT EVEN ONE..
Romans 3:10 NASB20 referring to verses in the Psalms
- Scripture is the written truth of God revealed to man.
The Jews chosen by the LORD God lived by Scripture (or at least they were called to live by the word of God through the Law and the Prophets).

“It is written..” – γράφω

The first mention of Scripture in the Gospels of the New Testament is by the Person of Christ Jesus!

After the Lord had been in the wilderness for forty days, the Messiah Jesus answers Satan’s temptation by applying Scripture written from the wilderness testing of Moses and Israel.

Matthew 4:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But He answered and said, “It is written:
γράφω – graphō

‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’”
Gospel of Matthew 4:4 NASB

(Do you think Christians might want to take heed to how Jesus replies to the temptation of Satan in the wilderness?) ‘MAN SHALL LIVE ON EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD..’

JESUS REITERATES THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE!
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So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 8:3 
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The New Testament on Scripture

γραφή – graphē

a writing, thing written
the Scripture, used to denote either the book itself, or its contents
a certain portion or section of the Holy Scripture

The KJV translates Strong’s G1124 in the following manner: scripture (51x). from G1125; a document, γράφω – graphō [as we have defined above ‘it is written’ ] which occurs 192 times in 181 verses in the mgnt Greek.
A few examples of holy scripture
- Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. – Luke 24:45
- You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me; and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.– John 5:39-40
- For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. –Romans 15:4
All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB20

INSPIRED BY GOD! ALL Scripture (not just a verse or two to our liking). Scripture is HOLY, writings other than the ordinary books not spoken by God — books not written by the LORD speaking to a man.

The BIBLE is HOLY!

What is the Bible?

DOCTRINE – What do you believe?

Again, the necessity of defining what ANYONE means where referring to “THE BIBLE.”

NOT ALL BIBLE’s are alike.

First, What is NOT the Bible

(AND therefore, NOT the HOLY Word of GOD.)
- The Quran is not the Bible.
- The Book of Mormon is not the Bible. [See: Cult Resources]
- The Complete Tanakh (*with its 24 Hebrew books) is an incomplete Bible.
  - *The 24 Hebrew books are the same as the 39 Books of the Old Testament; the difference is in the way they are divided.
- Some *Additional Books in Roman Catholic and other Bibles include writings which are helpful, but NOT the inspired Word of God.
  - The word Apocrypha means “hidden.”
- Gnostic Books (& gospels) which some *claim as part of the Bible oppose the Holy Scriptures and Word of God.
  - *The term apocryphal is also applied to other books that are New Testament forgeries. An example of this would be the Gospel of Thomas, which claims to have been written by Jesus’ disciple Thomas. The book, however is a forgery.
- Some contemporary ‘translations’ of the Bible are *biased against true Scripture and do NOT actually translate Scripture from the original Hebrew and Greek.
  - *Examples of Anti-Trinitarian bias of the NWT (New World Translation) of the Jehovah Witnesses cult non-secure links to authoritative research by Bruce M. Metzger from Christianity Today available.
The BIBLE

I will not go into detail here concerning the Canon of Scripture and historical affirmations of the Authority of God’s word.

{You may find it helpful to remember the competing authority of definition 1 from the Oxford English Dictionary
- – i.e. Canon So-and-so, Bishop of Rome, London, etc.}
Technically, the HISTORY of the Bible is NOT itself, DOCTRINE, however one cannot fully appreciate the Bible now in print for most anyone without a brief look at how the Canon of Scripture came about.

Since many respected theologians have provided proofs of the authenticity of the Books of the Bible [66 total] included in the teachings of the church, I will highlight just a few dates for your further research if you desire.
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Although I use and refer to several sources, if I could suggest one indexed authoritative source for your person answer to questions about the Bible I recommend:

 https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/index.cfm
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Creeds & the Canon of Scripture

The Biblical Canon

is the collection of scriptural books that God has given his corporate people, which are distinguished by their divine qualities, reception by the collective body, and their apostolic connection, either by authorship or association.

Source: The Gospel Coalition

Authoritative Authors

A final attribute of canonical books is that they are written by God’s chosen agents, his inspired prophets and apostles. Put simply, not just anyone can speak for God; .. prophets and other inspired spokesmen .. it included the apostles, Christ’s authoritative witnesses …

‘We have good historical evidence…‘

A few of the historical events of note which have constantly and consistently affirmed the Authority of God through the Holy Bible.
- ‘The earliest Christian creed is found in the New Testament, which declares, “Jesus is Lord.”’ – R.C. Sproel, Avoiding Theological Anarchy
- A.D. 50 – Council of Jerusalem see Acts 15
- The deity of Christ was at issue at the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325). In that council the full deity of Christ was affirmed, and Christ, the divine Logos, the second person of the Trinity, was declared to be co-essential and co-eternal with the Father. – See the Nicene Creed.
- The Apostles’ Creed dates to about A.D. 390 in a letter from Ambrose of Milan to Pope Siricius, but its complete current form does not appear until the eighth century.
- Council at Ephesus A.D. 431 confirmed the original Nicene Creed, and condemned the teachings of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who held that the Virgin Mary may be called the Christotokos, “Christ-bearer” but not the Theotokos, “God-bearer”.
- In A.D. 451 the Emperor Marcian convened a council of some five hundred bishops at Chalcedon. The Chalcedonian theologians were conscious of deviations from biblical orthodoxy that had plagued the church for over a hundred years an emerged with The Athanasian Creed, honoring Athanasius, the great champion of Trinitarian orthodoxy who died in A.D. 373..
The Great Schism of 1054

‘So on July 16, 1054, the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church,” as the Nicene Creed puts it, split. And then there were two.’
Stephen Nichols

The Protest and Reformation
- A.D. 1521 Diet of Worms, meeting of the Diet (assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire held at Worms, Germany, in 1521, made famous by Martin Luther’s appearance before it to respond to charges of heresy.
Because of the confused political and religious situation of the time, Luther was called before the political authorities rather than before the pope or a council of the Roman Catholic Church.

“I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God, I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” – Martin Luther at Worms
- A.D. 1545 The Council of Trent began sitting in 1545, introducing rigidity in dogma and austerity in morals. The Protestant views of justification by faith alone, the Lord’s Supper, and the propriety of clerical marriage were sharply rejected. All deviation within the Catholic fold was rigidly suppressed.
- London, A.D. 1611 – King James Bible printed in English, after Protestantism had been restored to England.
MORE.. Church Divided / Empire Fallen 2

DOCTRINE – What do you believe?
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To be continued...
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NEXT: More on Doctrine of the Bible
June 26, 2021