For we can do
nothing against
the truth,
but for the
truth.
2Corinthians 13:8
Knowledge is important, it is necessary, but even Satan has knowledge, knowledge of God, knowledge that he is in opposition to God, but that knowledge will not save him, and it will not save you. So, why, study? Why go to all this depth to teach about the Bible? What will this knowledge do for you and me if it will not save me? Paul gives the account of nature, it presence for all to see and acknowledge that it is empirical, it is there for all to see, yet many will only see the trees, see nature in the raw, but that knowledge has not and will not bring salvation to them. While the empirical evidence for all to see may bring a notion that there is a God, that there is something more, a greater something that caused all there is to be, they have not nor will not acknowledge that God is personal, can be known, but this truth does not manifest in them the righteousness of God: "Because that which may be know of God is manifest in them; for god has shewed it unto them. for the invisible things of him form the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:19-20). Knowledge may cause a person to know that there is a God, but knowledge will not necessarily cause a man to acknowledge God and give to Him glory: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations and their heart was darkened" (Romans 1:21). Why? Paul writes: "As it is written, 'There is none righteous, no not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God" (Romans 3:10-11). Knowledge being not able to lead a person to the truth, to the knowledge of God, cannot save a person from their sins, then, why should we study and get to know about the Scriptures we hold as sacred, inspired, from God, given to Man? Because the Bible reveals to man God, to those that God had granted to him faith: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day'.....And He said, 'Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father" (John 6:44,65). There, there, is the reason to study, for when God has granted you faith, has drawn you to Him, then we desire to know Him, to get to know the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, our thirst is for the truth, and the truth is to be found in the Bible. Yet, there are those even after having read and studied the Bible will choose a path that is not Scriptural, misleading those who desire to know and worship God. Also, when a person is saved because God has elected you to salvation, then our hearts are quickened and we become devoted to Him, and that devotion is demonstrated by our search to know Him, and He is revealed to us in Scripture. Knowledge of His word will deepen our faith, make us more assured of what we believe, that we have not been mislead, and we become ambassadors for Him: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God" (2Corinthians 5:20). If then we are ambassadors and as ambassadors we are used by God to witness for Him in order that the Word of God is distributed throughout the world so that those who God has enabled will hear the Word of God and turn their hearts to Him, just as Paul stated, that those who have come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior came to this knowledge through his ambassadorship. We need the knowledge of God, but we need to the truth, not some watered down simulation of the truth, that which many Churches have done, dumbing down the congregants. True seekers of God, true individuals who desire to know God, those God has called to be righteous will study His word, will speak His word in truth: "But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of god, in much patience,in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left" (2Corinthians 6:4-7). This is why we study!
I will give to you some food for thought, some academia: remember when God spoke to man, all He spoke was given to man as truth, as inspiration, then man wrote under that inspiration. Some comparisons are eye-opening:
Work When written Earliest Copy Time Span No. Copies Accuracy of Copy
Homer
(Iliad)
900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 Years 643 95%
New Testament
40-100 A.D. 125 A.D. 25 Years 5,000 99+%
Caesar Gallic Wars
100-44 B.C. 900 A.D. 1000 years 10
Livy Roman History
59 B.C.-17 A.D. 20
Plato Teratalogies
427-347 B.C. 900 A.D. 1200 years 7
Tacitus Annals
100 A.D. 1100 A.D. 1000 years 20
Pliny the Younger History
61 –113 A.D. 850 A.D. 750 years 7
Thucydides History
460-400 B.C 900 A.D. 1300 years 8
Aristotle
384-322 B.C. 1100 A.D. 1400 years 49
This chart above is given to demonstrate that the Bible is not just numerically larger in the amount of manuscripts we have but that we have manuscripts that are closer in time to the original writings and to the event of the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, scholastic studies have determined the almost complete accuracy of those manuscripts, one to the other. God does and has preserved His Word. Much more will be outlined and given in order to have the ammunition to use against those who will attempt to cause confusion and distrust, who themselves have not and will not believe that the Bible the book that Christians admit as the Word of God above all other religious books, we will be able to defend our faith.
And the Spirit and the bride say,
Come. And let him that heareth
say, Come. And let him that is athirst
Come. and whoseover will, let him
take the water of life freely.
Revelation 22:17
Be Glad, Rejoice, Give Honor To God
Richard L. Crumb
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