The Bible Is The Rule of Life; The Ground Of Our Faith!--Is It?

"Come now, and let us

reason together."

says the LORD;

"Though your sins are 

like scarlet, they 

shall be white

as snow."

Isaiah 1:18

     Back from a working vacation, I laid 140 sq. yds. of carpet and other projects for my children. Ugh! I am sore! Ha!. It is time to continue this blog on the Bible, the Word of God. When we have come to the conclusion that the Bible is the Word of God then we have no excuse for not following the commandments, and the admonitions, the precepts outlined in this book. God is not waiting for us to be good, for us to choose Him. He is not sitting back wringing His hands wondering if we will choose Him and do good things. If you are a Deist then this will be your theology, but if you are not a Deist then this is not your theology. God elected His people before the foundation of the world (Romans 8:28-29). God foreknew His people: "God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.....(Romans 11:2a). We as His Children are the called ones to be His people; His Church, The ekklesia (The called out ones): "Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these he also justified; and whom He justified these He also glorified" (Romans 8:30). How clear can it be made to us; we are not chosen by our choosing, rather we choose God who has given us the gift of faith and that choosing by Him is according to His will; not ours: "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will" (Ephesians 1:4-5). It is by grace that we are saved for grace must be present due to the fact that there is a justice that requires satisfaction, but God in His patience bestows His grace upon those to whom He has chosen, and not to others. You may object to that statement; that God chooses some and not others, but if you cavil over that statement you are denying Scripture. God receives glory, not that He needs to be glorified for He is complete in totality within Himself, but glory is due to Him as the one who choose His people and saves them for He has made His children to be adopted as sons through the grace bestowed upon through His son Jesus Christ: "To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 16-7). To whom is Paul writing? Is it the whole world, the complete people of the world, all those who will come into the world, those who have come into the world? Is this to whom Paul is writing? NO! It is to God's chosen ones: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. To the saints who Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:1-3). All the Bible writers speak only of the elect, God's children, the saints, therefore it is to be noted that the Bible is clear on this subject; listen to Peter: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of god the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (1Peter 1:1-2).

     Why focus on this subject of the elect? Because the Bible speaks of the elect, and the fact that our faith to believe on Jesus Christ is not due to our goodness, some good, some leftover good after the fall of Adam and Eve; rather it is the gift of God: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus Christ made it plain and clear that without this gift you cannot choose Him: "Jesus answered and said to her: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water" (John 4:10). The Samaritan woman is told that she could not even ask for salvation unless she had the gift, that gift is faith, faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Unfortunately there are many preachers, pastors, and teachers who hold the Bible up and proclaim to teach the truth. This they do with compelling words, with programs that seemingly are "Christian" but are only a philanthropic work; necessary, but do not cause a person to be more holy in the the sight of God. Oh! these men sound so good, have such good things to say, it tickles our ears, it makes us fees so good! Most is nothing more than psychological babble: pay a psychologist his fee and you would hear a preacher. Paul is clear on this subject: "As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ" (Galatians 6:12). Speak words that sound Biblical, speak words that are easy to hear, do not raise questions, do not speak the truth that is clearly proclaimed in the Bible, do not raise  the eyebrows of the congregants, call them forward to accept Christ, sing songs that compel people to be emotionally moved to accept Jesus Christ: but do not speak of depravity, our depravity, our need to come to Jesus Christ because we are deserving of death. There should be words to that lead a person to understand that they are reprehensible to God as sinners, that they need to repent of their sins, not because they are caught, that they have been found out, rather because they have offended God. It is when we know that we have offended a Holy God, not because God has the right to kill us, not because God has promised heaven for His children, rather it is because we have offended, blasphemed God who is Holy, Who is the creator, who delights in His children, who has give us the Bible to be our guide, our rule, for our lives. Yes, God is merciful, and that mercy is due to His patience, and that mercy is available because God is just, and without that justice then there would be no need for mercy; God is merciful: "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us" (Ephesians 2:4). 

     You may only believe these things if you believe the Scripture, the Bible, as the Word of God. In comparison with other books that claim to be a book of God, I have shown that those books cannot claim with any truth to be from God and that the Bible is the only book that truly can claim that God had men write His laws so that men of all ages can know Him, and follow Him as they live their lives in this world. But, do you truly believe that this is true? Do you believe that God had men using the circumstances of life write His words and that those words are true and should be followed? Do you still have some questions? How about the supposed corruptions, those variations among the manuscripts? This I will tackle in the next blog. 

And one cried to another and said:

     "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of His glory."

                                     Isaiah 6:3

Keep searching, Keep Praying

Richard L. Crumb

Vacation Time

I will be gone for about 5 days maybe 6 but will attempt to continue the blog. I will be helping my daughter with her new house. Until then, read your Bible, prayer, think upon what has been taught. I do appreciate each and everyone that takes the time to read the blog and to respond.

May God Bless You

Richard L. Crumb

What Is And Why Not Include the Apocryphal Books?

And further, by these,

my son, be admonished:

of making many books

there is not end;

and much study is a 

weariness of the flesh.

Ecclesiastes 12:12

     There it is, in plain writing, in the Scriptures: we have no real need to spend time studying and writing books. This may be a proof Scripture for person who is lazy, desires to just have a good time, and call himself a "Christian." Besides, what should we do about those writings, those books that were at one time read in the early Churches. Such books as, Clement of Rome, Ignatious' letters, The Shepherd of Herme, etc.? Does not the Roman Catholic Church include the Apocryphal books in the Bible? Yes!

The Apocrypha were formally canonized by the Roman Catholic 'Church' on April 8, 1546 A.D. at the Council of Trent. In fact the Kings James Bible until 1885 included those books, but there were not considered Scripture, that is, they were not considered to be inspired of God. The writer of Ecclesiastes was not telling us not to study, not to make books, in fact if the above Scripture is your proof Scripture then all you have done is to allow your presuppositions to rule your understanding for you have not taken time to read the Bible and come to know what the writer's position and theme of this book, and why it was necessary for it to be written. It is when we allow other writings, other books to become a source for our faith, all we have done is devalue the Bible, it is no longer the only truth, it is no longer the only means by which we can come to know the revelation of God. In fact many do diminish the Bible by having some "vision" or some "revelation" given to them as though God needed to reveal His will outside of Scripture. The term "apocrypha" comes from the Greek word meaning "hidden"

or "secret" and in general use, the word "apocrypha" came to mean "false, spurious, bad, or heretical. Early in Church history these books were not considered, although some almost were, to be inspired of God; they were denied by the influential theologians, like Irenaeus and Tertullian. Here is the list of those books:

Wisdom of Solomon       30 B.C.  Didactic

Ecclesiasticus                32 B.C.  Didactic  

Tobit                          c. 200 B.C.  Religious Novel  

I Esdras                     c. 150 B.C. Historic & Legendary  

I Maccabees              c. 110 B.C.  Historic  

II Maccabees             c. 100 B.C.  Historic & Legendary

Judith                         c. 150 A.D.  Romantic Novel  

Baruch                       c. 100 A.D.  Prophetic  

Letter of Jeremiah      c. 200 B.C.  Prophetic  

II Esdras                     c. 100 A.D.  Prophetic  

Additions to Esther     c. 130 B.C.  Legendary  

Prayer of Azariah*      c. 100. B.C.  Legendary  

Suzanna (Daniel 13)   c. 100 B.C.  Legendary

Bel & the Dragon (Daniel 14)  c. 100 B.C.  Legendary

Prayer of Manasseh   c. 150 B.C.  Legendary 

 

     Probably the most important, that is a book(s) that can give some valuable information in regards to early historicity of the Church is the Maccabees. I have given not only the names of the books, their dates, but as to their content. Reading them is useful for information but unless, and this is true for any books we read, we read those books with a lens, that lens is the Bible. To read otherwise is to allow non-Scripture renderings to mislead us. 

     The Wisdom of God is Jesus Christ, personified in the flesh, the Incarnation, and Jesus made is extremely clear, He is the truth, His words are truth, and those words from Wisdom is the wisdom that we obtain from Scripture. It is that wisdom, Scripture, that we desire to lead and guide our lives: "Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it" (Ecclesiastes 7:11-12). Our search for God, our understanding of God, begins and ends with Scripture. Other information is helpful, and needed for complete understanding of history, and the events that led up to the Reformation that reformed the Church by returning to Scripture. The Reformation can be stated as a return to the Doctrines of the Bible. That the Bible is the infallible word of God. To clear this manner up: The Reformation when mentions causes some to cavil, to object to the term, this term to them is pejorative and to be avoided, this we find to be true in some Churches, especially those that are liberal in their theology. It was not the Apocryphal books that cause the Reformation, it was the Bible: read Luther, Calvin, and Wesel, and others, the Reformation began earlier that Luther, Calvin, and others; it became alive when men read the Word of God, and saw that the Roman Catholic Church had abused the Word of God, that the ills forced upon people were not Scripture and that salvation did not come because you belong to a Church, that salvation was a gift of God, it was salvation due to the Grace of God. We became known as Protestants because we opposed the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. It is when men who loved God and desired to know Him, and live by His Word that the Bible, not the Apocrypha, led them to know about the Grace of God. Furthermore: "All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it our? I applied mine heart to know, and to search and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness" (Ecclesiastes 7:23-25).

     "That is all nice and interesting," you say; but how did the Bible, those collection of letters and writings become the Bible I hold in my hand. And how can I know, by what reason did the Bible come to be understood to be inspired and is the actual Word of God? Good questions, and this I will address in the next blogs. Until then, read the Bible, yes, read the Apocrypha, but read them through the microscopic lens of the Bible.

But in vain they do 

     worship me, teaching

for doctrines the 

    commandments of men.

                             Matthew 15:9

May God Say; "Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

 

Richard L. Crumb