Job 13:1-28
In Job 13:1-2, Job reminded his comforters that he understood more than they because he heard God's Word. He chided them again for their trite wisdom which resulted from their fear of talking to God.
In Job 13:3-10, Job informed his comforters again that he sought truth by talking directly with God. Job complained that his comforters spoke lies about God because they really did not want to know God. They merely wanted to talk about God; they did not want to talk with God. Job informed them that they would display more wisdom if they kept quiet than if they spoke. Their speculations about God were so wrong that they actually mocked God.
In Job 13:11, Job taught his friends that when they imagine God's majesty and excellency, their thoughts put them in a state of dread and fear. Dread constitutes the state of every person when they realize that they have no choice in life but to choose. God created us to be this way. One fears the wrong choice because it may cause one to suffer. One fears the right choice because it never seems to satisfy completely. One's greatest dread comes when one thinks about God. One fears to choose to know God because He has to be just and has a right to punish sin, and yet, one fears to not know God because one instinctively realizes that only He can save. But if one chooses to repent of one's sins and comes to know God, one will find God to be gracious and forgiving, and one will find peace in one's heart that will completely satisfy. John 14:27.
In Job 13:12, Job informed his comforters that they had become to him like ashes and clay. They advised him from a useless materialist point of view. Their phony comfort for him had no spiritual value whatsoever.
In Job 13:13-18, Job rose to his highest level of faith before his friends. Job told them that he had made his choice. Job chose to trust in God even though he knew that a just God might slay him and destroy him. God rewarded Job's faith by revealing to him that He would justify and save him.
In Job 13:19, Job told his phony comforters that they had no right to criticize him. Because God had justified him, he had moved beyond their criticism. If God told Job to stop talking with his friends, then God would simply cause Job to give up the ghost and go home to Him.
In Job 13:20-28, Job informed his friends that God desired that he continue his dialogue with them. God was trying to teach truth to Job's friends by speaking through Job. But Job requested that his friends not speak to him in ways that would cause their dread to make him afraid. Job had risen to a sublime level of faith knowing that he had become justified by God, but he could fall back into doubt if his friends were to speak of God as if He were unmerciful. Job let them know that if they refrained from causing him dread, then from his level of sublime faith, he could teach them a lot of truth about God. Job also requested that his friends tell him exactly how many sins he had committed and what kinds of sins they were. Job complained that while his friends had called him a sinner, they knew nothing about what kind of a sinner he was. They did not know enough about him to count him as an enemy. Job accused his friends of trying to hold him down as if he were in the stocks. His friends meant to hold him to the earth to prevent him from rising to the spiritual level of sublime faith.
In Job 13:28, Job seemed to speak of sin as being like a corrupt person, and like a moth that consumes a good garment. God had given Job a symbolic but accurate description of how sin operates. God created man in His own image to be a good and living system. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 1:31. Sin corrupts and consumes that good system but cannot destroy it. God loves and can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:29. Therefore, someday God will effect a general resurrection of all living humans still in their graves, separate them from their corruption, and recreate them to live on His recreated earth. John 5:28-29; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part nineteen
Job 12:1-25
In Job 12:14-21, Job revealed that he understood that God can create or destroy all that belongs to Him as He wills. When God destroys, He reduces His systems soiled by sin to their constituent elements so that He can recreate righteous systems from those elements. Sin equals nothing. Sin results from a misuse of God's righteous elements to invent soiled systems. God can reduce soiled systems to nothing, but His elements of those systems are always righteous. God never annihilates anything. Even the lake of fire burns total evil forever.
God allows men to make fools of themselves as they play out their history. Yet, both the deceived and the deceiver belong to Him. This fact means that God has overall control of history, and in the end, He will purge His creations of all sin and evil and recreate the earth, and all of living humanity, to be righteous systems. Revelation 21:1-5. In order to recreate all living humans, God will use His consuming fire, which also contains the shed blood and water from Christ, to cleanse every living human and raise them from their graves so that He can recreate their purified elements into righteous systems to live on His recreated earth. Humans cleansed by the blood and water of Christ while still alive in the flesh will go to heaven when they die. All humans still in their graves will come to faith in Christ as recorded in Revelation 5:13. Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; I Corinthians 3:11-15; John 5:28-29; Revelation 22:12.
In Job 12:22, God revealed to Job that He is in a process of learning about the sin and evil that emerges from the darkness and shadow of death. All through the Bible, darkness and the shadow of death symbolize the sin and evil that emerges from the abyss; that is, the place called Death. Revelation 20:13. God is innocent. God knows everything that can be known about all creative ideas and systems. God knew nothing about the destructive effects of sin and evil until He suddenly found excessive pride in Lucifer. Ezekiel 28:15. God still does not fully understand the mystery of how sin and evil could emerge from the abyss to infect Lucifer and through Satan all of humanity. II Thessalonians 2:7. But God is learning. In the end, God will learn how to completely purge all sin and evil from His universe and recreate it all to be righteous. II Peter 3:12-13.
Although God happens to be completely innocent and blameless about the sudden emergence of sin and excessive pride in Lucifer and its infection of His creations through the deceptions of Satan, He nevertheless feels guilty about allowing this destructive evil to affect all that He loves. God expressed His frustration and guilt in Isaiah 45:7. For this reason, it happens to be quite natural for an innocent person to feel guilty when something bad happens to someone they love.
In Job 12:23-25, God caused Job to understand that even though God allows mankind to wander in the wilderness and darkness, God nevertheless retains complete control over history. God can destroy nations or allow them to become great. But in the end, God will guide all nations of humans back to faith in Him and of their own free will. Revelation 5:13.
In Job 12:14-21, Job revealed that he understood that God can create or destroy all that belongs to Him as He wills. When God destroys, He reduces His systems soiled by sin to their constituent elements so that He can recreate righteous systems from those elements. Sin equals nothing. Sin results from a misuse of God's righteous elements to invent soiled systems. God can reduce soiled systems to nothing, but His elements of those systems are always righteous. God never annihilates anything. Even the lake of fire burns total evil forever.
God allows men to make fools of themselves as they play out their history. Yet, both the deceived and the deceiver belong to Him. This fact means that God has overall control of history, and in the end, He will purge His creations of all sin and evil and recreate the earth, and all of living humanity, to be righteous systems. Revelation 21:1-5. In order to recreate all living humans, God will use His consuming fire, which also contains the shed blood and water from Christ, to cleanse every living human and raise them from their graves so that He can recreate their purified elements into righteous systems to live on His recreated earth. Humans cleansed by the blood and water of Christ while still alive in the flesh will go to heaven when they die. All humans still in their graves will come to faith in Christ as recorded in Revelation 5:13. Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; I Corinthians 3:11-15; John 5:28-29; Revelation 22:12.
In Job 12:22, God revealed to Job that He is in a process of learning about the sin and evil that emerges from the darkness and shadow of death. All through the Bible, darkness and the shadow of death symbolize the sin and evil that emerges from the abyss; that is, the place called Death. Revelation 20:13. God is innocent. God knows everything that can be known about all creative ideas and systems. God knew nothing about the destructive effects of sin and evil until He suddenly found excessive pride in Lucifer. Ezekiel 28:15. God still does not fully understand the mystery of how sin and evil could emerge from the abyss to infect Lucifer and through Satan all of humanity. II Thessalonians 2:7. But God is learning. In the end, God will learn how to completely purge all sin and evil from His universe and recreate it all to be righteous. II Peter 3:12-13.
Although God happens to be completely innocent and blameless about the sudden emergence of sin and excessive pride in Lucifer and its infection of His creations through the deceptions of Satan, He nevertheless feels guilty about allowing this destructive evil to affect all that He loves. God expressed His frustration and guilt in Isaiah 45:7. For this reason, it happens to be quite natural for an innocent person to feel guilty when something bad happens to someone they love.
In Job 12:23-25, God caused Job to understand that even though God allows mankind to wander in the wilderness and darkness, God nevertheless retains complete control over history. God can destroy nations or allow them to become great. But in the end, God will guide all nations of humans back to faith in Him and of their own free will. Revelation 5:13.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part eighteen
Job 12:1-25
In Job 12:1-3, Job chided his comforters for their shallow wisdom. Job thought they were just empty people who did not think very deeply, and who would die in their ignorance. Job informed them that everybody already knew all that they said.
In Job 12:4-5, Job admitted that he talked with God, and he boasted that God answered him. He also resigned himself to the fact that he would be mocked and scorned for it.
In Job 12:6, Job informed his mockers that he knew God to be merciful because God allowed prosperity even to the wicked and to those who provoke Him.
In Job 12:7-10, Job instructed his mockers to look at God's creations to teach themselves about the nature of God. Every life that God has created belongs to Him, and He takes good care of it. God firmly grasps His image that He has put into every man in His almighty hand, and who can break God's hold on His creations? Ecclesiastes 3:14.
In John 10:28-29, Jesus affirmed that He and His Father held His sheep saved by grace in His omnipotent hand which no power could possibly break. But in Job 12:10, God put the truth into Job's mouth that He holds every living thing He has ever created in His almighty hand, including the breath of all mankind which means His image in every person. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:7. Certainly, this fact means that God can never lose anything He has ever created. For this reason, God must provide a lesser salvation for all living humans not saved by grace. God has given us a record of this future salvation in Revelation 5:13; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5, and Luke 20:38 as well as other scriptures. Revelation 20:11-15 records that God does not cast living humans into the lake of fire. He will cast only the spiritual dead who are totally evil into the lake of fire. Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:11-12. God will raise His good image that He put into every man back to life in a general resurrection in the end of the world. John 5:28-29.
In Job 12:11-13, Job affirmed God's omniscience. God possesses all the ancient wisdom and understanding, and one must listen to Him in order to learn.
In Job 12:1-3, Job chided his comforters for their shallow wisdom. Job thought they were just empty people who did not think very deeply, and who would die in their ignorance. Job informed them that everybody already knew all that they said.
In Job 12:4-5, Job admitted that he talked with God, and he boasted that God answered him. He also resigned himself to the fact that he would be mocked and scorned for it.
In Job 12:6, Job informed his mockers that he knew God to be merciful because God allowed prosperity even to the wicked and to those who provoke Him.
In Job 12:7-10, Job instructed his mockers to look at God's creations to teach themselves about the nature of God. Every life that God has created belongs to Him, and He takes good care of it. God firmly grasps His image that He has put into every man in His almighty hand, and who can break God's hold on His creations? Ecclesiastes 3:14.
In John 10:28-29, Jesus affirmed that He and His Father held His sheep saved by grace in His omnipotent hand which no power could possibly break. But in Job 12:10, God put the truth into Job's mouth that He holds every living thing He has ever created in His almighty hand, including the breath of all mankind which means His image in every person. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:7. Certainly, this fact means that God can never lose anything He has ever created. For this reason, God must provide a lesser salvation for all living humans not saved by grace. God has given us a record of this future salvation in Revelation 5:13; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5, and Luke 20:38 as well as other scriptures. Revelation 20:11-15 records that God does not cast living humans into the lake of fire. He will cast only the spiritual dead who are totally evil into the lake of fire. Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:11-12. God will raise His good image that He put into every man back to life in a general resurrection in the end of the world. John 5:28-29.
In Job 12:11-13, Job affirmed God's omniscience. God possesses all the ancient wisdom and understanding, and one must listen to Him in order to learn.
Commentary on the Book of Job part seventeen
Job 11:1-20
Zophar became incensed against Job because Zophar sensed that Job had established some communication with God and that made Zophar envious. Zophar had heard Job claim that he had found favor with God although he admitted that he was a sinner, but not wicked. Zophar called Job a liar for making such a claim. Zophar could not understand how Job had found favor with God if God had caused him to so greatly suffer.
Zophar believed in a stern and demanding God, not a merciful one. Zophar certainly believed that no one could communicate with God as Job seemed to be doing.
Zophar concluded that God had to be punishing Job because he was wicked. Zophar reasoned that Job could not find favor with God until he had cleansed himself of his wickedness. Zophar could not bear with Job claiming that he had found favor with God, that God could cleanse Job of his sin, and that God had established a daysman between Him and Job.
Zophar became incensed against Job because Zophar sensed that Job had established some communication with God and that made Zophar envious. Zophar had heard Job claim that he had found favor with God although he admitted that he was a sinner, but not wicked. Zophar called Job a liar for making such a claim. Zophar could not understand how Job had found favor with God if God had caused him to so greatly suffer.
Zophar believed in a stern and demanding God, not a merciful one. Zophar certainly believed that no one could communicate with God as Job seemed to be doing.
Zophar concluded that God had to be punishing Job because he was wicked. Zophar reasoned that Job could not find favor with God until he had cleansed himself of his wickedness. Zophar could not bear with Job claiming that he had found favor with God, that God could cleanse Job of his sin, and that God had established a daysman between Him and Job.
Monday, February 4, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part sixteen
Job 10:1-22
An exact reading of II Timothy 3:16 reveals that God did not state that the whole Bible (KJB) was directly inspired by the Holy Spirit. This verse states that the Bible was "...given by inspiration of God..." God did direct some holy men to write His Word by direct inspiration from the Holy Spirit. II Peter 1:21. Nevertheless, whether directly inspired or given by inspiration, God has put His stamp of approval on every word in His Word so that He has made it all inerrant and infallible. Even the man made errors and contradictions in the Bible God put in it to teach us the inerrant and infallible truth that man is a fallible creature subject to sin and error. Many may object that this truth is obvious, but it is not. Many people exist who refuse to change their philosophy even when they discover that it is wrong. The central message of the Bible is that God's almighty Love, grace, and mercy displayed in the sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection of His Son cannot fail or ever be diminished in any way throughout eternity. I Corinthians 13:8. Any charges by the Bible critics of errors and contradictions in the Bible that prove it cannot be God's Word can thus be safely ignored as being completely irrelevant.
God demonstrated great patience and mercy with Job's wild swings of emotions because God knew that He had given Job a faith embedded in his living soul that Job could not lose. God allowed Satan to test God's love for Job and Job's faith in God in order to prove that God's love for man and man's latent faith in God embedded in his living soul that God created which stems from man's suppressed love for God, can never fail. In other words, God's Love can never fail nor can He ever allow the love He has put into His creations to ever fail. God created everything to be very good, and it cannot be good without love for God. Genesis 1:31; I Corinthians 13:8; Galatians 5:6; Luke 17:21. Satan's goal is to cause man to commit such horrible evils and to suffer so terribly from the effects of sin and evil that even the living part of man will completely surrender to evil and cause God to stop loving him forever. Such a condition would cause God's Love to fail because the image of God that He put into man would become totally evil and separated from God in spiritual death forever. This means Satan would win and God would die. Satan revealed his goal for Job and all mankind when he influenced Job's wife to tell him "...curse God and die..." God's test of Job's faith symbolized His test of His love for the whole human race. But God's love for mankind will prove infallibly true when every human not already saved by grace returns to faith in God, despite all of the horrors of sin and evil throughout history, as God prophesied in Isaiah 45:21-24 and Philippians 2:9-11, and as fulfilled in Revelation 5:13.
Toward the end of Job's answer to Bildad, Job's faith wavered again and he began again to question God. Job imagined that if he died without faith his soul would go to a place of death, darkness, and chaos. Job did not understand that God had given him this revelation that if he died in a sinful condition, then God could not accept a reconciliation with him at that time, but God would have to consign him in judgment to a real place of death and darkness called Death. Revelation 20:13. But this condemnation would not mean that God had given up on Job. God would still cause the living part of Job to return to faith in Him as his Savior as recorded in Revelation 5:13. God would also resurrect Job to eternal life on His recreated earth, along with the rest of humanity still in their graves, in a general resurrection in the end of the world. John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5.
An exact reading of II Timothy 3:16 reveals that God did not state that the whole Bible (KJB) was directly inspired by the Holy Spirit. This verse states that the Bible was "...given by inspiration of God..." God did direct some holy men to write His Word by direct inspiration from the Holy Spirit. II Peter 1:21. Nevertheless, whether directly inspired or given by inspiration, God has put His stamp of approval on every word in His Word so that He has made it all inerrant and infallible. Even the man made errors and contradictions in the Bible God put in it to teach us the inerrant and infallible truth that man is a fallible creature subject to sin and error. Many may object that this truth is obvious, but it is not. Many people exist who refuse to change their philosophy even when they discover that it is wrong. The central message of the Bible is that God's almighty Love, grace, and mercy displayed in the sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection of His Son cannot fail or ever be diminished in any way throughout eternity. I Corinthians 13:8. Any charges by the Bible critics of errors and contradictions in the Bible that prove it cannot be God's Word can thus be safely ignored as being completely irrelevant.
God demonstrated great patience and mercy with Job's wild swings of emotions because God knew that He had given Job a faith embedded in his living soul that Job could not lose. God allowed Satan to test God's love for Job and Job's faith in God in order to prove that God's love for man and man's latent faith in God embedded in his living soul that God created which stems from man's suppressed love for God, can never fail. In other words, God's Love can never fail nor can He ever allow the love He has put into His creations to ever fail. God created everything to be very good, and it cannot be good without love for God. Genesis 1:31; I Corinthians 13:8; Galatians 5:6; Luke 17:21. Satan's goal is to cause man to commit such horrible evils and to suffer so terribly from the effects of sin and evil that even the living part of man will completely surrender to evil and cause God to stop loving him forever. Such a condition would cause God's Love to fail because the image of God that He put into man would become totally evil and separated from God in spiritual death forever. This means Satan would win and God would die. Satan revealed his goal for Job and all mankind when he influenced Job's wife to tell him "...curse God and die..." God's test of Job's faith symbolized His test of His love for the whole human race. But God's love for mankind will prove infallibly true when every human not already saved by grace returns to faith in God, despite all of the horrors of sin and evil throughout history, as God prophesied in Isaiah 45:21-24 and Philippians 2:9-11, and as fulfilled in Revelation 5:13.
Toward the end of Job's answer to Bildad, Job's faith wavered again and he began again to question God. Job imagined that if he died without faith his soul would go to a place of death, darkness, and chaos. Job did not understand that God had given him this revelation that if he died in a sinful condition, then God could not accept a reconciliation with him at that time, but God would have to consign him in judgment to a real place of death and darkness called Death. Revelation 20:13. But this condemnation would not mean that God had given up on Job. God would still cause the living part of Job to return to faith in Him as his Savior as recorded in Revelation 5:13. God would also resurrect Job to eternal life on His recreated earth, along with the rest of humanity still in their graves, in a general resurrection in the end of the world. John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5.
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Commentary on the Book of Job part fifteen
Job 10:1-22
God created man in His own image. Genesis1:27. These good and living parts of all humans, though soiled by sin, yearns for God's cleansing and reconciliation with God. God cleanses and forgives some humans by His grace with the blood and water that flowed from Jesus on the cross when they repent and believe while still alive in the flesh. In this way, God separates their spiritual deaths; that is, all of their weak and rebellious sins from them when they believe in the power of Christ through His sacrifice to save them. When they believe, God casts all of their separated sins into the sea of forgetfulness. Micah 7:19.
The good and living parts of all other humans not saved by grace will eventually repent and believe as prophesied in Isaiah 45:21-24 and Philippians 2:9-11.This prophecy will be fulfilled as recorded in Revelation 5:13. God will prove their salvation by the fact that they will worship Christ as "the Lamb" which they could not do unless they had come to believe that he is their Savior. God also proved this fact by Jesus' statement in John 11:25. Jesus prophesied that He will save the living parts of all humans within the regions of the dead. Revelation 20:5. God further proves this prophecy in Colossians 1:15-20 which teaches that God will reconcile all things which He created, which also must mean all humans, to Himself because of Christ's sacrifice which includes His descent into hell. Revelation 21:5 clearly states, "...Behold, I make all things new..." Since God created all things, then this statement could not be true unless God recovers and recreates all things He originally created. In fact, Romans 11:36 clearly states that all things that God has created will eventually come back to Him. But these living humans saved from the regions of the dead will not be saved by grace. They will be saved by the mercy of God, which is everlasting, and will be recreated to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29; Revelation 22:11-12.
God will save all humanity not saved by grace by Jesus' descent into hell where He left behind all of man's sins which He bore on the cross. He proved this fact when He rose immaculate from the dead. All of the Old Testament burnt offering sacrifices symbolized God's removal of sins by the use of His consuming fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15 describes how God will use His consuming fire to cleanse and save all humans not already saved by His grace. God will complete the salvation of the living parts of all humans within the regions of the dead when He resurrects them to life as recorded in Revelation 20:5. God will recover and recreate these living humans to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5. God will use His consuming fire to burn their spiritually dead and totally evil parts in the lake of fire forever. Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8.
Job was greatly confused. Job's emotions ran the entire spectrum from complete despair and hopelessness to feelings of joy and acceptance by God. Job 10:16. God never blames men for having emotions. God never blames men for questioning Him. God wrote the Bible from man's point of view. Like man, the Bible is a finite book which connects to the Infinite. Man is a finite creature who will eventually reconnect to an everlasting, merciful God. For this reason, some parts of the Bible which could not have been directly inspired by the Holy Spirit, such as letters written by pagans or Paul's quotes of pagan poets in Acts 17:18, were nevertheless given by inspiration of God so that they relate an infallible and inerrant description of man's condition with all of his hopeless emotions as well as the joys of his faith. Even the scribal errors and the man made contradictions in the Bible teach the inerrant truth that man is a fallible creature whether he sins or contradicts other writers or simply makes mistakes in arithmetic.
God created man in His own image. Genesis1:27. These good and living parts of all humans, though soiled by sin, yearns for God's cleansing and reconciliation with God. God cleanses and forgives some humans by His grace with the blood and water that flowed from Jesus on the cross when they repent and believe while still alive in the flesh. In this way, God separates their spiritual deaths; that is, all of their weak and rebellious sins from them when they believe in the power of Christ through His sacrifice to save them. When they believe, God casts all of their separated sins into the sea of forgetfulness. Micah 7:19.
The good and living parts of all other humans not saved by grace will eventually repent and believe as prophesied in Isaiah 45:21-24 and Philippians 2:9-11.This prophecy will be fulfilled as recorded in Revelation 5:13. God will prove their salvation by the fact that they will worship Christ as "the Lamb" which they could not do unless they had come to believe that he is their Savior. God also proved this fact by Jesus' statement in John 11:25. Jesus prophesied that He will save the living parts of all humans within the regions of the dead. Revelation 20:5. God further proves this prophecy in Colossians 1:15-20 which teaches that God will reconcile all things which He created, which also must mean all humans, to Himself because of Christ's sacrifice which includes His descent into hell. Revelation 21:5 clearly states, "...Behold, I make all things new..." Since God created all things, then this statement could not be true unless God recovers and recreates all things He originally created. In fact, Romans 11:36 clearly states that all things that God has created will eventually come back to Him. But these living humans saved from the regions of the dead will not be saved by grace. They will be saved by the mercy of God, which is everlasting, and will be recreated to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29; Revelation 22:11-12.
God will save all humanity not saved by grace by Jesus' descent into hell where He left behind all of man's sins which He bore on the cross. He proved this fact when He rose immaculate from the dead. All of the Old Testament burnt offering sacrifices symbolized God's removal of sins by the use of His consuming fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15 describes how God will use His consuming fire to cleanse and save all humans not already saved by His grace. God will complete the salvation of the living parts of all humans within the regions of the dead when He resurrects them to life as recorded in Revelation 20:5. God will recover and recreate these living humans to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5. God will use His consuming fire to burn their spiritually dead and totally evil parts in the lake of fire forever. Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8.
Job was greatly confused. Job's emotions ran the entire spectrum from complete despair and hopelessness to feelings of joy and acceptance by God. Job 10:16. God never blames men for having emotions. God never blames men for questioning Him. God wrote the Bible from man's point of view. Like man, the Bible is a finite book which connects to the Infinite. Man is a finite creature who will eventually reconnect to an everlasting, merciful God. For this reason, some parts of the Bible which could not have been directly inspired by the Holy Spirit, such as letters written by pagans or Paul's quotes of pagan poets in Acts 17:18, were nevertheless given by inspiration of God so that they relate an infallible and inerrant description of man's condition with all of his hopeless emotions as well as the joys of his faith. Even the scribal errors and the man made contradictions in the Bible teach the inerrant truth that man is a fallible creature whether he sins or contradicts other writers or simply makes mistakes in arithmetic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)