The Bible On Trial

Often when I go out for a walk with my dogs I randomly choose a past program from the archive of The Bible On Trial/The Revelation of Jesus programs of BlogTalkRadio.com/sot. This is what I did yesterday, and this was program from about 6 years ago, and Rich Humpal (the founder of The Bible On Trial program) was on the air with us that day.

Rich brought up an interesting discussion about what constitutes Scripture, by asking, "Is the New Testament actually Scripture?" As usual, our discussion centered around the words of Jesus. We discussed the idea that Jesus confirmed confirmed the Law and the Prophets as Scripture in Matt. 5:17: "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill."

Rich then asked this question; Did Jesus consider His own words to be Scripture? When Jesus was on earth Scripture was considered to be what we now know as the Pentateuch, the first five books of our Bible. There were also books that were historical records of Israel, Music/Psalms, and Wisdom. There was also the Talmud, which was writings of honored teachers in Israel, the writings of whom while not cosidered holy, were used as the starting points of discussion at the Temple or in Synogogues.

Rich's conclusion was that the New Testament cannot be 'Scripture', because it was not already part of the Holy Writings of the Kingdom. So where does that leave the Words of Jesus? For that Rich pointed out Rev. 12:17: "So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

Jesus words are TRUTH, just as are His Commandments. And it is these words that bring both the Old Testament and the New into clear relief as the ONLY words that can lead to Sanctification and eternal life.