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NASB | 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God's will, both publicly and privately--behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; |
Subject: How do we know that GOD is truly speakin |
Bible Note: Dear Hood, God has been very gracious to His church. He has provided all of the revelation we need in Scripture. Carefully preserving His Word, He closed the canon. Believers live by EVERY word of God (Luke 4:4). Imagine, if He were speaking today, we'd be running around trying to gather up those utterances to be spread to the rest of the church! In spite of the numerous warnings in Scripture to not say "Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken" we have numerous examples in the last 2,000 years of men doing just that! Popes, false teachers, false prophets, and others abound through history. People like Montanus, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Ellen G. White, Kenneth Copeland, etc. have sought to mislead the simple, claiming "thus saith the Lord." If someone says they have a "word from God" having heard a voice, had a vision, dreamed a dream, or something similar, the test is simple: ask them to cite the book, chapter, and verse. If it isn't in the Word, you'll know they are false. If it is in the Word, then continue to put your faith in the Word, not people who think they have some kind of "in" with God. Our sole authority is the Word of God. As believers, we rest safely here just as He has provided. In Him, Doc "Gifts which in their own nature exceed the whole power of all our faculties, that dispensation of the Spirit is long since ceased and where it is now pretended unto by any, it may justly be suspected as an enthusiastic delusion." --John Owen "The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved. (Matthew 22:29, 31, 32; Ephesians 2:20; Acts 28:23)" --1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith (Chapter 1, paragraph 10) "Take care never to impute the vain imaginings of your fancy to the Holy Spirit. I have seen the Spirit of God shamefully dishonored by people -- I hope they were insane -- who have said that they have had this and that revealed to them. "There has not for some years passed over my head a single week in which I have not been pestered with the 'revelations' of hypocrites or maniacs. Semi-lunatics are very fond of coming with messages from the Lord to me, and it may save them some trouble if I tell them once for all that I will have none of their stupid messages. When my Lord and Master has any message to me He knows where I am, and He will send it to me direct, and not by madmen. "Never dream that events are revealed to you by heaven, or you may come to be like those idiots who dare impute their blatant follies to the Holy Spirit. If you feel your tongue itch to talk nonsense, trace it to the devil, not to the Spirit of God. "Whatever is to be revealed by the Spirit to any of us is in the word of God already -- He adds nothing to the Bible, and never will. Let persons who have revelations of this, that, and the other, go to bed and wakeup in their senses. I only wish they would follow the advice, and no longer insult the Holy Spirit by laying their nonsense at His door." --Charles H. Spurgeon |