According to Psalms 119:89 the word of God transends the translations, "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."
Also God said of His word, Isaiah 55:11, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper
in the thing whereto I sent it."
Yet us Christians cannot argree on all of God's word, the Apostle wrote, "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and
that there be no divisions among you; but
that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."
Jesus told the unbelievers, John 8:47, "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear
them not, because ye are not of God." So are some of us not yet saved as we think we are?
Jesus warned, Matthew 7:21-23, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Are not false words added to God's word work of iniquity?
God did promise, in the Proverbs 30:5-6, "Every word of God
is pure: he
is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."
Jesus also promised in John 7:16-17, "Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or
whether I speak of myself." [Regarding His own words He spoke.]
There are two ways to look at the words of God, 1) literally, and 2) spiritually, because the words of the bible are intended to be both. One must accept them first as literal because God has given them to us. He gave them to us today in written form only but to some people before this time he gave them the spoken word. One must not believe that just because we have liberty to make spiritual applications of any passage in the scriptures that we are also free to ignore the literalness of the scriptures and ignore to whom they are spoken. We are charged by the scriptures themselves to rightly divide them
For instance, Jesus Christ was crucified in 30 AD but for 3.5 years before that he called Israel to repentance, reminding them of what the OT said about him, that he was fulfilling, and at the same time giving them new things that were never written anywhere. As a matter of fact he quoted some things the prophets of Israel said that were not written in the scriptures. He would know that since he gave the prophets the information.
Another for instance. Often times passages are quoted as if they are addressed specifically for us to follow them literally when they are, if fact, not addressed to us at all. You have done this in this very post I am responding to. While there are many spiritual lessons in these passages that will instruct us, none of them, with the exception of the proverbs, are addressed to us in any kind of literal way. These words were spoken to the people of Israel, and by the time they were written, probably some of the hearers would never get the opportunity to read them.
You stated this verse and then asked this question;
Jesus told the unbelievers, John 8:47, "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." So are some of us not yet saved as we think we are?
The answer is obvious if you understand that Jesus spoke these words to an actual assembly of Jews and Israelites, and particularly to Jewish rulers who were gathered around him that day in the temple after they had already plotted to kill him.
Jn 8:2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
This is the crowd who did not hear his word and believe it. Look;
42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
43 Why do ye not understand
my speech? even because ye canno
t hear my word.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie,
he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if
I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
There is no scenario ever when you, saved or lost, will fit the profile of those scribes and Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke in Jn 8. This is scripture for us but not to us but to them it is what was spoken and they never read it in print. Everything that Jesus said about them was true and every thing he said would happen to them did happen to them.
In john 6 we have an oft quoted and applied passage that is a good illustration of my point. How often have you heard this verse quoted as proof of someones special election to salvation because they were drawn by the Father to be saved? Read it.
Jn 6:44 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.
This passage is no more or no less literal than the following passage. Look.
Jn 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that
every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Nobody quotes this verse as proof they are elect because we all know that no one who is alive today has seen the Son. But these guys he was speaking to has seen him.
Jn 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
36 But I said unto you, That
ye also have seen me, and believe not.
Past tense. Ye have seen me, Jesus said, but they were looking at him right then. What does he mean? These people who he was speaking to had seen him the previous day as the Bread of Life, on the mountain on the other side of the sea, when he fed the 5 thousand men plus women and children with 5 loaves and 2 fishes with 12 basketfuls left over.
There are all kinds of spiritual applications to this passage that will help us today but it was not spoken to us and no one is being asked to physically come to the person of Jesus or to see him in order to be elect and it is not teaching it is the way for gentiles to have eternal life This was for Jews of Jesus day only. It is faith in what has been revealed from God to men that justifies them at any given time in history, and if we stopped at this revelation in our faith we would not be justified because we have far more revelation since that day when Jesus spoke these words in the synagogue.
Again the Apostle wrote, 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"
There is no doubt about this being written for us to take literally today and to obey the command.
Yet we all do not believe the same word to be the words of God!
John 1:18
John 13:2
Luke 4:4
1 John 5:6-8
etc.
This is true.
I learned all I have told you from a KJV. It is so easy to understand.
