The Bible Only
 

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God...

During the time that the apostle Paul and the other apostles and disciples of Jesus were beginning to spread the Gospel, God communicated to them His Word through special revelations of dreams and visions (i.e.: Galatians 1:11,12). In fact, this is how God gave His Word all throughout the Old Testament also (ie: Numbers 12:6). He chose various men and women whom He called "prophets" to be His mouth-piece and declare the Word of God or "prophesy". "Prophecy" in the Bible, means to declare the Word of God. Sometimes this involved foretelling a future event but not always. Occasionally, the Lord would have these prophets write down what the Lord was saying. He used prophets up until the time that He completed writing the Holy Scriptures of His Word. Even though God chose to use men in this process, God Himself was always the Author of what was said (remember 2 Peter 1:20,21 & 2 Timothy 3:16? See also Psalm 45:1) Paul and the other apostles and disciples were also "prophets" as they communicated God's Word to those who would hear.

2 Peter 1:19 refers to the Holy Scriptures and calls them "a more sure word of prophecy". That is, they are more trustworthy than the spoken word (probably because men can deceive or even be deceived into thinking they have a message from God, when in fact it is not from God at all). The Lord says that His written Word is pure (see Psalm 12:6,7). Notice that verse 7 of Psalm 12 says, "Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." In this verse, God pledges to preserve His Words so that they would continue to say exactly what He wants them to. If He is God (and He is) then surely He is able to do this. When the Lord finally completed the last of His Holy Scriptures in the Bible, He declared in Revelations 22:18,19 that nothing more was to be added (or taken away). No more prophecy was to be given by God. So today, now that the Bible is complete, whenever we declare the Word of God (or prophesy) we have to be very careful that what we are saying is coming from the Bible only. This is the only Word of God for today. If anyone would be declaring that they have a message from God from a source other than the Bible, say, from a dream or vision or a tongue, they would be adding to the prophecy of the Bible and be in direct disobedience to it (as Revelation 22:18,19 says).

All of the scripture of the Bible is more than adequate to reveal to us the whole counsel of God, His will and His person. Jesus declared in John 6:63, "...my words are Spirit and they are life." And remember, that in a profound and spiritual way Jesus Himself is the Word (John 1:1,14). To come to His Word the Bible, is coming to Him. We have no need for prophets to teach us today -- we can come to Jesus Himself, and He "The Word" will teach us.

Remember that only those who believe, who have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit can truly understand God's Word (1 Corinthians 2:14). They are the only one's who really want to understand it anyway. The Spirit Himself leads us into truth as we compare scripture with scripture (John 14:26, 1 Corinthians 2:12,13). In fact, the Lord says that those who are saved have an "anointing" or "unction" and that they do not need to depend on any man to teach them (1 John 2:27, 1 John 2:20). While the Lord may use another believer to teach us, these verses are saying that this is not absolutely necessary. He Himself will teach us. God actually warns us not to depend on another man (Jeremiah 17:5). Anything we may learn from another man must be checked out in the Bible -- because men make mistakes, but the Bible does not. It is the infallible Word of God and the final authority on what we are to believe. It is the Voice of the Almighty.
 
 
 
 

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