8.All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower1Pet1:24,25
9.Now we have received not the spirit of the world, 1Cor 2:12
10.You search the scriptures because you think that, John 5:39
11.Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and" John 14:6
12.Before destruction one's heart is haughty, Prov.18:12
13. Ask, and it will be given you; search, and;Matt.7:7
14. The power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith .Rom 1:16
8.All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. 1 Pet 1:24,25
It is the teaching of the Bible and Jesus Christ himself and the belief of Christian Church that the Bible, all 66 books of both the old and new testaments, is the infallible Word of God in the original texts and the unerring criterion of believers in their belief and life.
The historical proof of this profession of our faith is in the death of Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the dead (Act 17:31) and the spiritual, interior, and mental proof of this faith of us is the interior testimony of the Holy Spirit who goes forth from God and is sent and poured into our hearts by the Son of God Jesus Christ (Eph 1:13,14). We rectify and amend our ways of daily life and discern good from evil about everything by the Bible.
"All scripture is able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work (2Tim 3:15-17).
9.Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 1Cor 2:12
The verse above tells us that we need to receive the Holy Spirit into our heart in order to understand the gifts bestowed on us by God, that is, the Gospel (the Good News), and to believe in Jesus. The verse 14 after the verse 12 above says, "Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (1Cor 2:14)".
Watching a TV the other day, I saw a Novel Prized novelist giving a lecture for young people on " Becoming a new man" using the New Testament Ephesian 2:14. But the interpretation of the verse deviated greatly from the spiritual and original meaning. It is natural for him not to be able to understand the verse of the Bible correctly, for he is not a Christian and was not able to interpret it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. No one, even a man of world leading intelligence,can understand the Bible rightly without the help of the Holy Spirit.
God gives the Holy Spirit to everyone who both asks for and believes in Jesus (Lk 11:9-13; Act 2:38).
" When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all all the truth" (John 16:13).
"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, he will testify on my behalf" (John 15:26).
10.You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they testify on my behalf.John 5:39
This verse is one of the sayings of Jesus who answered and said to Jews. The scriptures mentioned here were the Old Testament and they have been testifying about Jesus since the time when they were written. The Old Testament testifies the coming Christ and the New Testament witnesses Jesus Christ who had come to save us.
The Bible were written by the hands of various people spending a long time about 1500 years. In the case of the Old Testament, the writers didn't know each others, but nevertheless the scriptures as a whole have unity and harmony without confusion and contradiction pointing at Jesus Christ. The scriptures, moreover, have life, light, power, love, holiness, honesty, peace and every goodness within them. These rare and unique nature of the Bible shows the fact that they were written by God Himself using people's hands.
All scriptures inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work (2Tim 3:16,17).
11.Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
Jesus Christ is the Way for us men to walk and the Way to the Heaven. Men are made to be able to live a life worthy of men when they live lives as Jesus lived. Jesus is the truth. The truth cleanse us from sins and impurity of the world (John 17:17). And the truth delivers us from the curse of sin and Satan and makes us free (John 8:32). Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live (John 11: 25). And he died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead into the undying body on the third day. Only by believing in Jesus, man can be born again to have the eternal life (John 3:36).
A Japanese poet wrote a poem, "Though we have many ways up to the top of a mountain, we can see the same moon in the night sky on the way up to the summit", which Japanese people interpret to mean that though there are many religions in the world, all of them lead us to God. The thought, however, is a great misunderstanding. There is no way to give us salvation from sin and its curse except through Jesus (Act 4:12).
12.Before destruction one's heart is haughty, humility goes before honor.Prov.16:18
Lord Jesus did not care for the haughty hypocrites, that is, pharisees and scribes and forsook them, saying to his disciples "Let them alone"(Mtt. 15:14), on the other hand he loved and kept company with tax collectors and prostitutes who acknowledged their own sins and humbled themselves.
Jesus the only Son of God himself walked humbly to the cross and said "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mtt. 20:28). In order to understand Jesus and His Word the Bible, everyone has to have a humble heart in the same way with Jesus.
Therefore without being confronted by calamities, that is, illness, death of relatives, joblessness, and bankruptcy and being humbled, scales do not fall from eyes of people. But only a few people can humble themselves by these difficulties. A man is born so haughty as not to be humbled and depend on Jesus.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:3).
13. Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.Matt.7:7,8
Religions made by men try to force people to believe using various ways, that is, mind control or hypnotism. But God of the Bible does not compel us to believe in Him. He has respect for our free will. Our God made Adam the first Man of the human race not as an obedient robot, but as a person who has a free will. Robots can not be friends with either men or God. God of the Bible is the One who shows the way of life to those who seek it. He will be found by those who search Him. He willingly opens the door of the Heaven for those who knock it.
In Japanese Churches, however, there are some Christians who found the salvation which they had not sought and others who was found by God whom they had not been searching. The Bible says " I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me". Rom 10:20
Even those who were given the salvation without seeking earnestly can not grow to maturity without if they do not seek the Lord with thirst. After having been born again as a Christian they have to seek the Bread of the Word earnestly in order to grow up as a follower of Christ.
14.The power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith .Rom 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to Jew first and also to the Greek. Rom. 1:16
You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. James 2:22-24
The Reformer Martin Luther found out the Doctrine "Justification by faith" by his study of the Scriptures in about 1515. It teaches that man is saved not by his good works or penance(voluntary suffering), but by the faith in Christ Jesus.
Luther called the Letter of James the book of straw and belittled it, for it preaches that the work is indispensable for faith to completion. He admitted to the mistake later, but he did not know the Truth to be polyhedral (having more than six surfaces like a rose-cut diamond).
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (John16:13). The truth in Greek "arehseia" is a singular noun. The Truth is only one, but polyhedral. So man is saved by the faith alone, and the faith is the one which bears good fruits.
The faith without good works can not save the believer. Even the demons believe God and shudder (James 2:19). Every Christian has the responsibility to show his faith working through love (Gal 5:6) by putting his faith into practice (James 1:22) in the presence of God and people. Christian faith grows through the practice of the Word and faith.
16 April 2006 Published
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