Gracia Singh said in post #23:
Almost everyone is persuaded that they are right, yet obviously not everyone can be. All seriously and earnestly quote Scripture to back their views.
Note that while anyone can string verses together, they can't make the Bible say whatever they want. For if they say something which contradicts what the Bible says when it's taken as a whole, then what they're saying is mistaken.
Even when what one verse says appears plain, it can still be misinterpreted, such as by reading into it things it doesn't say, things which would contradict what other verses say. To arrive at correct doctrine, a verse in one place in the Bible must be compared with (qualified by) other, related verses elsewhere in the Bible (Isaiah 28:9-10; 1 Corinthians 2:13). Our doctrine must be based on what the entire Bible says (2 Timothy 3:16, Matthew 4:4), and not just on what some unqualified verses say.
An example of an unqualified verse would be John 3:36. We can't say it means that all we have to believe is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. For John 3:36 must be qualified by, for example, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (and vice versa). We have to believe both that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He suffered and died on the Cross for our sins and rose physically from the dead on the 3rd day. So when John 3:36 is qualified, something is added to it, not subtracted from it. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 adds further belief requirements to John 3:36 (and vice versa). 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 doesn't subtract, negate or contradict the belief requirement of John 3:36 (or vice versa).
Another way that John 3:36 must be qualified is we can't say that it means all that Christians have to do is believe for at least one moment during their lifetime. For John 3:36 must be qualified by other verses which show that Christians will obtain ultimate salvation only if they continue to believe to the end (Hebrews 3:6,14, Colossians 1:23). And this is just one of the conditions that the Bible as a whole shows must be met for Christians to obtain ultimate salvation (e.g. Romans 2:6-8; 1 Corinthians 9:27).
The Bible itself, in its entirety, is all that Christians need to become perfect in both doctrine and practice. For:
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
2 Timothy 4:1 ¶I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
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Gracia Singh said in post #29:
Sir, simply quoting Scripture as it exists now does not answer the question of what Scripture is, how it came to be approved of as Scripture, and how it was Canonized.
The different books of the New Testament were all written for the early Church, which knew and trusted the writers, and so kept their writings, because the writers were eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 9:1, John 19:35, John 21:24, Luke 24:48, Revelation 1:17-19) or their immediate followers (Luke 1:1-2, Hebrews 2:3). Also, the early Church had received some measure of God's own Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:11-13), Jesus Christ's own mind (1 Corinthians 2:16). And so the Church was able to know whether a teaching of the writers was truly from Jesus or not (John 10:27,4-5), just as Biblical Christians can still know this today for the same reason. Also, Biblical Christians today, just as the early Church did, can confirm for themselves that the writers of the New Testament agree with what the Old Testament prophesied (Acts 17:11, Acts 26:22-23, Luke 24:44-48).
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