Scribe's Treasure

Human life needs more than scientific truth. Also needed is the spiritual and other truth of Scripture. The ken of Scripture spreads into the more significant parts of life, truth, theology and sociology including psychology, biology including life development. The more knowledgeable that science has become the more evident becomes the meaning of Genesis 1 and most of the remainder of Genesis. The heaven of Genesis 1.06-1.08 is located in the firmament. The early earth was covered by liquid water, the floor of an aqueous bounded firmament. Evidently the firmament locates between earth with seas below and an atmosphere layer above presumed as variously and intermittently cloud covered. The heaven part of the firmament is invisible to the eyes of flesh. Presumably it comprises living sub-matter. It would not locate in the vastness very far beyond Terra’s upper atmosphere. Specified in Genesis 1.02-2.03 is creation’s duration. The seven days evidently is one week of eons, six working eons on planet Terra, the seventh or future Sabbath eon on or near a new earth. Evidently God in his supreme prophetic foresight has used a futurity to create a recurring 24 hour Sabbath for us and our domestic animals. This is intended as a day of holy rest wherein our thoughts and actions indicate something of what we believe and hope concerning the seventh day of Genesis 2.01-2,03. In Section 3.26, this day and its eternity is compared with our familiar day synchronized to one diurnal spin of Terra. Scripture witnesses to itself explicitly in Psalm 19.07-19.14 and several other passages: The Father speaks for his living and effective Word in Isaiah 55.10-55.11: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Quite explicit are the following verses from the New Testament: All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3.16-3.17) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4.11) First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but man moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1.20-1.21) Comparing a given passage with pertinent passages and with reliable commentaries can help to avoid personal interpretation. Extending the process can help to avoid a denominational interpretation which usually has comprised some misinterpretation. If we honor God’s word with our lips, we should also honor its letter, spirit, practice. Ancient scholars have rendered some phrases (or passages) somewhat differently in letter, yet usually have seemed to retain the original spirit. The problem arises afresh when rendering Scripture in a new language. Overemphasis upon letter or literality tends to underemphasize or ignore the question of integrity or inerrancy in spirit. Others have noted at a realistic examination of Scripture by text or passage asks three questions, namely this: What does it say? What is its meaning? What is its practice? These questions respectively concern literality, spirit, practice. True spirit does so “expound one piece of Scripture, that it be not repugnant to another.” Do not treat Scripture as a book of maxims. Our religious practice should seek personal and spiritual encounter with God and help for the needy neighbor. Two or three versions of the same event (evidently by different writers) differ somewhat in literality. But they find congruity in spirit. These confirm rather than obscure meaning, further evidence of Scripture’s integrity. Matthew 6.09-6.15 records one version of Jesus’ most familiar prayer, perhaps that of a direct hearer. Luke 11.02-11.04 records a condensed or consensus version. The two versions differ in letter rather than in spirit. How wonderful to read explicit words of the Godhead in much of Scripture! About one half of the gospel (four versions ) explicitly quotes Jesus, namely God the Son. And God the Father explicitly speaks in much of Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament. The two anointed of the Old Testament (Zechariah 4.14) are revealed in the New Testament as the Son and the Holy Spirit, completing the Holy Trinity. Two related and controversial aspects of Scripture have been details concerning its inspiration and authority. Your scribe believes that a relatively small but utterly vital part of Scripture comprises explicit words of God the Father and God the Son. Such revelation deserves priority or datum significance. In the larger portion of Scripture, various inspired men speak for God. On occasion the Holy Spirit evidently retained several versions of the same spiritually important event, each version written by a different inspired man or group. And inaccuracies on occasion in such writings evidently have been accepted by the Holy Spirit as not serious enough to harm the passage’s integrity, perhaps in a few instances serving like a signature. The Old Testament speaks of idols as inanimate. The New Testament reveals a future deadly idol, apparently animate, namely an image of the beast (Revelation 13.15). Idolatry, inanimate or animate, comprises perverse worship and breaks the second commandment (Exodus 20.04-20.06). Scripture is treated herein as: • God’s written word speaking to his human creatures concerning their priority needs now and into eternity. These include spiritual salvation. • Scripture either directly or indirectly from God was written through and by various men over a duration spanning more than thirteen centuries. Yet study by many indicates a coherent unity, evidence of a common plenary type inspiration by God. • A most reliable and essential handbook of spirit and related truth, and which Christians should study and uphold by practice.