Faith and the Word of God

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. --Romans 14:17

 

God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He spoken, and will He not do it?  Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) "For ever, O Lord, your word is fixed in heaven." (Psalms 119:89) "Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35) The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (Isaiah 40:8) "...they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:16)

 

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See also: Understanding the Bible: Unraveling the Basics of the Bible - by Laurie McClure

Chronological - Read the Bible in the order that the events happened. Plan Length: 365 days

 

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Contents:


Upfront - Trusting the Word of God

"The seed is the Word of God" (Matthew 13:18-19, Luke 8:4-15).

 

..."Some fell by the wayside." ..."Some fell upon a rock" ...Some fell among thorns." ..."Some fell on good ground."  

 

After the Parable of the Sower Matthew 13:14-17: The disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered them, “It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For to him who has, will more be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Therefore I speak to them in parables:

    ‘Because they look, but do not see.

        And they listen, but they do not hear, neither do they understand.’[a]

    In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 6:9-10 which says:

        ‘By hearing, you will hear and shall not understand,

     and seeing, you will see and shall not perceive;

     for this people’s heart has grown dull. Their ears have become hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I should heal them.’

    But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them.

   [a] Deuteronomy 29:4 - Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear.

Jeremiah 5:21 - Hear this now, O foolish people and without understanding, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

Ezekiel 12:2 - “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.

John 12:39-40 - Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah 53:1 said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”  

 

George Müller - "Only let it be trust in God, not in man, not in circumstances, not in any of your own exertions, but real trust in God, and you will be helped in your various necessities... Not in circumstances, not in natural prospects, not in former donors, but solely in God. This is just that which brings the blessing. If we say we trust in Him, but in reality do not, then God, taking us at our word, lets us see that we do not really confide in Him; and hence failure arises. On the other hand, if our trust in the Lord is real, help will surely come."

 

Can We Really Trust the Bible?/span> - By Michael L. Brown ...On June 30, 2022, someone named Robert posted this comment on our ministry's YouTube channel: "Why would anyone in the 21st century give a [expletive] what illiterate desert dwellers from 2000 years ago thought about anything?" In writing this, he reflected the views of many people today, especially in the younger generation. Why on earth should I care about what this old, outmoded, outdated book has to say? What does it have to do with me?

     ...In recent years, I've heard lots of people say, "You can't trust the Bibles you read. They are translations of translations of translations." Is there any truth to this? Absolutely not. Whether you're reading an older English Bible (like the King James Version) or a modern English Bible (like the NIV or ESV or NASB), you're reading a translation into English straight from biblical Hebrew, biblical Aramaic or biblical Greek. That's it. You are not reading a translation from Hebrew into Greek into Latin into German into English (or something like that). You are reading a translation straight from the biblical languages (namely, Hebrew and a little Aramaic for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament) into English. Everyone who knows anything about Bible translations knows this to be true, and the translators have spent decades studying the original languages and then many years producing their translations.

     ...When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the late 1940s, scholars were amazed to see that among the Hebrew manuscripts found there, some of them dating back to as early as 150-100 years BC, some were identical to the text found in our Hebrew Bibles today virtually letter for letter.

     ...Now, ask yourself this question. If the whole world lived by these words (Ten Commandments), would the world be a better place? A safer place? A healthier place? A more moral place? Would it be easier for you to raise your kids in an environment like this? Would there be less crime? Would marriages be stronger? Would people be more at peace with themselves and one another?  

Psalms 119:1-20 (One New Man Bible) - Happy are the innocent in the Way, who walk in the Torah (Teaching) of the LORD*. Happy are those who keep His testimonies, seeking Him with the whole heart. They also do no injustice: they walk in His Ways. You commanded us to diligently keep Your commands. O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! Then I shall not be ashamed when I have respect for all Your commandments. I shall praise You with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned Your righteous judgments. I shall keep Your statutes: O do not utterly forsake me! How will a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Your word. I have sought You with my whole heart: let me not wander from Your commandments. I have hidden Your word in my heart so I would not sin against You. Blessed are You, LORD*: teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the Way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I shall meditate on Your commands and have respect for Your Ways. I shall delight myself in Your statutes: I will not forget Your word. Deal bountifully with Your servant so I can live and keep Your word. Open my eyes so I can behold wondrous things from Your Torah (Teaching). I am a stranger in the earth. Do not hide Your commandments from me! My inner being breaks for the longing for Your judgments at all times.

Do You Need an Error Free Bible to Show Christianity Is True? - By Dr. Frank Turek - ...Although I think there are good reasons to believe in an inerrant Bible, inerrancy is an unnecessarily high standard by which to establish the central event in Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Christianity hinges on that historical event. If Christ rose from the dead, then, game over, Christianity is true. On the other hand, if he didn't rise from the dead, then, as a first-century eyewitness by the name of Paul admitted, Christianity is false. ...Contrary to what some skeptics may think, the New Testament writers didn't create the resurrection, the resurrection created the New Testament writers. In other words, the New Testament documents didn't give us the resurrection. The resurrection gave us the New Testament documents! There would be no New Testament unless the resurrection had occurred. Observant Jews would never have invented that.

Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit testifies the Bible is true - What the Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts clearly demonstrate is that through about a thousand years there was essentially no significant alteration in the text. The scribes who transcribed the text of the Bible were so meticulous, they had such high standards of accuracy, counting every word and every letter of every word, dotting each "i" and crossing each "t", so to speak, that one may be absolutely certain the Old Testament text available to scholars today is in essence the same as the originals. The Dead Sea Scrolls are an incontrovertible archaeological confirmation that this is the case. The evidence for the reliability of the New Testament is equally strong with only approximately a 250-year gap between the original manuscripts and the copies currently available. "If you are still concerned about the gap of, say, 250 years," writes Erwin Lutzer of the Moody Bible Church of Chicago, "remember we can independently confirm the text of the New Testament by (1) papyri manuscripts that were discovered in Egypt, dated as early as A.D. 125, containing fragments of the New Testament. Also (2) extensive quotations of the New Testament occur in the writings of the early Church Fathers, as further proof that the New Testament writings were known to them, possessing the same content as we have today."

Incredible Proof for Why You Should Have Faith in the Bible - By Paul Strand - ...Overwhelming Evidence Josh McDowell wrote one of the most authoritative defenses of the Bible with Evidence That Demands a Verdict and its sequel The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict. He pointed to how even respected "non-believers" wrote about Jesus. "There are 16 total historians apart from Scripture that reference Christ," he said. "Almost everything about Christ we can find without ever going to the New Testament." McDowell writes extensively about this in his newest books God-Breathed and 77 FAQs About God and the Bible. Morrow points out in his book Questioning the Bible there's more evidence that Jesus lived than Julius Caesar, yet no one doubts Caesar existed. "When you're doing history, you want early and you want eyewitnesses. And the gospel writers give you both," Morrow explained. "They investigated everything carefully. They have the ring of truth to them. They include embarrassing details," he continued. One supposition of scholars is the closer in time a writer was to events, the more likely his account is accurate. Morrow pointed out respected biblical writers Paul and Luke interviewed the apostles and knew many others who witnessed Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. And the writers' Peter, John, and James actually lived with Jesus. "John said, 'What our eyes have seen, what our ears have heard, what our hands have handled is what we're declaring to you,'" McDowell said. "In other words, 'We're eyewitnesses.'"

   ...More Accurate than Any Other Document : When it comes to the Bible, the surviving ancient copies or pieces of it way outnumber all other ancient works. McDowell said there are "66,420 some manuscripts and scrolls" for the Bible. Second place goes to Homer's The Illiad, with just 1,827. Most ancient works have far few intact remnants. "We do trust Homer. How much more should we trust the New Testament documents?" Morrow asked.  

   ...Meticulous Copy Process: Doubters have a hard time believing that the Bibles we read today could accurately reflect the actual words written by the authors so many centuries ago. But McDowell explained how for Jewish scribes, copying books like Genesis and Exodus was holy work and strictly controlled. "Four-thousand regulations the scribe had to follow to guarantee accuracy," he said. McDowell brought to CBN News a massive scroll from the Middle Ages owned by a Jewish village in Europe. In producing such a scroll, the scribes would have needed about three years to carefully ink its 300,000-plus letters. Then a man known as a "counter" would come check their lettering meticulously. "They knew what the center was, in Leviticus 11," McDowell explained. "And they would count 159,402, hoping the next one, 403, was a center letter. If it wasn't, they couldn't use it."  

    ...WATCH More Evidence: Josh McDowell's Startling Evidence for the Bible. Josh McDowell: Apparent Contradictions, Discrepancies Disappearing. Josh McDowell: Outsiders Back Up the Bible. Jonathan Morrow: Proof for What's in the Bible. Jonathan Morrow: Son of God or Nothing. Jonathan Morrow: Why God's Not a Genocidal Maniac. Jonathan Morrow: Why Is There Suffering?


THE NEW ANSWERS BOOK 2: Chapter 17: Why 66? How can we be sure that we have the correct 66 books in our Bible? The Bible is a unique volume. It is composed of 66 books by 40 different writers over 1,500 years. But what makes it unique is that it has one consistent storyline running all the way through, and it has just one ultimate author  God. The story is about God's plan to rescue men and women from the devastating results of the Fall, a plan that was conceived in eternity, revealed through the prophets, and carried out by the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

 

Each writer of the Bible books wrote in his own language and style, using his own mind, and in some cases research, yet each was so overruled by the Holy Spirit that error was not allowed to creep into his work. For this reason, the Bible is understood by Christians to be a book without error.

 

This collection of 66 books is known as the "canon" of Scripture. That word comes from the Hebrew kaneh (a rod), and the Greek kanon (a reed). Among other things, the words referred equally to the measuring rod of the carpenter and the ruler of the scribe. It became a common word for anything that was the measure by which others were to be judged (see Galatians 6:16, for example). After the apostles, church leaders used it to refer to the body of Christian doctrine accepted by the churches. Clement and Origen of Alexandria, in the third century, were possibly the first to employ the word to refer to the Scriptures (the Old Testament). From then on, it became more common in Christian use with reference to a collection of books that are fixed in their number, divine in their origin, and universal in their authority.

 

In the earliest centuries, there was little debate among Christians over which books belonged in the Bible; certainly by the time of the church leader Athanasius in the fourth century, the number of books had long been fixed. He set out the books of the New Testament just as we know them and added: These are the fountains of salvation, that whoever thirsts may be satisfied by the eloquence which is in them. In them alone is set forth the doctrine of piety. Let no one add to them, nor take anything from them.

 

Today, however, there are attempts to undermine the clear witness of history; a host of publications, from the novel to the (supposedly) academic challenge the long-held convictions of Christians and the clear evidence of the past. Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code claimed, More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only relatively few were chosen for inclusion Matthew, Mark, Luke and John among them. Richard Dawkins, professor of popular science at Oxford, England, has made similar comments.

 

So, what is the evidence for our collection of 66 books? How certain can we be that these are the correct books to make up our Bible, no more and no less? ...

 

Applying the Science of Probability to the Scriptures - By Peter Stoner was chairman of the mathematics and astronomy departments at Pasadena City College until 1953 when he moved to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. There he served as chairman of the science division. At the time he wrote this book "SCIENCE SPEAKS," he was professor emeritus of science at Westmont. (See "Jesus" with further coverage of Messianic Prophecies.)

     ...For example, the shape of the earth is mentioned in Isaiah 40:22. Gravity can be found in Job 26:7. Ecclesiastes 1:6 mentions atmospheric circulation. A reference to ocean currents can be found in Psalm 8:8, and the hydraulic cycle is described in Ecclesiastes 1:7 and Isaiah 55:10. The second law of thermodynamics is outlined in Psalm 102:25-27 and Romans 8:21. And these are only a few examples of scientific truths written in the Scriptures long before they were "discovered" by scientists.

     ...Excerpt: The point, of course, is that when people say that the fulfillment of prophecy in the life of Jesus was accidental, they do not know what they are talking about. Keep in mind that Jesus did not just fulfill 8 prophecies, He fulfilled 108. The chances of fulfilling 16 is 1 in 1045. When you get to a total of 48, the odds increase to 1 in 10157. Accidental fulfillment of these prophecies is simply beyond the realm of possibility.

     When confronted with these statistics, skeptics will often fall back on the argument that Jesus purposefully fulfilled the prophecies. There is no doubt that Jesus was aware of the prophecies and His fulfillment of them. For example, when He got ready to enter Jerusalem the last time, He told His disciples to find Him a donkey to ride so that the prophecy of Zechariah could be fulfilled which said, "Behold, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey" (Matthew 21:1-5 and Zechariah 9:9).

     But many of the prophecies concerning the Messiah could not be purposefully fulfilled, such as the town of His birth (Micah 5:2) or the nature of His betrayal (Psalm 41:9), or the manner of His death (Zechariah 13:6 and Psalm 22:16). One of the most remarkable Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures is the one that precisely states that the Messiah will die by crucifixion. It is found in Psalm 22 where David prophesied the Messiah would die by having His hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:16). That prophecy was written 1,000 years before Jesus was born. When it was written, the Jewish method of execution was by stoning. The prophecy was also written many years before the Romans perfected crucifixion as a method of execution.

 


Is the Bible the Inspired Word of God? By Jason Carlson and Ron Carlson - During a question and answer session at a recent speaking engagement, a university student asked me, "Why do you believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God?"  Now this is a very interesting question; and probably one of the most important questions any Christian could ask themselves.  What is so special, so unique about the Bible that Christians believe it is literally the inspired word of God? In answering this student's question, I encouraged him to consider the following facts about the Bible:

     First, the Bible is not just one single book.  This is a more common misconception than many people realize, especially with people who do not come from a Judeo-Christian background.  Rather than being a single book, the Bible is actually a collection of 66 books, which is called the canon of scriptures.  These 66 books contain a variety of genres: history, poetry, prophecy, wisdom literature, letters, and apocalyptic just to name a few. 

     Second, these 66 books were written by 40 different authors.  These authors came from a variety of backgrounds: shepherds, fishermen, doctors, kings, prophets, and others.  And most of these authors never knew one another personally. 

     Third, these 66 books were written over a period of 1500 years.  Yet again, this is another reminder that many of these authors never knew or collaborated with one another in writing these books.

     Fourth, the 66 books of the Bible were written in 3 different languages.  In the Bible we have books that were written in the ancient languages of Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic; a reflection of the historical and cultural circumstances in which each of these books were written.

     And finally, these 66 books were written on 3 different continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe.  Once again, this is a testament to the varied historical and cultural circumstances of God's people.

     Think about the above realities: 66 books, written by 40 different authors, over 1500 years, in 3 different languages, on 3 different continents.  What's more, this collection of books shares a common storyline- the creation, fall, and redemption of God's people; a common theme- God's universal love for all of humanity; and a common message- salvation is available to all who repent of their sins and commit to following God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength. In addition to sharing these commonalities, these 66 books contain no historical errors or contradictions.  God's word truly is an amazing collection of writings! 

     After I had shared the above facts with this student, I offered him the following challenge: I said to him, "If you do not believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, if you do not believe that the Bible is of a supernatural origin, than I challenge you to a test."  I said to the student, "I challenge you to go to any library in the world, you can choose any library you like, and find 66 books which match the characteristics of the 66 books in the Bible.  You must choose 66 books, written by 40 different authors, over 1500 years, in 3 different languages, written on 3 different continents.  However, they must share a common storyline, a common theme, and a common message, with no historical errors or contradictions."  I went on to say, "If you can produce such a collection of books, I will admit that the Bible is not the inspired word of God."  The student's reply was almost instantaneous, he emphatically stated, "But that's impossible!" 

     "But that's impossible!"  It truly is impossible, for any collection of human writings.  However, the Bible passes this test.  The Bible contains 66 books, written by 40 different authors, over 1500 years, in 3 different languages, on 3 different continents, with no historical errors or contradictions.  The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, bears the mark of Divine inspiration.

     The next time you encounter someone who asks you why you believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, try sharing this challenge with them.  Better yet, don't wait until you're asked, just go ahead and share this challenge with a friend today.  You don't even have to mention the Bible up front, just ask them if they think it would be realistic to assemble such a collection of books.  After they say, "But that's impossible!" you've got a ready-made opportunity for sharing the truth of God's word with somebody! 


Knowing God is Knowing the Word of God


"The seed is the Word of God." See Luke 8:4-15. ..."Some fell by the wayside." ..."Some fell upon a rock" ...Some fell among thorns." ..."Some fell on good ground."

Hebrews 4:12-13 - For the Word of God is living6 and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword7 and pierces until separation of breath of life and spirit, of joints and marrow and passing judgments on the thoughts and understandings of your heart: and no creature is hidden before Him, but everything is uncovered, since it has been laid bare to His eyes, to Whom an accounting by us is required.

Psalms 19:7-8 - The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

Psalms 119:125-130 - I am Your servant! Give me understanding, so I can know Your testimonies. It is time for You, LORD*, to work, for they have made void Your Torah (Teaching, Law). Therefore I love Your commandments above gold: even above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all Your commands concerning all things, to be right, hating every false way. Your testimonies are wonderful, therefore my soul keeps them. The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

(Jacob) James 1:20-25 - On this account, as you lay aside all filth and abundance of wickedness, you must immediately take for yourselves, in humility, the implanted Word which enables you to save your very beings. And you must steadily be doers of the Word and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves. Because if someone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, this one is like a man when he observes his own natural face in a mirror: for he observed himself then went away, and immediately forgot what manner of person he was. But the one who looked into the perfect Torah (Teaching, Law), the one of freedom, and continues to do so, not being a forgetful hearer but being a doer of work, he will be blessed, happy in what he does.

Proverbs 4:14-23 - Do not enter the path of the wicked! Do not go in the way of bad people! Avoid it, evil! Do not pass by it! Turn from it and pass away. For they do not sleep, except they have chosen evil, and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is like the shining light that shines more and more until the day is established. The way of the wicked is like darkness: they do not know at what they stumble. My son, pay attention to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes! Keep them in the midst of your heart! For they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. Above all that you guard, protect your heart, for out of it are the issues of life. 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 - Listen! Obey, O Israel! The LORD* is our God! The LORD* is One! And you will love the LORD* your God with all your heart, with your very being, and with all your might. (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27) And these words, which I am commanding you this day, will be in your heart and you will teach them diligently to your children, and you will talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you will bind them as a sign upon your hand (Proverbs 7:3), and they will be as frontlets between your eyes. And you will write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (within your community).

Jesus, each time when confronted by the deceptive wiles of Satan, responded with "It is written." --Matthew 4:1-10

Luke 6:43-49 - For a good tree is not making rotten fruit, and again a rotten tree is not making good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit: for they do not gather up figs from thorn plants and they do not gather a bunch of grapes from a thorn bush. The good man produces good from the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man produces evil from the evil in his heart: for his mouth is speaking out from the abundance of his heart. Why do you call Me, "Lord. Lord!" and do not do what I say? For everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and does them, I shall show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house who dug and made deep and placed the foundation upon the rock: and when the flood came the river burst upon that house and it was not able to shake it because it was well built. But the one who heard and did not do is like a man who built a house upon the ground without a foundation, which the river beat against and it immediately collapsed and there was a great ruin of that house.

The Bible: The Book That Is Alive! - By Joseph Parker - ...Eleven Excellent Reasons You should Read the Word of God Everyday

1. It tells you how to be genuinely saved and how to grow up in your faith. John 3:16, Psalm 119:105, Romans 12:1-2, and Phil. 4:6-7
2. It gives you clear guidance and direction for much of your life. Psalm 119:105
3. It empowers your prayer life. Phil. 4:6-7
4. It sharpens your ability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more and more clearly in your life. 1 Corinthians 1:5
5. It ministers to your mind, body, and spirit. Proverbs 4:20-22
6. It helps you to maintain your mental health (according to Dr. Paul Meier). Proverbs 4
7. It increases the anointing in every area of your life. 1 Corinthians 1:5
8. It increases your wisdom in every area of your life. Proverbs 1-4
9. It enhances your intellect and your personality (It can literally increase your I.Q.) 1 Corinthians 1:5-10.
10. It pours grace, joy, and peace into your spirit, your mind and your life. 2 Cor. 1:2 1 Timothy 1:2, and 2 Timothy 1:2, and Galatians 5:22
11. In direct statement or in principle, it gives you guidance and/or direction about every issue or topic in life. Psalm 119:105

Howard G. Hendricks  - "Many of us want a word from God, but we don't want the Word of God." ... "Dusty Bibles always lead to dirty lives. In fact, you are either in the Word and the Word is conforming you to the image of Jesus Christ, or you are in the world and the world is squeezing you into its mold."


Faith requires the Word of God

George Muller (Founder of the Orphanage at Bristol, England): Faith is the assurance that the thing which God has said in His Word is true (Hebrews 11:1), and that God will act according to what He said in His Word (Ezekiel 12:25, Isaiah 55:11). Probabilities, impressions, appearances, and emotions are not taken into account. The question is whether God has spoken it in His Word. I say it deliberately, trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very food of Faith. It is through trials that Faith is exercised and developed. He is seeking to strengthen Faith in us. In the darkest moments I am able to confide in Him, so that we may know Him better.
  
Read Matthew 6:25-34 carefully. I believed the Word, I rested on it and practiced it. I took God at His Word. I had consecrated myself to labor for the Lord, I put my reliance in the God who has promised, and He has acted according to His Word. There will always be difficulties, great trials and perplexities. But God has sustained me under them and delivered me out of them, and the work has gone on. Now, this is not, as some have said, because I am a man of great mental power, or endowed with energy and perseverance - these are not the reason. It is because I have confided in God; because I have sought God.
  
I do not carry the burden (Matthew 11:28-30). Because in the last century of labor, I've been able, with the simplicity of a child, to rely upon God (Luke 18:17, Matthew 7:7-11). I did not obtain all at once. Staying your soul on the Word of God, and you will have an increase of your Faith as you exercise it (Romans 10:17). But first, I should quietly, carefully, deliberately examine and see whether what I was trusting for was something in accordance with His promises in His Word.

Charles S. Price: It is not "faith in God," but the "faith of God" in us. "Faith does not originate in the flesh; neither is it a product of our human reason. Faith is not what we believe. It is not confidence. ...It is not generated by man, for it is IMPARTED BY GOD!" ...(Hebrews 11:3) "through faith we understand." ...Faith must be imparted; we cannot produce it. It is a GIFT OF GOD (1 Corinthians 12:9). It is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22)."  In "understanding" God's Wisdom, "such understanding only comes by an imparted faith! It is an UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPIRIT rather than of the mind."
  
"Brethren, the important thing is not what you believe, but in Whom you believe."
  
While many make faith "a condition of mind," it is rather a matter of "divinely imparted grace."  We may end our foolish struggle to 'believe' at such time we "come to the realization that we can receive faith only as He gives it."
  
There is a great deal of difference between what we call the faith of man in God, and the faith of God that is imparted to man. Such faith is not the child of effort, neither is it born of struggle. If it is the faith of God, then we get it from Him, and not from our mental attitudes or affirmations. Jesus did not say, "If you have the power to believe that God will remove that mountain, then He will do it." Neither did He say, "If you can believe hard enough that it is done, then it will be done." But He did say, "Have the faith of God."
  
In other words, get some of God's faith; and then when you have that, you will have the only power with which mountains can be moved and cast into the sea. But you tell me that in the second part of His statement He talks about believing with the heart and having no doubts. The second is impossible without the first. You simply cannot believe without the alloy of doubt until you have the faith of God. It takes God's faith to clean up these human hearts of ours of all the debris, the fears, misgivings and doubts. The groans and the struggles we have heard come from people who have tried to believe it is done without having God's faith! They might have confidence in His power, and belief in His promise; but to possess His faith is something else. All this has led me to believe that it is far more important that we seek the Healer than healing.
  
Mark 11:22 - Generally we interpret that scripture, "Have faith in God," to mean that we have confidence in God power to move a mountain. We say in our hearts, "I only I have faith enough in God; if only I can believe hard enough; and if only I can get doubt out of my heart, then God will move that mountain." You are trying to do the impossible. Your faith would never be strong enough or pure enough for that, though you were to struggle for a million years. What a mistake it is to take our belief in God and call it faith. ...By my side is my Greek Testament. Let me quote word for word that entire sentence in the order in which the words come, remembering that the structure of Greek sentences is different from that of our English. Here is the sentence in the Greek: "And answering, the Jesus says to them: 'Have you faith of God.'" That is the actual, word-for-word translation from the original. ("The Real Faith")

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us"

John 1:1-14 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. ...He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Isaiah 61:1-3 - The Spirit of Adonai, the LORD*, is upon me, because the LORD* has anointed me to preach Good News to the humble. (Matt. 5:3) He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of eyes for those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD*, (Luke 4:18-20) and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, (Matt. 5:4) to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment, prayer shawl, of praise instead of the spirit of infirmity,3 so they could be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD*, so He would be glorified.

Luke 4:16-21 - Then He came into Nazareth, which was where He grew up, and He entered the synagogue according to His custom on the day of Sabbaths and He stood up to read. And a scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him and when He opened the scroll He found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach Good News to the repentant, He has sent Me to preach release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, (Isa. 61:1) to send release to the oppressed, (Isa. 58:6) to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." (Isa. 61:2) Then rolling up the scroll, after He gave it back to the attendant, He sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were looking attentively at Him. And He began to say to them "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears."



"The Word of our God shall stand for ever."

"Scripture cannot be broken"  --John 10:35

The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. --Isaiah 40:8

"...they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." --2 Peter 3:16

Dr. Ray Rooney Jr. - There is no way to be a disciple of Jesus Christ while having only a mild or moderate interest in the Bible. "For the word of God is living and active, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). ...Think about the things Jesus said about the Word of God.

   He said "Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). He linked Scripture to God's omnipotence when He corrected the Sadducees who were trying to spring a doctrinal trap on Him with, "you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God" (Matthew 22:29).

   He taught that the entirety of what we call the Old Testament had one ultimate purpose, to "bear witness about me" (John 5:39).

   Every time He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness He responded with "It is written!" (Matthew 4:1-10).

   When asked what is the most important thing a person should know about God (Matthew 22:35-40), He quoted the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 which welds together God and His Word. Perhaps of supreme significance is that His self-awareness of His identity was tied directly to Daniel's vision of the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14).

   What about the apostles? After Christ's ascension did they toss aside God's Word in favor of their personal experiences with Jesus? Absolutely not! The first Christian sermon by an apostle was preached on Pentecost by Peter (Acts 2:14-36). He began with a citation from the prophet Joel 3:1-5 and went on to quote two different psalms (Psalms 16:1-11 and Psalms 110:1-7).

   When he and John went into the temple in Acts 3 to pray and they healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate, he explained that what had and what was taking place is what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets. (Acts 3:18).

   Stephen's speech in Acts 7 is both a synopsis and an interpretation of the Pentateuch.

   Paul told Timothy that "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," (2 Timothy 3:16) and to the Corinthians, he wrote that the narratives in the Old Testament "were written for our admonition" (1 Corinthians 10:11).

   And the author of Hebrews in chapter three prefaces a quote from Psalm 95 in (verses Psalm 95:8-11) with, as the Holy Spirit says!

   Let me repeat: there is no way to be a disciple of Jesus Christ while having only a mild or moderate interest in the Bible.

   ...There is a reason why John called Jesus "the Word" (John 1:1-4,14). To be unfamiliar with the written Word of God is to be unfamiliar with the incarnate Word of God. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away' (Matthew 24:35). And where do we find His words? In the first few sentences of the Revelation we read, Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near (Revelation 1:3). Interesting that the blessing is promised to the one who reads aloud and those who hear those spoken words.  Paul instructed Timothy to seek God's approval by "rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). He told the Christians in Rome that "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). The longest chapter in the entire Bible (which also doubles as the longest song in the Bible's hymnbook) is Psalm 119 which is exclusively about the Word of God.

   One last time: there is no way to be a disciple of Jesus Christ while having only a mild or moderate interest in the Bible.

The Character of People in the Last Days:  But you must always understand this, that troublesome times will come in the last days: for people will be selfish, greedy, boasters, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, unloving, hostile, slanderous, without self-control, savage, not loving good, betrayers, thoughtless, being conceited, loving pleasure more than loving God, having an appearance of reverence, but denying the power of it: so you must continually turn away from these things. ...All Scripture is God-inspired and useful for teaching, for reproof, restoration, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God would be able to meet all demands, since he has been equipped perfectly for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:1-5, 16-17) I am charging you before God and Messiah Y'shua, the One Who is going to judge the living and the dead, at His appearance and in His kingdom: you must now preach the Word, you must now be ready in season, out of season, you must now correct, you must now rebuke, you must now encourage, with great patience and every kind of instruction. For there will be a time when sound teaching will not be listened to but they will heap up teachings according to their own desires in themselves, what their ears are itching to hear and indeed they will turn their ears from the truth, and they will turn aside to myths. --2 Timothy 4:1-4

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness doesn't comprehend it. --John 1:1-5

He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His received Him not. But as may as received Him, to then gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. --John 1:10-14

And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you. --Exodus 3:13-14

(Jesus answering the scribes and Pharisees) Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I Am. --John 8:56-58 

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. --Genesis 1:1-3

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. --Colossians 1:16-17

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. --Hebrews 11:3

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea together as an heap: he laid up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. --Psalms 33:6-9


Regardless of what "progressives" say:
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
--Matthew 24:35
"...the scripture cannot be broken;
--John 10:35

...blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. --Luke 11:28 

At that time Y'shua said, I praise You, Father, Master of Heaven and Earth, because You hid these things from the wise and intelligent and You revealed them to babies: indeed, Father, because in this way it was well pleasing before You. Everything has been given to Me by My Father, and no one understands the Son except the Father, and no one understands the Father except the Son and to whomever the Son would wish to reveal. --Matthew 11:25-27

1 Corinthians 2:7-16 - But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

   But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

   But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he knows them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

"...they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:16)

The grass withers, the flower fades: but the Word of our God shall stand for ever. (Isaiah 40:8) 

So shall my word be that goes 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. (Isaiah 55:11)

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. My soul melts for heaviness: strengthen me Lord according to your word." (2 Peter 1:20)

The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. --Psalms 119:130

I have hidden Your word in my heart so I would not sin against You. --Psalms 119:11

Matthew 4:3-4 - And when the one who was testing, the devil, came, he said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, You must now say that these stones would become bread." But when He answered, Y'shua said, "It has been written, 'Man will not live on bread alone, but upon every word going out through the mouth of God.'" (Deut. 8:3)

Matthew 5:17-19 & Luke 16:16-17 (One New Man Bible: Revealing Jewish Roots) Jesus said: Do not think that I come to annul, to bring an incorrect interpretation to, the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to annul but to bring spiritual abundance, for the Torah to be obeyed as it should be and God's promises to receive fulfillment. For truly I say to you: until the sky and the Earth would pass away, not one yod or one vav could ever pass away, from the Torah, until everything would come to pass. Therefore, whoever would break one of the least of these commandments, and would teach people this way, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whoever would do the commandments and would teach them, will be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.

(Footnotes: The yod is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The vav is the second smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The yod and the vav are called "soft letters" because they can be left out of a word and the word not be considered misspelled.)

Romans 10:8-13 - But what does it (the Torah) say? "The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart," (Deuteronomy 9:4) this is the word of faith which we are proclaiming openly. Because if you would confess with your mouth the Lord Y'shua and you would believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved: for he believes for himself in his heart into righteousness, and confesses for himself with his mouth into salvation. For the Scripture says, "No one who believes in Him will be put to shame." (Isaiah 28:164) For there is no distinction between either Jewish or Greek, for the same One is Lord of all, and He is rich, abundantly blessing all those who call upon Him: for everyone who will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. (Joel 3:5)

2 Timothy 2:9 - Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

Psalm 12:6 - The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Psalm 68:11 - The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 - For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe. 

Psalm 68:11 - The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.

Isaiah 55:8-11 - For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper as I intended.  

Jeremiah 23-18-29 - For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, and has perceived and heard his word? who has marked his word, and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the LORD. Is not my word like as a fire? says the LORD; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

1 Kings 6:12 - Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with you, which I spoke unto David your father:

Ezekiel 12:25 - For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, says the Lord GOD.

Romans 4:18-25 - (Abraham) Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. 


Concerning the Old Testament - Matthew 5:17-19

Romans 15:4 - For whatever was written beforehand, was written for our instruction, so that through patience and through the exhortation of the Scriptures we would have hope.

Matthew 5:17-19 & Luke 16:16-17 (One New Man Bible: Revealing Jewish Roots) Jesus said: Do not think that I come to annul, to bring an incorrect interpretation to, the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to annul but to bring spiritual abundance, for the Torah to be obeyed as it should be and God's promises to receive fulfillment. For truly I say to you: until the sky and the Earth would pass away, not one yod or one vav could ever pass away, from the Torah, until everything would come to pass. Therefore, whoever would break one of the least of these commandments, and would teach people this way, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whoever would do the commandments and would teach them, will be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.

(Footnotes: The yod is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The vav is the second smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The yod and the vav are called "soft letters" because they can be left out of a word and the word not be considered misspelled.)

Jeremiah 6:10-11; 15-19 - To whom will I speak and give warning, so they can hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the LORD* is a reproach to them, they have no delight in it. Therefore I am full with warnings of the fury of the LORD*. I am weary with holding it in. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. [Romans 1:18-32]

   Therefore they will fall among those who fall, at the time I visit them they will be cast down, says the LORD*. Thus says the LORD*, Stand in the roads! See! Ask for the old paths, Where is the good Way? Then walk there and you will find rest for your inner beings. But they said, We will not walk there. Also I set watchmen over you saying, Listen! Obey the sound of the shofar! But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore listen, you nations! And know, O congregation, what is among them! Listen, O earth! Behold, I AM will bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts (2 Cor. 10:5), because they have not heeded My words or My Torah (Teaching), but they rejected it.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 - For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, because all our fathers were under the cloud and all went through the sea and all were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink: for they drank from a spiritual rock, which was following them, and the rock was the Messiah.
   Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, and they were laid low in the desert. And these patterns became ours, for we had cravings of a bad nature, just as those people desired bad things. And you must stop being idolaters as some of them were, just as it has been written, "The people sat to eat and to drink and they got up to play." (Exod. 32:6)
   But we could not commit adultery, as some of them committed adultery and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. (Num. 25:1) And we should not ever test the Messiah, in the way that some of them tested and were being destroyed by the snakes. (Num. 21:5, 6) And you must not ever grumble, as some of them grumbled and they were destroyed by the destroying angel. (Num. 14:2)
   And these things typically happened with them, and it was written for our instruction, for whom the ends of the ages have arrived. So thus the one who thinks he has stood must see that he would not fall. A trial has not taken you except what is common to mankind: but God is faithful, Who will not permit you to be tested beyond what you are able, and therefore He will then in the test make you able to patiently bear the way out.  

Messianic Rabbi: Why the Old Testament Is Still Relevant Today - By Shawn A. Akers - Messianic Rabbi Eric Tokajer says you cannot separate the Old Testament and the New Testament. As a Messianic rabbi, Eric Tokajer says one of the worst things about the Bible is the blank page between the Old Testament and the New Testament. That page, he says, makes it appear as if the two are separate books. But, he says, 80% of the New Testament is either a direct or indirect quotation of the Old Testament and, therefore, are not to be divided. When we read the New Testament and don't relate it to the Old Testament, the text is taken out of context.

   "For instance, if you don't go back to Genesis and read about Abraham and Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael, then you cannot understand a great deal of what Paul is saying in Galatians," Tokajer told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent edition of "Greenelines" on the Charisma Podcast Network. "Rather than looking back, because it's one book that starts in Genesis and goes through Revelation, people will read Galatians out of the context of the entirety of Scripture.  


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Why do we have so many English Bible translations? Aaron Armstrong - ...It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the number of English Bible translations we have today. It's not uncommon to wonder why we have so many. Why do all these translations exist? Do they serve different purposes? Is there one that's best, and if so which one?

Gospels combined in one narrative

Jesus: Thee Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, combined in one narrative and rendered in modern English.

Copyright ©  1973 by Charles B. Templeton SBN 671-21715-1

From the Preface: To many, including many Christians, Jesus is seen as a hopelessly idealistic demi-deity, his brow halo-encircled, his face beatific, his body frail and ethereal - God, yes, but not really man. They forget that in the gospels He was sweaty after effort and dirty after a journey; that he wept, felt fatigued, was sometimes inpatient, and was, on occasion, angry.

[The book's] principal purpose is to inform a reader in the easiest possible way about the Jesus Christ of the New Testament. Every event in the gospels and every word Jesus is reported as having spoken there, has been included. [I]t is a synthesis of the gospels rendered in a paraphrase. To encourage this, an Index has been included, listing each of the sources in the gospels on which each page of the synthesis has been based.  

The book here presented is the result of the labors of five men, a unique combination of biblical scholars, educators, and communicators.  The Editorial Committee comprised of Charles B. Templeton, Dr. David Noel Freedman, Theodore Gill, William Summerscales, and Thomas Harpur.  (Education and careers are provided in the Preface.


For precise interpretation of Scripture:

Tanakh

The Old Testament translated according to the Traditional Hebrew Text. This translation Tanakh, the Holy Scriptures, produced by the Jewish Publication Society, was made directly from the traditional  Hebrew text into the idiom of modern English.

It is the culmination of three decades of collaboration by academic scholars and rabbis representing the three largest branches of organized Judaism in the United States.

...The resulting text is a triumph of literary style and Biblical scholarship, unsurpassed in accuracy and clarity.
 ...Not since the third century B.C.E., when seventy-two elders of the tribes of Israel created the Greek translation of the Holy Scriptures, known as the Septuagint, has such a broad-based committee of Jewish scholars produced a major Bible translation.

TORAH: The Five Books of Moses
NEVI'M: The Prophets
KETHUVIM: The Writings



 

One New Man Bible: Revealing Jewish Roots (Old and New Testaments) by Rev. William J. Morford - This Bible includes Rev. Moford's previous release of the Power New Testament. The Jewish Roots of Christianity come to life in The One New Man Bible. This translation brings out the power of the Hebrew and Greek languages that has commonly been omitted from traditional English translations. (Again, the footnotes and Glossary are worth the costs.)

Sample passages:

Mark 5:25-29 - And a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years and suffered much under many physicians and spent everything beyond her means and was not helped but rather became worse, when she heard about Jesus, as she came from behind the crowd she touched the fringe of His prayer shawl: for she was saying that "If I could just touch His prayer shawl I will be saved." And immediately the flow of her blood dried and she knew that her body was healed from the plague. 

Footnotes/Glossary: Prayer Shawl is given in Numbers 15:37-41 where Moses is told, Speak to the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the corners of their garments throughout the generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each corner a thread of blue: and it shall be to you as a fringe, that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them: and that you may remember, and do all My commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. I am the Lord your God.

The fringes, called tsisit in Hebrew, kraspedon in Greek, were placed on the corners of the outer garment, which was larger than the current prayer shawl and looked like a poncho with tsisit. The purpose for it is for everyone, including the wearer, to look at the corner fringe and remember all the commandments of the Lord. Rabbis centuries ago made a list of 613 commandments, including the promises of God, so in Jesus' day people would see all the power of God in that fringe, called tsisit in Hebrew, when the prayer shawl was worn by an anointed man of God. That is why the woman with the bloody issue reached for the fringe. Jesus also used the prayer shawl in Mark 5:41, the raising of Jairus' daughter. (Prayer shawl has more than a page of notes in the glossary.)

Galatians 5:13-6:10 For you have been called in freedom, brothers: only not freedom in the flesh, but you are serving one another through love. For the whole Torah has found its full expression in one saying, in this "You will love your neighbor as yourself." (Lev 19:18)

   But if you bite and devour one another, do you not see that you would be consumed by one another! But I say, may you walk in the spirit so that you would not in any way fulfill any desire of the flesh. For flesh turns against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, these things are opposed to one another, so that you would not do the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law of the flesh. And the works of the flesh are apparent, which are immorality, impurity, licentiousness (sexually immoral: pursuing desires aggressively and selfishly, unchecked by morality, especially in sexual matters), idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, outbreaks of selfishness, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and like things.

   I tell you beforehand, just as I told you before, that the ones who are doing things such as these will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control: there is nothing in Torah against such as these. But those who belong to Messiah Jesus did crucify their flesh with its passions and desires.

   If we live by the Spirit, then we walk, directing our lives by the Spirit. We should not become boastful, neither provoking one another, nor envying one another. Brothers, if then a man would be overtaken with any sin, you, the spiritual, are to restore such a one as this in a spirit of gentleness, looking out for yourself lest you would also be tempted.

   Bear the burdens on one another and in this way you will fulfill the Torah of the Messiah. For if anyone thinks he is something and he is not, he deceives himself. And each must continually prove his conduct, and then he will have a reason for boasting only to himself, but not to another: for each will bear his own burden.

   And the one who is being taught the Word must continually share all good things with the one instructing. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever the man would sow, this also will he reap: because the one who sows into his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows into the spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

   And we should not loose heart doing good. for in its own time we shall reap if we do not give out. So then as we have time, we should do good with all people, and especially with the households of the faithful. Power New Testament (Revealing Jewish Roots)