On Sola Scriptura and the Word of God



When Jesus is tempted by Satan as Matthew tells us about it, He uses the Word of God to stand firm against Satan. He naturally does so in order that we will do the same; it is a part of His teachings. He lived out His teachings. Listen to His words:
Matt 4:4
    But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Note that He says: "Every word", not some of them, or the concept of them; just every word. In the controversy with Satan, Jesus uses the bible for His defence. When Satan himself presents a word from the bible to persuade the Lord to fly like a bird, he gets an answer that supports what Jesus already has said. Satan tries to change the meaning of some bible verse by omitting half a verse. Since then, perhaps, we have the expression: "Like Satan reads the bible." Jesu answers with the missing words. Those words alter the meaning Satan gave to what he said.
So Jesus tells us that we shall live of every word that coms from God. This made me think in two ways on another verse, also words from the Lord himself:

Joh 17:20
    Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;


 This is from what Jesus prays the evening before the crucifixion. He prays for His disciples and for the future. The first thing I thought about has already been said by Oscar Cullmann and it deals with that the apostolic word continues in the church through the authoritative Scriptures and not in the authorative teaching office of the church: "The apostle cannot, therefore, have any successor who could replace him as a bearer of revelation for future generations, but must continue himself to fulfill his function in the Church of today: in the Church, not by the Church, but by His word... in other words by his writings."
So the writings come first - sola scriptura.
The second thing that crossed my mind actually did so some tim ago, in our bible study in Götalunden. I had to stop in my readings, because there was something that I didn't really understand. It was about what the whole sentence implicates. I must be the history of church from Jesus point of view, from Jerusalem 2.000 years ago and from eternity. You and me are truly in that vers; ...for them also which shall beleve... The authors are the apostles. The books are the yet not written. The standard set for the texts to be written is, as before,... every word... and they are written for the future and also for us of the 21st century. It is the word of Jesus' followers, like Isaiah, Jonah and Daniel had written books already in the bible of that time. Written by ordinary men, but every word a word of God.
(Oscar Cullmann was quoted from "Understanding Christian Theology", Nashville 2003)


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