The Scriptures as contained in the Hebrew ( Old ) & Greek ( New ) Testaments are widely accepted by most Christians as the Word of God! There are various & manifold disagreements as to which version of our English Bible is the most accurate or even whether it ( the Scriptures ) is our only source of Revelation, or Truth, about our Creator. The Scriptures are our main source of information concerning Israel & Israel's God, and in fact, they are accepted by most if not all Christians as the only Fountain of Truth by which we can know that Creator & through it, to have a right relationship with Him!
There are however, other sources to be found that give an accurate glimpse ( though not necessarily theological ) of the history of Israel! The so-called deutero-canonical writings, some of which are still accepted by certain parts of the Body of Christ, the Church, while not deeply theological & certainly not orthodox according to the accepted orthodoxy, are a very helpful & even necessary source in understanding the times of the Christ, for instance! Other writings, such as Josephus, are helpful in understanding the history of the Jews & how their mindset, much like modern Christianity, affected their world-view & thus, their actions!
On top of this, we have our Heavenly Father's Promise, as given through the prophet Jeremiah ( 31:31 ), 'this [ is ] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts;'! Though this Promise was made to 'the house of Israel', it is widely accepted, even by the accepted orthodoxy, as a promise to the Church. As such then, we may understand this very metaphorical & mysterious language to be proof of the Truth Within us, as the Body of Christ!
Needless to say, it is abundantly evident that the Scriptures, both Hebrew & Greek ( Aramaic too ) are not our only Source for the Knowledge of God! Not only are there other writings out there by which we cam glean very important information leading to a Greater Knowledge, we have His very Word indelibly etched upon our hearts, our inmost being! We also have this Promise from Jesus, the Son of God, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him' ( John 14:23 ). These two evidences alone should be enough to unmistakeably establish the fact that we, as the Body of Christ, are the Word of God!
We, however, must & do readily acknowledge the Divine Source of Scripture, that it is a Revelation of the Word of God, through the History of Israel! As we saw above, though, it is not our only Source for Revelation, as we have that Source dwelling in our midst. This is not to say that any 'revelation', though it may disagree with the written Revelation that we have extant, is trustworthy & true; we are reminded that our God, the God of Israel, is the One, True & Living God! He is Unchanging & Immutable, according to these Scriptures & so, if any 'new' or further revelation seems to disagree with what has been revealed to us in Scripture, we should examine this source very carefully, before either discarding or accepting said revelation, written or otherwise!
The Revelation of the Word of God, the Record of the History of Israel as chronicled in our Hebrew, Greek & Aramaic Scriptures is Trustworthy & True, but it is an Ancient ( though Timeless )Record of how the Creator introduced Himself to His Creation & consummated that Relationship! We, as the Church, Universal & Divine, are the offspring of that Relationship, or Union! When we, as a Body, begin to accept this Truth & acknowledge the True Source of the Water of Life ( Within ), then we will begin to truly witness the Work of God ( Opus Dei ) in this world; we will see, to a greater extent than we have witnessed before, the healing effect we have on the world around us, as 'the leaves of the tree' which are 'for the healing of the nations' ( Revelation 22:2 )!
To this End,
Charles Haddon Shank
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