Hi all,
I have a list of question in which response would be highly appreciated.
2 Timothy
3:
14 But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it,
15 and that from infancy you have known (the) sacred scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
We read that Paul is claiming that all scripture is inspired by God. However, what scripture is he actually referring to?
Some of you might say the whole bible, but let me ask: Was the whole bible available at that time? In other words was there anything else that was written and added to the bible later that was considered God's scripture also?
If you use this verse alone then it is being taken out of context obviously. However, the preceding verses should be included to understand what Paul really meant when he said that.
that from infancy you have known (the) sacred scriptures
As you can see, Paul could be referring to the scripture that his student has. But anyway, you should realize that the whole Bible was not complete when that letter was written. Paul was not telling Timothy that Timothy knew from infancy about books which are not yet written, was he?
The approximate date given for the writing of 2 Timothy is the year 65 A.D. However if we look at the dating of some other material we find this:
John 98 A.D.
1 John 98 A.D.
2 John 98 A.D.
3 John 98 A.D.
The above information is taken from: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/
So as we can see Paul is not referring to a scripture which has not been written yet. Furthermore, we can clearly see that Paul was referring to the scripture that Timothy already had.
So, the only option we are left with here is that Paul was referring to the Old Testament, but now we are faced with another question. What OT was Timothy using? Timothy is Greek so we are left with the fact that he was using the Septuagint. The Hebrew and the Aramaic bibles are not also the same. Hebrew was a dead language at that time and it is highly doubtful that Timothy knew Aramaic, for even if he knew Aramaic, it is still different from the original Hebrew one. So, it is highly recommended Timothy knew the Septuagint.
Now as some of you should know the Septuagint is translated from its original language to Greek and the two versions are not identical at all. As a matter of fact the Septuagint contains books which are not available today in any other bible other than the Catholic bible which Protestants on the other hand don't acknowledge the legitimacy of all the books within. These books are numbered as 7 books anyway.
So a simple conclusion would be that if Paul called the Septuagint a book inspired by God then why wouldn't the Protestants and the many other denominations acknowledge these books?
One more question, if the Septuagint is definitely not the same as the original Hebrew Bible then why does Paul call it inspired scripture?
The Septuagint was the version that Greeks were reading at that time. Did not Paul who was supposedly inspired realize the clear differences between the original and the Septuagint?
Anyway, let’s go examine other verses:
1 Corinthians
7:
12 To the rest 8 I say (not the Lord): …….
So we see an acknowledgement from Paul that what is about to be written now is his personal opinion. How come then Paul say that all scripture is inspired?
We can also look into other references in which it would seem odd for an inspired man from God to write:
1 Corinthians
7:
40 She is more blessed, though, in my opinion, if she remains as she is, and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
Above we see the clear references that he is actually stating his own opinion. How could then this be the word of God?
Another problem I am faced with. Let’s read:
1 Corinthians
5:
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people,
10 not at all referring to the immoral of this world or the greedy and robbers or idolaters; for you would then have to leave the world.
11 But I now write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, if he is immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a robber, not even to eat with such a person.
As we can read above, obviously, in verse 9 above, Paul is referring to what he had written in a previous letter. In verse 11, Paul is making a change to his previous instruction.
Please concentrate on the phrase “but now I write to you”. A clear indication that previous letter has been written.
Where is this letter? If Paul was writing the word of God and this letter is lost then we have some words of God that are lost forever.