All parts of the Bible created equal?

[Elijah John]

Which parts of the Bible are more important?

1) The Old Testament or the New Testament?
2) The words of Jesus or the words of Paul? (The Gospels, or the Epistles?)
3) The Ten Commandments or the other laws of Moses?
4) The Pentateuch or the Wisdom books and the Prophetic books?
5) The Synoptic Gospels, or the Gospel of John?
or:
6) Are all parts of the Bible equally important, all equally the inspired Word of God?

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by Elijah John]

QUESTION: Are all parts of the bible creaed equal?

Good question. I would say yes in the sense that all the books (books, letters, poems, visions, laws etc) that make up part of the bible canon were "created" or inspired from the same mind, that of their Divine Author YHWH Jehovah God. So they "started" (were created) from an equal Platform ie they all had the same source and all passages serve a purpose in ensuring the value of the whole. In other words, while you can live without a finger and can't live without a head, the finger isn't LESS part of you because it is non-essential to your survival; your body would still be incomplete without your finger. So yes, all parts of the Bible [...] all equally the inspired Word of God

Now do they all have equal "import"? In other words once issued, are all scriptures intended to have an equal impact on all recipients throughout time? No. Some passges are more important than others. Jesus was able to correctly identify the two most important laws in the Mosaic lawcode. Further, not all passages apply to all people during all periods of time. For example in the Mosaic law there were rules about what a woman could or could not do during her menstruall cycle; this law did not apply to men (because me do not have menstrual cycles). So some laws or passages simply don't apply to a given subject.

Which parts of the Bible are more important? ... The Old Testament or the New Testament?

That would depend on who one is and when they are living. For an ancient Israelite, perhaps following Moses in the desert, it would probably be what is commonly referred to as the "old testament" (notably the Mosaic Law and other existing parts of the Hebrew bible). For a Christian, in our modern era looking to find out how God wants to be worshipped today, the Christian Greek Scriptures would probably have a greater impact. At the very least we can say for a Gentile Christian in the modern era the Mosaic law while a valuable part of the "Word of God" contains many passages that do not apply to him today. For example, in the Hebrew bible there is a passage that instructs someone that wants to take a poo (passing faeces) they should leave the camp with a peg, dig a hole and afterwards, cover the excrement with dirt. Thèse instructions do not apply today and Christians living in towns (with indoor plumbing) are not obliged to take bury their excrement in a hole in the ground. So certain passages do not apply today and this is the case for much of the "old testament".


Good questions.

JW

[tam]

Which parts of the Bible are more important?

1) The Old Testament or the New Testament?
2) The words of Jesus or the words of Paul? (The Gospels, or the Epistles?)
3) The Ten Commandments or the other laws of Moses?
4) The Pentateuch or the Wisdom books and the Prophetic books?
5) The Synoptic Gospels, or the Gospel of John?
or:
6) Are all parts of the Bible equally important, all equally the inspired Word of God?

The words of Christ - since it is Christ who is the Word of God.


Peace to you,
your servant and a slave of that One, Christ Jaheshua,
tammy

[Yahu]

Which parts of the Bible are more important?

1) The Old Testament or the New Testament?
2) The words of Jesus or the words of Paul? (The Gospels, or the Epistles?)
3) The Ten Commandments or the other laws of Moses?
4) The Pentateuch or the Wisdom books and the Prophetic books?
5) The Synoptic Gospels, or the Gospel of John?
or:
6) Are all parts of the Bible equally important, all equally the inspired Word of God?

All scriptures are important. It is in how the fit together that a complete picture is built. You can't ignore parts that contradict your pet doctrines.

The NT is an expansion and explanation of principals in the OT. Those that study the NT while ignore the OT build on a faulty foundation.

Yes, Yeshua should be our foundation but the OT is pointing forward to the messiah and Yah's plan for salvation. The NT is the conformation of it.

The bible has to be studied as a whole.

My personal areas of study mainly deal with the Old Testament prophets and the corruption of Judaism from the paganism of their neighbors. That same corruption also spreads into the modern day churches because many focus on just the NT.

Some people ignore the teachings of Paul.

It is when the OT concepts fit in perfect alignment with the NT that truth is revealed IMO.

A study of Revelation is a good example. Revelation can NOT be studied in isolation. There are many passages in the OT prophets that fit into Revelation to fill in the missing pieces.

Here is an example:
Re 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

Isa 22:22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
25 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

You have to go back to Isaiah to find the meaning to the reference of the 'key of David' in Revelation 2. There are 'mated verses' like that all over scripture. If you don't know the connection, the truth of the mystery isn't able to be uncovered.

It is also why it can take a lifetime of study and you still can't find all the wealth of knowledge presented.

There is knowledge hidden all over scripture. For example, a study of the meanings of place names like in the book of Joshuah has a wealth of knowledge about the ancient paganism in conflict with Judaism. The Canaanites named most places after references, attributes or titles of their pagan gods. Then you find the same attributes and such operating in the modern day church.