The Bible as the Word of God

God communicates to humankind by his Holy Spirit in various ways, including the Holy Bible, the Word of God, the sword of the Holy Spirit. Although God has, can, and still does at his option communicate with humankind through other than written form, the Holy Bible is the sufficient and necessary written Word of God for most if not all human spiritual/moral concerns. One would expect any communication from God to necessarily be consistent with the Holy Bible less we know not the Bible to be truth. The Bible's superior doctrines/principles are to be the basis for all moral decisions everywhere, including development and interpretation of Federal/State Constitutions.

When studying the Bible one should do so in the spirit of the text rather than the letter of the text (2 Corinthians 3:2-3,6). For example consider Genesis 22:2. In it, the scripture refers to Isaac as Abraham's only son. But then what about Ishmael? Was he not Abraham's son? Yes, he was according to the letter of the text (Genesis 16:3-4, 11, 15-16). But Ishmael was not the son of the promise. Isaac was the son of the promise (Genesis 17:19-21; Hebrews 11:17-18) according to the spirit of the text.

It is important that we accept all of the Bible as the sufficiently preserved Word of God; to reject any of it is to render all of it suspect as to its authenticity. Thus, by faith we conclude that the Bible is the preserved necessary and sufficient Word of God with understanding and applicability given by the Holy Spirit.

It is necessary because sinful man needs to know about his sinfulness, about God's grace and mercy, and needs some insight into God's nature, God's expectations for humankind, each person's alternative destination for all eternity, and God's plan for each person's role in determining that destination.

It is sufficient in that it provides the essential core teachings and revelations of God to humankind. This is true even though it addresses principles that are to be applied to various circumstance humans may encounter; yet, it does not attempt to address every specific circumstance humans may encounter.

Moreover, the Bible itself says Jesus did and said many things which are not written for there would not be enough books that could hold all he did and said. Yet it is necessary that we hold that anything not written is consistent with that which is written.