"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." Luke 4:1-4
I would like to pose a question, that I have never heard addressed by contemporary Christians, in all the churches that I ever visited:
If we should live by every word of God, why do preachers make statements like, 'the Old Testament has been done away with?' I understand their point but Jesus said EVERY word...
'...man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'
Most pastors would have us all to believe that when Jesus made this statement that He had a little pocket New Testament Bible in his shirt pocket...
Unfortunately, we must reject this inference because When Jesus made the above statement to Satan, THERE WAS NO NEW TESTAMENT WRITTEN!
Consider that during Jesus entire earthly life, his death, resurrection, during the time that the Apostles were actually doing those things actually recorded in the book of Acts, ALL the epistles AND the book of Revelation every time an Apostle refers to the scriptures; Word of God, Word of truth; or GOSPEL, they are 100% of the time referred to Genesis-Malachi!
Food 4 thought: (you do the dishes): Peter preached the gospel to Cornelius and his house (Acts 10) without quoting any New Testament verses! (Because there were none!)
"Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join
thyself to this chariot.
30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the
prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
Philip preached Christ without a New Testament Epistle and began his preaching from the "prophet," Isaiah. (Acts 8:35) |
How could the Apostles preach a 'New,' thing from the same, "Old Testament?" And if they could preach and others could hear and receive the Word, what would be the purpose of pretending that the New Testament by itself is even a good idea?
Perhaps this is why Jesus, had the prophet Isaiah to write (if you are a 'New Testament Christian,' then you probably don't know a lot about Isaiah): "To the law AND to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isaiah 8:20