Microsoft Word - ChristianityNotReligionBkMSS.doc

(WallPaper) #1

reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that
the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good
work." (II Timothy 3:16,17) What did Paul mean by "all
Scripture?" Could Paul have been referring to the scriptures
we call the New Testament, in that they were still in the
process of being written? When Christians today refer to
the "Scripture" they usually have a very fixated conception
of a particular bound volume entitled "The Holy Bible"
with sixty-six books, thirty-nine in the Old Testament and
twenty-seven in the New Testament. As there was no such
book in Paul's time, it is inconceivable that Paul was
thinking of such an approved canonized collection of
writings. The words that Paul uses are more generic. In
verse fifteen where Paul refers to the "writings," it is a
translation of the Greek word gramma, from which we get
the English word "grammar." This word simply referred to
written lettering using the letters of the alphabet. In verse
sixteen, the word "Scripture" is a translation of the Greek
word graphe, from which we get the English word
"graphics." This word simply referred to something written.
The Latin word scriptus translated the Greek word graphe,
and thus it was that the Latin scriptura became the
designation of the "writings" used by Christians, and

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