Is the Bible relevant and How are you to read the Bible?

The Bible is a combination of teachings, some are specifically to be used in the time and under the customs of the day in which it was written. Other passages are universal and are to be used for all time. The universal teachings are stated in terms of the conditions of the first century at the very beginning of the Christian church.

Other books in the Bible were written by the leaders of the church to present their teaching at that time. These support teaching of the church to give the leaders authority to influence the members of their churches.

Many of the books in the Bible were not written by the person for whom the book is titled. An example is Matthew which was written 30 to 40 years after Matthew was killed in Africa. However, the leaders of the church had Matthew’s extensive notes about Jesus and His teachings. They took his notes and organized them so Matthew is one of the most organized books in the New Testament.

Another example are Paul’s letters to Timothy which were written by the church leaders after Paul’s execution in Rome.

What does this mean to you? These are still the inspired Word of God. God can speak through people other than the original Apostles. However, included in these books are teachings from the church leaders to get the members to do what they wanted at the time.

You will learn about all of these in the Way of God.