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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Did God issue a command to write scripture	Charles	Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Question: Dear. Brother.. I firmly believe all the Church teaches and I believe that the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit. However, I find nowhere in the Bible where Jesus ever commanded any of the apostles to write scripture. I know that he commanded them to go teach to all nations and that he promised that the Holy Spirit would reveal to them all truth. But is the following scripture proof that God "commanded" the appostles to write scripture: "2Peter 1:19 And now we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it" This is some Protestant Bible. My Jerusalem Bible reads "So we have confirmation of what was said in prophecies; and you will be right to depend on prophecy and take it as a lamp for lighting a way through the dark until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds." Does inspiration of the Holy Spirit equal "commandment by God to write scripture"?
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+ Dear Charles: Since the Bible does not contain everything (even the Bible itself says that) it does not matter if something is not found in the Bible. Such an idea, called sola scriptura, is a Protestant man-made doctrine that does not exist in the Bible or in Sacred Tradition. To answer your question, I would first remark that God ordained the Old Testament writers to write down the faith, and scripture was very important to the first century Jew, thus for the Apostles to write down the teachings of Jesus would have been a natural thing to do. I really do not think any "command" was necessary. Second, we know from the time of Moses that God's economy was to reveal Himself to his children through both written and oral tradition and thus it is logical to presume God would intend this to be the case with the culmination of His revelation found in what we call the New Testament. Finally, we know that God wished to record a written record by the fact that the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the New Testament to do so and these writings were infallibly vetted, confirmed, and declared by the Church. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary

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Did God issue a command to write scripture

Charles

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Question:

Dear. Brother.. I firmly believe all the Church teaches and I believe that the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit. However, I find nowhere in the Bible where Jesus ever commanded any of the apostles to write scripture. I know that he commanded them to go teach to all nations and that he promised that the Holy Spirit would reveal to them all truth.

But is the following scripture proof that God "commanded" the appostles to write scripture: "2Peter 1:19 And now we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it" This is some Protestant Bible.

My Jerusalem Bible reads "So we have confirmation of what was said in prophecies; and you will be right to depend on prophecy and take it as a lamp for lighting a way through the dark until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds."

Does inspiration of the Holy Spirit equal "commandment by God to write scripture"?

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+

Dear Charles:

Since the Bible does not contain everything (even the Bible itself says that) it does not matter if something is not found in the Bible. Such an idea, called sola scriptura, is a Protestant man-made doctrine that does not exist in the Bible or in Sacred Tradition.

To answer your question, I would first remark that God ordained the Old Testament writers to write down the faith, and scripture was very important to the first century Jew, thus for the Apostles to write down the teachings of Jesus would have been a natural thing to do. I really do not think any "command" was necessary.

Second, we know from the time of Moses that God's economy was to reveal Himself to his children through both written and oral tradition and thus it is logical to presume God would intend this to be the case with the culmination of His revelation found in what we call the New Testament.

Finally, we know that God wished to record a written record by the fact that the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the New Testament to do so and these writings were infallibly vetted, confirmed, and declared by the Church.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary