QUESTION: If a person is indeed speaking for the most
high God, then what that person is saying should be added to the Holy Bible, should it not?
ANSWER: The thought sounds reasonabe, but I don't believe the scriptures
will back it up.
Jesus himself said much more than what is recorded in the canon of scriptures.
The prophets themselves said many things that, no doubt, were inspired by the spirit of God, that
God didn't see fit to record into scripture.
There may even be written records of many things they said. Those things may be rightly revered
and highly esteemed, but they are not scripture.
There are books written by those who were recognized as prophets that were not included in the O.T.
canon of scripture.
The Jews (according to the Word of God) were the oracles of God, and they safeguarded
his written word well.
They would not have carelessly excluded anythingfrom the written canon of scripture that
should have been there.
We have the word of God on that (he preserves his word for "every" generation--when David wrote
that, he wasn't missing any scripture.
There are no "lost books" of the Bible. Not a single word of scripture has ever been "lost."
Jesus said that among the children of men,none greater than John the Baptist had arisen. I'm certain John said much more (by the spirit of God) than what is recorded in the Gospels, but for some reason the
Holy Spirit saw fit to record very little for us of what he said into his written Word.
So, while everything John said, may have been straight from God, it was not scripture.
Anytime any of us preach or teach an inspired truth, it may be straight out of heaven, and we may
indeed be speaking for God at that moment, but it is not scripture.
There is a difference. And there is a very good reason for that.
Just as the Old Testament had a finished canon of scripture (well before Jesus came) the New Testament
canon was completed as well.
Jesus himself settled the question of the O.T.canon, and the parameters of it in Luke 11:50-51.
When he made the statement that the blood of all the prophets from righteous Abel to Zachariah who
was killed between the alter and the temple would be required of the generation of Israelites who witnessed his first
coming and rejected him, he was setting scriptural parameters.
The parameters he set covered Genesis to 2 Chronicles (24:20-21), which was exactly the A-Z order
in which their scriptures were laid out.
The Christian O.T. is arranged differently with Malachi
being the last book, but Genesis was
the first book of
the Bible Jesus read, and 2 Chronicles was the last.
It did not include the apochrypha.
Isaiah said if any speak not according to this word, (Isaiah 8:20--he was referring to the canon
of scriptures available at that time) there is "no" light in them.
We have instruction clearly set forth within the Written Word of God, that every "spoken" word
should always be judged according to the "written" standard.
Jesus gave us an excellent example of that when Satan was tempting him (Matthew 4).
This new breed of apostles and prophets we are
seeing today have open distain for the "written"
word
of God, and for anyone who uses it as a standard by
which to measure what they are "saying".
They have open disdain for the Word of God (especially the King James Bible) because their words
cannot stand against it.
How would we judge any new testament gift (of the Holy Spirit) if we did not have the standard
of written scripture?
There are spoken gifts: prophecy, word of knowledge
and word of wisdom--that without the standard
of the
written word, could never be judged (for whether or not what is being said is indeed from God).
We'd all end up blown around by every wind of doctrine (and into apostasy) if we did not have the
written canon of scripture to keep us straight.
God's written word is truth.
The New Testament canon of scripture was well established, by the early church, "before" Rome embraced
Christianity as its official religion.
So even though the New Testament Church still has the spoken prophetic gifts, they are to be judged
in light of the Written Word.
And even if the words spoken are judged to line up with scripture....
They do not "become" scripture.
