We recently watched a documentary on Paramount Plus called “Jefferson’s Secret Bible”. It seems one of our founding fathers took two copies of the King James Version Bible, two copies of the Greek New Testament along with two Bibles in French and laboriously over time created his own version of the Bible (taken solely from the gospels) which he called The Morals of Jesus. Aptly put, because by the time he got done – literally cutting and pasting only the verses he wanted, that’s all that was left. No deity. No miracles. No resurrection. Just a guy with high standards.
Is that what we do with Scripture? Cut and paste? We ignore what we don’t like or what doesn’t fit with what we want and paste together what works for us?
Who died and made you/me God???
The answer to the first part of the question is Jesus. He’s the One who died. And, by the way, there were witnesses to His life on earth, His death on the Cross and His resurrection.
The answer to the second part of the question is: NO ONE made you/me God. God’s Son paid a debt we couldn’t pay so that by believing in Him, we could be saved, adopted as His child and be with Him forever.
But, God Himself gave us His Word.
God said, “Let there be light and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3)
God called to him (from a burning bush) (Exodus 3:4)
“The Word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest.” (Ezekiel 1:3)
“The Word of the Lord came to Hosea…the Lord said to Hosea” (Hosea 1:1-2)
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? I am Jesus…” (Acts 9:4-5)
These verses tell us that God spoke:
The world into existence.
To Moses to lead His people out of slavery.
To Ezekiel to prophesy what was to come.
To Hosea to marry a prostitute, yet love her and bring her back (a picture of God’s people and of His constant love).
To Paul whose heart would change and who would be used to spread God’s message of love.
John says, “Many other signs therefore also Jesus performed in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that in believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:30-31)
His Word is truth. We don’t get to decide which parts we like and which parts we don’t. Jesus wasn’t just a nice guy with scrupulous morals. He was God in the flesh.
“And, so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you would do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But, know first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation for no prophecy was ever made by an act of the human will, but men moved by God by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:19-21)
“For we do not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)
The effects of original sin…We want it “my way”! Well stated, Teri!
The cutting and pasting is why churches have split/ one must read the whole Bible to understand/ not just certain scriptures. Very insightful commentary Teri.
God Spoke. . . The Word became flesh. . .the Truth is eternal. . . So Thankful for the Great I AM!!
Very inspiring💗
Thx again Teri. He is the WORD. Our firm foundation!
I had recently heard about this ‘Jefferson
Bible’. I am grateful you took the time to address it here and with such conviction.
Now…do you mind if I cut and paste this? It would make a great CBS devotional.
🤭🤭🤭
But seriously… you’ve led me to an interesting sounding documentary and as always straight to God’s word. Blessings Teri.
May we not be like Jefferson and pick and choose which of Jesus’ words we like and lose sight of the salvation Jesus brought to us.
Amen 🙂
Such a timely perspective. Thank you as always Teri for keeping us focused on what is important. Christ.