This from Bill:
Working with college students and teaching in the Seminary, I am frequently confronted with the idea that the Bible is just the invention of men. This morning, in my quiet time, I was reading Galatians and noted that Paul confronted the same issue! That lead me to the following thoughts:
Gal
1:11 “I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.” – People often
say that they don’t trust the Bible because it is just teachings of men. Paul
addresses this directly, continuing to say, Gal 1:12 “I did not
receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” Paul is saying that
he is a prophet like Moses; that is, just as God and Moses met on the
mountaintop, where God revealed the Law to Moses, Jesus did the same with Paul,
explaining the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith. Paul didn’t just think
of it. He didn’t make it up. Jesus revealed it. Some people, even some
Christians, are not comfortable with that. They like to think that the Gospel evolved,
naturally. It did not. It was a supernatural, burning bush, shining light,
knock-you-off-of-your-horse-on-the-road-to-Damascus epiphany (God appearance).
The question is, does God really speak? Does God really appear on the scene? The
notion of the Gospel being invented by men or just a collection of human
teachings presupposes that God does not appear on the scene, or that God does
not talk or reveal things miraculously. In Paul’s context with the Galatians,
some humans have added to the Gospel, to make salvation a thing of grace plus
works. Their fallacy was thinking that they could add to what Jesus had
miraculously revealed (like they could improve on His revelation). The modern
day fallacy is that God doesn’t reveal anything; i.e., that Moses never saw a
real burning bush and that Paul never actually met the resurrected Christ. Paul’s
first-hand testimony to the Galatians doesn’t allow for either.
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