Is the Bible inspired by God? If you do believe the Bible is inspired, can you then assume the actions of every faithful Bible character is always good? On what can we absolutely rely?

The Bible says of itself that it is inspired by God. (2 Peter 1:21) Most people who study the Bible believe the more you learn about it, the more convinced you will become it is indeed inspired by God. You should at a bare minimum examine the Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (the Gospels), as they record what God's son came to teach. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ; Colossians 1:9-10) As the foundation of the Christian hope, and at the center of Bible teaching, Jesus himself taught our very lives depend on our placing faith in the teachings of the Bible. (John 12:50 ; John 17:3)

An examination of the Bible will convince you: It is the inspired work of our Creator. It is simple to understand yet complex nearly beyond human comprehension, let alone human creation. It is perfect and encouraging beyond expression. The four Gospel journals are mostly eyewitness accounts of the life of Christ Jesus, who was the perfect son of God. (Mat 17:5) Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, therefore, are very encouraging as they record the teachings by Jesus. The rest of the Bible is also inspired by God, but outside the Gospels, it records the lives and actions of imperfect men and women, like you and I. Some of them made grave mistakes. Some of their recorded actions (mistakes) will thus not be encouraging. The point being made is this: Part of learning about the Bible includes learning to be able to judge when actions by Bible characters are good or bad. The Bible amounts to the revelation of the sacred secret (Mark 4:11) of God. The Bible theme is the unveiling (Luke 2:30-32) of   יהוה  's  purpose to redeem mankind, and to break up the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8) [The most important of Satan's works to be undone is removing the reproach he heaped on our Father's name when he called God a liar. - Genesis 3:4 ; John 12:28 ; Exodus 8:10 ; Psalms 83:18 Returning glory to his Father's name was most important to Jesus as well. (Matthew 6:9)] In the Bible's revelation of God's purpose to help us, then, the Bible theme is encouraging. The Bible theme is actually more encouraging than anything else you will ever learn! In the revealing of that theme, however, and the recorded outworking of God's purposes, we find some of the Bible's characters are faithful while some others are not. Even most of those who are faithful made mistakes during their life. Those actions are sometimes easy to judge as to good or bad. [We can't judge individuals (Matthew 7:1-2) as to their heart condition, of course, but we must learn to judge wicked actions. (Luke 12:57) We must recognize actions that are wicked if we are to become upright ourselves.] For instance, it is easy to know King David's actions were bad when he slept with Bathsheba; a woman who was married to another. We can also know he was bad when he murdered her husband [Uriah] in an attempt to cover over their sin. We can then know his manifest spirit was good when he humbled himself before   יהוה   and sought forgiveness. (2 Sam 11:2-12:9) Sometimes however, the actions of Bible characters are much harder to judge. Sometimes, we likely can't know at all.

We here offer for your consideration a Bible reading, without any presumption on our part that we know whether the actions of Paul in this account were upright or wicked. We openly confess, we don't know! The point we make is this: We don't believe you can know either. As you learn more about the Bible, that is one of the things you must decide for yourself. Be very cautious, however. You become responsible when you teach a thing to others as Bible truth, if it actually is not. We present you the option of being able make the choice to admit you just don't know. That is not a lack of faith in the Bible nor do we question it's inspiration by God! It certainly is not joining in with so called "higher criticism" of the Bible. It simply acknowledges that except for Christ Jesus, the Bible records the actions of imperfect men and women who made mistakes in their life. God inspired the record of their actions, but those actions resulted from their own choices. We are all deciding upon our own course, and we all make mistakes. I do have an opinion about whether Paul was upright in the actions we herein consider, of course, but I don't see enough facts in the Bible record to know for sure. So... I simply acknowledge I don't know.

As [or before] you read this account, you should be aware of something Jesus and his followers warned us about: The great apostasy they taught would set in after Jesus went away. (2 Thessalonians 2:3) Jesus himself warned in Matthew 13:24-39 that satan would sow false Christians in among those who are faithful, and Jesus's followers used the term apostasy to refer to their influence. We also know Paul said the apostasy was already at work in his day. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8) That apostasy, then, is something to consider and keep in mind as we read all the Bible accounts written by Jesus's followers after he was resurrected. Regarding the account we are about to consider, we want to remember: Jesus had fulfilled the Jewish law, and his Christian followers were no longer under the burden of that law. (Galatians 3:19-29) The Bible makes clear the apostle Peter was wrong when he showed partiality for the Jews over the Gentiles. (Galatians 2:11-14 and Galatians 2:15-21 - Written 50-52 CE) It was Paul himself who stated Peter was wrong, as Peter was returning to the Jewish law by his showing of partiality. The account of our interest here, then, was written by Luke about Paul in 61 CE; And it leads us to question we here present:

In the book of Acts Paul is accounted as talking with [preaching to] some converted Jews. Paul well knew   יהוה   had accepted Gentiles as well as Jews into the Christian hope through individual faith in Christ Jesus. Because of that, Christians were no longer under the Jewish law code. (Gal 3:19-26) Still, Paul seems to have allowed himself to be influenced by some Jewish thinking individuals so as to be turned back toward showing obedience to the law, or at least, he allowed those individuals to think he was. Please read this account: (Acts 21:23-27) After these brief verses, the scriptures quickly change to the account of Paul's being beaten, and his survival from the hand of his enemies through his appeal to Caesar. Unlike the above mentioned Bible account of Peter's act of partiality being wicked, (Galatians 2:11-14 and Galatians 2:15-21 - Written 50-52 CE) the Bible does not address what Paul was thinking or attempting to do when he went along with these men in following Jewish law [or custom]; nor does it explain why he did it. We are thus left to wonder. Was Paul going along with these Judaizers, in similar fashion to what Peter had done at Galatians 2:11-14 and Galatians 2:15-21? Or, was Paul rather getting ready to use their false worship [by their continuing obedience to and hope in the law] as a springboard into witnessing about Christ; even as he had done with those who worshipped an "unknown god?" (Acts 17:22-31) Was Paul here being temporarily influenced by the man of lawlessness [or the great apostasy] which he and Jesus's other followers warned about? The Bible doesn't comment further on this matter, so we don't presume to assert we know the answer. It does illustrate something we can and should all learn to be aware of. Apart from Jesus, the Bible contains the life story of men and women just like you and I. And just like you and I, some of them were struggling to be good; while some others were, or were becoming, wicked. We humans can never know who is wicked and who is righteous, unless God tells us. Even some Bible characters who were righteous did bad things, and probably some who were wicked did some good. The Bible is a tool by which we can learn not to judge others because they do not measure up to our standards. It is also a tool we can use to learn to judge which actions are good, and which are bad. We can then simply share with people what the Bible teaches. It is up to each individual, then, to build their own faith; and then to decide for themselves based on their own Bible trained conscience what is acceptable behavior for them. We are all standing before the judgment seat of Christ, based on those very decisions which we are all making.

In this account Paul might have been letting those Judaizers believe he was going along, so he could then help them to understand Christians were no longer under law. He might also have been [temporarily] misled by some who were false Christians; whom satan had planted among the congregation. (Matthew 13:38-39) There may be other facts relating to why Paul did this, which we are not even aware of. It appears we don't have enough information in the Bible to know one way or the other. Be cautious of anyone who is emboldened to give you a definitive answer as to what Paul was here doing, or why he did it. With this and all scriptures, make certain any self proclaimed Bible teacher can give you scriptural proof. Never let them try to reason out and thereby "interpret" scripture for you. If you choose to do that, and they are wrong when you follow after them, you are responsible. You have your own Bible! If you don't, get one. It is OK not to know about some such matter. It is never OK to present a lie as Bible truth. People make a serious mistake when they assume they have the right to "reason out" and form an opinion about such matters; and then to wrap those opinions into their belief asserting them to be Bible teachings. What they teach is no longer the Bible's teachings. They have broken the Bible's rule and gone beyond the things written. (1 Corinthians 4:6)

May each individual receive much encouragement as they study the Bible, and receive the many blessings of realizing it's theme. God's peace to all! (Luke 10:5-6)

There is an additional consideration this naturally leads us to: Can we learn from the mistakes of others, as well as from their examples of faithfulness? Can we learn from their actions, even when or if we can not be sure that specific action was upright?

Yes we can! The solution is very simple. We listen first and foremost to the teachings of the perfect son of God as recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. (Mat_11:27) He was perfect and so all his actions and teachings are above question. An intimate knowledge of his teachings (not reading those Gospel books once, mind you, but a lifelong study of them) will help us identify actions that are good and upright, and to realize we don't really need to know about the ones the Bible does not make clear. Jesus made clear in Mat 11:27 and John 17:3 what we should do: We should know Jesus and his Father!

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