1. What is the Bible useful for?
2 Tim 3: 16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2. According to 2 Tim 3:16, if we have the Bible do we still lack anything necessary for our spiritual life?
3. Through whom did God reveal the Scriptures?
(Eph 3:4-5 NIV) In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, {5} which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
4. What is the test of a prophet?
(Deu 18:22 NIV) If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
5. What is the criterion for someone to become an apostle?
(Acts 1:21-22 NIV) Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, {22} beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
6. Who are some of the prophets and apostles whose writings were immediately regarded by the people as Scripture?
(Deu 31:24-26 NIV) After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, {25} he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD: {26} “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.
(Josh 24:26 NIV) And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD.
(2 Pet 3:15-16 NIV) Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. {16} He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
7. How should we treat oral tradition?
Is it wrong to follow traditions?
(2 Th 2:15 NIV) So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
8. What is the proper place of Scripture and Tradition?
2 Tim 3:16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
If Scripture is useful for correcting, how should we decide whether an oral tradition/teaching is indeed from God?
How then should we treat oral tradition/teaching?
(Acts 17:11 NIV) Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
(Col 2:8 NIV) See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
What did Jesus use to rebuke false teaching?
Matt 22:29Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.
9. Is the Church authority infallible with regards to God’s teachings?
(Gal 2:11-14 NIV) When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong… {14} When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
10. Did the Bible prohibit/discourage the private interpretation of Scripture?
Does the following verse teach that we should let the infallible church interpret Scripture for us and not resort to private interpretation of Scripture?
2 Pet 1:20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
11. What is the church’s responsibility with regard to the truth?
1 Tim 3:15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
12. Can church leaders impose on us something that the Bible does not?
Matthew 18:18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (NIV) Does that mean that whatever the Church allows, Jesus will allow and whatever the Church does not allow, Jesus would not?
13. What is the difference between the Catholic and Protestant Bible?
14. What is the difference between the Old Testament of the Protestant church and the Old Testament of the Jewish people?
15. How was the Old Testament referred to at the time of Jesus and what are the implications.
These the names or titles ascribed to the Old Testament writings by the authors of the New Testament: “the scripture” (Joh_10:35; Joh_19:36; 2Pe_1:20), “the scriptures” (Mat_22:29; Act_18:24), “holy scriptures” (Rom_1:2), “sacred writings” (2Ti_3:15), “the law” (Joh_10:34; Joh_12:34; Joh_15:25; 1Co_14:21), “law and prophets” (Mat_5:17; Mat_7:12; Mat_22:40; Luk_16:16; Luk_24:44; Act_13:15; Act_28:23).
What are the implications of the Old Testament being referred to by these terms?
Was there any Church Council to fix what the believers accept as Scripture?
16. What does the New Testament have to say about what should be in the Old Testament?
Mt 23:35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
This is a difficult question. Why would Jesus specially mention Abel and Zechariah among all God’s messengers who have been killed?