But what about if it is declared who is speaking in the passage?1 Corinthians 7:10-12 (NKJV)
10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.
12 But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her.
Before being saved I actually read some of the bible. It made no sense to me. It was hard to grasp what was being said. Then, when I was born again it was like the Holy Spirit walked past me and flipped a Light switch on my back and the Word of God came alive to me. There was such a hunger to know God and learn about Him that I could not stop reading.
The Bible and the Spirit work together.Here was a man who was truly seeking God through Judaism. The Holy Spirit saw this and reacted by sending Philip to him.Acts 8:26-38(NKJV)
26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot."
30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
31 And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
"He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33
In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth."
34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?" 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?"
37 Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may."
And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
Philip took this passage from Isaiah 53 as a springboard to the gospel and "Preached Jesus to him".
Now the man understood, and believed, and so was saved and asked to be baptized.
Without God's intervention through an angel, the Holy Spirit and Philip the man would have just been left with words on a scroll and no new life in Christ.
Quest (12-12-2017), Romans828 (11-03-2017), Valiant Woman (12-13-2017)
If it is inspired Word of God then God is speaking. Follow the principles set forth.
Once God speaks, it's done. He never goes back on His word.
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips (Psm 89:34).
We can rest assured that if God said it, He will do it because according to Hebrews 6:18, it is "impossible for God to lie."
The integrity of God's word is what makes the universe exist and hold together. God upholds "all things by the word of His power (Heb 1:3). God will not violate what He has said.
That's why He could not take back the authority that He delegated to Adam. He couldn't say, "were just going to start all over again when Adam lost his dominion in the earth (immediately).
Think of it. God has magnified His Word above His name.
Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name (Psm 138:2).
At the name of Jesus---the name which is above all names---every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (Phil 2:9-11).
"The name of the Lord is a strong tower" (Pv 18:10), yet the Word of God is magnified even above the name of Jesus.
If you put God First, you have Him at Last.
That translation of Psalm 138:2 is a bit questionable. Far too little to make a doctrine out of, for sure. Jesus is the Word and in Jewish thinking a name reflected who the person was so those would essentially be the same thing. Using the name of Jesus is a bit different, then one is employing his authority, doing something in his name instead of in his own name. It's still a bit strange to talk of the Word being above his name, what is that supposed to mean ?
"In the beginning was the Word(Logos), and the Word (Logos)was with God, and the Word (was God). Jn 1:1
Logos is both distinguished from God "was with God" and identified with "was God". The NT "Logos" is personal---The Word became a man who lived and died in our world.
Jesus is the Logos---the Creator of the universe, the ultimate reality behind the universe, and the one who is constantly sustaining the universe.
Gods Spoken word has a premise of final authority, because once it is spoken and put forth into action, it will be done no matter how long it takes to fulfill. Nothing can alter what He has spoken because He never goes back on His word. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away" (Mt24:35). Not one jot or one tittle of what He has spoken shall ever pass away. If the verse in Psalm 138:2 is applied to the Incarnate Word, then it means that God has magnified the Lord Jesus above every other manifestation of Himself.
If you put God First, you have Him at Last.
Revisited this because I found a link on Dr. Mark Virkler's site...
http://www.cwgministries.org/all-uses-rhema-bible
All Uses of “Rhema” in the Bible
Below are all 73 uses of the Greek word rhema*in the New Testament. Look up these verses and see what the Lord reveals to you. I noticed that they never referred to written words, making them distinct from logos, which can include words written down. Rhema means “spoken word,” and occasionally a “supernatural event.”
See link for all 73 scripture references....