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Not Bread Alone, but Every Word
By Marc | February 10, 2009
This last Sunday at church, one of the speakers made comment about a verse, Matthew 4:4, we’ve all heard in some form or another. The setting is this:
Jesus is fasting for forty days in the desert. Obviously he’s hungry. Satan tempts Jesus to prove his divinity by changing some rocks into bread.
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” – Matthew 4:4 (NIV)
The speaker made special emphasis on the word “every“, something I’d never even paid attention to.
Sometimes I would try to find a clause in the Bible to justify a sin or as a means to give in to temptations. Maybe then I’ll go to another translation. It never seems to work. Actually, the only justification comes from the Internet, where you can find any number of stands defending this sin or that.
But, those justifications aren’t the Word.
I’ve also known of the process of weeding out or dismissing some passages but keeping the “feel good” ones. I’ve tried this on occasion by saying, “Well, the context is for a specific group of people and a specific situation” or “That’s lumped in with the old covenant before Jesus came along”.
In some cases that may be true, like many of the diet restrictions and stoning people, but not all of them. And even if they were with the old covenant, the words still give us a clearer vision of what God sees as good and what he finds detestable; what is sin and what is righteousness. The crimes are the same, but the sentence is different, and the lessons are the same with a new teacher.
Immerse yourself in every word of the Bible. Don’t pick and choose as if some of it isn’t important or your will is better than God’s. Since I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, if I were to go around saying the Bible is full of errors or is wrong in some places but good in others, that’s saying God is flawed.
If I want to better please God and be a better man for my family and the world (his creation), I have to follow and understand to the best of my limited abilities. The best source available for knowing what God desires of us is the Bible.
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