As such, sola scriptura reflects a careful tension between the perspicuity ( clarity ) of Scripture necessary for its role as final authority, and the occasional need for its meaning to be revealed by exposition ( Hebrews 5: 12 ).

This kind of structure reflects a motif associated with the doctrine of the Huayan school, which affirms that the Buddha delivered the abstruse Avatamsaka Sutra ( 華嚴經 ‘ Huayan Scripture ’) as his first sermon, in an effort to directly awaken those whose " roots of virtue " were well-matured.

In fact, “ Luke perceives himself to be a Jew .” Finally, Rebecca Denova concludes her book with these words: “ Luke-Acts, we may conclude on the basis of a narrative-critical reading, was written by a Jew to persuade other Jews that Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah of Scripture and that the words of the prophets concerning ‘ restoration ’ have been ‘ fulfilled .’” Finally it should be noted that Strelan in 2008 not only concluded that Theophilus was Jewish but also that Luke was a priest.

In a note to John 1: 1, he states, " Hence it happens that men of every persuasion find confirmation of their peculiar opinions in the sacred volumes: for, in fact, it is not the Scripture that informs them, but that they affix their own meaning to the language of Scripture.

Calvinist theologians however, along with the majority of Christian theologians from other traditions, believe that Scripture clearly indicates that not all will, in fact, be saved.

His conclusions rested on internal textual evidence, but in an argument that resonates with modern debates, he noted: " Who were the original writers of the several Books of Holy Scripture, has not been made evident by any sufficient testimony of other History, ( which is the only proof of matter of fact ).

Biblical inerrancy is the doctrine that the Bible is accurate and totally free of error ( except for errors made in translation or transcription ), that " Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.

In contrast to Palamas ' teaching that the " glory of God " revealed in various episodes of Jewish and Christian Scripture ( e. g., the burning bush seen by Moses, the Light on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration ) was in fact the uncreated Energies of God ( i. e., the grace of God ), Barlaam held that they were created effects, because no part of God whatsoever could be directly perceived by humans.

Nevertheless, Morris assures believers that " evidences of full divine inspiration of Scripture are far weighter than the evidences for any fact of science.

Catholics believe the Scripture is God's message put in words by men, with the imperfections this very fact necessarily implies.

:" I record with deep sorrow the fact that, in our days, in the case of newly converted souls, the necessity of advance and pressing forward in holiness of life is not sufficiently insisted upon, whereas the Scripture is so clear and full upon this subject.

The books feature Scripture, stills from the film, questions related to the film's topic, and a single fun fact for each episode, usually about some production aspect of the film.

C. “ Sacred Scripture in the early franciscan school ', in La Sacra Scrittura e i francescani.

The consequence is a paradox that emerges repeatedly throughout Christian Scripture and the mysticism found in the early foundations of the Church.

Icon of the Melanesian Brotherhood Martyrs at Canterbury Cathedral ( Anglican Communion ) With the Reformation, after an initial uncertainty among early Lutherans, who painted a few " icon "- like depictions of leading Reformers, and continued to paint scenes from Scripture, Protestants came down firmly against icon-like portraits, especially larger ones, even of Christ.

Among the more prominent deacons in history are Phoebe, the only person actually called " deacon " in Scripture ; Stephen, the first Christian martyr ( the " protomartyr "); Philip, whose baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch is recounted in ; Saint Lawrence, an early Roman martyr ; Saint Vincent of Saragossa, protomartyr of Spain ; Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the mendicant Franciscans ; Saint Ephrem the Syrian and Saint Romanos the Melodist, a prominent early hymnographer.

Therefore, the early Protestants argued for the elimination of traditions and doctrines they believed were based on distortions of Scripture, or were contrary to the Bible, but which the Roman Catholic Church considered scripturally-based aspects of the Christian faith, such as transubstantiation, the doctrine of purgatory, the veneration of images or icons, and especially the doctrine that the Pope in Rome is the head of the Church on earth ( Papal supremacy ).

Roman Catholics also counter that the Dogmas of the Assumption and Immaculate Conception are well-supported in the writings of early Church Fathers ( although some Protestants question the way Catholic theologians cite and interpret early Christian writings, or whether they have the same validity as the Holy Scripture ), in addition to being supported by Holy Scripture.

As noted above, in late June and early July 2007, Saint Patrick's appointed two ecumenical canons, one Presbyterian and one Roman Catholic, who can be invited by the Dean to say Morning or Evening Prayer in the cathedral, read Holy Scripture and assist at baptisms, marriages, funerals or celebration of Holy Communion, as well as participating in the meetings and decisions of the Chapter.

* Nomen sacrum, Latin for " sacred name ", can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early Greek language Holy Scripture

In the early 16th century, his Scripture commentaries had an important influence on the Novum Testamentum and Annotationes of Desiderius Erasmus, though Erasmus mistakenly referred to him as " Vulgarius " in early editions of his New Testament.

Scripture from early natives document the use of these sickles in the cutting of grass.

The historical roots of Roman Catholic Eucharistic theology are the basis upon which a number of ecclesial communities, or churches, express their faith in the " bread of life " as given by Jesus, and are to be found in the Church Fathers, Scripture, the writings of Thomas Aquinas, and other early church writings and traditions.

" So we find that the early letters and documents, as well as the letters that became Holy Scripture among Christians, appear strongly to affirm a belief in what is today called by many the Real Presence, a summary term that refers to the notion that Jesus Christ is " really, truly, and substantially present " in the Eucharist.

The early Protestant reformers felt that Scripture required the acceptance of the virgin birth of Jesus, but only permitted the acceptance of perpetual virginity.

After a time, by the study of Origen and the other early Fathers, he became possessed with the notion of the importance of an allegorical or spiritual interpretation of Scripture, and advocated its use in the defence of Christianity both in his sermons and in his first book, while attacking what he saw as the shallow literalist interpretation of contemporary divines, The Old Apology for the Truth of the Christian Religion against the Jews and Gentiles Revived ( 1705 ).

The sermons to the faithful in the early ages were of the simplest kind, being merely expositions or paraphrases of the passage of Scripture that was read, coupled with extempore effusions of the heart.

As shown by the numerous quotations in the New Testament books and other Christian writings of the 1st centuries, early Christians generally used and revered the Jewish Bible as Scripture, mostly in the Greek ( Septuagint ) or Aramaic ( Targum ) translations, much of which is written in narrative form where " in the biblical story God is the protagonist, Satan ( or evil people / powers ) are the antagonists, and God ’ s people are the agonists ".

The Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra, i. e. 2 Esdras 3 – 14, is regarded as Scripture in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and it was also widely cited by early Fathers of the Church, particularly Ambrose of Milan.

Some early Christians went to church and listened for the words of scripture that were being sung when they entered the church as a random means of predicting the future and God's will ( along the lines of the Jewish Bath Kol form of divination ), but the Sortes was done more formally, by casually opening the Holy Scripture and reading the first words to come to hand, with these words being taken to foretell the inquirer's fate.

T. David Curp asserts that, " Given that the Church received Philemon as inspired Scripture, Paul's ambiguity effectively blocked the early Fathers of the Church from denouncing slavery outright.

There were not, in antiquity, as there are today, single-volume collections of all of Sacred Scripture which most Christians have in codex form in their homes and places of worship.

Christians accept the Written Torah and other books of the Hebrew Bible as Scripture, although they generally give readings from the Koine Greek Septuagint translation instead of the Biblical Hebrew / Biblical Aramaic Masoretic Text.

Many of these churches reject the idea that anyone other than the authors of Scripture can directly lead other Christians by original divine authority ; after the New Testament, they assert, the doors of revelation were closed and councils can only give advice or guidance, but have no authority.

Orthodox Christians believe Scripture was revealed by the Holy Spirit to its inspired human authors.

While there is a large body of theology noting the many Scriptural supports for transubstantiation, in general, Orthodox and Catholics consider it unnecessary to " prove " from texts of Scripture a belief that they see as held by Christians without interruption from the earliest, apostolic times.

It should be noted, however, that world peace is not expected by Christians on this earth, but it is expected to be manifest upon the ' new earth ' that is promised in Scripture ( see Revelation 21 ).

* And there are, certainly, among the people of the Scripture ( Jews and Christians ), those who believe in God and in that which has been revealed to you, and in that which has been revealed to them, humbling themselves before God.

According to Irenaeus, the Judaistic Ebionites charged less than one hundred years after the Apostles that the Christians overruled the authority of Scripture by failing to keep the Mosaic Law ( see also Biblical law in Christianity ).

Later, Arius ( 250-336 ), once he had been made a presbyter in Alexandria, began arguing that the teaching concerning the deity of Christ was an invention of men not found in Scripture and not believed by the Early Christians.

A literal Biblical interpretation is associated with the fundamentalist and evangelical hermeneutical approach to Scripture, and is used almost exclusively by conservative Christians such as Baptist, Conservative Mennonites and other similar groups.

To the same motive underlying his antagonism to the Apocrypha, namely, the desire to disarm Christians — especially Jewish Christians — who drew their " proofs " from the Apocrypha, must also be attributed his wish to emancipate the Jews of the Dispersion from the domination of the Septuagint, the errors and inaccuracies in which frequently distorted the true meaning of Scripture, and were even used as arguments against the Jews by the Christians.

He does not, indeed, maintain thereby that the execution of this command is equivalent to the performance of the whole Law ; and in one of his polemic interpretations of Scripture he protests strongly against a contrary opinion allegedly held by Christians, according to which Judaism is " simply morality " ( Mek., Shirah, 3, 44a, ed.

While sharing the Evangelical belief in Scripture as the sole instrument of salvation, and also like the Evangelicals being a Biblical literalist, he disagreed with the Evangelical party on the applicability of the Mosaic laws to Christians and generally favored a more intellectual approach to religion than most of the Evangelicals of his period.

According to Harnack, the sect may have led other Christians to introduce a formal statement of beliefs into their liturgy ( see Creed ) and to formulate a canon of authoritative Scripture of their own, thus eventually producing the current canon of the New Testament.

The Covenant of the Alliance of Baptists lays out seven principles the churches are committed to: the freedom of individuals to interpret Scripture for themselves ; the autonomy of the local church including its ability to ordain both men and women ; cooperation with other Christians and the wider Church ; servant leadership and inclusion for all people in mission and ministry ; emphasizing theological education by the support of colleges and seminaries ; proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and calling people to repentance, faith, reconciliation, social and economic justice ; and the separation of church and state.

For those Christians for whom Church tradition is of comparable weight with Scripture, this is a helpful apologetic trope, and thus a possible motivation for its use.

Others see it as a return to a New Testament church restorationist paradigm and a restoration of God's eternal purpose and the natural expression of Christ on the earth, urging Christians to return from hierarchy and rank to practices described and encouraged in Scripture.

Thus, most liberal Christians do not regard the Bible as inerrant, but believe Scripture to be " inspired " in the same way a poem is said to be " inspired " and passed down by humans.

" As such, it claims Jesus Christ is the only infallible source of revelation, and Scripture is the " unique and authoritative witness " for Christians to Christ.