 All right, we shall continue with our class. So before the break, we had reached up to Martin Luther in our history of the formation of the canon. So after Martin Luther translated the Bible into the German language, which was in 1534. So in 1534 after he had completed the translation of the Bible into the German language, he very clearly made a statement, an official statement. And this is what he said. He said that these apocryphal books are not to be held equal to the sacred scriptures, even though they may be useful and good for reading. So he very openly made an official statement that if you wish to, you can continue to read the apocryphal books. They may be useful and good for reading, but you must not regard them as equal to sacred scripture. And you know, Martin Luther by that time had become a very influential leader. People were talking about him. People were listening to what he was saying. And so the Catholic Church was very upset that he's making statements like this and people are actually beginning to listen to him and believe what he is saying. And so at that time, they convened something called the Council of Trent. This took place in 1546. And in the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church made an official statement and said, we declare the apocryphal books as canonical. So now onwards, you should regard them as sacred scripture. Martin Luther protested and he said, how on earth can you declare them as canonical after so many centuries of leaders have openly written down in their writings that the time of the prophets are over. God is no longer speaking through his prophets and asking them to write down his message. So how can you come after one almost 1400 years and declare and say that these extra books are canonical? You see for the Catholic Church, it was important to declare these apocryphal books as canonical because some of these books, most of the apocryphal books are good, but some of them have very wrong teachings. Some of these apocryphal writings were encouraging the idea that salvation can be bought with money. And so, you had prayers for the dead. For instance, if you have a family member who has died and that person has led such a sinful life that you're pretty sure that they have not gone to heaven. And so, you can give money to the Catholic Church and they will pray for the dead person and the dead person will be able to go into heaven. So they had teachings like this and we don't have scripture backing up such things. So, things like this were being encouraged in the apocryphal writings and so it was very, very important for the Catholic Church to somehow make these apocryphal books also canonical. And so, they declared in the Council of Trent in 1546 and said, now onwards we declare that the apocryphal writings are canonical and Martin Luther protested against that. One of the arguments that was made was that in 170 AD, one of the main leaders of the Church, Melito of Sardis, who was the Bishop of Sardis at that time, he declared, he wrote down a list of the canonical books that time, just 170 years after the ascension of Jesus Christ back to heaven. So, just 170 years after Jesus ascended, he wrote down a written list and said, these are the ones which we have accepted as canonical and which the centuries of leaders have declared as being canonical and he wrote it down. It was a written record of it. So, the argument is 1400 years later, how can you now suddenly say, oh, there are some extra things which we shall add to the list. So, these were all the arguments that were raised against what the Catholic Church was saying. What is the conclusion in the sense of those books? Are those now considered as canonical or no? So, because the Roman Catholic Church officially declared them as canonical, the Roman Catholic Church up to today continues to say that they are canonical because they have officially declared it as being so in 1546. Those Catholic Bibles, those books are still relevant right now. So, now they generally place them in between the Old Testament and the New Testament. There's a section you will find where you'll have all these additional books mentioned and then their version of the book of Daniel and the book of Esther will include those extra portions also. So, up to today, they still hold on that those are the apocryphal books are canonical, but we follow what Martin Luther said in the arguments which he presented. We follow what Jerome has said in his translation of the Latin Vulgate. Even though he was forced to include those extra books, he openly said, I only consider these extra books as books of the church. They are not books of the canon. They are not inspired. We hold on to what was written by all those early prophets, not prophets, early spiritual leaders who wrote in their writings that the days of the prophets are over. So, we have written records where people openly said, people of those times, of 100 BC, of 90 BC who have written and said, the time of the prophets is over and God is no longer speaking a direct message to his people. When they have written down those things, how can we go against all of that and follow something which was said in 1546? So, which is why we the Protestant church will not accept what was said in 1546 because what was said in 1546 came very, very late, much after the canonicity of the Old Testament books had already been established a long time ago. A declaration which was made so recently cannot be accepted as authentic simply because it's not been backed by other people from the past. So, what the Roman Catholic Church said is that God has given the Church, the Catholic Church, the authority to declare certain writings as canonical. So, we have the authority given by God to take any writing and declare that from henceforth this is going to be canonical. On the other hand, the Protestant said, no humans do not have the right to declare anything as canonical, humans can only recognize what God has established as canonical. An example that we can use to understand this is not a very good example, but you know, Wayne Grudem, he uses that example in his book and it's quite a valid example. Let's say that the police raid a house and they, you know, they are able to get a briefcase full of currency notes. Now, the police can recognize those notes as counterfeit and genuine. So, you know, they look at all the currency notes which they have found in that briefcase and they'll say, okay, these notes are genuine and these notes are counterfeit. So, the police have the ability to recognize and say these are genuine notes, these are counterfeit notes. But can the police, you know, take those counterfeit notes and say, okay, from now on, we declare that these notes are genuine just because the police say that those notes don't become genuine because who gets to decide what is genuine and which is counterfeit, the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank of India is the only governing authority which has the right to issue certain currency notes and declare them as legal currency. So, just like that, God has established certain scriptures as canonical. He has made his declaration and said that so and so these particular scriptures which I have given through the prophets and you know, the message which I gave to them and which they wrote down through my divine inspiration, those are canonical. So, when God has declared, just because a human governing body comes along and says, we now declare, it doesn't make sense. So, we as humans can only recognize what God has established. So, the Protestant Church basically made the argument humans do not have the right to declare something as canonical or un-canonical. We can recognize the work of God and the way he worked through history and how he used certain prophets to write down his words. We can recognize that and recognize that the things which were conveyed through those prophets is canonical and we have, we recognize that the rest of them are not canonical. We can only do that but we can't take any writing and just simply declare by our own authority that certain things are canonical or not. This was the argument that was made by the Protestants. So, right up to the 1800s, many of the Bibles continued to include these apocryphal books in their printed versions. So, finally in 1825, when these printed English Bibles started going out to different countries because the British Empire at that time, they had control over many nations throughout the world. So, wherever they had their British rule, British power, they began to send out their English Bibles, printed Bibles to all of these places and then a very wise argument was made by the Edinburgh Committee of the British and Foreign Society. So, this Edinburgh Committee, they said, here we are very happily sending our printed biocopies of the Bible to all these nations. How will the people of those nations know which is canonical and which is not canonical if we continue including the apocryphal books in the Bible? So, at that time, they used their common sense and they removed the apocryphal books so that the people, when they receive the Bible and start reading it, they will only read the canonical ones and not the apocryphal ones. So, 1825 onwards, at least the English Bibles completely stopped having the apocryphal books in the Protestant Bibles, but of course the Catholic Bible will continue to have that because of the official statement that was made in 1546. So, there was a lot of controversy regarding the Old Testament canon and let's now move into the New Testament canon. How was this New Testament canon established? Obviously, of course, it's the disciples who started writing because Jesus had told them that even before Jesus ascended back to heaven, this is what he said to his disciples. John 1426, if someone could read out, John 1426. John 1426, but the Father will say in my name, He will teach you all things and to bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. So, Jesus tells his disciples all the things which I'm telling you, all the things which I have done in front of your eyes, the Holy Spirit will remind you of those things. He will help you to recollect all those details because then in future when you have to record down these things in writing and put them in writing, then you will be able to correctly recollect all that was done by me and you will be able to present an accurate record. We see the same thing mentioned even in John chapter 16 verses 12 to 14. If you could have someone read out, John 16, 12 to 14. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. Okay, there seems to be a problem with the audio for the people online. If someone could just write in the chat and tell me whether my voice is clearer now or is the problem still there because we will have, okay, I guess that comment was given for the scripture reading and not for the lecture as such. Oh, Warren has spoken and said something. Yeah, Warren, in case you have said anything, I have not been able to hear. Did you unmute and try to say something? No, I did not hear you. Yeah, try speaking again now. Can you hear me now? No, your voice is not coming through to us. Oh, unmuted. I mean, I can see that you have unmuted, but no, I don't have any volume coming through. Okay. If it is not a very lengthy question, maybe you could type it out. Sorry, so sorry. Okay, okay, fine. See, there's such a communication back with all this technology. Okay, so Warren was reading out the scripture, is it? I'm so sorry, I mean, yeah, we could not hear it over here. I think that problem has been fixed now. So yes, if you want to make a second attempt at reading the next verse, which I would tell, you know, you can actually go ahead and try doing that. I think now that they have fixed something over here, it will probably work the next time. So Warren, the next verse that I call out, maybe you can try reading out that. So because it helps that if the online students also can participate in the class and not just be onlookers. So yeah, that makes a big difference. So yes, getting back to what we were talking about, Jesus assures his disciples that the Holy Spirit will help them in recollecting all that he is teaching them. And then he says in John chapter 16, there are many more things that I need to tell you, but right now you can't understand those things, you know, because the Holy Spirit has not yet come to indwell them and the crucifixion event has not yet taken place. So there are things which they cannot at the moment understand. So Jesus says to them, there are many more things that I have to say to you, but I can, but you cannot bear them right now. And so he says, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. So the things which we find written in the gospels, the things which we find, you know, written in the epistles, these are all things which would be inspired by the Holy Spirit. He would help the people, the writers of the New Testament to record certain events, to record certain words of Jesus in a particular way so that future generations will get to know what Jesus said and they will get to know the things which Jesus did. So through the Holy Spirit, even the New Testament started being composed, you know, after Jesus ascension. So books which were written by people who personally knew Jesus, those were accepted as canonical. For instance, Matthew, John, Peter, these are people who had been trained by Jesus personally. They had walked with him, they had seen his miracles, they had listened to his teaching, they had understood the interpretation of the things which he taught. So books that were written by them were automatically accepted as canonical, you know, which would basically be your Gospel of Matthew, First and Second Peter, First, Second and Third John, John's Gospel, Revelation. These are all books that have been written by people who personally knew Jesus. So they were accepted as canonical. As for Paul, Paul was not one of the disciples. You know, he was not there when, I mean, he was not with Jesus when Jesus was on the earth. But his writings were accepted as canonical because he declares and says that he received his revelation from Jesus Christ directly. Let's look at Galatians chapter 1, 11 to 12. So if we can have someone online read out for us, Galatians chapter 1 verses 11 to 12. Galatians 1, 11 to 12. Can you hear me? Perfectly, yes. Okay, Galatians chapter 1, 11 to 12. But I make known to you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to to man. For I neither received it from man nor was I taught it. But it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Okay, so in fact, in the book of Galatians, he repeats this in other places as well. He makes it very, very clear that whatever he has received, the Gospel that he has received and which he has, you know, recorded in writing and which he has taught the people in different cities, it's not something that he got from other people. He didn't go to the 11 disciples and they didn't train him and send him out. Whatever revelation he got, he got it directly from Jesus Christ. So in that sense, he was a unique apostle. You know, the other apostles got trained by Jesus. But this was one apostle who even though he came after, who came later, in fact, that's what he says in 1 Corinthians. Can't remember the chapter. You know, he says, it's like as if, you know, Christ came to me like to one who was abnormally born, you know, who's born later in time. And he came to me specially and he gave me a personal revelation of himself. So the books or rather the epistles that are written by Paul all the way from Romans up to Philemon, all of them are accepted as canonical because he received his revelation directly from Jesus Christ. Now, coming to Mark and Luke, Mark and Luke also were not disciples of Jesus. So why were they accepted by the books written by them? Why were they accepted as canonical? Because Mark was personally trained up by Peter. In fact, you know, in Acts chapter 12 verse 12, after Peter is miraculously freed from the prison, you know, the church is praying for him when he's in the prison and the angel comes and sets him free, brings him out of the prison. And where does he go? He actually goes to John Mark's house. That's basically where he goes because all the believers have gathered over there and they're praying for Peter. So he goes over there. So Peter knew John Mark. I think right from the time that he was a teenager because when Jesus was ministering on the earth, John Mark would have been a young boy at that time. He would probably have just been in his teens. So Peter took John Mark under his mentorship, and discipled him, taught him the scriptures and all of that. So therefore, because of his close association with Peter because he was trained up by Peter personally, John Mark's book is accepted. That would be the Gospel of Mark. What about Luke? Luke also was not a disciple of Jesus. But then he got his training, let us say, from Paul. He was closely associated with Paul in all of his missionary journeys. So when Luke wrote down an account, you know, when he wrote down the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, those were also accepted as canonical. What about James and Jude? James and Jude, these two books were accepted as canonical because they were written by the half brothers of Jesus. So if you were to look in Galatians chapter one versus 18 to 19, there Paul writes and says that James actually was a half brother of Jesus. So that's how we get to know that James was a brother of Jesus. Jude also, when he's writing his book at the very end of the Bible, where you have the book of Jude, in the very first verse he says that he is a brother of James. So that way we get to know that Jude and James were half brothers of Jesus. And you know, in Matthew chapter 13 verse 55 and also in Mark chapter 6 verse 3, there's a list of the names of Jesus' brothers given. And so in that list you have James being mentioned and Judas being mentioned. So this Judas must be Jude, all right? So their writings are accepted as canonical because they were also directly connected to Jesus and later on, after his resurrection, they believed in him, they believed in his divinity and so they became followers of Jesus. So the only book which kind of is a little controversial would be the book of Hebrews because it was not written by one of the 11 disciples nor was it written by somebody who had been directly trained by a disciple. In fact, nobody knows who actually is the writer of the book of Hebrews. So why do we accept that as canonical? In 254 AD, Origen, who are ORIG and a very important leader of the church of that time, he recorded in his writing or rather his writings were already destroyed by that time, but anyway what he said is recorded by Eusebius in his writing. So Eusebius quotes Origen and he says that Origen said that we do not know who the author is but we accept the book of Hebrews as canonical because the majestic glory of Christ shines forth from the pages of the Epistle to the Hebrews is what he's supposed to have written. So in the writing of Eusebius, he talks about what Origen said about the book of Hebrews and over there he explains and says that the reason that the Hebrews book was accepted as canonical is because it gives a very clear presentation of Jesus Christ because if you're familiar with the book of Hebrews, it basically talks about how Christ is seen in the Old Testament. Everything in the Old Testament was pointing towards Christ, towards what he would do for humanity. So it's very clearly in line with the Old Testament scriptures and therefore it was accepted as canonical. So many other writings were also written but those are not accepted as canonical today. Only these specific New Testament books are regarded as canonical scripture. So this is the background. Now actually technically speaking, all of this should not be called doctrine of the word of God but it's important for us to know these things. Maybe it's more the history of the word of God but anyway it was important for us to know these things so that we would have a clearer awareness. Come into one of the concepts which we need to know when we are talking about the doctrine of the word of God. It's this whole idea of inspiration. We talk about the Bible being the inspired word of God. What on earth do we mean by that? When we say inspired word of God, what is that term mean? God himself is the author. He inspired that person to write something. So people say, what does that mean? Does it mean that God literally dictated word by word, what you should write down or did we just tell them what they should write and then they wrote it down in their own words using their own vocabulary, using their own style of writing. So there are some things which were directly dictated by God. Like literally those 10 commandments, they were written down by the finger of God himself. So that was like direct writing. Word for word, what God wanted said that was said. But when it comes to the other writings, God just told them what they should write and then they wrote it in their own style using their own vocabulary. So and the Holy Spirit guided them in their thoughts. He would have guided them to use certain specific words and phrases but it was not direct dictation. It would have been written by the writers in their own style of writing. Now just to kind of use an example, let us say that I want three students sitting over here to please convey a written message to Pastor Nancy. Yes, I'll tell you what the message is and you would need to write it down and give that written message to her. So basically all my message is basically this. I want to inform her that this is all just pure fiction. Okay, just an example. Let us say that I know I went to her house last morning and she was not there at home. I went along with Savita. I went to her house but she was not there. But then we saw her cat, her brown cat. It was sitting in the middle of the hall and it was staring at something and then we realized that the cat is actually staring at a rat. So I'm basically asking these three students, could you please write down what I have said and convey it to Pastor Nancy. Now all the three students will write down what I have said in three different ways. If you were to take the three written messages of these three students, it would not be identical. They would use their style of writing. They would use the English that they are familiar with. So the details of all the three would differ but all the three being very sincere students will be accurate in what they are saying but they will not put the same details with the same kind of wording. So inspiration is something like that where the information we have which has been told will be conveyed sincerely, accurately, but the way it is presented will differ. Now of course this is just a human example but when these writers were writing the Holy Spirit was with them guiding them, guiding their thoughts even as they were writing. So there would be no mistake. I mean left to our students, our students probably would write and add a few extra details of dogs and parrots and all that but the biblical writers because they were being guided by the Holy Spirit, they would have been very sensitive to him while they are writing but they would be using their own style. Now on the other hand when it comes to dictation, dictation is very different. So if I were to tell these three students I'm going to dictate a message to you, please convey this dictated message to Pastor Nancy and I'll say the cat sat on the mat and was staring at the rat. Now all the three will have exactly identical wording in their paper because it was a dictation but when it comes to the inspiration, the kind of inspiration used in the Bible, there it's only the thoughts which were presented to them. God said I want these thoughts conveyed, I want this information recorded and then it was up to the people to use their own vocabulary to convey that. So which is why we see a variation in the way the four gospels record the events of Jesus' life. All the four gospels mention common miracles, for instance the storm which happens on the sea of Galilee that is recorded in more than one gospel but the exact manner in which the story is recorded it differs from gospel to gospel because you have four different people writing down the story. So they differ in the details which they give. In the example which I used, maybe one student will say that the cat was brown but the other student may forget about the color of the cat, they may focus more on the fact that I went along with Sabita, they will mention that in their thing. If the third person on the other hand maybe will mention when did I go, I went in the morning. So there would be different details mentioned so these four gospel writers, when they were recording the events of Jesus' life and the things which he said, each of them inspired by the Holy Spirit would have remembered and recollected certain details and they would have put in those details. The other writer, the other gospel writer may not have mentioned those specific details, he on the other hand would have mentioned what the Holy Spirit brought to his mind while he was writing. So this was writing guided by the Holy Spirit. It was not just a free extemper writing, it was guided by the Holy Spirit, he guided them to put down certain details and to leave out certain details. Now we especially see this in the recording of the empty tomb which is there in all the four gospels. Look at the way the four gospels discuss this particular event of Jesus' resurrection when the tomb is empty. If you were to look in Matthew chapter 28 verses 2 to 5, there we are told by Matthew that an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and he rolls the stone away and then it goes on to say that the angel said to the women, do not be afraid because Jesus has been, I know, resurrected. Now when you come to Mark, it doesn't talk about angel, it talks about a young man dressed in a white robe who is sitting on the right side inside the tomb. When you come to Luke chapter 24, there you don't have an angel mentioned or a young man mentioned, it talks about two men in clothes that were shining like lightning and these people are not sitting there standing, it says. And then in John, when you come to John chapter 20 verses 11 and 12, there it talks about two angels and these two angels are seated, one at the head and one at the foot of the slab where Jesus had been laid. So the criticism which is made by people who don't accept the Bible, they say, see look at the number of errors which are there in the Bible. They say this Bible is filled with errors, there's no accuracy. One person is saying something and the other person is saying something else. It's the kind of accusation that they make. They forget that when people are narrating an event, each will narrate it from one particular perspective. They will not all mention the exact same things in the same exact order. An example that is generally used is of eyewitnesses who are watching a road accident. So you have maybe 10 people who all literally see the accident happen in front of their eyes, but the way each of them describes that event will differ because one person's eye would have been caught by the vehicle, even as it was getting even as it was crashing. The other person might have focused on the child who ran when the car was coming. So different people are observing it through their eyes, looking at certain things, focusing on certain things. So some people might have noticed some details, others might have noticed other details and here in this record of the tomb, the empty tomb, this is based on the eyewitness report of the women who went over there to the tomb. If you go to actually look at all the four gospels which talk about this particular event, we realize that at least five different ladies together as a group, they went over there to the empty tomb. And what happens when they go to the empty tomb? When they look inside, they don't see the body of Jesus over there anymore. And so then what happens? Mary Magdalene, she runs back to tell the disciples about it, that the body of Jesus is missing, that it's no longer there. And the tombs are generally at the edge of the city, not inside the city. So it would have taken her time to go back to the city. So what was happening with the other women who are over there? What were they doing? I'm sure they would have started searching for the body of Jesus. So even as they're walking around searching, some of them are met by one angel, some of them are met by two angels, some of them look inside and see somebody sitting over there. Some people see on the outside maybe. You see these are all eyewitness reports. So you have a group of women walking around, buried, confused, wondering what to do and Mary Magdalene in the meantime has gone off to tell. And then we see in John chapter 20 where it says that Peter and John, once they hear about it, they come running back to find out whether what these ladies are saying is true. And I don't think Mary would have come running, Mary Magdalene would have come running back with them because they are men, they're stronger, they would have run fast. She would have come later. So by the time she comes over there, these other ladies have already had their encounters with the angels and now they're going back to tell the disciples, you know what the angels are saying that Jesus has resurrected from the dead. Mary, she comes a little late probably. And so she's still over here when she actually sees Jesus with her own eyes. So then she goes back and tells the disciples what she has seen. These are all eyewitness records of different people who actually experienced this event. And now the writers, Matthew and who's the other disciple, John. Matthew and John literally heard these women and what they have heard from different women, they are recording depending on what the Holy Spirit helps them recollect, what He brings back to their minds. So the accounts differ but the accounts are reliable. They're all based on actual eyewitness accounts of what was, I know, what they have heard. Now this is what Luke says in his writing. Luke, you know, if you remember was not a disciple of Jesus but this is what he says in Luke chapter one versus one to four. If someone could read out, Luke chapter one versus one to four. Please, anyone online offline, doesn't matter as long as you read it. Luke one, one to four. Our sister, can I read it? Please go ahead. Yes. In as much as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled. Among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the world delivered them to us. It seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write to you an orderly account, most excellent, pure philist that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. Luke starts off by saying, you know, a lot of people have written down an account of the things which have occurred, which have been handed down to us, information which has been handed down to us by those who are actually eyewitnesses. This is information which was handed down by the servants of the word, is what he says. And then he says in verse three, I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning. So Luke listens to what these eyewitnesses are saying. You know, he listens to what the disciples are saying about what Jesus said, what Jesus did, and then he carefully investigates these matters. So he goes and inquires from three, four people. Is this how it happened? What exactly did Jesus say on that particular occasion? So you see, he's not written it casually. He says, I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, which means maybe he even went and sat down with Mary, the mother of Jesus. You would have asked her, what happened? What exactly did the angels say? You know, what was your response? So all these things, he has carefully listened from the eyewitnesses, listened from the servants of the word, you know, who actually had an encounter with Jesus back then. And then he writes down his account. And so he tells this theophilist, he says to him, I am writing an orderly account for you so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. You can be 100% sure that what has been written is accurate, because I'm writing it after careful investigation is what he says. And you know, in one of those leaders of the early church, somebody named Papias of a place called Hierapolis. Wow, what names they used to come up with. So, you know, in his writing, he writes down that John Mark, he has recorded all the things which were told to him by Peter is what he says. But he says it is not written in the same order in which Peter narrated it. But he says, okay, the exact wording is this, he says, Mark became Peter's interpreter and wrote accurately all that he remembered, not indeed in order, but of the things said and done by the Lord. So it's what is written over there. So, these are all writers who wrote as accurately, you know, as possible with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So we can accept the written records of these New Testament writers as, you know, something that we can rely on, we can trust what has been written. Now, not sure to what we have, we don't have much time left, but this is something important because people bring up this first Corinthians chapter seven, and they talk about what is inspired scripture, what is not inscribed in inspired scripture and all of that. So it's very, very important for us to understand first Corinthians chapter seven. Let's, if we could have someone read out for us, first Corinthians chapter seven, verse 10. I would really like to fit in this portion into this class itself. So if someone could please read out first Corinthians seven, verse 10. Now to the married, I command, yet not I, but the Lord, a wife is not to depart from her husband. Alright, so here he says to the married, I give this command, not I, but the Lord. What is the command? A wife must not separate from her husband. Okay, so he says, what does he mean by this when he says, I'm not giving the command, but the Lord is giving the command. What he's basically saying is, what I'm saying right now is a direct quotation from Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ had actually said that in Mark chapter 10, verses one to 12, where he talks about how a wife must, husband and wife must not be separated. What God has joined together, let no one separate. So he says to the married, this is the commandment that I'm giving you, you know, in case one of you becomes a believer and the other is an unbeliever, I'm giving this command, not me, but rather Jesus Christ, this is what he quoted, he says, and he writes, a wife must not separate from her husband. Now, if you go a little further in the same chapter, first Corinthians chapter seven, verse 12, if you could read out that first Corinthians seven, verse 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 diverse her. So here, now Paul is saying, to the rest I say this, I am saying this, not the Lord. So people say, oh, then does that mean that everything that Paul has written is not inspired? Maybe some portions are inspired and some portions are not inspired. But over here he's not saying that. He's saying, what I told previously was a direct quotation from Jesus Christ that a wife must not separate from her husband. The second thing which I am saying now, this is not a direct quotation from the Lord. This is just something which the Holy Spirit has inspired me to say, and this is the advice which the Holy Spirit is giving that if any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she's willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. So over here, Paul is not saying this particular portion is not inspired scripture. That is not what he's talking about. All he's saying is that in 1 Corinthians 7, 10, he is giving a direct quotation of the Lord that a wife must not separate. On the other hand, in verse 12, it is not a direct quotation from the Lord. It is something that he's writing in his own words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he is saying that a brother can continue to live with his unbeliever wife if she's willing. Then a little later on, when you come down in the same chapter to verses 25, okay, maybe we can just read out verse 25. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy. Okay, so here he says, now this thing which I am telling you, this is not a commandment. It's more like a advice. It's a wise piece of advice which I'm giving that because in this current time that we are living in, where the persecution is so severe and so strong, it would be advisable if the believers choose not to marry. And he says, you know, in verse 28, he says, because those who marry will go through a lot of hardships, because at that time the persecution that the church was facing was so intense. So here he's saying, this is not a commandment that the Lord is giving. The Lord is not saying all believers should stop marrying. No, it's not a commandment. It's a judgment that is being given. The word judgment over there is in the sense of advice, a very wise piece of advice that is being given as in this present crisis, it would be better if believers choose not to marry. So people who misinterpret these three verses, they say, oh, Paul is saying that some things are inspired and some things which he's saying are not inspired. No, that is the wrong interpretation. You should, you know, rather accept these verses in the correct manner. If you go a little further, you know, a few chapters later, 1 Corinthians 14, verse 37, this is what Paul says, 1 Corinthians 14, verse 37. If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. So all the things which Paul is writing, they are from the Lord. It's just that some things are commandments that everyone should follow. Some things are advice. Some things are direct quotations which Jesus had spoken when he was on the earth. So there are different types of things being recorded, but they're all being given through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So based on these verses, we would not make the false claim that some portions of false writings are inspired and some portions are not inspired. That would be a very, very wrong interpretation because we who don't know the Greek language may misinterpret what he actually said in the translation. The real words don't come out because some things are lost in translation, but Paul, when he wrote those particular sentences, he did not mean it in the wrong sense. All of the things which God gave him were inspired and those are the things which he wrote down. So we will continue the doctrine of the Word of God next class as well, but for now, of course, we will conclude with the Word of Prayer. Lord, we just thank you so much that you through the ages went to so much effort to give us the scriptures in a very clear manner, Lord, so that we will not have any doubts, so that Lord, we can stand firmly on the scriptures and trust them and know that these scriptures are accurate. Lord, you worked through a lot of people. Hundreds of people were involved a lot in the composition of these scriptures and you worked through all of them to bring out the exact words which you wanted to make sure that the correct doctrines and the correct thoughts were recorded in the scripture. And Lord, you made sure that even though Satan tried to bring other obstacles in the way, you did not allow false things, Lord, to divert and corrupt the sanctity of the gospel. You made sure that the correct things stayed recorded. So we thank you, Lord, that you have made it possible for us to trust the scriptures which we hold in the Bible today. Thank you, Lord, for your Word and we know that your Word is inspired and we can stand upon it and claim it and there is power in this Word which has come from you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for this Bible. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you so much. We will meet again next class. Thank you, sister.