Why People Find the Bible Difficult

Got a list of the differences?

I've both and have noticed some things that do not match.

I am only suggesting that the Bible is understood best when one approaches it in light of its God-given order,

...

http://ichthys.com/mail-Bible%20chrono.htm

(Remember that Kings and Chronicles cover the SAME time period. One is a record of the tribes of Judah; the other of the 10 tribes.)

"Got a list of the differences?"

Not offhand. I recall checking out the difference shortly after both the TNIV and the newest NIV came out and the differences from the original NIV are substantial. A quick google search should find several pages that critique these "translations".

Elsie,

Thank you for the link.

Knowing the chronological order of the books of the Bible is very important. One needs always to bear in mind, wherever one is in reading or hearing the Bible, where he or she is in terms of what God has already said. No argument on this whatever.

However, in His infinite wisdom God also allowed the books of the Bible to come to us, us meaning, “all the nations of the earth,” in a particular order. Here, I am especially thinking of the New Testament books, whose order is basically consistent through the centuries, unlike those of the Old Testament (the order of the Hebrew Bible and other Old Testament translations varies). There is no doubt, as your linked outline also indicates, that some of the Epistles appeared earlier that some of the Gospels. However, the Gospels have come to us as the beginning of the New Testament. God in His providential and gracious wisdom allowed, permitted, caused (choose whichever verb you will) this to be the case, whatever the mechanism of His allowance, permission, causation. Man did not do this of his own choosing, no matter what, for example, the Roman Catholic church or any other says.

The reason for this, apparently (I say, ‘apparently,’ because I do not claim to know the hidden will of God), is that the four gospels reveal God to His people directly. That is, they reveal Him who is “God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very, begotten, not made, being of one substance of the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men (people) and FOR OUR SALVATION,came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary ...” The Gospels reveal the incarnate God to us in like manner as the Torah of Moses reveal God to us before the incarnation. All of the rest of the Old Testament is divinely inspired commentary, explanation, of the Torah, and its revealed truths, to all who have received it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Gentile), to follow the understanding of Paul.

Similarly, the rest of the New Testament is also divine commentary, explanation of the Gospels and their revealed truths, to all who receive them. There is no contradiction between Old and New Testament. How could there be? The Author of both is the same. There is no difference in teaching. How could there be? One simply must bear in mind always the order in which God did things, and then also caused to be recorded and given to us. The teaching of the Old Testament is all to be understood in the light of Him who was promised and who was coming into the world. (see John 5:30-47, as just one of the places where this is plainly taught) The New Testament is to be understood in the light of Him who has come, and has never left us, something the first book of the New Testament assures us is most certainly true: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Thanks for writing this post!

I enjoyed and find great value in your helpful insights and opinions and copied it so I can easily refer to it for later reference.

My Pleasure!
:-)