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Matthew 4:4
What Jesus says is a statement of fact that implies a command. We know that it does not say, "Man shall live by part of the Word of God." Yet, some people insist that parts of the Bible are done away. How can a person live "by every word" of God if parts of it are null and void, if commandments have been set aside? Obviously, one can never fulfill this scripture. But how do we approach this plain statement implying a command? Also, it is more than implied that the source of the "bread" is more important than the bread itself. This bread is what feeds our spirit, not our bodies. Where does the bread come from? What are the implications if it comes from God? Or if it comes from another source? The bread's source is critical. Satan has been so effective with his ploy that some parts of the Bible are done away that some Protestant denominations pay scant or no attention to the Old Testament. One of the ancient heresies was Marcionism, whose adherents rejected the Old Testament altogether, and of the New Testament, only approved the words of Paul and Luke. Such tendencies still exist. Another group only believes the words that are written in red in some Bibles—that is, the words of Christ. Even such a renowned scholar as Thomas Jefferson edited the gospels, leaving out sections he thought would distract or confuse natives just coming to an understanding of Christianity. In essence, He created his own, stripped-down version of the gospels. Such power we men have! We have to be careful about this "done away" idea because the effect of Satan's campaign against God's Word may not appear immediately. It will have a negative effect on all except those who totally reject this diabolical ploy. Even though we know we should try to live by every word of God, there are parts of the Bible in which we have little interest and have a difficult time studying them. How about the "begets"? They are dull and tedious. Why should we want to read somebody's genealogy? However, we have to discipline ourselves to look into them. We may not realize it, but those lists were extremely important in the past, and they may yet be equally important in the future, perhaps in sorting people out in the Kingdom of God. They are parts of the Book we are to live by.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Fourteen)
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