N. T. Wright’s wisdom

Sound Solid to me! God Bles s~Allen Stilwell, Morganton, NC

The Bible, Holy Tradition, the Ecumenical Church Councils (there are seven of them), Prayer, and Loving People. We should not leave out Holy Tradition. St. Basil wrote:

Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us “in a mystery” by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force. And these no one will gainsay; — no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public definition a mere phrase and nothing more. (On the Spirit, chapter 27, by St. Basil the Great)

As for the tests for Holy Tradition, these can be found in The Commonitory by St. Vincent of Lérins.

Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense “Catholic,” which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors. (The Commonitory, chapter 2, by St. Vincent of Lérins)

Sources of Holy Tradition are the Church Fathers, Sacred Art (namely the Holy Icons), the ancient liturgies of the Church, and the ancient hymns and prayers of the Church.
The Church Councils are important because the Holy Spirit guides the Church into all truth through the Ecumenical Church Councils, just as He did in the first century in Jerusalem. (Acts 15:28)
Holy Tradition and the Ecumenical Church Councils help us to keep our interpretations of the Bible straight.
As for studying the original languages, I would recommend that people become familiar with the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament. The Masoretic Hebrew text is unreliable. The Jewish Masoretes altered the Hebrew text of the Scriptures for the purpose of refuting Christians who claimed that Jesus is the Christ. That is why so many of the Old Testament quotations found in the New Testament do not line up with the ones found in the Masoretic Hebrew. (Compare Hebrews 10:5-7 with Psalm 40:6-8 in the Hebrew. Then, look at the same passage as it appears in Psalm 39 in the Septuagint. The Psalms are numbered differently in the Septuagint. This is just one example of what I am talking about. I can show people several others.) The apostles were not misquoting the Old Testament Scriptures. The Jews in the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries altered the Scriptures so that they could refute the Christian claim that Jesus is the promised Messiah.
As for the Bible, I have some blogs on my Blogspot and Xanga sites about the canon of Holy Scripture. I, being an Orthodox Christian, favor the larger canon. The so-called “disputed books” were never labeled apocryphal until the 16th century. The Church Fathers quoted them in their writings and called them “divinely inspired Scripture.” (My blogging sites are myspace.com/readersteve, orthodoxsteve.blogspot.com, and orthodoxsteve.xanga.com.) It is not necessary for them to “survive in the Hebrew” in order to be inspired. After all, there are two books in the New Testament that did not “survive in the Hebrew,” but no one ever questions their authority.
As for prayer, there are different types of prayer. We need to practice other forms of prayer in addition to the spontaneous prayer that so many do. We need to pray liturgically and pray the Jesus Prayer so that we can develop prayer of the heart. That takes a lot of spiritual discipline.
Loving people is important. If we cannot love people, then we cannot love God.

Steve

I'm a little bit losted in the comment…how did you get the view of justification from what he said in this little video…Have you done some research on this man…I'm not mad…just wondering…I like John Piper and feel he is a solid Bible teacher/preacher…does he reference this fellow in the book? I'm just wondering…I not against you….I think we are on the same team…I find this interesting…Kind Regards~

Great video. I love Tom Wright.
Bible, Prayer and Love – can't get much more basic (and more challenging) than that!

Thanks for sharing Vicky.

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/…