Godchaser, Can You Prove That The Bible Has Doctrinal Superiority?

[GodChaser]

[quote name='Ragamuffin' post='1283882' date='May 29 2007, 09:00 PM']Do we know that Timothy only knew the Septuagint as Scripture? For instance, Peter refers to Paul's letters as Scripture in I Peter 3:15-16:

(emphasis mine)

Apparently at the writing of I Peter, Paul's letters are considered Scripture. Is it possible that Timothy also had this understanding?[/quote]
Ragamuffin, you're on the right track,

But is is 2nd Peter 3:15-16

[quote name='2nd Peter 3:15-16' date=' KJV']And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.[/quote]

[Katholikos]

[quote name='Ragamuffin' post='1283882' date='May 29 2007, 10:00 PM']Do we know that Timothy only knew the Septuagint as Scripture? For instance, Peter refers to Paul's letters as Scripture in I Peter 3:15-16:

(emphasis mine)

Apparently at the writing of I Peter, Paul's letters are considered Scripture. Is it possible that Timothy also had this understanding?[/quote]

Certainly, it's possible. But we don't know. Your reference is to [color="#0000FF"][b]2[/b][/color] Peter 3:15-16. Which of St. Paul's letters would Timothy have seen? There are at least two of St. Paul's letters that are missing. Was Timothy familiar with those letters? Some scholars believe 2 Peter was not written until the first quarter of the second century. It is certain that 2 Peter was very controversial in the early Church and was included among the "New Testament Apocrypha" -- writings that were late in gaining acceptance-- and was disputed late into the fourth centiry.

So while St. Paul's letters may have been considered Scripture when 2 Peter was written, the question remains: which letters? All of them? Some of them? Are the missing letters included in that statement? The two lost letters are to Corinth. I guess we could call them 0 and 00 Corinthians (see 1 Cor 5:9, 2 Cor 2:3-4). Were St. Paul or St. Timothy aware that Paul's letters were considered "Scripture"? Remember, there was no NT until the end of the fourth century. That's when 14 of St. Paul's writings were officially recognized as Scripture. It wasn't mandatory that all Christians believe they were Scripture until then.

St. Paul was not aware that he was writing scripture -- would he have included that message about his cloak (2 Tim 2:14) if he had? I don't think so.

Likos

[jeffpugh]