Right, and who's the "our" there? Who is that? "Our" is a first person plural. It's goes with "we" and "us", we and us are our. So, "He was wounded for OUR transgressions"—Paul says, "Christ died for OUR sins"—Isaiah 53 also says, "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering FOR sin"—Paul says, "Christ died FOR our sins".
Is the OUR there just the houses of Israel and Judah, since this concerns their New Covenant? which it does, since this is their prophet Isaiah.
Yes, just Israel 'and' gentiles who converted, at this venture. It was only through the Abrahamic Covenant that 'all nations would be blessed.' At the time, that meant conversion.
Then why do you empower Luther to set the table of contents in your Bible?
Look how your mind works with the presupposition: You are stuck with a go-between authority. We are not at all at the mercies of Luther. We all have internet and minds that work just fine. The 'authority' wall has fallen.
What qualifies Luther to wield that power, according to you? What gives him that right? Show me how that power, which is a power which belongs to God alone, to set the table of contents for His own Book—is entrusted to Luther? Where's the process that does this? Was it a private revelation, only given to Luther in secret? that he had this power?
Luther simply read the scriptures and for himself, eschewed "Bel and the Dragon" for instance. Why? His Bible, his choice. You are thinking 'rights' as if the RC has them. It can be turned around: "What gave them the right?" Rather, a Protestant/Evangelical will do the work his or her own self as they read the scriptures. It is of much more import to 'read' them than argue over them. There are 66 books in the shorter version: plenty enough to keep one studying and learning for a lifetime. How often have you read Leviticus? I have favorite books I've read and reread many times. I have read the Catholic/coptic/Greek Orthodox Bible. I don't believe I've gained any special insight, especially as I've only one Apostle-to-the-gentiles. The rest is good history and relationship stories with the Father, Spirit, and Son. It fleshes out the pictures, like coloring in a coloring book. The black and white was already there.
I'm not questioning btw, whether he made the right choice, do you understand? That is aside from what I'm saying. I'm saying, he exercised power—how? By what right? Based on what? Changing the table of contents, especially through deleting some books, is gigantic power.
Wouldn't you agree?
Difference: We ratify his work, aren't slaves to it. If you only had a N.T., nay even just Paul's letters, you'd understand the gospel and your need of relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, Spirit, and Father. "What is needed" is the impetus for reading scriptures. I ask every new believer to simply read the gospels, Acts, and Paul's letters three times through, then Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs. After that, they can be on their own and choose books or read the whole Bible through.
