Question 1: I have studied the Bible for more than 20 years. I can be certain that there is no word of God outside of the Bible. All of God’s word is in the Bible. Anything that violates or goes beyond the Bible is heresy and fallacy!
Answer: “There is no word of God outside of the Bible, anything that goes beyond the Bible is heresy,” people who understand the Bible all know the process through which the Bible was formed. Because of the disputes and omissions of the editors at the time, a part of God’s word conveyed by prophets was not recorded in the Old Testament. This is an openly accepted fact. So how can you say that God's work and word don’t exist outside of the Bible? Are the omitted prophecies of the prophets not the word of God? Even in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus said more than just those words. God’s words are all in the Bible. Sister, John 21:25 states: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” This verifies that the work and word of the Lord Jesus are also not completely recorded in the New Testament. Therefore, “There is no work or word of God outside of the Bible” does not conform with the facts. Brothers and sisters, we should also know that, regardless of the Old Testament or the New Testament, they were only recorded and produced by man after God completed a stage of His work. Initially, the Bible was only the Old Testament. The work and word of the Lord Jesus all went beyond the Old Testament. If we go according to the saying that anything that exceeds the Bible is heresy, then haven’t we condemned the Lord Jesus? Brothers and sisters, we can see from these facts that the saying “There is no work or word of God outside of the Bible, anything that exceeds the Bible is heresy” is erroneous!
Regarding this aspect of the truth, let’s take a look at what the word of Almighty God says. “During the time of Jesus, Jesus led the Jews and all those who followed Him according to the Holy Spirit’s work in Him at the time. He didn’t take the Bible as the basis of what He did, but spoke according to His work; He paid no heed to what the Bible said, nor did He search in the Bible for a path to lead His followers. Right from when He began to work, He spread the way of repentance—a word of which there was absolutely no mention in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Not only did He not act according to the Bible, but He also led a new path, and did new work. Never did He refer to the Bible when He preached. During the Age of Law, no one had ever been able to perform His miracles of healing the sick and casting out demons. His work, His teachings, His authority—no one had done this during the Age of Law. Jesus simply did His newer work, and even though many people condemned Him using the Bible—and even used the Old Testament to crucify Him—His work surpassed the Old Testament; if this were not so, why did people nail Him to the cross? Was it not because it said nothing in the Old Testament of His teaching, and His ability to heal the sick and cast out demons? … To people, it appeared as if His work had no basis, and there was much of it that was at odds with the records of the Old Testament. Is this not folly? Does doctrine need to be applied to the work of God? And must it be according to the foretellings of prophets? After all, which is greater: God or the Bible? Why must God’s work be according to the Bible? Could it be that God has no right to exceed the Bible? Can God not depart from the Bible and do other work? Why did Jesus and His disciples not keep the Sabbath? If He were to keep the Sabbath and practice according to the commandments of the Old Testament, why did Jesus not keep the Sabbath after He came, but instead washed feet, covered head, broke bread, and drank wine? Isn’t this all absent from the commandments of the Old Testament? If Jesus honored the Old Testament, why did He defy these doctrines? You should know which came first, God or the Bible! Being the Lord of the Sabbath, could He not also be the Lord of the Bible?” (“Concerning the Bible (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). For many years, we have thought that anything that moves away from the Bible is heresy. Today after reading Almighty God’s word we understand that God's work has never been based on the Bible or references to the Bible, and moreover He does not search in the Bible for a path to lead His followers. Instead, He bestows upon people a new path and performs new work. Brothers and sisters, God is the Ruler of all things. He is not just the Lord of the Sabbath, but is moreover the Lord of the Bible. God has the authority to perform His own work and perform new work based on mankind’s needs. Therefore, “There is no word or work of God outside of the Bible, anything that departs from the Bible is heresy” is a saying that cannot stand.
The Bible is a record of the two previous stages of God’s work. The Old Testament is a record of the work of Jehovah God in Israel during the Age of Law, that is, the work of God in the Age of Law that we often speak of. The New Testament is a record of the work of Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace, that is, the work of God in the Age of Grace that we often speak of. God’s work in the Age of Law was not based on the Bible, and God’s work in the Age of Grace was not based on the Bible either. None of God’s work was performed with the Bible as its basis. It’s OK to use the Bible as a basis for man to measure man’s work, to measure man’s preaching and service, but we should measure more based on whether or not there is enlightenment from the Holy Spirit. If we merely always use the Bible to measure and define God’s work, then we will become people who resist God’s work. It’s just like the Pharisees who resisted the Lord Jesus back then. They stubbornly held on to the scriptures and measured the Lord Jesus’ work by the scriptures. When they saw the words and work of the Lord Jesus exceeded the Old Testament, they crazily condemned and blasphemed. They are precisely people who resisted God’s work and were condemned by God. Are we still going to deny such a fact?
from the movie script of Disclose the Mystery About the Bible
