by Dave Brown
Ye often hear it said ...
"The bible is just one of many great books of faith."
but Jesus said (Mt. 4:4) ...
"It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
There are two ways that this refutes the idea of many diverse documents. First, Jesus responded: "It is written ..." and proceeds to quote from Deut. 8:3. This, along with many other references of Jesus and the New Testament writers, attests to his/their acceptance of the currently accepted version of the Old Testament. Much like our bible today, it was handed down through the religious powers that be, despite many of them being worldly and evil. The providence of God assured that it was preserved for the purpose for which it was created.
A second nail in the coffin of diverse documents is the that Jesus required that we acquire knowledge of "every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." If God revealed himself out of a huge diversity of books (some even include parts of Shakespeare), this would be impossible. It would be humanly impossible for us to distinguish what portions of certain books were God speaking and which were not. Further, if he were continuously revealing himself with new writings and statements every day, this would also be impossible. Jesus was looking to that point when all that needed to be revealed would be revealed and "that which was perfect [fully grown] was come" (1 Cor. 13:8-10). See also Heb. 1:1ff and Rev. 22:18-19.