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Now come on. :) You know I didn't say that. Ezra would never talk over Jesus anyway. :) My point was that Jesus can and does speak to us through His own mouth and the mouths of others. This has been true going all the way back. How many times does a prophet say in the OT "This is what the Lord says:..."?

Ummm, God does not speak through Ezra in the Book of Ezra. The point is that Ezra is a man and a man only. He may be inspired by God, but he is not God. Jesus is. The Gospel writers wrote what we understand to be quotations from the mouth of God. Quotations from the mouths of men are not quotations from God, however inspired.

Ummm, God does not speak through Ezra in the Book of Ezra. The point is that Ezra is a man and a man only. He may be inspired by God, but he is not God. Jesus is. The Gospel writers wrote what we understand to be quotations from the mouth of God. Quotations from the mouths of men are not quotations from God, however inspired

Precisely Mark. The Jews differentiate this when it comes to the Torah versus the rest of the Bible. The Prophets and the Writings are considered "only" inspired.

The Torah, on the other hand, is not inspired because the words in the Torah are the words of God that have been written by God from all eternity and given, not "revealed" to Moses (big difference!).

Likewise, in the Church the words of the Gospel are not "revealed" but are given to the disciples by God in person, as compared to the words of Paul, which were revealed.

That's why the congregation sits when the Epistles are read, but stand when the Gospels are read, and why Paul's words do not appear in red.

Ummm, God does not speak through Ezra in the Book of Ezra. The point is that Ezra is a man and a man only. He may be inspired by God, but he is not God. Jesus is. The Gospel writers wrote what we understand to be quotations from the mouth of God. Quotations from the mouths of men are not quotations from God, however inspired.

Well, I sure didn't have to look far to find an example of what I mean:

Ezra 1:1-4 : 1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: 2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “ ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’ ”

So, the money question is: is everything after "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:" from God and perfect or from Cyrus and subject to error? I say the quote came literally from what God told him and Cyrus was simply repeating what he was told. Therefore, it is God's word and not subject to error. God did not simply plant a suggestion in his ear and Cyrus took it from there. Everything in the statement is exactly what God wanted said and for specific reasons.