Results 1 - 3 of 3
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | A divorced pastor in ministry? | 1 Tim 3:2 | Hank | 22825 | ||
Hello, Raul. You have posted an imposing list of "witnesses" -- and for the several with whom I'm acquainted I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration. Unlike one of your other correspondents on this forum, I come to make my case in favor of the experts. For a large part of my half century as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ I've supplemented my study of the biblical text with any number of exegetical helps. Early on in my efforts to learn more about this Book of Books, God granted me sufficient light to be able to see the wisdom of consulting, via the written word, with gifted and insightful men of God down through the ages, from Justin Martyr to John McArthur. These saints have been endowed with vision and rare insight, and I am far the gainer for having borrowed from them riches that I could never have amassed alone...... If it may serve to illustrate a principle, I'll present an analogy from the profession of law. If you will exempt me from any suggestion of sacrilege, I'll drawn a comparison between the Bible and the laws of the land. As the Bible is our text, so are the laws themselves the text of the legal profession. But anyone who has ever had occasion to observe the impressive array of books in a law office knows that those massive books contain a great deal more than the laws (text) themselves. They are casebooks. They cite not only the law but the ways that the law has been interpreted and applied in actual practice, in case after case that have involved the lives and destinies of human beings. The practicing attorney-at-law lays out considerable sums of money to acquire these books because he knows the value of availing himself of the insight and wisdom of keen legal minds who have gone before him. He knows that he does not have to "re-invent the wheel" of every legal case that he must argue...... And, in like manner, neither do we have to re-invent for ourselves (or take a wild guess at) the meaning of every biblical text, when we have at our beck and call a host of God's servants who have walked where we walk and stand ready to share their candle with us. With that, to copy what the lawyers say, I rest my case. --Hank | ||||||
2 | A divorced pastor in ministry? | 1 Tim 3:2 | Raul Goulden | 22853 | ||
Brother Spurgeon has some strong words for those who deny the Holy Spirit has been doing his job- "In order to be able to expound the Scriptures, and as an aid to your pulpit studies, you will need to be familiar with the commentators: a glorious army, let me tell you, whose acquaintance will be your delight and profit. Of course, you are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the works of divines and learned men who have labored before you in the field of exposition. If you are of that opinion, pray remain so, for you are not worth the trouble of conversion, and like a little coterie who think with you, would resent the attempt as an insult to your infallibility. It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others. " - C. H. Spurgeon |
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3 | A divorced pastor in ministry? | 1 Tim 3:2 | kalos | 22865 | ||
"It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others" (Spurgeon). To me it seems not only odd, but rather arrrogant and ignorant to think so highly of oneself and have so little regard for "the works of divines and learned men who have labored before you in the field of exposition." Raul: Thank you for a marvelous quote -- one so good that I repeat it here, in case anyone missed it. Since the inception of the Forum 9 months ago (February 2001), we have had to endure the frequent repetition of the "odd" idea that, although the commentators (past and present) are not infallible, somehow certain forum posters, those who have a direct line to God, are infallible. In the first place, I have never said or implied that any commentator is infallible. Often when one has no argument, he tries to divert attention from the issue at hand by attacking the scholarship and even the very character of the quoted commentator. Nice trick, but it doesn't work with everyone. Of course, no man is infallible. But one who has studied the Bible, say, 30 hours a week for 30 years in the original languages just might be better equipped to get at the meaning of the Scriptures than one who hasn't devoted that much time and effort. Thus, these self-sufficient ones reason, don't listen to men who've spent years and years studying the Bible in the original languages. Instead harken unto the many Internet self-appointed Lone Ranger Bible experts who populate this forum. They seem to think the rule of interpretation is not sola scriptura (Scripture only), but is instead solo scriptura (me and my Bible). Your quote from Spurgeon answers these odd notions better than I've ever seen them answered. My thanks to Raul Goulden, who has provided us with the following Spurgeon quote. *************************************** "In order to be able to expound the Scriptures, and as an aid to your pulpit studies, you will need to be familiar with the commentators: a glorious army, let me tell you, whose acquaintance will be your delight and profit. Of course, you are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the works of divines and learned men who have labored before you in the field of exposition. If you are of that opinion, pray remain so, for you are not worth the trouble of conversion, and like a little coterie who think with you, would resent the attempt as an insult to your infallibility. It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others. " - C. H. Spurgeon Grace to you, kalos |
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