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NASB | Jeremiah 8:7 "Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons; And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their migration; But My people do not know The ordinance of the LORD. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Jeremiah 8:7 "Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons [of migration], And the turtledove, the swallow and the crane Observe the time of their return. But My people do not know The law of the LORD. |
Subject: Knowing the Word |
Bible Note: Dear Ed, A while back someone asked why everyone did not come to the same conclusions regarding any given passage. Here are five reasons that appear to account for the discrepancies: 1. Literary Limitations: Absolute precision is impossible due to the fact that there are gaps (linguistic, historic, and cultural) between the writer and the reader. 2. Spiritual Perceptibility: Sometimes interpretation is an intellectual matter, but it is often a matter of spiritual maturity. In there former there are limitations of education. In the latter there are limitations of growth in application of the Word. 3. Profundity of Truth: Truth is not simple, shallow, or trite; it is deep, rich, and often complex. 4. Natural Resistance: Men are not born desiring truth; the flesh resists the truth. 5. Problem of Pop Culture: The world tries to make the Bible more palatable, or squeeze what it says into their own presuppositions of what they think truth ought to be. Relative to the importance of the Holy Spirit in illumination, sola Scriptura always has and ever will stand on His essential contribution to our understanding. The old Baptist divines stated it thus: "The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be NECESSARY for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature [logic] and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed. (2 Timothy 3:15-17; Galatians 1:8,9; John 6:45; 1 Corinthians 2:9-12; 11:13-14; 14:26, 40)" --1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 1 (Of the Holy Scriptures), paragraph 6 Let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4). What care we for theological positions that place anything other than God's own Word as paramount? I can quote John Owen on this very question of the Holy Spirit in leading through the Word if you like. In Him, Doc |