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NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
Subject: wjhat are the qualifications being |
Bible Note: Dear WOS, You wrote, "My fear is in the establishing of doctrine instituted by men who were not directly commissioned by Christ Himself for teaching doctrine with the authority of an Apostle." You needn't fear, my brother. God is working out His eternal purpose in perfect faithfulness. Of the Church He says, "In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." (Isaiah 27:2-3) Now, that written, it does not mean that we may rest on our laurels. Indeed, we are called to earnestly contend for the truth (Jude 3, Eph 6:14, 2 Tim 2:15, 1 Thes 2:13, etc.) However, we are well equipped! God has given us four powerful aids in knowing His truth and helping us to avoid error: 1. The Holy Spirit (John 16:13) 2. The Word of God (John 17:17, Acts 20:32) 3. Teachers and Pastors -- from the past and in the present (Eph 4:11-12) 4. One another (Col 3:16, Gal 6:1) Now, is that cool, or what? :-) You wrote, "How can man simply look at Scripture and decide they can know the mind of God?" First of all, man would not know God if our Lord had not deigned to reveal Himself. Of course, none would be able to understand if He hadn't condescended in order that we might understand. John Calvin said that God speaks baby talk to us. It is true that we can not, nor ever will, fully know the mind of God. However, the fact that He gave us the Word proves that we are capable of knowing some of the things He wishes us to know. The very effort to communicate between any two beings implies assumptions of understanding. You wrote, "God in His infinite wisdom does not reveal all to us, just what He deemed necessary." Amen! Very true! "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deuteronomy 29:29) You wrote, "With all of that said, I profess that I do look to Scripture as the final authority. But I dare not add anything to it as doctrine." Amen, again! We dare not! The other side of what you are saying, though, is that we dare not neglect to draw out every doctrine of Scripture! "You all have by you a large treasure of divine knowledge, in that you have the Bible in your hands; therefore be not contented in possessing but little of this treasure. God hath spoken much to you in the Scripture; labor to understand as much of what He saith as you can. God hath made you all reasonable creatures; therefore let not the noble faculty of reason or understanding lie neglected. Content not yourselves with divine truth you accidentally gain in conversation; but let it be very much your business to search for it, and that with the same diligence and labor with which men are wont to dig in mines of silver and gold." --Jonathan Edwards Thank you for your patience and encouragement. :-) In Him, Doc |