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NASB | Romans 3:4 May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, "THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 3:4 Certainly not! Let God be found true [as He will be], though every person be found a liar, just as it is written [in Scripture], "THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED [by sinful men]." [Ps 51:4] |
Subject: Are all interpretations equal? |
Bible Note: It seems to me that if one believes that the Bible is the God-breathed, plenary and inerrant word of God, then he has no really viable choice but to proceed on the premise that the Bible constitutes all the revelation that God has made of Himself to man, and that therefore no other entity exists that could rightly be called "what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us." Accordingly, as regards teaching, how is it possible to teach Scripture -- or to teach how to make a cherry pie -- and keep it entirely free of commentary: exegesis, interpretation and exposition? The only alternative that comes to mind is to limit one's "teaching" to verbatim quotations from Scripture, devoid of comments of any kind, and always quoted in their full context. This practice would be, of course, tantamount to reading the Bible to one's students, or in lieu of that, handing them copies of the Bible and saying, in effect, "Here is truth; read it for yourselves." How else is one to comply with the "mark of a good teacher" which you set forth as being one "who does not add commentary, but teaches what God has revealed to him."? Once a teacher of Scripture strays from the text by inserting as much as one word, he has to some degree voiced an opinion or offered an interpretation. But must it necessarily follow that he has thus placed a slant (or call it a spin) or bias on his material? Is if fair to accuse all teachers of error who teach good exegesis founded on "what they have figured out" from years of prayerful study of God's word? Truly good teachers are indeed "thinkers of the word" and rightly so, because they recognize the unwisdom of setting out half-cocked to be "doers of the word" until one first prepares himself with at least a working knowledge of what the word is. How can one do the will of God unless he knows what the will of God is? And how is one to find that out, if not by long hours of toil and sweat spent in the study of Scripture? And I would add, that study should be thoughtful study. "Unthoughful study" is unthinkable, an oxymoron. There is no royal road to learning. I'd put my confidence any day in the teacher who's tough enough and dedicated enough to have spent years in the study of the Bible as over against the guy who claims to have received his spiritual insights by some arcane mode of special revelation. --Hank |