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NASB | 1 Timothy 2:9 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Timothy 2:9 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves modestly and appropriately and discreetly in proper clothing, not with [elaborately] braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothes, |
Bible Question:
Hello Tim: I think we need a balance, a suitable combination of knowledge and practice. You have also mentioned spirituality, and I will give some thought to that, what it means. But I’ll say this about the other two. In school, we divided our time between lecture and lab, between study and practice, and that was good. I think you will agree. Would it not be good if we could do the same in church? It might force us to focus on the knowledge we intend to put to use. It might make us more proficient in doing the will of God. I am suggesting that we need to know the word of God well. I do not think that we can go too far with that. I said we should saturate our minds with the word of God. Maybe I should have said “supersaturate” instead. Maybe I should have said “overflow” as that might give us enough and to spare, so we could share with others. Is saying we can go too far I did not mean that we can get too much of the word of God. On the other hand I say that studying every doctrine of man is unnecessary. If we concentrate of the truth (John 17:17) then we will be prepared to recognize and deal with error. If we know the word of God, we need not know whether Calvin or Arminius agrees with us. This is not to say we have no need of teachers. It is to say we have no need of favorites. We should be careful if we find our studies leading us to say, “I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas”, much less to say, “I am of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Whitfield, Toplady, Edwards, Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones, Schafer, and/or John MacArthur”. Listen. I know that denominations exist and people have favorite Bible teachers. Have no illusion that my writing here will put an end to that. Paul did not put an end to it by writing what he did in 1 Corinthians 1 and 3. But I would appeal to us to come together around the scriptures. I think that discussions of traditions will only serve to strain the chains that bind us. The other fact, so apparent here, is that these discussions lead us away from the practical applications of the word of God. How did we get to this, when the question was about the way we dress? I think it was good that we talked about helping those who may not dress the way they think the Lord wants, and how the church might help them. It may be that we’re needing more of that. But now we are getting to rules of thumb and principles by which traditions get their doctrines, and we seem to have come off the field. I fear it will only come to a competition as to who has the best rules of thumb. Better to get back to the original topic, I think, and to see how we can encourage people to behave the way they realize God wants them to, and how we can encourage the church to help them. I hope this explains why I would decline an offer to learn more about one of the traditions. Does anyone want to offer some ideas as to how one can encourage churches to support those who are trying to practice the word of God and having difficulty doing so? I just got a call from a sister who is having problems. She is so distraught because of the response she’s gotten from her pastor! She is inviting me to invade their meeting on Sunday or Wednesday to talk to him. Does anyone have scriptures pertaining to that? That is the type of need I see, and it seems to be in line with the thread the way it started. If this request is out of line, I hope you will still find it in your heart to be kind in your responses. |
Bible Answer: Greetings Aixen! My point wasn't to get to learn a certain tradition my friend! That is your choice! :-) I was simply concerned that you sounded very anti-scholarship. Thanks for the clarification. Concerning your invitation to 'invade' a meeting. I would highly discourage that tact. If you feel that this is a situation that needs attention, you should contact the pastor privately - preferably face to face. A public 'rebuke', whether deserved or not, will probably not end well. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |