Subject: Is Limited Atonement Bibical? |
Bible Note: Dear Hank, Thank you for taking the time to read my post! I hope you will choose to participate more fully. Hank, I too believe in the perspicuity of Scripture. I believe that God intended it for the unlearned as well as the learned. However, and I'm certain that you would agree that, not all of Scripture is easy to understand. At least not for me. But thanks be to God, He has provided for our weaknesses by sending the Holy Spirit to help in our infirmities and we can call upon Him to lead us in our search for the knowledge of God and of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. He has also, in His providence, "given some to be teachers" and I often have found occasion to praise Him for that as well. I am also of the belief, that ultimate authority regarding the interpretation of Scripture is Scripture itself. Any degree of authority that a man may possess is limited to the degree that it is in harmony with what God has said in His Word. We are all aware of the damage that can occur when a verse is taken out of context. I am sorry to say, but I have been guilty of this myself. It is a problem that all of us need to be mindful of. I believe this happens when we force a portion of Scripture to support our own desired interpretation or that of our particular tradition. I hear it all the time from unbelievers " You Christians can't even agree among yourselves what it is the Bible teaches". I usually explain that it is not the Bible that errs but that it is the fault of His imperfect servants. I have profited much thru the ministry of The Westminster Confession of Faith. One of it's precepts is: "All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them".(Chapt. 1) Of further assistance, from the same Chapter: "The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture, is the Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it may be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly". That is what, by God's grace, the guideline I will be following. God Bless Hank, John |