Subject: Hank - Diet ??? |
Bible Note: Dear Merv, Matthew 15:3 is talking about oral traditions (the Mishnah). See 2 Thessalonians 2:15 and 3:16 for contrast. Also, the word "traditional" in the way I was using it simply meant "commonly understood" or "commonly given." Hence, the commonly given response to our Sunday worship services is to commemorate the resurrection of Christ. This explanation dates to the very early church. Hebrews 4 implies a distinction between the day when God the Father ceased His work (verse 4, the seventh day of the week) and the day when Christ the Son ceased His work (verse 10, the first day of the week). As I pointed out earlier, this is an implication that appears to echo the commonly given explanation of the church. 1 John 2:4 is hearkening back to John 14:21. The "Him" in 1 John 2:4 is Jesus (see the context). (Scripture should always be used to explain scripture.) Christ clarified the Law. Furthermore, remember that He is, after all, "the Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, Luke 6:5). Merv, I do not say the following with rancor, but only by way of explanation: We see God's revelation as closed, and we look to the Scriptures as our sole authority. (As the old divines put it, "The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.") No matter how well intentioned or even knowledgeable she was, we do not see Ellen White as having greater authority than the Scriptures. Her teachings -- as is true of anyone's teachings -- either stand or fall in the light of the Word. In Him, Doc |